New season at St Martin in the Fields

The church of St Martin-in-the-Fields has announced its Autumn season, continuing the venues development of its role as a significant concert location. Headline performances include Harry Christophers and the Sixteen in their choral pilgrimage for 2022 including Parry's Songs of Farewell, Sir John Eliot Gardiner and the Monteverdi Choir in Bach's Christmas Oratorio, Gardiner also conducts the English Baroque Soloists in music by Mozart and Haydn with Isabelle Faust (violin) and Antoine Tamestit (viola) , the BBC Singers in Durufle's Requiem, and La Serenissma in a concert exploring the life of English violinist and composer Nicola Matteis the Younger, whose Italian father was a close friend of Henry Purcell but who spent most of his career in Vienna. Other visitors include Polyphony, Fretwork, The Gesualdo Six, Rodolfus Choir and London Mozart Players in Judith Bingham's Clarinet Concerto with Jonathan Leibovitz

Baritone Benjamin Appl starts his residency with a concert devoted to the extraordinary life of Holocaust survivor and refugee Éva Fahidi, combining her words with music that was important in her life. The evening includes music by (amongst others) Schubert, Bach, Eisler, Krása, Schumann and Mahler. Equally challenging, SANSARA joins forces with the United Strings of Europe and Syrian oud player Basel Saleh for Music of Solidarity and Sanctuary, featuring music by Icelandic composer Hildur Guðnadóttir, Caroline Shaw and  the world premiere of The Journey by Lebanese composer Houtaf Khoury.

St Martin’s Voices, the Church’s own professional vocal ensemble, begins a new series of six hour-long concerts each with a distinguished guest speaker. Songs of Justice features musical responses to injustice by James MacMillan, Philip Moore, Cecilia McDowall, Ērik Ešenvalds, Jessica Curry and Rhiannon Randle with human rights lawyer Philippe Sands the guest speaker.

In the crypt, for Halloween, mezzo soprano Lotte Betts-Dean and young artists from City Music Foundation present Death Speaks with music by Purcell, Dowland, Schubert and the UK premiere of David Lang’s Depart, originally conceived as an installation for the morgue in the Raymond Poincaré Hospital in Garches, France, and performed live by St Martin’s Voices. Other young artists include tenor James Way and The Assembled Company, an ensemble uniting top-level period and modern instrument performers, in a programme of Handel cantatas and his German Arias sung by Rowan Pierce.

Full details from the church's website.