The Elgar Sinfonia of London
“The trees are singing my music, or have I sung theirs?” Sir Edward Elgar
The Elgar Sinfonia has been formed to realise the long standing desire of conductor Adrian Brown to conduct Elgar and other composers close to his heart with a single artistic vision. Lesser known works of Elgar and Berlioz in particular will be performed alongside great and popular works of the British repertory.
Adrian Brown comes from a distinguished line of Sir Adrian Boult’s most gifted pupils. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Music in London, he studied intensively with Sir Adrian for some years. He remains the only British conductor to have reached the finals of the Karajan Conductors’ Competition: in fact, the Berlin Philharmonic was the first professional orchestra he conducted. Sir Adrian wrote: ‘He has always impressed me as a musician of exceptional attainments who has all the right gifts and ideas to make him a first-class conductor.’
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Next Concert
Conductor Adrian Brown
Leader: Ellen Gallagher
ELGAR/PAYNE SYMPHONY No.3
ELGAR IMPERIAL MARCH
IRELAND PIANO CONCERTO
with soloist Rustam Khanmurzin
Reviews
Featured review by Robert Matthew-Walker
www.classicalsource.com
The debut programme of a newly-constituted orchestra in London always brings pre-concert enquiries, not least the question “Does our capital city need another orchestra?”. In purely numerical terms, perhaps not… yet London concert programmes are not (or rather should not be) about how many orchestras there are; they should be about orchestras choosing to perform worthwhile music which is rarely given, alongside works from the standard repertoire.
Clearly, the Elgar Sinfonia is going to play Elgar’s music, and before anyone claims that his orchestral music is often played, there are quite a few fine and characteristic works by him that are hardly ever heard. Adrian Brown was a long-term pupil of Sir Adrian Boult: with regard to Elgar’s music he could not have had a more sympathetic mentor. In addition, Brown is still the only British conductor to have reached the finals of the Herbert von Karajan conducting competition. Brown’s technique is admirable; his experience is wide and profound, and we heard ample evidence of those factors during this exceptional programme.
As if to justify my opening remarks, the large church of St John’s Waterloo was packed. We were rewarded by performances of high artistic merit.
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An absolutely transcendent Elgar Cello Concerto. The soloist sounded like he was improvising it as he went along, and Adrian's super-responsive conducting gave the impression that the orchestra improvised their responses. I heard so many new things. Truly remarkable.
Congratulations to Adrian and all concerned with last Sunday's event.
It was a huge success and hopefully the first of many.
Great Concert - Congratulations Adrian Brown and the Orchestra, it was a fabulous evening!
Thoroughly enjoyed this concert, really exceptional quality and most enjoyed the variety of colour Adrian Brown was able to draw out of the orchestra. We go to a great number of concerts in London due to our daughter being a player, so we have a lot to compare it to - this was absolutely a stand out concert of the year and we feel privileged to have witnessed it. Thankyou!