Archive for category: News

We discover more about award-winning violinist Charlotte Saluste-Bridoux who takes centre stage at the next Firebird concert…

1. Tell us a little more about your background as a musician…

I grew up with music all around me and quickly asked for my own instrument; I’ve had a violin in my hands ever since. My training was classical for the most part, but my violin playing always included improvising/playing around with folk tunes. Together with my love for gut strings, this has remained at the heart of my identity.

2. Tell us about one of your favourite moments on stage?

When preparing for a Wigmore Hall concert with Joseph Havlat, we played a run of concerts prior to the big day. Jo had arranged Szymanowski songs for violin and piano, and in our very first outing something almost magical happened. Everything felt gracefully understated. I remember feeling quite humbled to have managed to create the colours and atmospheres Jo had envisioned when arranging the songs. Moments like these are the true silver lining to our sometimes obsessive search for the intangible, these are the little things that make it all worthwhile. 

3. Are you more at home as a soloist, chamber musician or orchestral musical?

Each of these settings is incredibly valuable to me. When it comes to solo repertoire, I find the solitary work to be quite meditative, which invariably culminates in an exhilarating sense freedom on stage. As for working with orchestras, experiencing the solo playing repertoire is very powerful. However I think what I enjoy most is working in a chamber orchestra setting, which allows for more malleability and a different approach to time. 

4. Tell us something about your future musical ambitions…

I’m really looking forward to a very exciting recording project in spring 2025 where I will record all five Mozart concertos as well as the Sinfonia Concertante with Mathieu Herzog and the Appassionato orchestra. The most exciting part of all is that we have commissioned cadenzas from Oliver Leith, Héloïse Werner, Joseph Havlat, Isabella Gellis and William Marsey for each concerto which will be premiered in the live recording!  

5. What insight do you plan to bring to your forthcoming performance of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto?

I’ve been practising the Beethoven on both my gut string and modern set up violins, experimenting with tempo, fingerings, articulation – it’s been a lot of fun. I wouldn’t exactly call it insight but let’s see what comes out!

Beethoven with Charlotte Saluste-Bridoux

Tuesday 24 September 2024
St George’s Hanover Square
2A Mill Street, Mayfair, London W1S 1FX

Beethoven Violin Concerto in D, Op. 61
Mozart Symphony No.41, K.551 (Jupiter)

London Firebird Orchestra
Guest Conductor George Jackson
Violin Charlotte Saluste-Bridoux

Sensational violinist and composer Yury Revich Olario is back on 11 June with another unmissable Firebird spectacular…

Yury brings us two beautiful works of his own alongside some wonderful music featuring his dazzling virtuosic talents as soloist with the Orchestra.

In the short video below Yury talks about the upcoming concert and its fantastic programme which includes a Fantasy from Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, the famous Méditationby Massanet, Bizet’s every popular Carmen Fantasy – and music by himself too.

The second half of the programme features the magnificent Second Symphony by Jean Sibelius. Composed at the beginning of the 20th century, he said of this work that ‘My second symphony is a confession of the soul.’

Critics were divided following the symphony’s premiere, but the public loved it.

It was dubbed the ‘Symphony of Independence’ as it was written at a time of Russian sanctions on the Finnish language and culture. 

The concert will be conducted by our very own Michael Thrift. 

Tickets are now on sale for this memorable evening of great music.

Forests & Fantasy

Tuesday 11 June 2024 7.30pm
St George’s Hanover Square, Mayfair, London W1S 1FX

Yury 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

Conductor Michael Thrift
ViolinYury Revich Olario

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 Gramophone Editor’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

‘…from the very first note, there is a great artist on stage.’ says the press… so don’t miss Jonathan Leibovitz’s Firebird debut on 27 February.

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

How did a remote garden in the Lake District inspire a wonderful piece of music which you can hear in the next Firebird concert 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’

Lake District photograph by James Armes on Unsplash