The Thorington Players are an amateur orchestra based in London. The orchestra gives frequent concerts for charity. It is conducted by David Cairns. [1]
An orchestra is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which mixes instruments from different families, including bowed string instruments such as violin, viola, cello, and double bass, as well as brass, woodwinds, and percussion instruments, each grouped in sections. Other instruments such as the piano and celesta may sometimes appear in a fifth keyboard section or may stand alone, as may the concert harp and, for performances of some modern compositions, electronic instruments.
London is the capital and largest city of 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.
David Adam Cairns is a British journalist, non-fiction writer and musician. He is a leading authority on the life of Berlioz.
It has often played at St. John's, Smith Square, in the chapel of Merton College, Oxford and at the Suffolk festival Summer on the Peninsula, but its main base is St. Mary's Church, Putney (the scene of the Putney Debates in 1647).
Merton College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 1260s when Walter de Merton, chancellor to Henry III and later to Edward I, first drew up statutes for an independent academic community and established endowments to support it. An important feature of Walter's foundation was that this "college" was to be self-governing and the endowments were directly vested in the Warden and Fellows.
Suffolk is an East Anglian county of historic origin in England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowestoft, Bury St Edmunds, Newmarket and Felixstowe, one of the largest container ports in Europe.
The Putney Debates were a series of discussions between members of the New Model Army – a number of the participants being Levellers – concerning the makeup of a new constitution for Britain.
The orchestra was founded in 1983 by David Cairns with the help of friends, after week-ends of chamber music at Thorington Hall in Suffolk.
Soloists who have performed with the orchestra include: Gina McCormack, Tasmin Little, Steven Isserlis, Garrick Ohlsson, Ian Lake, Peter Cropper, Stephen Kovacevich, Tamas Vesmas, Grace Francis, Lionel Friend, Sophia Rahman, Martin Neary, Jane Hyland, Alice Neary, Jill Gomez, Mark Tatlow, Robin Ticciati, Luciano Iorio, James Mcleod, Jorja Fleezanis, Katherine Hunka, Alison Buchanan, Phyllis Cannan, Robert Tear, John Graham-Hall, Thomas Helmsley, Catrin Johnsson, Milana Zaric, Audrey Hylad, Hilary Dolamore, Jessica Walker, David Murphy, Richard Ireland and David Wilson Johnson.
Tasmin Little is an English classical violinist. She is best known and widely acclaimed as a concerto soloist, and also performs as a recitalist and chamber musician. She has released numerous albums, winning the Critics Award at the Classic Brit Awards in 2011 for her recording of Elgar's Violin Concerto.
Steven Isserlis is a British cellist. He is distinguished for his diverse repertoire, distinctive sound deployed with his use of gut strings and command of phrasing.
Garrick Olof Ohlsson is an American classical pianist. Ohlsson is the first and only American to win first prize in the International Frédéric Chopin Piano Competition, in 1970. He also won first prize at the Busoni Competition in Italy and the Montreal Piano Competition in Canada. Ohlsson was awarded the Avery Fisher Prize in 1994 and received the 1998 University Musical Society Distinguished Artist Award in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Ohlsson has also been nominated for three Grammy Awards, winning one in 2008.
