NEWS AND PROJECTS | music-of-the-spheres

News & Projects

News

Preparations for our St Martin in the Fields Evening debut are in full swing!

So looking forward to the big night Tuesday 15th January 2019 at 7 30 pm

Romantic and Gyspy Strings

In full rehearsal mode and the Orfeas String Quartet are really looking forward to making music with the amazing Bridget Cunningham again.

Preparations for the of the Music of the Spheres Ensembles Summer Concert Celebrating Lord Mereworths Birthday are in Full Tilt!

With just over a week till Saturday 1st July 2017 Conductors, Soloists, Orchestra and Management are working full steam for what promises to be a musical feast with some of Beethoven's, Mozart's and Glinka's finest music all in one very special concert celebrating the wonderful Lord Mereworth's Birthday.

Join us for this special date!

A recital by the Chamber players of the Music of the Spheres Ensemble at St Martin in the Fields on 30th January 2017

We enjoyed performing to a full house at St Martins in the Fields. At last the clouds had parted slightly and the rain subsided, a glimmer of light. Many familiar faces in the crowd, a wonderful audience. We began, this journey together with the Debussy Violin Sonata in G minor.

Composed between 1916 - 1917 by Claude Debussy and premiered on the the 5th of May 1917 with the composer at the piano and the violinist Gaston Poulet. It was Debussy’s final public performance and indeed his final complete composition. A kaleidoscope of colour, the brush strokes of a master, the work explores Gypsy violin playing and fantasy. Following that we performed JB not DP by Denise Mangiardi composed in 2013 this beautiful minimalist vignette was premiered by Orpheus that year. It is dedicated to New Orleans tenor saxophonist Tim Green. The recital ended with

deeply intense Shostakovich Trio No 2 in E minor Op 67.

Shostakovich's second piano trio was composed during the finale stages of the Second World War and completed in August 1944. The music reflects this deeply troubled and violent time in Europe and the World. The work is large in scale and there is a clear dramatic narrative through its progression. The emotional intensity of the themes, some of which are Jewish is mirrored by the extreme contrasts of tempi, dynamics and timbre. For both audience and performers this work is a colossal experience of towering emotional intensity and a testament to Dimitri Shostakovich’s greatness as a composer and social commentator.

This was a highly charged and emotionally intense program and we thank all the audience who came and were part of it!

December 2016: Season's Greetings

Dear friends,

Thank you very much for being with us this year. We have achieved a lot of together. In 2016 we saw a growing number of people coming to our concerts and we thank you all for this. We also secured a few important grants, ran workshops and helped organise a concert to raise vital funds for earthquake affected areas in Japan.

We made our Austrian Debut performing in Vienna and Graz and played concerts with talented musicians in our residence at St John's Church, Notting Hill, London. We look forward to another exciting year together with each of you. We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

November 2016: Baltic Music Festival

Our ensemble lead, Orpheus, together with The Orphic Trio performed at the Baltic Music Festival on 12th November 2016 at St John's Church. The trio played works by Arvo Pärt (Estonia), Pēteris Plakidis (Latvia), Onutė Narbutaitė (Lithuania) and Bronius Kutavičius (Lithuania).

The Baltic Music Festival promotes the music and musicians from the Baltic states. The aim of this festival is to introduce people to hidden and yet distinctive and characterful music from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

October 2016: Coming back after the European tour

We made our Austrian Debuts this summer with concerts in Vienna and Graz. It was great to play for the Austrians in two of Europe's most beautiful cities with such musical heritage.

Right now we are busy working on our schedule for 2017 which will include a few interesting surprises.

We will also ensure that there are more opportunities for the public to get involved in our activities. You can read more about different ways of getting involved in GET INVOLVED

Projects

Playing for residents of care homes

Early in 2016, we secured a grant from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea to organise a series of workshops for residents of local care homes.

We ran musical workshops introducing different musical concepts to a wide range of people from the Borough. Followed by full concert performances in which the audience could hear the musical ideas we touched upon in the workshops. Specifically;

Classical workshop on the Age of Enlightenment

Romantic Folk inspired workshop

String Expressions a narrative of the development of string writing through the ages.

The workshops, mainly housed at our residence St John's Church Nottinghill and also local care homes, encouraged group engagement in entertaining and insightful activities,

Musicians first explained to the audience about the pieces which were to be performed. This gave the audience some historical and cultural background to the music helping them understand, appreciate and enjoy the musical style, structure and dramatic narrative in the pieces performed.