Classical and Jazz: Preview - Gala Concert at Conway Hall on May 8th
Published: 28 April, 2011
by SEBASTIAN TAYLOR
ACTOR Timothy West is leading a gala fundraiser on Sunday May 8 for the Conway Hall Sunday Concerts, which have been making music available at affordable prices for more than 120 years.
He’s taking on the role of the narrator in Stravinsky’s compact allegory A Soldier’s Tale, which relates the story of Faust against musical commentary from a chamber ensemble comprising clarinet and bassoon, cornet and trombone, violin and double-bass and percussion.
The actor, a long-time supporter of the Sunday Concerts at Conway, is one of its patrons along with his wife Prunella Scales, who will also be at the fundraiser.
Other items on the programme at the gala concert are Beethoven’s quintet for piano and winds and the Poulenc sextet.
Playing will be some of London’s finest musicians, drawn from top orchestras and chamber ensembles, all giving their services for free.
“Last year’s gala concert raised £2,500, partly through donations of nearly £1,000 on top of ticket money made by our loyal and dedicated regulars,” says pianist Simon Callaghan, artistic director of the Sunday Concerts.
“I’m now into my fourth season as artistic director and audiences have risen considerably over the years, now averaging over 100 at each concert over the season.
“We’ve now got a good base of loyal audience members and we also get a fair number of people who aren’t regulars.
“The next season, starting in October, will feature such top ensembles as the Navarra, Tippett, Badke and Sacconi Quartets.
Other highlights include the Mendelssohn Octet in December and the Fitzwilton in January to mark Delius’s 150th birthday.”
The affordable Sunday Concerts trace their origins back to 1878 when the People’s Concert Society was formed for the purpose of “increasing the popularity of good music by means of cheap concerts”.
In 1999, management of the concerts was taken on by a separate entity, the London Chamber Music Society.
In 2008, the LCMS relocated its Sunday evening concerts to the Kings Place arts venue in King’s Cross, making it possible for the South Place Ethical Society to become responsible for the Conway Hall concerts again.
• Sunday, May 8, Gala Concert, Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, WC1, 6.30pm, £12 (no concs) at door.