London Mozart Players

The London Mozart Players (LMP) is a British chamber orchestra founded in 1949. The LMP is the longest-established chamber orchestra in the United Kingdom whose performances and recordings focus largely on the core repertoire from the classical era. Since 1989, the orchestra has been based at Fairfield Halls, Croydon, since 2016 LMP relocated its office to St John the Evangelist to become an orchestra embedded within the local community. Founded in 1949 by Harry Blech to delight audiences with the works of Mozart and Haydn, the London Mozart Players is the UK’s longest established chamber orchestra. Known for its unmistakable British roots, the orchestra has developed an outstanding reputation for adventurous, ambitious programming from Baroque through to genre-crossing contemporary music. LMP has enjoyed a long history of association with many of the world’s finest artists including Sir James Galway, Dame Felicity Lott, Jane Glover, Howard Shelley, Nicola Benedetti, John Suchet and Simon Callow. The orchestra enjoys an international reputation, touring extensively throughout Europe and the Far East, most recently Dubai and Hong Kong in 2018, and records frequently for Naxos, Chandos and Hyperion Records. The London Mozart Players regularly performs on London’s premier concert platforms, including the Royal Festival Hall, St John’s Smith Square and Cadogan Hall as well as cathedrals and other concert venues across the UK. LMP is the resident orchestra at Croydon’s Fairfield Hall and will celebrate this venue’s reopening after refurbishment in 2019 with a gala concert which will also mark the orchestra’s 70th birthday. The orchestra’s anniversary year will see a wide range of concerts in the capital’s top concert venues including performances at Kings Place, Conway Hall and a return to Southbank’s Queen Elizabeth Hall. As resident orchestra of Croydon for nearly 30 years, the ensemble has shown an invigorated and growing commitment to the borough’s cultural life. In 2016, LMP relocated its office from Fairfield Halls to St John the Evangelist, Upper Norwood, undertaking a rich programme of initiatives within the local community. The orchestra has brought classical music stars Nicola Benedetti, Leonard Elschenbroich, Sheku Kanneh-Mason and Thomas Trotter to Upper Norwood in world-class performances, and has implemented a tailored calendar of events including specialist family concerts and inclusive collaborations with local community groups and schools. As one of the original pioneers of orchestral outreach work, LMP has enjoyed a host of relationships with schools and music hubs across the UK (and recently in Dubai and Hong Kong), working with many teachers and heads of music to inspire the next generation of musicians and music lovers. As well as working with schools, LMP continues its 70-year tradition of promoting young up-and-coming musicians. Nicola Benedetti, Jacqueline du Pré and Jan Pascal Tortelier are just three of many young musical virtuosi championed early in their careers by the orchestra. LMP is the only professional orchestra in the UK to be managed both operationally and artistically by the players. The orchestra has enjoyed the patronage of the Earl of Wessex since 1988.