Celebrating the cello: Raphael Wallfisch performs Tchaikovsky, Schumann and Romberg with London Mozart Players at St John's Smith Square and in Upper Norwood

London Mozart Players at St John the Evangelist, Upper Norwood

Cellist Raphael Wallfisch is joining the London Mozart Players (LMP) for a pair of concerts at St John's Smith Square (30 January 2020) and at LMP's home base, the church of St John the Evangelist, Upper Norwood, SE19 (1 March 2020) celebrating the cello, with performances of three major concertante works from the 19th century, by Schumann, Tchaikovsky and Bernhard Romberg, with a significant new recording of two of Romberg's concertos to come.

At St John's Smith Square (30 January 2020) Raphael Wallfisch will perform Schumann's Cello Concerto and Tchaikovsky's Rococo Variations with the London Mozart Players [see my interview with Raphael where he talks about the background to the original version of the Tchaikovsky], along with symphonies by Mozart and Haydn.

Raphael Wallfisch and LMP's concert on 1 March 2020 is part of LMP's commitment to bring classical music to the local community, encouraging those who would not usually attend a classical concert to try it out on their own doorstep. The concert will feature Romberg's Cello Concerto No. 4 plus music by Tchaikovsky, Dvorak and Rossini. And Raphael Wallfisch will be joined by cellists from every stage of the learning process including 15 young cellists from Croydon Youth Orchestra, and a cello ensemble of Constantin Macherel, Sebastian Comberti, Tim Posner, Dan Benn, Anna Crawford and Keira Morgan. The concert will be compèred by Classic FM presenter Sam Pittis who lives locally.

Later in 2020, Raphael Wallfisch will be recording Romberg's Cello Concertos Nos 4 & 6 with LMP. Bernhard Romberg (1790-1841) was a German cellist and composer who played in the court orchestra of the Elector of Cologne in Bonn, where he knew the young Beethoven. Romberg made quite a number of improvements to the design of the cello, and as a musician he was admired by Beethoven.

Full details from the London Mozart Players' website.