I found this image on a site called on Secret London – ‘your guide to The Most Wondrously Festive Things To Do In London At Christmas’. I hope those coppers got home to a merrily blazing log fire and some warm mince pies.
And wherever you may be – and whether or not you are eating mince pies – Salon Music would like to wish you all a very happy Christmas and merry New Year.
And speaking of the new year….
We thought we would give you a run down of what we have planned for the first half of 2026. So keep on rolling down…
First up – 15th January – The Bellot Ensemble
Venice to London, in music and memory. The Bellot Ensemble are an impressive young early music group who use historical performance practice to explore 17th century repertoire. We will be hosting three of their number, Lucine Musaelian – Voice & Viola da gamba, Edmund Taylor – Violin and Daniel Murphy – Theorbo & Lute.
They will take us from the Venice of Cavalli, Strozzi, Pandolfi, Fontana, and Marini up through Europe to London and the more introspective music of Locke and Purcell, Dowland, Hume, and Byrd.
This will be the inugural concert for Salon Music’s partnership with the Camden Music Trust and we are hoping that Esther Caplin, Chair of Trustees for the Trust, will be with us to tell us a bit about their work.
For more details and to book, go here.
14th February – Fund raising party for the Shakespeare in Music Festival
The Shakespeare in Music Festival takes place in Stratford on Avon from 20-23rd April. Focusing initially on the early music of the age of the Bard, over a dozen concerts reflect his impact on the traditions of instrumental, choral, art song and opera right through to today.
This is the festival’s second year and they are anxious to recruit not only visitors to the festival but Friends to support their work going forward. Our fundraising evening will include performances of ‘ancient’ Shakespeare songs (Morley, Dowland et al) and some ‘modern’ equivalents (Elvis, Taylor Swift, Bernstein) from Imogen Emmett on the harp and Laura Moisey-Gray on the viola. Followed by the Bloomsbury Baroque Ensemble bringing us up to the revival of interest in Shakespeare through Garrick’s 1769 Festival.
There will also be refreshments – although not necessarily Shakespearean! Further details and invitations to come early in the new year – but meanwhile, please save the date. How could you forget it- Valentine’s Day!
18th February – 26th March
London Handel Festival
All details on the festival site here – and please remember that we are still looking for volunteer Stewards – see this post for more.
26th February – Nathaniel Mander – at the court of Versailles
Nathaniel and his enchanting spinet, La Pompadour, are returning to Hampstead Lane to play music from La Pompadour’s glory days at the court of King Louis XV.
Go here for more details and to book.
11th March – Beethoven Trios
Kirsten Jenson, Dorothea Vogel and Joana Ly play Beethoven’s rarely heard but wonderful string trios: Trio in G, opus 9, no.1 and String Trio in D, opus 9, no.2. Followed, as always, by buffet supper and wine.
Go here for more details and to book.
23rd March – An evening with Noel Coward
No one who came to our Flanders and Swann evenings will be surprised to hear that William Godfree (aka Donald Swann) also ‘does a fine Noel Coward‘. On March 23rd he will be singing many of Coward’s best loved songs (‘Mad dogs and Englishmen’, ‘Don’t put your daughter on the stage Mrs Worthington’, ‘Some day I’ll find you’ and many more) while telling us something about Coward’s star spangled life.
Go here for more details and to book.
28th April – From the aulos to the oboe, the lyre to the concert harp
Harpist Hugh Webb and oboist Melinda Maxwell will take us from the aulos, the ancient Greek instrument on which the player actually blows two separate pipes, and the lyre, the plucked instrument of Apollo, up through the ages. Stopping off briefly with Marin Marais and CPE Bach, skipping two centuries to Debussy and Ravel and arriving at a new work for harp and oboe by Simon Holt.
Go here for more details and to book.
Late May – Madeleine Mitchell and Stephen Key with Joseph Spooner
We are talking to Madeleine about a performance of Sir Arthur Bliss’ Conversations for flute, oboe, violin, viola and cello. It is a rather fun piece, the first movement being in a committee meeting and the last in the tube at Oxford Circus! More information to come as soon as we have it.
21st June – Garden opening for the National Gardens Scheme – and a Saxophone quartet!
We will be opening both the main garden and our Growing Garden for the National Gardens Scheme again this year – lots of home made scones and cakes – and, I am delighted to say, Ian Baker and his splendid saxophone quartet who played for us last year.
More details to come but do mark the date (21st June) in your diary. And start praying now for decent weather!
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