Returning to its roots: Academy of St Martin in the Fields new concert series re:connect, at St Martin-in-the-Fields

Academy of St Martin in the Fields

The Academy of St Martin in the Fields is returning to the church which gave the ensemble its name, and presenting re:connect an eight-concert series with live socially-distanced audience in the Church of St Martin in the Fields in Trafalgar Square. The concerts take place on two Saturdays per month with concerts being repeated at 5.30pm and 7.30pm (and on-line on the following Thursday), and each takes its theme from the experience of the pandemic, including Regeneration, Isolation & Friendship, Mourning & Hope and Awakening.

The series opens on 12 September 2020 with Requiem for our time, performances of Arvo Pärt’s Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten and John Rutter's chamber version of Faure's Requiem performed in honour of those who have suffered and lost their lives to COVID-19, and in memory of Martin Loveday, a former cellist with the Academy who died from Coronavirus in April 2020. The concert is conducted by Andrew Earls with soloists Carolyn Sampson and Roderick Williams. The on-line concert is on 17 September.

Future programmes include music by Bach and Mozart alongside Copland, Messiaen and James MacMillan, and further ahead composer Eleanor Alberga will be conducting her Nightscape.

Full details from the Academy's website.