2022/23
Music from America
ST BOTOLPH’S HALL
8th June // 2023 // 18:30 //
Our intimate annual evening of music and wine for this season will see us donning cowboy hats and riding into the sunset with music from American composers including Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland and George Gershwin.
Sword in the Soul: Music for Good Friday
ST JOHN’S, SMITH SQUARE
7th April // 2023 // 20:00 //
The London Choral Sinfonia make their first appearance at the SJSS annual Easter Festival with an evening of contemplation for Good Friday.
Commissioned by the BBC in 1991 for a Radio 4 Good Friday premiere, Francis Grier's 'Sword in the Soul; a meditation for Good Friday', is a modern take on the Passiontide story, with narrated texts, written by former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams. The work gives a more human telling of this well-known story, alongside seven rich pieces of expressive music.
BRIAN O’KANE ‘cello
JAMES ORFORD organ
THE CHOIR OF THE LONDON CHORAL SINFONIA
MICHAEL WALDRON conductor
On Christmas Night
ST JOHN’S, SMITH SQUARE
20th December // 2022 // 19:30 //
As part of the St. John's Smith Square 37th Christmas Festival, the Choir and Orchestra of the LCS perform Bob Chilcott's enchanting On Christmas Night. This jubilant work sees carols entwined with readings, bringing the story of Christ's birth alive through Chilcott's eclectic style.
Alongside this, we hear LCS Christmas favourites including O Holy Night, What Sweeter Music and As I sat under the sycamore tree - the perfect way to start your Christmas week.
JENNY STAFFORD soprano
CHOIR AND ORCHESTRA OF THE LONDON CHORAL SINFONIA
MICHAEL WALDRON conductor
Colourise
CADOGAN HALL
19th October // 2022 // 19:30 //
Join the Choir and Orchestra of the London Choral Sinfonia for our season premiere this autumn.
Following the launch of our latest album, Colourise, in July, the concert will feature Lennox Berkeley’s mostly unknown piece Variations on a Hymn by Orlando Gibbons featuring tenor soloist Nick Pritchard.
Jack Liebeck returns to perform Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Concerto Accademico, and the composer’s energetic Five English Folk Songs for a capella choir also feature.
NICK PRITCHARD tenor
JACK LIEBECK violin
CHOIR AND ORCHESTRA OF THE LONDON CHORAL SINFONIA
MICHAEL WALDRON conductor
2021/22
Sound the Trumpet
VOCES8 CENTRE, EC2V 7BX
26TH June // 2022 // 7.30pm //
Join the LCS for a Baroque and Renaissance bash with a royal theme, just in time for our Queen's Platinum Jubilee! We will enjoy Henry Purcell’s jubilant ode Come Ye Sons of Art, written for the birthday of Queen Mary II in 1694, alongside contrastive sacred motets, secular songs, and instrumental works by the Renaissance composer kings of their day: William Byrd, Thomas Tallis and Orlando Gibbons.
LCS Soloists
MICHAEL WALDRON conductor
In Bocca al Lupo
PETYT HALL, CHELSEA
17th February // 2022 // 7.30pm //
Let soloists from the London Choral Sinfonia warm the cockles of your heart with an opulent evening of Italian opera and Italian wines! Together we will journey through the best arias and choruses Italy has to offer, with all repertoire matched with suitably evocative and delicious wines. Complimentary wine pairings are served throughout the evening, alongside champagne and canapés before and after the performance. The wines will be specially paired by Nadia Williamson (wine buyer, Majestic Wines).
LCS Soloists
MICHAEL WALDRON conductor
Christmas Fantasia
ST JOHN’S, SMITH SQUARE
15th December // 2021 // 7.30pm //
Allow the LCS to serenade you with a concert of joyful music this Christmas. With an uplifting selection of festive pieces from the very best British composers, there is music for everyone to enjoy! Beginning with Britten’s spell-binding Middle English poetry, A Ceremony of Carols, the concert continues with well-known audience carols and Christmas classics, alongside familiar Christmas tunes in new and enchanting arrangements. The programme culminates with Vaughan Williams’ majestic Fantasia on Christmas Carols, in celebration of the 150th anniversary of his birth next year.
ELIZABETH KARANI soprano
PHILIP SMITH baritone
SALLY PRYCE harp
MICHAEL WALDRON conductor
Rise Heart
CADOGAN HALL
8th September // 2021 // 7.30pm //
This concert is made up of two celebrations: one to mark the release of our new disc of works for choir and orchestra by Richard Pantcheff; and one to mark the 150th anniversary of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ birth. Accordingly we will dive headfirst into Pantcheff’s wonderful new repertoire – and then cuddle up with some of Vaughan Williams’ best-loved classics, including his transcendent The Lark Ascending and his passionate settings of George Herbert poems in the Five Mystical Songs.
JACK LIEBECK violin
BENEDICT NELSON baritone
NICK PRITCHARD tenor
MICHAEL WALDRON conductor
Season Launch: Music for a Summer's Eve
VOCES8 CENTRE, EC2V 7BX
20th July // 2021 // 6.30pm //
We are delighted to invite you to to join us to celebrate the launch of our new season. In the beautiful setting of the Gresham Centre (St Paul’s, EC2V), you will be serenaded with the music of Vaughan Williams, Holst and John Rutter by LCS musicians whilst enjoying complimentary fizz. Doors open and drinks will be served at 6pm for a prompt 6.30pm start, finishing around 7.30pm. A perfect pre-dinner event for a summer’s evening.
LCS Soloists
MICHAEL WALDRON conductor
2020/21
AMERICA! Singing Workshop
ON ZOOM
6th March // 2021 // 10.00am - 12.00pm //
Join us for this singing workshop on Zoom, featuring African-American Spirituals, and music by Samuel Barber and George Gershwin. Including a comprehensive physical and vocal warmup, sectional note-learning, practical singing help and an informal 'concert'.
Bach Magnificat
LIVE STREAM ONLY
16th December // 2020 // 7.30pm //
Bach 'Jauchzet, frohlocket' from Christmas Oratorio
Mozart Exsultate juilbate
Bach Magnificat
Join the LCS for what will be a jubilant evening of festive music by J. S. Bach and W. A. Mozart. Starting with the overwhelmingly celebratory ‘Jauchzet, frohlocket’ from Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, we will continue with Mozart’s theatrical motet for solo soprano voice, Exsultate Jubilate, sung by acclaimed soprano Mary Bevan. Finally we return to Bach for his miraculous setting of the Magnificat, written for Christmas morning. The joy and expectation of Christmas are palpable from the very opening bars. Join us live from your home for an evening of the most sublime and uplifting music this Christmas.
MARY BEVAN Soprano
MICHAEL WALDRON conductor
RICHARD PANTCHEFF in conversation with MICHAEL WALDRON
LIVE STREAM ONLY
17th September // 2020 // 6.30pm //
APÉRITIF CONCERTS
THURSDAYS IN MAY-JULY 2020 AND FEBRUARY-MARCH 2021
To brighten up quarantine weeknights, musicians from the London Choral Sinfonia performed 20-minute, pre-dinner recitals live on Zoom. We enjoyed varied, wonderful music beamed straight into our homes, and were encouraged to bring our own Campari…
We raised our spirits (pun intended), as well as supporting our musicians in these unprecedented times. Do have a watch below.
2019/20
CANCELLED: Bach Easter Oratorio
ST JOHN'S SMITH SQUARE
28th May // 2020 // 7.30pm //
Lotti Crucifixus
Pergolesi Stabat Mater
Monteverdi Beatus Vir
Bach Easter Oratorio BWV 249
The LCS provides a powerful and uplifting programme focused around the Easter story. Masterpieces from the Italian Renaissance dominate the first half, from Lotti’s intensely introvert Crucifixus through Pergolesi’s virtuosic Stabat Mater to the exuberance of Monteverdi. The programme culminates with Bach’s spectacular Easter Oratorio with its powerful and uplifting celebration of the Easter story.
KATHERINE WATSON soprano
TIM MORGAN countertenor
GWILYM BOWEN tenor
MICHAEL WALDRON conductor
A Winter's Journey
PETYT HALL, CHELSEA
20th February // 2020 // 7.30pm //
The London Choral Sinfonia presents a brumal evening for lieder lovers. Together we will explore some of the most heart-wrenching and heart-warming lieder in the canon, all paired with suitably evocative and delicious wines. Complimentary wine pairings are served throughout the evening, alongside champagne and canapés before and after the performance.
LCS Soloists
MICHAEL WALDRON conductor
Christmas with the LCS
ST JOHN'S SMITH SQUARE
11th December // 2019 // 7.30pm //
Britten Saint Nicolas
Holst arr. Owain Park Christmas Day
along with congregational carols and other favourites
A concert of uplifting music for the festive season. The first half features familiar carols and Christmas tunes in new and exciting arrangements. The programme culminates with Britten's epic Christmas cantata, Saint Nicolas.
TANYA HURST soprano
NICK PRITCHARD tenor
MICHAEL WALDRON conductor
TIFFIN BOY’S CHOIR
PIMLICO MUSICAL FOUNDATION
Fauré Requiem
CADOGAN HALL
17th October // 2019 // 7.30pm //
Debussy (arr. Wikeley) Beau soir
Debussy (arr. Wikeley) Beau soir
Fauré Madrigal
Fauré (arr. Wikeley) Chanson d’amour
Saint-Saëns Calme des nuits
Saint-Saëns Les fleurs et les arbres
Hahn (arr. Wikeley) A Chloris
Fauré Requiem
The London Choral Sinfonia present a foray into French music, both sacred and secular. Starting in Paris at Notre Dame Cathedral with Pierre Cochereau’s grand improvised Gigue, we travel to the Auvergne to hear six of Joseph Canteloube’s folk song arrangements in a pared-down format for soprano and piano.
KIM-LILLIAN STREBEL soprano
GARETH BRYNMOR JOHN baritone
MICHAEL WALDRON conductor
2018/19
Serenade
CADOGAN HALL
2nd May // 2019 // 7.30pm //
Edward Elgar Serenade for Strings
Ralph Vaughan Williams Serenade to Music
Gustav Holst Six Folksongs for Choir
Benjamin Britten Serenade for tenor, horn and strings
How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank!
Here will we sit and let the sounds of music
Creep in our ears: soft stillness and the night
Become the touches of sweet harmony.
The LCS concludes its season in a paean to music and eventide. Join us for this all- English study of aspects of night and music, both benign and sinister. The programme includes Vaughan Williams’ sublime setting of Shakespeare in the Serenade to Music, in a rarely-performed version by the composer for choir and string orchestra. The programme also features Britten’s mesmerising Serenade, with its extraordinary settings of British poets in highly virtuosic writing for soloists and orchestra.
ANDREW TORTOISE tenor
BEN GOLDSCHEIDER horn
MICHAEL WALDRON conductor
Voyage à Paris
PETYT HALL, CHELSEA
28th March // 2019 // 7.00pm //
Fauré, Debussy, Poulenc, Rameau
The London Choral Sinfonia presents a scintillating evening for Francophiles, exploring the music of Symbolism, Les Six and the Seine. This special and intimate evening is curated alongside director Mark Burns (The Opera Box), and wine expert Rebecca Stone (DipWSET) in conjunction with Majestic Wine.
The evening celebrates the beautiful, piquant and quirky music of France, both vocal and instrumental, all paired with suitably evocative and delicious wines. Complimentary wine pairings are served throughout the evening, alongside champagne and canapés before and after the performance.
NICK PRITCHARD tenor
JENNY STAFFORD soprano
EMILY DICKENS soprano
PATRICK JOHNSON cello
MICHAEL WALDRON conductor/piano
Christmas Fantasia
ST JOHN'S SMITH SQUARE
19th December // 2018 // 7.30pm //
Holst arr. Park Christmas Day
Rowley Christmas Suite for Orchestra
Fletcher arr. Park Ring Out Wild Bells
Vaughan Williams Fantasia on Christmas Carols
Let the LCS entertain you with a concert of joyful music for the festive season – there is something for everyone to enjoy! Beginning with our Composer-in-Residence Owain Park’s arrangement of Holst’s marvellous fantasy on ancient carols, the concert features familiar carols and Christmas tunes in exciting and rarely-heard arrangements by Jonathan Rathbone, Elgar, Warlock, and Alec Rowley's frolicsome Christmas Suite for Orchestra. The programme also contains Darke's famous In the Bleak Midwinter and traditional favourite, Silent Night. Having begun with one fantasy, the concert culminates with another: Vaughan Williams' majestic Fantasia on Christmas Carols.
LIANNE BIRKETT soprano
DINGLE YANDELL tenor
MICHAEL WALDRON conductor
Remembrance
ST JOHN'S, SMITH SQUARE
10th December // 2018 // 7.30pm //
Arvo Pärt Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten
C.H. H. Parry Songs of Farewell
W. A. Mozart Requiem in D minor, K 626
The first concert of the season opens with Pärt's haunting Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten, and our Requiem Project continues with Mozart’s towering Requiem, a work filled with agony, anger, triumph and beauty. On the eve of the centenary of Armistice Day, there will be a definite air of solemnity and remembrance, as the Mozart is paired with Parry’s heart-rending and arresting Songs of Farewell in this centenary year of his death. Composed during the First World War, Parry wrote these arresting settings in the knowledge that he himself did not have much time left.
ANNA PATALONG soprano
ANNA HARVEY mezzo soprano
NICK PRITCHARD tenor
DUNCAN ROCK bass
MICHAEL WALDRON conductor
2017/18
An Evening with Mr Purcell
PETYT HALL, CHELSEA
10th May // 2018 // 7.00pm //
Join the LCS for a fascinating and unusual evening celebrating the music of one of the Renaissance’s most skilled and colourful composers. This special evening is curated alongside director Mark Burns (The Opera Box), and wine expert Rebecca Stone (DipWSET) in conjunction with Majestic Wine. The evening celebrates both the music of Purcell and contemporary literautre, all carefully linked together and paired with suitably evocative and delicious wines. There is also complimentary champagne and canapés before and after the performance.
LCS Soloists
MICHAEL WALDRON conductor
Rutter Requiem: Into Night Time
ST JOHN'S, SMITH SQUARE
22th February // 2018 // 7.30pm //
Byrd Christe qui Lux
Tallis O Nata Lux
Macmillan O Radiant Dawn
Kodály Evening Song
Park O Phos Hilaron
Whitacre Sleep; Water Night; Lux Aurumque
Lauridsen Nocturnes
Rutter Requiem
As the next concert in the ongoing Requiem Project, the London Choral Sinfonia presents a concert of reflective and uplifting music for the Lenten season. The programme features beautiful interpretations of both light and night time from composers across the centuries.
KIM-LILLIAN STREBEL soprano
MICHAEL WALDRON conductor
Christmas with the LCS
ST JOHN'S, SMITH SQUARE
17th December // 2017 // 7.30pm //
Fletcher arr. Park Ring Out Wild Bells
Fraser This Christmastide
Canning Lullay my liking
Trad. arr. Grafton I wonder as I wander
Ireland The Holy Boy
Britten Saint Nicolas
A concert of uplifting music for the festive season as part of the 32nd Christmas Festival at St John's Smith Square. The first half features familiar carols and Christmas tunes in new and exciting arrangements. The programme culminates with Britten's epic Christmas cantata, Saint Nicolas.
FRANCESCA CHIEJINA soprano
NICK PRITCHARD tenor
GALLERY CHOIR OF WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL SCHOOL
MICHAEL WALDRON conductor
Baroque Masterpieces: Handel, Bach & Vivaldi
CADOGAN HALL
26th October // 2017 // 7.30pm //
Handel Concerto grosso in D minor, Op. 6, No. 10
Bach Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen, BWV 51
Vivaldi Gloria
The London Choral Sinfonia launches is 2017-18 season with a thrilling selection of baroque masterpieces by the three towering figures of the period. The concert begins with one of Handel's concerti grossi – majestic orchestral showpieces in the Italian style – followed by Bach's exultant cantata, requiring dazzling virtuosity from the soprano and trumpet soloists. It concludes with Vivaldi's Gloria – a work which contrasts vibrant passages for full chorus and orchestra with expressive and intimate solos, and which remains a popular cornerstone of the baroque repertoire.
KATHERINE WATSON soprano
CRISPIAN STEELE-PERKINS trumpet
MICHAEL WALDRON conductor
2016/17
Baroque Masterpieces: Bach Motets and Handel Dixit Dominus
CADOGAN HALL
11th May // 2017 // 7.30pm //
Bach Lobet den Herrn; Komm, Jesu, Komm; Singet dem Herrn; Cello Suites
Handel Dixit Dominus
Join the LCS for this Baroque extravaganza, exploring two of the towering composers from this period. The first half of the programme showcases three of Bach's astonishingly profound motets, contrasting with Handel's dazzling and exhuberant Dixit Dominus in the second.
GUY JOHNSTON cello
LCS Soloists
MICHAEL WALDRON conductor
Duruflé Requiem: Visions of Life and Death
ST JOHN'S, SMITH SQUARE
11th March // 2017 // 7.30pm //
Britten Te Deum in C (version for choir and orchestra)
Rudland New Work (world premiere)
Poulenc Quatre motets pour un temps de pénitence
O'Regan Care Charminge Sleepe
Bainton orch. Park And I Saw a New Heaven
Duruflé Requiem
The LCS presents a concert of reflective and uplifting music for the lenten season. Featuring Poulenc's stunning Lenten Motets'and a world premiere by the LCS Composer-in-Residence, Oliver Rudland, the programme culminates with a performance of Durufle's intensely beautiful Requiem.
KATE HOWDEN mezzo soprano
PAULS PUTNINS baritone
MICHAEL WALDRON conductor
Britten Ceremony of Carols
HOLY TRINITY, SLOANE SQUARE
11th December // 2016 // 7.30pm //
Britten Ceremony of Carols
and other favourite Christmas carols
A concert of uplifting festive music featuring Britten's sublimly beautiful Ceremony of Carols for upper voices and harp. This programme also features exciting new arrangements of well-known Christmas tunes and carols, all performed in the beautiful surroundings of the magnificent Holy Trinity Church, Sloane Square.
AUGUSTA HEBBERT soprano
SALLY PRYCE harp
JAMES ORFORD organ
MICHAEL WALDRON conductor
Season Launch and Recital
THE FITZROVIA CHAPEL
20th October // 2016 // 6.30pm //
Programme to include works by Renaissance masters such as Byrd, Tallis and Purcell, through to works by Mozart and Whitacre.
Following its £3m restoration, the LCS is lucky to be able to host an intimate evening in the Fitzrovia Chapel, recently reopened in the heart of Fitzrovia. Join patrons and friends of the LCS as we launch our second season for 2016/17 in style. Musicians from the LCS will perform a short concert, followed by a drinks reception.
KATHERINE WATSON soprano
JAMES MCVINNIE organ
MICHAEL WALDRON conductor
2015/2016
Haydn: War and Peace
CADOGAN HALL
21st May // 2016 //19:30 //
Haydn Insanae et Vanae Curae; Salve Regina; Nelson Mass
The LCS explores one of the towering figures of the Classical period, contrasting the dramatic and tormented motet Insanae et Vanae Curae with the the tranquil and serene setting of the Salve Regina. The programme culminate with the mighty Nelson Mass, attributed to Lord Nelson following the defeat of Napoleon in the 1798 Battle of the Nile.
AUGUSTA HEBBERT soprano
GAYNOR KEEBLE mezzo soprano
BENJAMIN BEVAN bass
MICHAEL WALDRON conductor
Brahms: Sacred and Profane
KING’S PLACE
3rd March // 2016 // 19:30 //
Brahms Liebeslieder Waltzes; Ein Deutsches Requiem
Celebrating one of classical music's towering figures, the programme first explores Brahms as the man besotted with Clara Schumann in his charming and playful settings of Daumer's folk songs and love poems, Liebeslieder Waltzes. This contrasts his ground-breaking and mighty Ein Deutsches Requiem, written following the death of his mother.
AUGUSTA HEBBERT soprano
MATTHEW BROOK bass
MATTHEW FLETCHER & SAN LAU piano
MICHAEL WALDRON conductor
Britten Saint Nicolas
ST JOHN’S SMITH, SQUARE
6th December // 2015 // 19:30 //
Stamm Fanfare for two trumpets
arr. Carter O Come O come Emmanuel
arr. Rathbone Coventry Carol
Rudland A Christmas Truce (world premiere)
arr. Pappenheim O Holy Night
Britten Saint Nicolas
A concert of uplifting festive music featuring a world premiere by the LCS Composer-in-Residence, Oliver Rudland, alongside exciting new arrangements of well-known Christmas tunes. The second half features Benjamin Britten's epic Christmas cantata Saint Nicolas. Britten wrote the cantata in 1948 for the centennial celebrations of Lancing College which showcases a colourful and exciting orchestration.
KATHERINE WATSON soprano
NICK PRITCHARD tenor
CHORISTERS OF FULHAM PREP SCHOOL
MICHAEL WALDRON conductor
Contact the Elderly: Golden Jubilee Concert
ST PAUL’S CATHEDRAL
29th October // 2015 // 19:00 //
Mozart Ave Verum Corpus
Parry I Was Glad
Whitacre i thank you God
Tchaikovsky Serenade for Strings
An uplifting evening of music celebrating the importance of companionship, and marking 50 years of Contact the Elderly relieving loneliness among the elderly. Orchestral and choral forces comprising some of London's most talented young musicians will raise the roof of the Cathedral with a mix of musical and classical greats, with special readings from Maureen Lipman and other special guests.
CHOIR AND ORCHESTRA OF THE LONDON CHORAL SINFONIA
MICHAEL WALDRON conductor