The Orchestra of the City is based in London, England.
London is the capital and largest city of both England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south-east of England, at the head of its 50-mile (80 km) estuary leading to the North Sea, London has been a major settlement for two millennia. Londinium was founded by the Romans. The City of London, London's ancient core − an area of just 1.12 square miles (2.9 km2) and colloquially known as the Square Mile − retains boundaries that follow closely its medieval limits. The City of Westminster is also an Inner London borough holding city status. Greater London is governed by the Mayor of London and the London Assembly.
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to the west and Scotland to the north-northwest. The Irish Sea lies west of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south. The country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain, which lies in the North Atlantic, and includes over 100 smaller islands, such as the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Wight.
Founded in April 2003, the Orchestra of the City consists of amateur but well-trained musicians, and plays to a high standard. It is a subscription orchestra and is run by a committee. The current Musical Director is Chris Hopkins, who took over the role from Ben Bayl in 2009.
The orchestra performs large orcestral works with recent notable performances including the Premiere of Christopher Gunning's Guitar Concerto with Craig Ogden, Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 1 with Guy Johnston, Bartok Violin Concerto No. 2 with Andrew Harvey and Brahms Double Concerto with Andrew Harvey and Colin Alexander. The orchestra has also been used as a rehearsal orchestra for the likes of Hideko Udagawa and Nicola Benedetti.
Guy Johnston is a British cellist and the winner of the BBC Young Musician of the Year award in 2000. He has subsequently enjoyed a successful international career as a soloist and chamber musician and currently serves as an Associate Professor of Cello at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester New York.
Hideko Udagawa is a Japanese violinist based in London, United Kingdom.
Nicola Benedetti CBE is a Scottish classical violinist.
Orchestra of the City celebrated its 10th Anniversary in July 2013 with a performance of Berstein's Overture to Candide, Chausson's Poème Op. 25 (with Anna Ovsyanikova) and Rachmaninoff's 3rd Symphony.
Julian Lloyd Webber is a British cellist, conductor and the principal of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.
Joanna MacGregor is a British concert pianist, conductor, composer, and festival curator. She is Head of Piano at the Royal Academy of Music and a Professor of the University of London. She is currently Artistic Director of the International Summer School & Festival at Dartington Hall.
The Gramophone Classical Music Awards, launched in 1977, are one of the most significant honours bestowed on recordings in the classical record industry. They are often viewed as equivalent to or surpassing the American Grammy award, and referred to as the Oscars for classical music. They are widely regarded as the most influential and prestigious classical music awards in the world.
Hilary Hahn is an American violinist. In her career, she has performed throughout the world both as a soloist with leading orchestras and conductors and as a recitalist. She also built a reputation as a champion of contemporary music. Several composers have written works especially for her, including concerti by Edgar Meyer and Jennifer Higdon and partitas by Antón García Abril.
The English Concert is a baroque orchestra playing on period instruments based in London. Founded in 1972 and directed from the harpsichord by Trevor Pinnock for 30 years, it is now directed by harpsichordist Harry Bicket. Nadja Zwiener has been orchestra leader (concertmaster) since September 2007.
The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra is an American symphony orchestra based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Baltimore SO has its principal residence at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, where it performs more than 130 concerts a year. In 2005, it began regular performances at the Music Center at Strathmore in Bethesda.
Stephen Andrew Gill Hough, CBE (; born 22 November 1961) is a British-born classical pianist, composer and writer. He became an Australian citizen in 2005 and thus has dual nationality.
The Australian Brandenburg Orchestra (ABO) is an Australian period instrument orchestra specialising in the performance of baroque and classical music.
The Albany Symphony Orchestra is a professional symphony orchestra based in Albany, New York.
Aram Khachaturian's Piano Concerto in D-flat major, Op. 38, was composed in 1936. It was his first work to bring him recognition in the West, and it immediately entered the repertoire of many notable pianists.
Richard Harvey is a BAFTA Award–winning English musician and composer. Originally of the mediaevalist progressive rock group Gryphon, he is best known now for his film and television soundtracks. He is also known for his guitar concerto Concerto Antico, which was composed for the guitarist John Williams and the London Symphony Orchestra.
Øystein Baadsvik is a Norwegian tuba soloist and chamber musician.
The Strathclyde Concertos are a series of ten orchestral works by the English composer Sir Peter Maxwell Davies.
Andrew Marriner is a British solo, chamber and orchestral clarinettist. He became principal of the London Symphony Orchestra in 1986 following the footsteps of the late Jack Brymer. During his orchestral career he has maintained his place on the worldwide solo concert platform alongside an active role in the field of chamber music.
Andrew Shulman is an English cellist, conductor and composer. He is currently the principal cellist of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.
Fantaisie for piano and orchestra, L. 73, is a composition for piano and orchestra by French composer Claude Debussy. It was composed between October 1889 and April 1890 but it received its first public performance only in 1919, a year after Debussy's death, in London by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra with Alfred Cortot as soloist. It is Debussy's only composition for piano and orchestra and, even though it is written in a three movement form, it was not composed as a Piano Concerto. This work is dedicated to the pianist René Chansarel, who had been scheduled to play the solo part for the cancelled premiere in 1890.
The Double Concerto for Violin, Cello, and Orchestra by Frederick Delius is a double concerto for violin, cello, and orchestra in C minor, composed between April and June 1915 while Delius lived in Watford, England. The work is dedicated to the sister duo of violinist May Harrison and cellist Beatrice Harrison, who premiered the piece under conductor Henry Wood on February 21, 1920 in Queen's Hall, London.
The Concerto for Orchestra is an orchestral composition in five movements by the American composer Jennifer Higdon. The work was commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra with contributions from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Philadelphia Music Project, and Peter Benoliel. It was premiered at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia June 12, 2002, with conductor Wolfgang Sawallisch leading the Philadelphia Orchestra.
The Saxophone Concerto is a composition for alto saxophone and orchestra by the American composer John Adams. The work was jointly commissioned by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the St. Louis Symphony, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo Foundation. It was given its world premiere in Sydney, Australia on August 22, 2013 by the saxophonist Timothy McAllister and Sydney Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Adams.
