THIS IS LONDON JUNE EDITION 2025 - Flipbook - Page 16
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Adrian Brown
ELGAR SINFONIA VE DAY
CELEBRATORY CONCERT
On 22 June, the Elgar Sinfonia will
perform a special concert acknowledging
the 80th VE Day Celebrations in the
beautiful, spiritual setting of St Andrew’s
Holborn, London.
The music will be reflective,
respectful of the sacrifice, moving and
celebratory. Elgar wrote his choral work
‘The Spirit of England’ during WW1
setting the poems from ‘The Winnowing
Fan’ by Binyon that have become part of
the national experience of mourning.
Elgar wrote music deeply felt about
the very day the war started, the women
left behind and the memory of the end of
the conflict. It resonates as a reminder of
the tragedy of all wars. That Binyon
wrote these poems of such profundity is
even more astonishing given their date;
Autumn 1914 – so prophetic.
The magnificent settings of Psalms
29 and 48 are grand and celebratory,
composed for special services in
St Paul’s Cathedral. The drama of the
words is vividly portrayed in this great
composer’s setting. Quiet reflective relief
comes with Edward’s ‘Sospiri’ (Sighing)
for Strings, short and meditative, played
first at London’s First Night of the Proms
Concert in 1914, a few days after war
had been declared.
Sir Arthur Bliss was Master of the
Queen’s Music in the 1960’s and 70’s
and wrote much glorious music in
celebration. Musicians this year are
remembering him on the 50th
anniversary of his passing. His wife,
Lady Trudy Bliss, was a great personal
friend of Elgar Sinfonia’s Adrian Brown
and his family, living for well over a
century! She came to many of their
concerts and would be delighted they
are playing her husband’s ‘Introduction
and Allegro’. Written in the 1930’s for
the USA and the Conductor Leopold
Stokowski (he of the ‘Fantasia’ and
Mickey Mouse fame), this compact,
brilliantly written piece for the orchestra
will expand the emotions to be heard in
this varied and stimulating programme.
Conducting the Bliss will take Adrian
back 53 years to the fact that he
conducted it for his Royal Academy
exam!
Tickets on sale at
www.elgarsinfonialondon.co.uk
AAKASH ODEDRA COMPANY
LONDON PREMIERE
This July, virtuoso performer Aakash
Odedra will give his first performances
at Sadler’s Wells East in his newest
work Songs of the Bulbul. A
transcendent solo set to an original
score by genre-defying London-based
composer Rushil Ranjan, Songs of the
Bulbul was created in collaboration with
revered Delhi-based Kathak
choreographer, Rani Khanam. The work
had its world premiere at the 2024
Edinburgh International Festival where
it received a swathe of 4 and 5-star
reviews and was named Edinburgh
International Festival’s Best Show by
The List.
Songs of the Bulbul lays bare
Odedra’s personal and spiritual dance
landscape on stage. Rani Khanam’s
exquisite storytelling choreography
features expressive hand gestures and
flowing lines through space. Renowned
for her intimate knowledge of Islamic
and Sufi texts, Khanam has worked
widely with Sufi musicians, singers and
dancers from across the Islamic world.
T H I S I S L O N D O N M A G A Z I N E • T H I S I S L O N D O N O N L I N E • w w w. t i l . c o m • @ t h i s i s l o n d o n m a g
