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Mozart Divertimento K136
Grieg ‘Våren’ from Two Elegiac Melodies
Grace Williams ‘Calm Sea in Summer’ from Sea Sketches
Elgar Chanson de Matin
Anderson Sleigh Ride
Vivaldi The Four Seasons
Leia Zhu violin
Simon Blendis director
Students from CMA

Weaving in and out of the seasons and discovering the ways it affects the landscapes around us, this concert takes us on an entire trip around the sun in just one evening. Well, they do say that time flies.

Led by our director, Simon Blendis, the music in this concert will take us through each seasonal change, from the emerging Norwegian Spring filled with thawing ice, newly green grass and fluttering butterflies in Grieg’s ‘Våren’, the boats gently swaying in the sun-dimmed Bristol Channel in Grace Williams’ ‘Calm Sea in Summer’ to the rhythmic clip-clopping of hooves and a horse-drawn sleigh in the snow in Leroy Anderson’s Sleigh Ride.

And of course, we couldn’t do this concert without the ultimate seasoning. Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons is the ever-popular portrayal of how the world around us changes throughout the year.

Our young artist-in-residence, Leia Zhu, will take the stage as soloist in this concert and we will also be joined by young musicians from CMA (Croydon Music and Arts).

Book a priority ticket to receive a reserved seat on the front rows and a free drink at the interval.

Holst St. Paul’s Suite
Judith Weir I Give You the End of a Golden String
Elgar Serenade for Strings
Judith Bingham Clarinet Concerto
Ruth Rogers director
Jonathan Leibovitz clarinet
Thomas Hull conductor

Britain was once insulted with the rather unflattering nickname of ‘das Land ohne Musik’, or ‘the country without music’ by 19th century Germany. But with a home-grown musical tradition of its own and a distinctive set of British composers emerging in the 20th century, we’d like to think this name-calling deserves some challenging.

Tonight, we’re celebrating a range of musical British icons in an iconic London location. With a programme that includes Holst’s St Paul’s Suite, which takes inspiration from English folk songs, Elgar’s Serenade and Judith Bingham’s Clarinet Concert which we premiered only this year, we’re celebrating the Best of British. Jonathan Leibovitz, recently named as a Rising Star Artist by Classic FM, joins us as the soloist for this concert.

Jim Fowler and Jessica Curry Little Orpheus Soundtrack
Timothy Henty conductor 

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The year is 1962. NASA is trying to shoot a man to the moon and for Ivan Ivanovich, the Russian Cosmonaut, the Space Race is on. But rather than heading up and out, Ivan is journeying in the opposite direction to centre of the Earth in his atomic-bomb fuelled vessel, Little Orpheus. Join Ivan on his journey as he traverses prehistoric lands, dives into undersea kingdoms and dodges the occasional tyrannosaurus rex.

Ivan’s journey is brought to life by BAFTA-winning Jessica Curry and Jim Fowler’s soundtrack. Nominated for multiple prestigious awards, including the D.I.C.E and the Ivor Novello Awards, the Little Orpheus soundtrack is full of witty and wondrous writing that makes the game a memorable and colourful cinematic experience.

Accompanied by an hour-long cut of the live gameplay, we’re strapping ourselves in as we rocket down to the Earth’s core as we perform the world-premiere of Curry’s Little Orpheus soundtrack, animating every pithy bassoon note that follow Ivan’s footsteps and each swell of strings that bring him one step closer to victory.

Little Orpheus was released on Apple Arcade in 2020 and is an adventure platform game developed by the Chinese Platform Room. The game won the Apple Arcade Design Award in 2021, recognising its ingenuity and innovative design.

Mendelssohn Excerpts from A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Bloch Schelomo (arr. George Morton)
Bloch ‘Prayer’ from From Jewish Life (arr. Christopher Palmer)
Mendelssohn Symphony No.4, ‘Italian’
Sheku Kanneh-Mason cello
Jonathan Bloxham conductor

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Rome wasn’t built in a day and great composers didn’t write their music overnight. Inspired by the world around them and the way it made them feel, Mendelssohn and Bloch drew upon their life experiences when they put pen to paper to compose the music you’ll hear in tonight’s concert.

In his early twenties, Felix Mendelssohn did what most of us dream of doing and packed his bags, donned his Birkenstocks, waved goodbye to his home country Germany and set off on a grand tour of Italy. Like a true tourist he travelled through Rome, Naples and Milan, documenting his rendezvous through a series of drawings, watercolour paintings and, most famously, sketches of music that would ultimately emerge as his Symphony no.4, aptly referred to as his ‘Italian’ Symphony. Filled with dance and folk references and inspired by his musical imagination, Mendelssohn’s musical postcard transports us to Southern Europe with one of his best-loved compositions.

Written during WWI, Bloch’s Schelomo is an expression of the composer trying to find his musical identity, which is grounded in Jewish roots, as he tries to reconcile his long-standing heritage with his modern life. Based on his interpretation of what he thought Jewish music could sound like, Bloch’s concerto sings through the cello as it mourns the suffering of the war and attempts to find a voice in the aftermath. Cellist superstar Sheku Kanneh-Mason joins us as the soloist for Bloch’s expressive work.

This concert is repeated on 28 July 2022 and 27 August 2022.

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Bach Brandenberg Concerto No.3 
Bach Double Violin Concerto 
Vivaldi The Four Seasons

Ruth Rogers director

If this is your first experience of the world of Baroque music you can do no better than Bach’s famous ‘Brandenburg’ Concertos, or possibly his most popular orchestral work the Double Violin Concerto with its sublime slow movement. But Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons surely needs no introduction with each of the four movements painting an evocative picture of the seasons. In just one concert you will hear some of the best of Baroque performed in what is arguably the most perfect setting for the music, within the beautiful architecture and acoustic of St Martin’s.

Grieg Holberg Suite
Vaughan Williams The Lark Ascending
Cecilia McDowall Off the Ground
Malcolm Arnold Concerto for Two Violins
Holst St Paul’s Suite
Copland Hoedown

Leia Zhu violin
Ruth Rogers director

Madeleine Brown, Winner of the Kent International Piano Competition, joins us at Upper Norwood.

This concert is repeated on 6 August 2022 and 27 August 2022.

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Bach Brandenberg Concerto No.3 
Bach Double Violin Concerto 
Vivaldi The Four Seasons

Ruth Rogers director

If this is your first experience of the world of Baroque music you can do no better than Bach’s famous ‘Brandenburg’ Concertos, or possibly his most popular orchestral work the Double Violin Concerto with its sublime slow movement. But Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons surely needs no introduction with each of the four movements painting an evocative picture of the seasons. In just one concert you will hear some of the best of Baroque performed in what is arguably the most perfect setting for the music, within the beautiful architecture and acoustic of St Martin’s.

Vaughan-Williams Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
Coleridge-Taylor Violin Concerto
Elgar The Spirit of the Lord
Coleridge-Taylor Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast
Richard Cooke conductor
Fenella Humphreys violin
Benjamin Hulett tenor
Royal Choral Society
Croydon Philharmonic Choir

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Composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was a household name in the early twentieth century thanks to popularity of his biggest hit Hiawatha. Every summer for some 30 years, thousands of people descended on the Royal Albert Hall for ‘Hiawatha Season’; a dedicated two-week stint of Coleridge-Taylor’s immense choral work, sung by the Royal Choral Society.

Born in Holborn and raised in Croydon, Coleridge-Taylor was regarded, by Elgar no less, as the most talented composer in Britain. So why don’t we hear more about him today? Joined by the Croydon Philharmonic Choir and the Royal Choral Society in their 150th year, this concert celebrates all things Coleridge-Taylor, including an exploration of his Croydon connections, his experience as a black composer in Edwardian London and a delve into the context of the original Hiawatha text and its depiction of native American culture.

In this concert, which includes Coleridge-Taylor’s Violin Concerto, we reimagine Hiawatha for a modern audience, surrounding it in music from Coleridge-Taylor’s contemporaries – Elgar’s The Spirit of the Lord and Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis.

Who is Samuel Coleridge-Taylor?

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was born in 1875 to an English mother and a Sierra Leone Creole father whom he never met. He was named after the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge and raised in Croydon by his mother. His maternal grandfather was a violinist who saw the young Coleridge-Taylor’s talent and encouraged him to enrol at the Royal College of Music. He won a scholarship, beating out Gustav Holst amongst others, and began studying as a violinist before switching to composition.

He was deeply involved with African-American networks, counting amongst his friends W. E. B. Dubois, Frederick Loudin, Booker T. Washington and Paul Laurence Dunbar, whose poems he set to music. In works such as ‘Symphonic Variations on an African Air’, he sought to integrate the melodies of African-American spirituals within the classical music tradition. Like Brahms, Dvořák or Grieg, Coleridge-Taylor was participating in the nineteenth-century trend of musical nationalism.

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor died at 37 of pneumonia. Despite his popular successes, he had been prevented from reaping the financial rewards. With public support, a memorial concert was held at the Royal Albert Hall which raised significant funds for his family. His widow Jessie was granted a pension from the king and the Performing Rights Society was established to ensure composers were paid adequately for their works’ success. Later, his daughter became a composer-conductor and his son worked to ensure his father’s music was performed after his death.