A Chineke! Christmas brings the festive cheer to Woolwich Works with their international acclaimed orchestra.

Join us for a evening of music brimming with heart-warming carols, soulful songs and traditional tunes.

A joyful occasion for all, and an unforgettable evening of music and celebration.

Performers:

Chineke! Orchestra

Chineke! Junior Orchestra

Handsworth St Mary’s Church choristers

Avishka Edirisinghe conductor

Programme:

Carol - Once in Royal David’s City

Carol - Mary Had a Baby

Spiritual - Steal Away 

Hymn - Rise Up, Shepherd, and Follow

Carol - Go Tell it on the Mountain

Carol - Ding Dong Merrily on High

Mathias - Sir Christémas 

Bologne - L’Amant Anonyme Overture

Sacred Song - Pie Jesu

Sacred Song - O Holy Night

Carol - Calypso Carol

Nigerian folksong - Ibike

Nunes Garcia - Kyrie and Gloria from Missa Pastoril Para a Noite de Natal

Vivaldi - Gloria

Closing Carol - We Wish You a Merry Christmas

A Chineke! Christmas brings the festive cheer to Fairfield Halls with their internationally acclaimed orchestra.

Join us for an evening of music brimming with heart-warming carols, soulful songs and traditional tunes.

A joyful occasion for all, and an unforgettable evening of music and celebration.

Performers:

Chineke! Orchestra

Avishka Edirisinghe conductor

Programme:

Carol - Once in Royal David’s City - ALL plus audience and soloist/s - (5 mins)

Carol - Mary Had a Baby

Spiritual - Steal Away 

Hymn - Rise Up, Shepherd, and Follow

Carol - Go Tell it on the Mountain

Carol - Ding Dong Merrily on High

Bologne - L’Amant Anonyme Overture

Sacred Song - Pie Jesu

Sacred Song - O Holy Night

Carol - Calypso Carol

Nigerian folksong - Ibike

Nunes Garcia - Kyrie and Gloria from Missa Pastoril Para a Noite de Natal

Vivaldi - Gloria

Closing Carol - We Wish You a Merry Christmas

Join us at the Queen Elizabeth Hall for an exquisite evening of music. We warmly welcome back distinguished conductor Kevin John Edusei to guide the Chineke! Orchestra. This concert is not just a gathering of musical talent but also a celebration of the familial bonds within the Chineke! Orchestra. 

The concert opens with the UK premiere of the dynamic sounds of Derrick Skye's Prisms, Cycles, Leaps.

A founding member of the Chineke! Orchestra, Isata Kanneh-Mason makes her highly anticipated UK solo debut with the orchestra this evening.

Her performance of Sergei Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No.3 promises to be a deeply personal and poignant interpretation, reflecting her intimate connection with the ensemble.

The programme culminates with another UK premiere; this time of Brian Raphael Nabors' Concerto for Orchestra, a composition that marries the traditional richness of orchestral sound with the freshness of contemporary musical innovation.

With Edusei's seasoned leadership and Kanneh-Mason's debut performance, the evening is set to be a harmonious blend of heritage and innovation, showcasing the depth and diversity that define the Chineke! Orchestra.

Performers:

Kevin John Edusei conductor

Isata Kanneh-Mason piano

Programme:

Derrick Skye: Prisms, Cycles, Leaps (UK premiere)

Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No.3

Interval

Brian Raphael Nabors: Concerto for Orchestra (UK premiere)

Join us for an exquisite evening of music. We warmly welcome back distinguished conductor Kevin John Edusei to guide the Chineke! Orchestra. This concert is not just a gathering of musical talent but also a celebration of the familial bonds within the Chineke! Orchestra. 

The concert opens with the dynamic sounds of Derrick Skye's Prisms, Cycles, Leaps.

A founding member of the Chineke! Orchestra, Isata Kanneh-Mason makes her highly anticipated solo debut with the orchestra this evening.

Her performance of Sergei Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No.3 promises to be a deeply personal and poignant interpretation, reflecting her intimate connection with the ensemble.

The programme culminates with another world premiere; this time of Brian Raphael Nabors' Concerto for Orchestra, a composition that marries the traditional richness of orchestral sound with the freshness of contemporary musical innovation.

With Edusei's seasoned leadership and Kanneh-Mason's debut performance, the evening is set to be a harmonious blend of heritage and innovation, showcasing the depth and diversity that define the Chineke! Orchestra.

Performers:

Kevin John Edusei conductor

Isata Kanneh-Mason piano

Programme:

Derrick Skye: Prisms, Cycles, Leaps

Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No.3

Interval

Brian Raphael Nabors: Concerto for Orchestra

Join us for an exquisite evening of music. We warmly welcome back distinguished conductor Kevin John Edusei to guide the Chineke! Orchestra. This concert is not just a gathering of musical talent but also a celebration of the familial bonds within the Chineke! Orchestra. 

The concert opens with the dynamic sounds of Derrick Skye's Prisms, Cycles, Leaps.

A founding member of the Chineke! Orchestra, Isata Kanneh-Mason makes her highly anticipated solo debut with the orchestra this evening.

Her performance of Sergei Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No.3 promises to be a deeply personal and poignant interpretation, reflecting her intimate connection with the ensemble.

The programme culminates with another world premiere; this time of Brian Raphael Nabors' Concerto for Orchestra, a composition that marries the traditional richness of orchestral sound with the freshness of contemporary musical innovation.

With Edusei's seasoned leadership and Kanneh-Mason's debut performance, the evening is set to be a harmonious blend of heritage and innovation, showcasing the depth and diversity that define the Chineke! Orchestra.

Performers:

Kevin John Edusei conductor

Isata Kanneh-Mason piano

Programme:

Derrick Skye: Prisms, Cycles, Leaps

Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No.3

Interval

Brian Raphael Nabors: Concerto for Orchestra

Join us for an exquisite evening of music. We warmly welcome back distinguished conductor Kevin John Edusei to guide the Chineke! Orchestra. This concert is not just a gathering of musical talent but also a celebration of the familial bonds within the Chineke! Orchestra. 

The concert opens with the world premiere of the dynamic sounds of Derrick Skye's Prisms, Cycles, Leaps.

A founding member of the Chineke! Orchestra, Isata Kanneh-Mason makes her highly anticipated solo debut with the orchestra this evening.

Her performance of Sergei Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No.3 promises to be a deeply personal and poignant interpretation, reflecting her intimate connection with the ensemble.

The programme culminates with another world premiere; this time of Brian Raphael Nabors' Concerto for Orchestra, a composition that marries the traditional richness of orchestral sound with the freshness of contemporary musical innovation.

With Edusei's seasoned leadership and Kanneh-Mason's debut performance, the evening is set to be a harmonious blend of heritage and innovation, showcasing the depth and diversity that define the Chineke! Orchestra.

Performers:

Kevin John Edusei conductor

Isata Kanneh-Mason piano

Programme:

Derrick Skye: Prisms, Cycles, Leaps (world premiere)

Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No.3

Interval

Brian Raphael Nabors: Concerto for Orchestra (world premiere)

The Chineke! Orchestra honours women composers whose powerful music resonates through the ages, ending with a UK premiere of a rediscovered Florence Price work.

The Chineke! Orchestra and conductor Tatiana Pérez guide us through Eleanor Alberga’s extraordinary, cosmic Jupiter’s Fairground, then to bask in the pastoral beauty of Avril Coleridge-Taylor's Sussex Landscape.

The centrepiece is Valerie Coleman's Concerto for Wind Quintet and Orchestra, Phenomenal Women. The piece is a profound tribute to women who have stepped into treacherous spaces, inspired the world, and moved the course of history; shining a bright light and opening doors, especially for women of colour.

Following the interval, the Chineke! Orchestra breaks new ground with the UK premiere of Florence Price's fourth and final symphony; she never heard it performed during her lifetime.

The work was thought to be lost but was rediscovered in 2009 among a stash of manuscripts in Price’s former summer home. The piece weaves a rich narrative of cultural depth and emotional nuance, celebrating her historic contribution to American music.

It is a privilege for the Chineke! Orchestra to give the floor to these incredible women.

Programme:

Eleanor Alberga: Overture, Jupiter's fairground

A Coleridge-Taylor: Sussex Landscape, Op.27

Valerie Coleman: Phenomenal Women

Interval

Florence Price: Symphony No.4 in D minor

Performers:

Meera Maharaj flute 

Myfanwy Price oboe 

Stephanie Yim clarinet 

Daria Phillips bassoon 

Nivanthi Karunaratne horn 

Tatiana Pérez conductor 

Join us at Brassworks, a street brass carnival and festival of horns, on Saturday 21 September!

Performances from an array of music genres all featuring….YES! You guessed it! Brass! Come and watch music from across the world, from Bollywood to New Orleans, Jazz to Classical, Afro Rhythms, youth performances and workshops - culminating in a finale concert in the Fireworks Factory, at Woolwich Works.

Britain’s only orchestra of Black and ethnically diverse musicians returns to the Proms with music that celebrates its own heritage as well as universal dreams and aspirations.

Stewart Goodyear is the soloist in his own vibrant celebration of Caribbean music, Callaloo, while Duke Ellington’s jazzed-up take on Tchaikovsky’s ballet The Nutcracker turns waltz into swing and Sugar Plum into heady rum. Conductor Andrew Grams ends with the most emotionally intense and musically robust symphony Tchaikovsky ever wrote, his heartbreakingly autobiographical ‘Pathétique’.

Broadcast live on BBC Radio 3

Performers:

Stewart Goodyear piano
Andrew Grams conductor

Programme:

Ellington & Strayhorn, arr. and adapted J. Tyzik The Nutcracker Suite
Goodyear Callaloo – Caribbean Suite for piano and orchestra
Interval
Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 in B minor, ‘Pathétique’

It was a sensation when, at the Lucerne Summer Festival 2022, the Chineke! Orchestra and the Chineke! Junior Orchestra performed for the first time, with Die Zeit calling Chineke! “one of the most musically interesting ensembles currently touring the globe.”

Chineke! return to the festival in 2024. The concert begins with the sparkling Ballade, Op. 33, by the British composer Samuel Coleridge- Taylor, a work of late Romanticism that immediately catches the ear. It might be reminiscent of Tchaikovsky or Dvořák. The latter undoubtedly influenced the symphonic music of the African American composer Florence Price. In 2022, Yannick Nézet-Séguin introduced Price’s First Symphony to Lucerne, and now we can hear her Third. In between, things get jazzy with the Violin Concerto by the legendary trumpeter and composer Wynton Marsalis.

Programme:

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: Ballade in a minor
Wynton Marsalis: Violin concerto in D

Interval

Florence B. Price: Symphony 3

Kelly Hall-Tompkins: Violin Soloist
Leslie Suganandarajah: Conductor

Join the Chineke! Junior Orchestra in an exciting matinee concert at the end of their week-long residential rehearsal and performance course.

The Chineke! Junior Orchestra is the sister ensemble to the Chineke! Orchestra, and is made up of majority Black and ethnically diverse musicians aged 11 - 22. Both ensembles were founded simultaneously in 2015 with the aim of creating opportunities for emerging and established musicians of Black and ethnically diverse heritage.

This concert comes at the end of an intensive musical week spent together rehearsing and exploring the music that they will perform, as well as receiving individual tuition from members of the senior orchestra, who act as mentors, teachers and role models.

Programme:

Coleridge-Taylor Ballade in A min 

Coleridge-Taylor Romance in G maj for solo violin + orch 

Bottesini Grande Allegro di Concerto 'Alla Mendelssohn' 

Holst Mars (from The Planets) 

Interval   

Dvorak Symphony No 8

Performers:

Matthew Lynch conductor

Elodie Chousmer-Howelles Violin

Charles Campbell-Peek Double bass

Enjoy an extraordinary evening of music as the Chineke! Junior Orchestra takes the stage for their much anticipated summer concert, marking the culmination of their annual week-long residential course.

The Chineke! Junior Orchestra is the sister ensemble to the Chineke! Orchestra, and is made up of majority Black and ethnically diverse musicians aged 11 - 22. Both ensembles were founded simultaneously in 2015 with the aim of creating opportunities for emerging and established musicians of Black and ethnically diverse heritage.

This concert comes at the end of an intensive musical week spent together rehearsing and exploring the music that they will perform, as well as receiving individual tuition from members of the senior orchestra, who act as mentors, teachers and role models.

Programme:

Coleridge-Taylor Ballade in A min 

Coleridge-Taylor Romance in G maj for solo violin + orch 

Bottesini Grande Allegro di Concerto 'Alla Mendelssohn' 

Holst Mars (from The Planets) 

Interval   

Dvorak Symphony No 8

Performers:

Matthew Lynch conductor

Elodie Chousmer-Howelles Violin

Charles Campbell-Peek Double bass

Sail across musical boundaries in this programme by Chineke!

Fela Sowande came to London in 1934 and had a distinguished career in England, Nigeria and the USA. His music combines Western tradition with his native Yoruba culture. Perhaps his best-known work, the African Suite is packed full of open-hearted melodies in its five short movements.

Max Richter fused the musical DNA of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons with his own style. The result topped the charts in 22 countries and has now been recorded by Chineke! – take this chance to hear it live.

Programme:

Fela Sowande: African Suite
Cassie Kinoshi: To the Hibiscus

Interval

Max Richter: Vivaldi Recomposed

Rosie Bergonzi: Handpan Soloist
Elena Urioste: Violin Soloist

Sail across musical boundaries in this programme by Chineke!

Fela Sowande came to London in 1934 and had a distinguished career in England, Nigeria and the USA. His music combines Western tradition with his native Yoruba culture. Perhaps his best-known work, the African Suite is packed full of open-hearted melodies in its five short movements.

Max Richter fused the musical DNA of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons with his own style. The result topped the charts in 22 countries and has now been recorded by Chineke! – take this chance to hear it live.

Programme:

Fela Sowande: African Suite
Cassie Kinoshi: To the Hibiscus

Interval

Max Richter: Vivaldi Recomposed

Rosie Bergonzi: Handpan Soloist
Elena Urioste: Violin Soloist

Chineke! Orchestra gives the London premiere of Cassie Kinoshi’s Handpan Concerto, in a programme also featuring music by Fela Sowande and Max Richter.

This evening is an exploration of musical realms that bridge tradition and innovation.

It commences in lively fashion with African Suite by Fela Sowande (1905 – 1987), a tapestry of melodies that celebrates African musical heritage by infusing traditional Western forms with African rhythms and themes – a combination with which Chineke! is very at home.

The excitement builds as Kinoshi’s Handpan Concerto, a Chineke! commission, gets its London premiere. Rosie Bergonzi, a member of the orchestra’s percussion section, takes the role of soloist, bringing the enigmatic sounds of the handpan to the forefront.

Richter’s Vivaldi Recomposed brings the evening to a close, with a collaboration familiar to Chineke! audiences, as violinist Elena Urioste takes the stage.

They previously recorded this work together for Decca, with Urioste’s expressive and unique reimagining of Vivaldi’s timeless masterpiece transforming it into a mesmerising contemporary experience.

As a whole, these performances create an unforgettable evening that transcends boundaries and celebrates the rich tapestry of global music.

Perfromers:

Rosie Bergonzi handpan

Elena Urioste violin

Programme:

Sowande: African Suite

Cassie Kinoshi: To the Hibiscus (London Premiere)

Co-commissioned by Chineke! and the Southbank Centre

Interval

Max Richter: Vivaldi's Four Seasons Recomposed

Sail across musical boundaries in this programme by Chineke!

Fela Sowande came to London in 1934 and had a distinguished career in England, Nigeria and the USA. His music combines Western tradition with his native Yoruba culture. Perhaps his best-known work, the African Suite is packed full of open-hearted melodies in its five short movements.

Max Richter fused the musical DNA of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons with his own style. The result topped the charts in 22 countries and has now been recorded by Chineke! – take this chance to hear it live.

Programme:

Fela Sowande: African Suite
Cassie Kinoshi: To the Hibiscus (UK Premiere)

Co-commissioned by Chineke! and the Southbank Centre

Interval

Max Richter: Vivaldi Recomposed

Rosie Bergonzi: Handpan Soloist
Elena Urioste: Violin Soloist

Sail across musical boundaries in this programme by Chineke!

Fela Sowande came to London in 1934 and had a distinguished career in England, Nigeria and the USA. His music combines Western tradition with his native Yoruba culture. Perhaps his best-known work, the African Suite is packed full of open-hearted melodies in its five short movements.

Max Richter fused the musical DNA of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons with his own style. The result topped the charts in 22 countries and has now been recorded by Chineke! – take this chance to hear it live.

Programme:

Fela Sowande: African Suite
Cassie Kinoshi: To the Hibiscus (World Premiere)

Co-commissioned by Chineke! and the Southbank Centre

Interval

Max Richter: Vivaldi Recomposed

Rosie Bergonzi: Handpan Soloist
Elena Urioste: Violin Soloist

Chineke! Orchestra present the world premiere of Stewart Goodyear’s Life, Life, Life, along with music by Berlioz and the UK premiere of Garcia’s Requiem.

The evening’s journey commences with Goodyear’s heartfelt tribute to his late mother.

Commissioned by Chineke! Orchestra and subtly echoing the essence of his Trinidadian heritage, Goodyear has said that the work’s name, Life, Life, Life, is something that his mother would often say, whether she was feeling happy, exhausted, or exasperated. She embraced life fully, and Goodyear aims to capture her joy for eternity in this music. Every second is dedicated to her spirit.

Next we plunge into Berlioz’ La Mort de Cléopâtre, a dramatic scene that captures the final moments of the iconic Egyptian queen. Composed in 1829, its powerful emotions and vivid storytelling continue to resonate with audiences, symbolising a tragic end and historical turmoil.

Finally, hear José Mauricio Nunes Garcia’s Requiem in what is believed to be the UK premiere of a neglected masterpiece.

Garcia (1767 – 1830) is one of Brazil’s most prominent classical composers and his Requiem subtly blends Latin American and European forms, creating a work that rejoices in life, and is both reverent and hopeful. Its universal appeal transcends geographical and cultural boundaries.

Combined, these three pieces promise an evening of musical exploration and emotional depth, in the company of Chineke! Orchestra and Chineke! Amateur Symphonic Chorus

Performers:

Malcolm J Merriweather conductor

Isabelle Peters soprano

Idunnu Münch mezzo-soprano

Zwakele Tshabalala tenor

Rodney Earl Clarke baritone

Chineke! Amateur Symphonic Chorus

Programme:

Goodyear: Life, Life, Life (World Premiere)

Berlioz: La mort de Cléopâtre for soprano & orchestra

Interval

Garcia: Requiem

Pratibha Singh Baghel, the sensational singer, makes her UK debut live in concert with Chineke! Orchestra.

The Symphony of Love is a confluence of the rich musical traditions of India and the West, featuring a curated collection of popular old film classics, current Bollywood hits and ghazals – rearranged for orchestra.

As well as Chineke!, who are known for championing change and diversity in classical music and one of the Southbank Centre’s Resident Orchestras, Baghel is joined by eight of India’s leading instrumentalists.

Presented by Ragatip

The Chineke! Wind Quintet and Adjoa Andoh feature in our Sunday family concerts of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf, in partnership with Workspace. Chineke!’s mission is to “champion change and celebrate diversity within classical music”. Peter and the Wolf is a much-loved classic and the perfect family-friendly concert.

Leslie Suganandarajah conducts Chineke! Orchestra in a programme of Coleridge-Taylor, Saint-Saëns and a world premiere by 19-year-old composer Tristen JT Watts.

Watts’ piece, Majestique – a rhythmically driven symphonic work which blends mainstream classical influences, particularly Beethoven and Mendelssohn, with a unique personal voice – opens the concert. It also marks Watts’ first orchestral piece to implement full sonata form and it, as its name suggests, is truly majestic.

The programme continues with Saint-Saëns’ Organ Symphony and sees William Campbell, usually a junior violinist with Chineke!, making his solo organ debut. This symphony integrates the grand sound of the organ with orchestral timbres, providing a stunning conclusion to a diverse and dynamic evening.

The evening concludes with Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Symphony in A minor – also written when the composer was aged 19. It’s a composition that seamlessly combines African and European musical traditions, reflecting the rich cultural heritage of its creator.

Programme:

Tristen Watts: Majestique (World Premiere)

Saint-Saëns: Symphony No.3 in C minor (Organ)

Interval

Coleridge-Taylor: Symphony No.1 in A minor

Leslie Suganandarajah: Conductor

The critically acclaimed musicians of Chineke! make their Stratford East debut with a kaleidoscopic programme for string quartet. The evening celebrates the work of two African-American composers: rising star Brian Nabors, who draws on jazz, funk, R&B and gospel alongside contemporary classical music, and William Grant Still, who was arguably the first Black composer to gain prominence in the world of American classical music in the 1930s. 

Bookended by well-loved classics by Mendelssohn and Haydn, this evening will be a night to remember for the classical music newcomer as well as the contemporary classical connoisseur.

The critically acclaimed musicians of Chineke! come to Newcastle-under-Lyme’s New Vic Theatre with a kaleidoscopic programme for string quartet. Bookended by well-loved classics by Mendelssohn and Haydn, the evening focuses in on work by two contrasting African-American composers: rising star Brian Nabors draws on jazz, funk, R&B and gospel alongside contemporary classical music, while William Grant Still was arguably the first Black composer to gain prominence in the world of American classical music in the 1930s.

This December, get into the festive spirit with A Chineke! Christmas.

Celebrate a joyful occasion with a programme packed full of traditional and soulful carols, classical gems, and opportunities for audience participation!

Join us, along with a splendid lineup of guests, for what promises to be an unforgettable evening of music and celebration.

This December, get into the festive spirit with A Chineke! Christmas.

Celebrate a joyful occasion with a programme packed full of traditional and soulful carols, classical gems, and opportunities for audience participation!

Join us, along with a splendid lineup of guests, for what promises to be an unforgettable evening of music and celebration.

This December, get into the festive spirit with A Chineke! Christmas.

Celebrate a joyful occasion with a programme packed full of traditional and soulful carols, classical gems, and opportunities for audience participation!

Join us, along with a splendid lineup of guests, for what promises to be an unforgettable evening of music and celebration.

Witness the premiere of Joan Armatrading’s first symphony, paired with Tchaikovsky’s expansive Fifth, in a concert of boundary-defying works.

Forging a path that has consistently defied categorisation, the composer, singer and multi-instrumentalist Armatrading explores a new voice in writing for the orchestra. With a renowned catalogue of 21 albums to her credit, Armatrading’s distinctive musicianship has always followed her own curiosity outside of genre boundaries and into new creative arenas. Her first symphony, premiered by the Chineke! Orchestra, brings an electrostatic charge to the concert hall.

Audiences have long been entranced by Tchaikovsky’s ability to generate a rollercoaster of emotional depths and heights, and nowhere is this more evident than in his Fifth Symphony. But the composer’s uninhibited creative choices attracted stinging criticism in his time, derided by many a reviewer as frivolous and sentimental. In his own words, Tchaikovsky’s Fifth marked his ‘complete resignation before Fate’, tracing an expansive journey through both despair and triumph.

With the works of Armatrading and Tchaikovsky, the Chineke! Orchestra offers an evening that celebrates two uncompromising creative voices.

Programme:

Joan Armatrading: Symphony No.1 (World Premiere)

Interval

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No.5

Andrew Grams: Conductor

Five-time Grammy Award-winner Angélique Kidjo returns to the Royal Albert Hall for a celebration of her 40-year career, performing her greatest hits accompanied by the Chineke! Orchestra, conducted by Chris Cameron, and special guests including Grammy-nominated trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf and Senegalese superstar Youssou N’Dour.

Part of the EFG London Jazz Festival, this concert will celebrate the career-spanning catalogue of one of Africa’s best-known artists, with TIME magazine describing her as ‘Africa’s premier diva’, and including her in their list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2021.

Kidjo, who is also the recipient of this year’s prestigious Polar Music Prize, has become renowned for merging the West African traditions of her childhood with American R&B, funk and jazz, alongside influences from Europe and Latin America.

A UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, she has appeared at the Hall twice before – at the 2019 BBC Proms and at a 2008 Stars of Africa fundraising concert. Throughout her career, she has collaborated with high-profile artists such as Sting, Philip Glass, Carlos Santana, Burna Boy, Alicia Keys, Joss Stone and Peter Gabriel, among many others.

Travel through pre- and post-revolutionary Paris, where musical and political ambitions collide in the works of Haydn, Bologne and Beethoven.

From the grandiose opening of Haydn's fourth ‘Paris’ Symphony, to the fizzing wit of its finale, the composer makes the most of an orchestra over three times the size of his usual ensemble.

Reportedly a favourite of the soon-to-be-deposed Marie Antoinette, it was commissioned by the dazzling violinist, fencer and composer Joseph Bologne. Despite his close engagement with the highest aristocratic circles, Bologne - who had dual French/Caribbean heritage - was invigorated by the Revolution’s ethos of social reform, later leading a legion in support of the Republic.

The evening concludes with a work that transformed the classical symphony, catapulting it into the Romantic era. Initially dedicated to Napoleon, his decision to proclaim himself Emperor dashed Beethoven’s hopes that he would realise the ideals of the Revolution, and the dedication was swiftly removed. Nonetheless, the sense of rebellion remains.

Programme:

Haydn: Symphony No.85 (La Reine)
Bologne (Chevalier de Saint-Georges): Violin Concerto in G, Op.8

Interval

Beethoven: Symphony No.3 (Eroica)