Fantasia Orchestra launch residency at Smith Square Hall with Birdsong-themed concert

Jess Gillam, Tom Fetherstonhaugh & Fantasia Orchestra in rehearsal  (Photo: Fantasia Orchestra)

In May last year I chatted conductor Tom Fetherstonhaugh [see my interview] about Fantasia Orchestra which he founded way back in 2016 (when he was still at school). During 2024 the orchestra had debuts at the BBC Proms, Northern Aldborough Festival and Ryedale Festival, and it continues to go from strength to strength. Fantasia Orchestra and Fetherstonhaugh launch their 2025/26 season with a concert at Smith Square Hall on 23 November which also marks the start of a four-concert residency at the hall. On 23 November, Fetherstonhaugh and the orchestra will be joined by soprano Lucy Crowe for Birdsong, a specially-curated programme inspired by the beauty of nature and of avian song. The programme includes Spring from Strauss' Four Last Songs, 'Dove Sono' from Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, Berg's The Nightingale from his Seven Early Songs, music from Messiaen's Harawi plus Handel, Vivaldi, Haydn, Gerswhin and a lot more.

In February the orchestra is in Nottingham with saxophonist Jess Gillam for a programme that includes James MacMillan's Saxophone Concerto, and music by Steve Reich, Kate Bush, Bartok, Joni Mitchell and much more. 

In April they return to Smith Square with guest sitar player and composer Jasdeep Singh Degun for a programme that includes Degun's music alongside Rameau and Philip Glass including a movement from Degun's sitar concerto Arya. Still at Smith Square Hall, in may they are joined by pianist Steven Osborne for Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 1 (with trumpeter Aaron Akugbo) alongside music by Bartok, Cole Porter, Gershwin and some of Shostakovich's lighter pieces. Their final concert of the residency features mezzo-soprano Niamh O'Sullivan (who has been singing the title role in Bizet's Carmen at ENO) in songs by Alma Mahler, Richard Strauss alongside instrumental music by Strauss and Elgar, plus songs by Ellington, Kern, Sondheim and Cole Porter.

Full details from the Fantasia Orchestra website.