A different focus: Timothy Ridout in Mozart & Hummel with Academy of St Martin in the Fields plus Rossini & a Weber symphony

Hummel, portrait by Joseph Willibrord Mähler, c. 1814

Rossini: String Sonata No. 1, Mozart: Sinfonia Concertante in E flat, Hummel: Potpourri Op. 94, Weber: Symphony No. 1; Timothy Ridout, Tomo Keller, Academy of St Martin in the Fields; Church of St Martin in the Fields
Reviewed 26 June 2026

Mozart's violin and viola concertante work in context of music written within the following 40 years including Hummel's wonderfully engaging concertante work for viola 

Johann Nepomuk Hummel was very much at the centre of things during the later Classical era. Some 22 years younger than Mozart, Hummel was something of a prodigy, had lessons from Mozart, Salieri and Haydn, was friends with Beethoven and played in Beethoven's orchestral works, whilst Schubert dedicated three late piano sonatas to him. Haydn recommended him to take over Haydn's responsibilities at Prince Esterházy's Eisenstadt estate.

His music could be forward looking and he would have an influence on the music of Mendelssohn and Chopin. Hummel's focus was the piano, including eight concertos [it is well worth investigating Stephen Hough's recording of two concertos on Chandos] so it is ironic that nowadays he is best known for his Trumpet Concerto.

For their final concert of the season at St Martin in the Fields on 26 June 2025, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, leader Tomo Keller, joined forces with viola player Timothy Ridout for a programme centred around Hummel's Potpourri (Fantasy) for viola and orchestra written in 1820. There was also Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante in E flat for violin and viola (with Keller and Ridout) written in 1779, Rossini's early String Sonata No. 1 in G major from 1804 and Weber's Symphony No. 1 in C from 1806. 

It was a programme that placed Mozart's piece in an entirely different context yet one that made complete sense. All the works in the programme was written within roughly a 40 year period. Hummel's Potpourri quotes opera by both Mozart and Rossini, whilst Weber was not only Mozart's wife Constanze's cousin but the young Weber admired and was influenced by Mozart.

Celebrating their roots: Academy of St Martin in the Fields anniversary events for Sir Neville Marriner's centenary

Sir Neville Marriner in rehearsal with Academy of St Martin in the Fields & Los Romeros guitar quartet (Photo: Mike Evans)

The Academy of St Martin in the Fields (ASMF) will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of its founder Sir Neville Marriner (15 April 1924 – 2 October 2016) with a series of events during April 2024 as part of its 2023/24 season with new music by Errollyn Wallen and Vince Mendoza, contributions from ASMF music director, violinist Joshua Bell, conductor and former ASMF flautist Jaime Martin and jazz drummer Douglas Marriner, plus an exhibition commemorating and celebrating Sir Neville’s life and career in the St Martin-in-the-Fields crypt.

The orchestra returns to its spiritual home, St Martin-in-the-Fields, for a celebratory concert on 15 April 2024 when Joshua Bell, Jaime Martin and ASMF leader Tomo Keller share directing the orchestra in a programme that includes an Errollyn Wallen premiere plus music by Handel, Hadyn, Mozart, and Vaughan Williams. The following day, 16 April 2024, Joshua Bell joins the ASMF Chamber Ensemble for Mendelssohn’s Octet in E-Flat Major, Op.20 and Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night), Op.4.

On 18 April 2024, there is a gala concert at the Royal Festival Hall featuring excerpts from the soundtrack to Academy Award winning film Amadeus, which celebrates 40 years since its release in September 2024. Alongside this there will be the European premiere of a work by Grammy Award-winning composer Vince Mendoza, for orchestra, violin and jazz drum kit, performed by ASMF, Joshua Bell and Douglas Marriner, Sir Neville’s grandson. The orchestra also travels to Lincoln for a concert on 24 April, celebrating that fact that Sir Neville was born in the city. 

Full details from the ASMF website.

Wigglesworth, Mozart and Ravel: the Academy of St Martin in the Fields' in a lovely journey around Mozart's concert aria

Nancy Storace, for whom Mozart wrote Ch'io mi scordi di te
by Pietro Bettelini from 1788,

Wigglesworth, Mozart, Ravel; Sophie Bevan, Ryan Wigglesworth, Academy of St Martin's in the Fields; Church of St Martin in the Fields
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on 6 August 2021 Star rating: 4.5 (★★★★½)
An intriguing and engaging programme with Ryan Wigglesworth as pianist, conductor and composer, joined by Sophie Bevan for music centred round Mozart's great concert aria, Chi'io mi scordi di te

For their final concert of their current season at the Church of St Martin in the Fields on 6 August 2021, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields (ASMF) was joined by soprano Sophie Bevan and conductor/pianist/composer Ryan Wigglesworth which included the Notturno from Wigglesworth's Piano Concerto, Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 12, Ravel's Trois poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé, and Mozart's Chi'io mi scordi di te, with Wigglesworth directing from the piano. The concert is available online from 13 August 2021.

When Mozart and soprano Nancy Storace premiered the concert aria Ch'io mi scordi di te at her farewell concert in Vienna in 1787 (Storace had sung Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro but was returning to London) what did the audience expect? The aria begins with a dramatic accompanied recitative, with Mozart presumably directing from the keyboard as might be expected, but then at the beginning of the aria the solo piano enters and we are suddenly in the world of Mozart's piano concertos. It is a daring and astonishing piece, a lovely farewell gift to a much loved singer. It is also a devil to programme, here ASMF had had to clever idea of inviting composer, conductor, pianist Ryan Wigglesworth to direct a programme from the keyboard, joined by soprano Sophie Bevan. The result was a lovely exploration of voice, piano and ensemble, moving from piano concertos, to Ravel's music for soprano and ensemble (including piano) to Mozart's aria.

An audio-visual event combining 'Messiah' with images from the Saint John's Bible

Handel: Messiah - Academy of St Martin in the Fields with projections by Nina Dunn Studio (Photo David Levene)

In 1998, Saint John's Abbey and University in Minnesota, USA commissioned renowned calligrapher Donald Jackson to produce a hand-written, hand-illuminated Bible (completed in 2011), which you can explore at a website devoted to the Saint John's Bible. Now Jackson's illustrations have formed the basis for visuals created by projection artist Nina Dunn and her team, which will be projected onto the East Window of the church of St Martin in the Fields during a performance of Handel's Messiah which takes place on Thursday 8 April 2021.

This audio-visual event is part of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields' on-line concert series. Handel's oratorio (in shortened form) will be performed by the academy with soloists Carolyn Sampson (soprano), James Way (tenor), second prize in the 62nd Kathleen Ferrier Award, and Benson Wilson (baritone), winner of the 64th Kathleen Ferrier Award, with St Martin's Voices conducted by Andrew Earis.

Full details from the Academy of St Martin in the Fields website.

Academy of St Martin in the Fields announces new concert series at St Martin in the Fields

Academy of St Martin in the Fields (Photo Benjamin Ealovega)

The Academy of St Martin in the Fields has announced a second concert series from the church of St Martin in the Fields. Running from 11 March 2021 until August, there will be a monthly evening orchestral concert plus lunchtime chamber music concerts. The series will begin online and then move to live audiences when possible. Every evening orchestral programme will be filmed and available on a pay-to-view basis with catch up for 30 days afterwards.

As well as well-known works, concerts will include contemporary works too with music by Sally Beamish, Thea Musgrave, John Woolrich, Julian Anderson, Avner Dorman, Tunde Jegede, Jonny Greenwood, and Nainita Desai, and the series opens with a programme which mixes Brahms and Bach with James MacMillan. John Butt will direct a programme in April which mixes Matthew Locke, Purcell and Handel with Errollyn Wallen. Other guests include mandolin player Avi Avital, soprano Sophie Bevan and conductor Ryan Wigglesworth (whose programme includes one of his own works).

Full details from the Academy of St Martin in the Fields' website.

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.

The Academy of St Martin in the Fields digs into the archives

Sir Neville Marriner and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields

The Academy of St Martin in the Fields will be giving us a chance to dig into the archives as it will be presenting free monthly concerts from its archives from 28 June. Each concert will premiere on the orchestra’s YouTube channel and Facebook at 19:00 BST on the last Sunday of the month and will be available for two weeks.

For the first concert, the orchestra's 60th Anniversary Gala will be re-broadcast, giving us a chance to hear Sally Beamish's Hover, which is dedicated to the memory of Sir Neville Marriner [see my interview with Sally, talking about the commission and her close links to the orchestra], plus music by Mozart and Mendelssohn directed by the orchestra's current musical director Joshua Bell.

Future concerts includes Sir Neville Marriner's 90th birthday celebration concert with music by Elgar and Saint-Saens. As well as these concerts, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields is sharing weekly interviews with members of the orchestra as well as some ‘at home’ performances. Explore past content and keep up to date with new videos on the orchestra’s YouTube channel, Facebook and Twitter feed.