The first performance of this concerto took place at the Mehlgrube Casino in Vienna on 11 February 1785, with the composer as the soloist. A few days later, the composer’s father Leopold wrote to Mozart’s sister Nannerl about his recent success:
‘[I heard] an excellent new piano concerto by Wolfgang, on which the copyist was still at work when we got here, and your brother didn’t even have time to play through the rondo because he had to oversee the copying operation.’
The young Beethoven so admired this concerto that it became part of his repertoire. He even wrote a monumental cadenza for the final movement which Martin James Bartlett will include in his performance.
‘Martin James Bartlett brought maximum feeling to the music and played with astonishing delicacy and punch.’
The Daily Telegraph
According to Leopold’s report, Mozart used his own piano at the first performance which was specially equipped with a pedal-board for his feet! Presumably this was to reinforce the left-hand part.
Bohemia!
Tuesday 30 April 2024, 7.30pm St George’s Hanover Square 2A Mill Street, Mayfair, London W1S 1FX
Beethoven Leonore Overture No.3, Op.72 Mozart Piano Concerto No.20 in D minor, K.466 Dvořák Symphony No.8 in G, Op. 88
Conductor George Jackson Piano Martin James Bartlett
https://www.londonfirebird.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/unnamed.jpg6811200London Firebird Orchestrahttps://www.londonfirebird.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/firebird11.pngLondon Firebird Orchestra2024-04-19 09:28:342024-04-19 10:12:01Meet the Soloist: Martin James Bartlett
Firebird’s next concert ‘Bohemia’ showcases a real rising star – pianist Martin James Bartlett – who will perform music at the heart of the programme on 30 April…
Martin James Bartlettpossesses a fearless technique and plays with a maturity and elegance far beyond his years. His second album, Rhapsody received 5* star reviews and was GramophoneEditor’s Choice.
‘Everything works to illuminate the music.’
The Times, 5 Stars, June 2019
Film and TV buffs might recognise some of the music in this concerto as the first movement was used in Series 1 of the television series Mr. Robot.
The movement also features in the 1984 film Amadeuswhen Mozart is stumbling home after an evening with Emanual Schikaneder composing the score of his opera The Magic Flute. The Second movement also appears in the final scene and during the end credits.
‘Martin James Bartlett brought maximum feeling to the music and played with astonishing delicacy and punch.’
The Daily Telegraph
Either side of the Mozart is a fantastic overture by Beethoven and one of the most-loved orchestral symphonies by Dvorak.
Be sure to get your tickets online for this terrific concert at the end of this month.
Bohemia! Tuesday 30 April 2024, 7.30pm St George’s Hanover Square 2A Mill Street, Mayfair, London W1S 1FX
Beethoven Leonore Overture No.3, Op.72 Mozart Piano Concerto No.20 in D minor, K.466 Dvořák Symphony No.8 in G, Op. 88
Conductor George Jackson Piano Martin James Bartlett
https://www.londonfirebird.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Martin-James-Bartlett4-e1718023276360.jpeg12021202London Firebird Orchestrahttps://www.londonfirebird.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/firebird11.pngLondon Firebird Orchestra2024-04-09 10:04:382024-04-09 10:07:14Mozart’s finest played by the best
Our 30 April concert takes us to the very heart of Central Europe with one of the greatest works by the Czech composer Dvořák(pictured below). Dvořák’s musical style is inextricably linked with the traditional folk music of Moravia and Bohemia.
His cheery and lyrical 8th Symphony is a perfect example of this musical influence from his homeland, composed on the occasion of his election to the Bohemian Academy of Science, Literature and Arts in 1890.
The concert opens with Beethoven’s heroic Leonora Overture. Beethoven(pictured below) actually wrote four overtures for his only opera Fidelio, struggling to balance the intense drama with the calmer opening scenes in the opera.
Beethoven
It wasn’t until the 1841 revival of the opera that he composed this somewhat lighter version – with the first performance outside Vienna talking place that year in Prague – which is of course in Bohemia!
In between these two masterworks we have one of the most admired works for piano and orchestra in the repertoire with Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.20. This work was so admired by Beethoven that he frequently performed it himself. In our concert it will be performed by our soloist, Martin James Bartlett(pictured below).
‘Martin James Bartlett brought maximum feeling to the music and played with astonishing delicacy and punch.’
The Daily Telegraph
The concert will be conducted by our very own George Jackson (pictured below).Tickets are now on sale for this fantastic evening of great music.
Bohemia
Tuesday 30 April 2024, 7.30pm St George’s Hanover Square 2A Mill Street, Mayfair, London W1S 1FX
Beethoven Leonore Overture No.3, Op.72 Mozart Piano Concerto No.20 in D minor, K.466 Dvořák Symphony No.8 in G, Op. 88
Conductor George Jackson Piano Martin James Bartlett
1. As part of the celebrations of Classic FM’s 30th birthday in 2022, Jonathan was one of 30 outstanding young musicians from across the globe nominated as aRising Star Artist.
2. Jonathan received 25,000 Swiss francs in prize money as the 2022 winner of the prestigious Arther Waser Prizetogether with concert engagements with the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra.
3. Jonathan has performed as a concerto soloist across Europe with some of the world’s greatest orchestras.
‘Leibovitz is a passionate communicator, mastering these showy, virtuosic variations with ease and fluency.’
Classic Melbourne – Bendigo Chamber Music Festival
4. Jonathan is an avid chamber musician having recorded and given concerts at festival across Europe, in Australia at the Bendigo Chamber Music Festival, and in South America as part of a concert tour of Colombia.
5. Jonathan completed his Masters at the Music Academy in Basel in Switzerland with Brazilian clarinettist François Benda.
Clarinet Fair
Tuesday 27 February 2024, 7.30pm St George’s Hanover Square 2A Mill Street, Mayfair, London W1S 1FX
Mendelssohn: Die Schöne Melusine Op.32 (The Fair Melusine) Mozart: Clarinet Concerto in A, K.622 Beethoven: Symphony No.2 in D, Op.36
Jonathan Leibovitz clarinet Michael Thrift conductor
https://www.londonfirebird.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/unnamed-9-e1708334955694.jpg4381200London Firebird Orchestrahttps://www.londonfirebird.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/firebird11.pngLondon Firebird Orchestra2024-02-15 09:31:012024-02-19 10:29:30Five things you didn’t know about the solo clarinettist in our next concert…
Cheery yet graceful, this beautiful work is considered to be Mozart’s swan-song and his last great completed work. It’s also been featured in several films including The King’s Speech and Out of Africa.
Prize-winner at the YCAT (London) and CAG (New York) International Auditions, Jonathan went on to receive the prestigious Arthur Waser Foundation and Lucerne Symphony Orchestra Award.
In 2022 he was nominated as a Rising Star Artist by Classic FM.
‘From the very first note, there is a great artist on stage…’
Luzerner Zeitung
The concert will be conducted by our very own Michael Thrift and the programme will also include two wonderful pieces of orchestral music:
An exotic concert overture by Mendelssohn: Die Schöne Melusine (The Fair Melusine) which hints at the legend of the water-nymph Melusine.
Beethoven’s Second Symphony, filled with humour and energy, but at times lyrical and dramatic.
Clarinet Fair
Tuesday 27 February 2024, 7.30pm St George’s Hanover Square 2A Mill Street, Mayfair, London W1S 1FX
Mendelssohn Die Schöne Melusine Op.32 (The Fair Melusine) Mozart Clarinet Concerto in A, K.622 Beethoven Symphony no.2 in D, Op.36
Jonathan Leibovitz clarinet Michael Thrift conductor
https://www.londonfirebird.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/5cdc62e5-dd35-9e3b-9759-12616fbd06de.jpg5041200London Firebird Orchestrahttps://www.londonfirebird.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/firebird11.pngLondon Firebird Orchestra2024-01-31 06:42:592024-01-31 06:49:26All the Fun of the Fair
How did a remote garden in the Lake District inspire a wonderful piece of music which you can hear in the next Firebirdconcert at Kings Place on 28 January?
British composer Ruth Gipps (1921-1999) belonged to that generation of post WW2 English composers following on from the post-romantic tradition of the likes of Vaughan Williams, Bax, Ireland and Holst.
‘She was an all-rounder in the best sense of the term, and her contribution to British musical life over five decades is both immeasurable and enduring.’
Bret Johnson The Guardian
Ruth Gipps produced more than 70 works, including five symphonies. Many of her compositions were inspired by the landscape of the South-East of England.
But the gorgeous Cringlemire Garden is inspired by the rural landscape in the north-east near Troutbeck, in the Lake District.
Cringlemire was designed by architect Dan Gibson in the 1890s for Henry Martin as an arboricultural museum. Described as an ‘Impression for string orchestra’, this six minute tone poem premiered in 1952 and describes the feelings of being in this garden surrounded by the dramatic landscape of the Lake District.
The Firebird Orchestra will be conducted by George Jackson. With pianist Harris Tsz-Chun Leung and soprano Sian Dicker, this concert will also feature music by two of the greatest names from the classical era, Haydn and Mozart.
Garden of Fire
Sunday 28 January 2024, 6.30pm Kings Place, London
Ruth Gipps Cringlemire Garden: Impression for string orchestra, Op. 39 Mozart Piano Concerto No.9 in E flat, K. 271 ‘Jeunehomme’ Mozart Voi avete un cor fedele, K. 217 Haydn Symphony No. 59 in A, Hob. I:59 ‘Fire’
Conducted by George Jackson, the Firebird Orchestra will be joined by pianist Harris Tsz-Chun Leung and soprano Sian Dicker for this concert. It will feature music by two of the greatest names from the classical era, Haydn and Mozart, together with a rarely performed beautiful fantasy by British composer Ruth Gipps.
Ruth Gipps (1921-1999) produced more than 70 works, including five symphonies. She belonged to that generation of post WW2 English composers of the post-romantic afterglow of Vaughan Williams, Bax, Ireland and Holst.
British composer Ruth Gipps is enjoying something of a renaissance with her lyrical orchestral writing and romantic inspiration which we will hear in her gorgeous Cringlemire Garden.
‘She was an all-rounder in the best sense of the term, and her contribution to British musical life over five decades is both immeasurable and enduring’.
Bret Johnson, The Guardian
By contrast the concert ends with Haydn’s so-called ‘Fire Symphony’ This was an early work composed in the 1760s when in the employ of Nikolaus I, Prince Esterházy. The title was originally thought to refer to the fiery nature of the composition.
n between, two glorious works by Mozart with talented pianist Harris Tsz-Chun Leung performing a piano concerto described by Alfred Brendel as one of the ‘wonders of the world,’ and the beautiful voice of Sian Dicker performing one of his popular concert arias.
Garden of Fire
Sunday 28 January 2024 6.30pm Kings Place, London
Ruth Gipps Cringlemire Garden: Impression for string orchestra, Op. 39 Mozart Piano Concerto No.9 in E flat, K. 271 ‘Jeunehomme’ Mozart Voi avete un cor fedele, K. 217 Haydn Symphony No. 59 in A, Hob. I:59 ‘Fire’
https://www.londonfirebird.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Garden-of-Fire-thin.jpg10742560London Firebird Orchestrahttps://www.londonfirebird.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/firebird11.pngLondon Firebird Orchestra2023-12-17 05:18:452023-12-17 05:21:40Garden of Fire
The Avalon Trio bring a delightful programme of music to St. George’s Hanover Square on 14 November…
This will be the second in the Firebird Chamber Platform series of concerts giving a much needed opportunity for smaller scale ensembles to perform under the Firebird banner.
Violinist Louis Solon, Cellist Seb Williams and Pianist Benji Lock discovered their shared passion for Russian Romantic music during their time at the Purcell School following a play through of the Tchaikovsky Piano Trio. The name ‘The Avalon Trio’ not only represents their Celtic roots but also refers to the mythical island of Avalon, a place of mystery and magic encapsulating the spirit of Russian Romantic music.
The Trio has performed in venues including the Wigmore Hall, the Elgar Concert Hall, Bracknell Music Festival and the Purcell School. As well as the upcoming recital at St George’s Hanover Square, the trio looks forward to performances at Sledmere House, Benslow Music and the Budleigh Music Festival.
‘Our debut chamber performance at Wigmore Hall was an incredible experience that we will remember forever because of the hall’s history and incredible acoustic’
Benji Lock Piano
Tell us about the music the Trio is performing?
“On 14 November, as well as playing the Haydn’s wonderful ‘Gypsy Rondo’ Trio, we will also be showcasing two of our favourite works by two of the greatest of the Russian romantics composers: Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky. There is something about the sheer intensity within the music as well as the sweeping melodies which really inspires us.”
What are your plans for the future as a Trio?
“Our dreams include performing among some of the most prestigious concert halls worldwide and collaborate with many musicians and share our passion for the music we play to the world, discovering and promoting lesser-known piano trios.
We also hugely enjoy exploring lesser-known composers – for instance we are currently working on the Babadjanian Piano Trio which we feel is an extremely underrated piano trio combining Armenian folk influences with Western classical traditions.”
Further details on our sensational 2023/24 Season are now here. Check out our fantastic Firebird Concerts for a night out to remember…
Firebird Chamber Platform: The Avalon Trio
Tuesday 14 November 2023 St George’s Hanover Square
Haydn Piano Trio no. 39 in G, Hob. XV/25 Gypsy Rondo Rachmaninoff Trio Élégiaque no.1 in G minor, Op. Post. Tchaikovsky Piano Trio in A minor, Op. 50
Violin Louis Solon Cello Seb Williams Piano Benji Lock
The second in the Firebird Chamber Platform series presents this wonderful instrumental combination performing music from three of the greatest names from the 18th and 19th centuries.
‘We are delighted to announce details of our 2023/24 Concert Season and look forward to seeing you all at the concerts.’
Marc Corbett-Weaver, Artistic Director
Garden of Fire
Sunday 28 January 2024 Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9AG
Ruth Gipps Cringlemire Garden: Impression for string orchestra, Op. 39 Mozart Piano Concerto no. 9 in E flat, K. 271 (‘Jeunehomme’) Mozart Voi avete un cor fedele, K. 217 Haydn Symphony No. 59 in A, Hob. I:59 ‘Fire’
Conductor George Jackson Piano Harris Tsz-Chun Leung Soprano Sian Dicker
This concert is alive with the verve of youth from the classical masters and the dextrous piano playing of Harris Tsz-Chun Leung. We also feature exquisite music from British composer Ruth Gipps.
Tuesday 27 February 2024 St George’s Hanover Square
Mendelssohn Die Schöne Melusine (The Fair Melusine) Mozart Clarinet Concerto in A, K. 622 Beethoven Symphony no. 2 in D, Op. 36
Clarinet Jonathan Leibovitz Conductor Michael Thrift
Featuring Mozart’s sublime concerto for clarinet with the vibrant playing of Jonathan Leibovitz alongside masterworks from the classical and romantic world under the baton of Michael Thrift.
Beethoven Piano Concerto no. 5 in E flat, Op. 72 The Emperor Dvorak Symphony no. 8 in G, Op. 88
Conductor George Jackson Piano George Harliono
Beethoven’s vast and heroic fifth piano concerto may not be associated with any emperor, yet it stands proud as one of the most admired works in the repertoire. Talented pianist George Harliono returns to perform this magnificent work.
Firebird conductors Michael Thrift and George Jackson
Firebird for Schools
Thursday 16 May 2024 St George’s Hanover Square
Programme to include: Prokofiev Peter and the Wolf.
Conductor Michael Thrift
As part of our ongoing commitment to presenting tailor-made concerts for schoolchildren, London Firebird Orchestra introduces young people to the magical world of the orchestra with a selection of well-known classical works.
Forests & Fantasy
Tuesday 11 June 2024 St George’s Hanover Square
Revich Olario Prelude Gershwin/Frolov Fantasy on themes from Porgy and Bess Revich Olario Choriner Wald (the Forest of Chorin) Massenet Méditation from Thais Bizet/Sarasate Carmen Fantasy Sibelius Symphony no. 2 in D, Op. 43
Violin Yury Revich Olario Conductor Michael Thrift
Firebird and conductor Michael Thrift bring orchestral favourites from around the world with a welcome return by the amazing violinist and composer Yury Revich Olario.
https://www.londonfirebird.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Firebird.png5481128London Firebird Orchestrahttps://www.londonfirebird.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/firebird11.pngLondon Firebird Orchestra2023-10-14 15:37:402023-10-14 15:40:13Fabulous Music from Firebird’s 2023/24 Season
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