Christmas come to the City

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This Wednesday saw CLS's annual performance of Handel's Messiah at St Paul's Cathedral. To a packed audience of 2500 people, this concert heralds the real start of the festive season for the City of London and it is an honour to be a part of it each year. Annual performances of the Messiah have been staged since its composition in 1742, and by the end of the 18th century it had become a national institution.

And on Thursday (16th December), we return to St Paul's for another Christmas institution - the Christmas carol service, which features celebrity narrators and a chance for the thousands-strong audience to get involved and sing along (maybe the CLS staff team will go in for the descant again this year!). Amidst the twinkling candles and historic grandeur of the Cathedral, it's a fantastic way to hear the orchestra and get into the festive spirit at the same time.

Tickets are available from St Paul's Cathedral but it's always hugely popular and if you're unable to secure any, for the first time ever this year the concert will be relayed to Paternoster Square outside the Cathedral on big screens. So bundle up warm, come along and help welcome in the festive season with beautiful music and a historic setting!

More information is available here 

And the tree? Well, we couldn't resist sprinkling a bit of Christmas magic on the CLS office. Happy Christmas!

 

Brightening up a cold Sunday with Carnival sounds!

This Sunday saw CLS’s family concert, Crash, Bang, Wallop! offering the sounds of the carnival to our audience at Cadogan Hall. Before the concert, children made jingling bracelets, musical stick puppets and had the chance to make their own instrument – a shaker or a drum – to play during the concert itself. Some pictures from the day are below.

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The next Crash, Bang, Wallop! concert at Cadogan Hall is on Saturday 26th March 2011 and features the story of Jemima Puddleduck. Hope to see you there!

 

 

The glamorous world of the arts

For the past few months, there have been ever-increasing boxes of old milk cartons, water bottles and plastic food containers piling up in our office. Visitors to CLS HQ might think that we are either displaying worrying tendencies to hoard rubbish, or are fanatical about recycling. The answer is somewhere between the two – we have a family concert coming up this weekend, and as part of the pre-concert activities for children offer them the chance to make their own instrument so that they can participate in the music-making. So we’ve stocked up on rubber bands, dried beans and chopsticks (as beaters, you understand) and are very much looking forward to helping the youngsters to make drums and shakers, all beautifully decorated with CLS stickers. The theme of the concert is ‘Carnival’ (read about our partners for the concert, the Ebony Steel Band, below) and the programme will feature Milhaud’s jazz ballet music ‘The Creation of the World’ as well as more familiar music and songs to get the whole audience involved.  These concerts are always great fun – relaxed, inclusive and above all a great introduction to live orchestral music – and we’d love to see you there.

Crash, Bang, Wallop! Family concert. For children aged 5 and up.

Cadogan Hall, London

Sunday 28 November 2010

 

11am Creative activities

12 noon Concert

 

Tickets from www.cadoganhall.com or call 020 7730 4500.

 

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-          Marylka Gowlland, CLS Development Manager

Crash, Bang, Wallop... with Steel pans!

I’m off this evening to meet once again with the wonderful Ebony Steelband who are joining CLS for our Crash, Bang, Wallop! Family Concert this month.  Our presenter, James Redwood, has been working on an arrangement of a traditional steel pan tune which will bring together the Orchestra with the group from Ebony, bringing these two types of music, which are normally thought of as very different, together for a joint piece.  At our last meeting with Ebony we heard them play their own version of Pachelbel’s Canon which we loved so much that we convinced them to play it as part of the concert, paired with a traditional calypso.  Crash, Bang, Wallop! has always been about introducing children and families to the wonderful world of classical music, but through this and other musical partnerships, we’re broadening what that means, sharing and blending musical genres from around the world.  We’re so looking forward to working with Ebony – I can’t wait for the CLS musicians to hear Pachelbel on the Steel Pans!

 

Join us if you can, Sunday 28th November, 12 noon, Cadogan Hall.  Visit www.cadoganhall.com for ticket information.

 

-Gillian, Education Manager

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How to escape a grey January in London...

City of London Sinfonia is delighted to be returning to the Cartagena International Music Festival on 6th - 13th January 2011. The Cartagena International Music Festival is the only chamber music festival in Latin America that combines an event of high quality with a major social project. Recognized international musicians, convened by the Artistic Director Charles Wadsworth and Associate Artistic Director Stephen Prutsman participate in more than 20 concerts that take place in beautiful venues of Cartagena walled city. But also, nearly 3000 children belonging to social projects in the city have seen how their dreams come true throughout the Cartagena Festival; and over 300 young music students have been directly benefited with master-classes with the best musicians in the world.

This January, as well as performing concerts CLS musicians will participate in master-classes and workshops with local youngsters, many of whom do not have access to orchestral instruments or music.

The CLS blog will be updated daily by our team out in Colombia so keep your eyes peeled for that in early 2011!

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