The London Chamber Ensemble | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | London, United Kingdom |
| Genres | Classical |
| Years active | 1992-present |
| Members | Madeleine Mitchell (violin) Gordon MacKay (violin) Bridget Carey (viola) Joseph Spooner (cello) |
The London Chamber Ensemble [1] is a flexible ensemble of 3-12 players, including voice, comprising some of the UK's most outstanding chamber musicians, with a permanent core string quartet since 2018.
LCE was formed by Madeleine Mitchell in 1992, initially at the request of the Vale of Glamorgan Festival, to perform Quatuor pour la fin du temps by Messiaen, going on to perform at the BBC Proms (with Mitchell and Joanna MacGregor's arrangement of Bach, the last of the Art of Fugue)... [2] Their recording of the Messiaen (using their individual names), along with Quatuor pour la Naissance by Krauze , was the widely recommended version of the work for many years. "An all star group which manages to outdo all its rivals" - Gramophone [3]
After the death of cellist Christopher Van Kampen, the ensemble expanded for many other concerts and broadcasts including festivals and music clubs and programmes for BBC Radio 3, including the Millennium Series and St George's Bristol Russian and Hungarian series. They have also performed in Malta, Spain for National Spanish Radio and for Bulgarian TV. The LCE gave a concert for the Hall for Cornwall International Series, replacing the Academy of St Martin's Chamber Ensemble at short notice, with pianist Huw Watkins. Many of the musicians are professors at conservatoires. LCE's programme with Kyle Horch (saxophone), Madeleine Mitchell (violin) and Nigel Clayton (piano) of jazz inspired music - Gershwin An American in Paris ("in Mitchell's own highly effective arrangement" - The Times), Shostakovitch Jazz Suite and Weill Little Threepenny Music - was performed at St John's Smith Square Americana Season on American Independence Day 2018. [4] Madeleine was asked by the Alwyn Trust to put together an album for Naxos in 2006 of William Alwyn Chamber Music and Song, all first recordings. This was followed by the London Chamber Ensemble album for Naxos/BMS of Grace Williams Chamber Music, all world premiere recordings, which was Guardian [5] 'CD of the Week' and no.2 in the Classical Charts on release on International Women's Day 2019. It was also featured by The Violin Channel, [6] The Strad, [7] WTJU FM, [8] Classical CD Choice, [9] The Art Music Lounge, [10] The Financial Times, [11] Music Web International, [12] Limelight Magazine [13] and was Norman Lebrecht's 'Disc of the Week'. [14] They presented this music in the Beaumaris [15] and other festivals following this release. "Passionate and persuasive advocacy..more please" - Gramophone. [16]
The LCE were invited to appear in the Southbank Centre's International Chamber Music Season 2020/21 in Mitchell's programme 'A Century of Music by UK Women' 1921-2021, including a world premiere by Errollyn Wallen CBE. This was live streamed from St John's Smith Square on International Women's Day, supported by the RVW and Ambache Trusts with coverage on BBC Radio 4, [17] Radio 3, Classic FM, Arcana FM, [18] Scala Radio, British Music Society, [19] The Guardian, The Independent, BBC Music Magazine, [20] The Strad [21] Premiere of the Month and Musical Opinion: "very fine performances of a broad range of fresh and rewarding repertoire...the players brought energy, precision and interpretative imagination". [22]
The LCE's director Madeleine Mitchell won a Royal Philharmonic Society Enterprise Award in 2022 for her creative project linking art and music in film, including her Anglo-Russian LCE String Quartet introduced concert programme with the V&A exhibition Fabergé: Romance to Revolution, [23] returning to the V&A for a sold-out concert during the Chanel exhibition, 2023. The quartet recorded a work by Effy Efthimiou in 2022. [24] They opened Kensington & Chelsea Music Society 2022/23 season in the newly refurbished Leighton House with Quartet no.5 by Joseph Horovitz (in tribute to the composer who died in 2022) and Brahms Clarinet Quintet. [25] In 2023 they gave the premiere of the newly discovered original version of Herbert Howells String Quartet no.3 In Gloucestershire with Schubert String Quintet for the Schubert Society of Great Britain [26]
Julian Anderson is a British composer and teacher of composition.
Grace Mary Williams was a Welsh composer, generally regarded as Wales's most notable female composer, and the first British woman to score a feature film.
Leonidas Kavakos is a Greek violinist and conductor. As a violinist, he has won prizes at several international violin competitions, including the Sibelius, Paganini, Naumburg, and Indianapolis competitions. He is an Onassis Foundation scholar. He has also recorded for record labels such as Sony/BMG and BIS. As a conductor, he was an artistic director of the Camerata Salzburg and has been a guest conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra and Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Errollyn Wallen is a Belize-born British composer and musician.
The Del Sol Quartet is a string quartet based in San Francisco, California that was founded in 1992 by violist Charlton Lee.
The Ensō String Quartet is a US-based string quartet. Formed in 1999, it released three CDs on the Naxos Records label, one of which was nominated for a "Best Chamber Music Performance" Grammy award. It won a number of competitions, including the 2003 Concert Artists Guild, 2004 Banff International String Quartet Competition, and the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition.
London Mozart Players (LMP) are a British chamber orchestra founded in 1949. LMP are the longest-established chamber orchestra in the United Kingdom. Since 1989, the orchestra has been Resident Orchestra at Fairfield Halls, Croydon.
Madeleine Louise Mitchell MMus, ARCM, GRSM, FRSA is a British violinist who has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in over forty countries. She has a wide repertoire and is particularly known for commissioning and premiering new works and for promoting British music in concert and on disc.
John McLaughlin Williams is a Grammy award-winning American orchestral conductor and violinist.
The Pavel Haas Quartet is a Czech string quartet which was founded in 2002. Their first album with the second quartets of Haas and Janáček won the 2007 Gramophone Award for Chamber music. The Gramophone reviewer David Fanning described their playing as "streamlined but full-blooded". Their recording of the Dvořák String Quartets Op. 106 & 96 won the Gramophone Awards' most coveted "Recording of the Year" prize in 2011.
The Kodály Quartet is a string quartet founded in 1966 in Budapest, Hungary, originally as Sebestyén Quartet. In 1969, with the approval of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs of the Hungarian Republic, the quartet assumed its present name in honour of the Hungarian composer Zoltán Kodály.
The Barylli Quartet was a celebrated Austrian string quartet classical musical ensemble. It was first brought together in Vienna during the War by Walter Barylli, Konzertmeister of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra from 1939, but was re-founded in 1945. The reformed quartet actually appeared in public performance only from 1951 to 1960. In that period it was the 'home' quartet of the Vienna Musikverein.
Henri Temianka was a virtuoso violinist, conductor, author and music educator.
Peter Seabourne is an English contemporary classical composer based in Lincolnshire, England.
Philip Dukes is a British classical viola soloist.
The Berkeley Ensemble is a British chamber music ensemble that explores little-known twentieth- and twenty first-century British chamber music alongside a more established repertoire.
Leia Zhu is a British-Chinese classical violinist.
Timothy Ridout is a British violist and 1st Prizewinner of the prestigious Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition.
Andrew Ball was a British pianist, best known for his interpretations of Michael Tippett’s piano sonatas, which he studied with the composer.
The Doric String Quartet is based in the UK and was formed in 1998. As of 2023, the members are Alex Redington and Ying Xue on violin, Hélène Clément on viola and John Myerscough on cello. Past members include Jonathan Stone, Simon Tandree and Chris Brown. In 2008, the quartet won first prize at the Osaka International Chamber Music Competition and second prize at the "Premio Paolo Borciani" International String Quartet Competition. Their repertoire includes Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Bartók, Janáček, Korngold and Britten, as well as the work of contemporary composers such as John Adams, Thomas Adès and Brett Dean. They have given premieres of works by Dean, Peter Maxwell Davies and Donnacha Dennehy. The Doric is Teaching Quartet in Association with the Royal Academy of Music and artistic director of the Mendelssohn on Mull Festival. They have recorded for Chandos since 2009.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)