Pianist Alessio Bax leads the inaugural London Festival of Chamber Music at Smith Square Hall as its Doors Open project gathers momentum

Smith Square Hall (Image: Burrell Foley Fischer)

The inaugural London Festival of Chamber Music takes place 25-29 March 2026 at Smith Square Hall, welcoming international artists and audiences to a series of concerts curated by 2026 Festival Artistic Director, pianist Alessio Bax. The musicians invited by Alessio Bax include Sarah Aristidou (soprano), Alena Baeva (violin), Lucille Chung (piano), François Leleux (oboe and conductor), Eugene Lee (violin), Lawrence Power (viola), Natalia Lomeiko (violin), Nabil Shehata (double bass and conductor), Paul Watkins (cello and conductor) and Radovan Vlatković (French horn).

The festival opens with a mix of orchestral and chamber music with Sinfonia Smith Square in Strauss's Horn Concerto No. 2 and Beethoven's Symphony No. 2, followed by an immersive late-evening performance with music by Schubert, Messiaen, and Berio, ending with Elgar's Piano Quintet. Thursday features Schubert's Trout Quintet with soprano Sarah Aristidou opening the evening with culture-spanning songs drawing on European, Middle Eastern and Indian traditions.

Schumann's Fantasiestücke and Clara Schumann's late Three Romances are combined with their friend Brahms's Horn Trio, whilst Beethoven's Second Cello Sonata is a prelude to his Triple Concerto performed with Sinfonia Smith Square. 

During the day on 28 March, Festival Artists join musicians from Sinfonia Smith Square for a day of public workshops focusing on chamber repertoire and ensemble craft, giving audiences insight into the collaborative process. The Festival closes with 19th century oboist, Antonio Pasculli’s Donizetti-inspired Oboe Concerto, alongside Respighi, Ligeti and Schubert’s Symphony No. 5, performed by Sinfonia Smith Square.

This is also an exciting time for Smith Square Hall. Over the next few years, an ambitious restoration project, Doors Open, will breathe new life into Smith Square Hall, revitalising its spaces to be fully accessible and welcoming for audiences, performers, guest artists. Recently it was announced that it has been awarded £500,000 from The Julia Rausing Trust in support of the ‘Doors Open’ project, marking a significant milestone in the campaign,

Full details of the London Festival of Chamber Music from the Smith Square website.