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Events

London Chamber Orchestra Concert

20 March 2013

Time: 7:30pm
Venue: The People's Palace, Mile End Campus

We are delighted to welcome the London Chamber Orchestra to the People's Palace to perform a special concert to mark the venue's official re-opening.

Concert programme:

Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) - Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra
Francis Poulenc (1899-1963) - Concerto for Organ, Strings and Timpani in G minor
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) - Symphony No. 5 in C minor

Christopher Warren-Green - conductor
Hubert Best - organ

The London Chamber Orchestra and Music Director Christopher Warren-Green perform at the People's Palace, Queen Mary, University of London, to celebrate the re-opening of Mile End's historic concert hall.

The UK's oldest, yet most energetic, chamber orchestra combines the charismatic leadership of Principal Conductor Christopher Warren-Green with the skills of London's most exceptional musicians. LCO will perform a programme of works by Britten, Poulenc and Beethoven.

Benjamin Britten is well known as one of the central figures of twentieth-century British classical music, composing operas, film scores and a wealth of orchestral repertoire. In 2013, Britten's centenary year, the world celebrates his contribution to classical music and British culture - LCO will bring this celebration to Mile End and the People's Palace with a performance of his hugely popular Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra. Britten has his own history with the People's Palace, having conducted the Beggar's Opera and his comic opera, Albert Herring, there in 1948.

A newly refurbished People's Palace organ will feature centre stage in Francis Poulenc's Concerto for Organ, Strings and Timpani in G minor. The concerto was commissioned in 1934 by Princess Edmond de Polignac, with the intention that the organ part would be easy enough for her to play. Poulenc somewhat reneged on this arrangement instead choosing to write (as he noted in a letter to composer and friend Jean Françaix), "The concerto...is not the amusing Poulenc of the Concerto for two pianos, but more like a Poulenc en route for the cloister." The resulting neo-baroque piece is in one movement with seven different tempo markings and like much of Poulenc's work explores a range of styles, tones and textures.

Beethoven's Symphony No. 5, possibly the world's most famous piece of music, will bring this concert to an appropriately joyous and celebratory end and mark the beginning of a new era for The People's Palace.

Tickets for this event are priced from £15 to £25. To book seats please use our official ticketing provider SeeTickets.

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