Easter music, belatedly, and the passing of Lady Valerie Solti

First of all – apologies…. This blog was meant to go live 10 days ago but because of a major IT outage, we have been off air since the 27th.  However…..  One benefit of our new on-line life is that although you may have missed the live performances of these concerts, they are all still available to watch on line, most of them until the end of this month or maybe even longer. See below.

Dimming our pleasure over the springlike weather and the end of lockdown was the sad news that Lady Valerie Solti, widow of the late Sir Georg, had died on April 1st.

His tireless companion during his working life, after Sir Georg’s death in 1997, Valerie continued to work for and with arts organisations from the World Orchestra for Peace which Solti had founded in 1995 to the Sadlers Wells Theatre Trust. She was also a huge supporter of young musicians, many of whom were encouraged to practise in Solti’s basement studio and to play for the Salon concerts that she also held in their house in St John’s Wood.

The last time I saw her, which is when this picture was taken, was when she spoke at the celebration that we held at LSO St Lukes’ in November 2018 after my partner, James Mallinson had died so unexpectedly. As you can see from this photo, she was always a delight – fun, friendly and charming. She will be greatly missed.

But back to 2021…

You will have missed another exciting offering from VOCES8 and LIVE from London. On 28th March, the debut performance of the Jason Max Ferdinand Singers, a combination of former students, choral colleagues, professionals and friends of Jason Max Ferdinand, Director of Choral Activities and Chair of the Music Department at Oakwood University. The programme included hymns, spirituals and gospel music to get everyone revved up for Easter.

However, if you were to go for VOCES8′ full package of a spring season ticket to all of the VOCES8 spring concerts for £80 here you would get acces not only to Jason Max Ferdinand but to Emma Kirkby’s lovely concert three weeks ago as well as Passing of the Year with Jonathan Dove, I Fagiolini’s Re-Wilding The Waste Land, as well as much-loved works such as the Bach B Minor Mass, Barber’s Dover Beach, the Allegri Miserere and the Fauré Requiem.

Bach’s St John Passion

Or, if you would prefer to go more trad you could join the Britten Sinfonia at their home in Saffron Walden for Bach’s St John Passion. This is a free concert, although I am sure they would be delighted if you were to make a donation to their funds, and has been  available from 7pm on 28th March. 

Sadly you will  by now have missed thier concert with Nical Benedetti, but you could still catch The Aurora Orchestra and violinist Elena Urioste which will be available until April 16th (Thea Musgrave, Ravel, Anna Meredith, Vaughan Williams and Dvořák)

St John’s Smith Square Holy Week Festival

St John’s Smith Square and  Tenebrae took their annual Holy Week Festival on line with a wealth of treats on offer. Click on the following dates for the programmes with the full Tenebrae group the 28th and 31st March and the 1st and 2nd April. The:

• 29th March Violinist Lana Trotovšek with four Tenebrae associate artists in Bach’s Partita No. 2 in D minor.
• 30th March – The Revolutionary Drawing Room
• 3rd April – Amici Voices – Bach St Matthew’s Passion
• 4th April – 11.30am, 3.30pm and 7.30pm Biber’s Rosary Sonatas

All of these concerts are free but  you are encouraged to donate to the festival Crowdfunder here. They will also all be available for 30 days after the day of the performance so you do not need to rush to watch them all next week.

And finally…..