Philharmonia Orchestra Announces New Autumn Residency at Cromwell Place

Following a successful collaboration during London Art Week earlier this month, the Philharmonia and Cromwell Place have announced a residency partnership through the autumn and early 2023.

Following on from the 2022 London Art Week theme of 'Music and Dance', where the Philharmonia performed works in Cromwell Place's iconic Lavery Studio, both organisations are thrilled to announce a series of four concerts across the autumn months of 2022 and a further two concerts in early 2023. The concerts will be held in Cromwell Place's Pavilion Gallery, their largest space, and their historical Lavery Studio, the former studio of prominent British society painter John Lavery (1856-1941).

Zsolt-Tihamér Visontay, Joint Concert Master of the Philharmonia, says 'Our experience at Cromwell Place during London Art Week was unforgettable and we are delighted to continue this partnership. The spaces are fantastic for intimate concerts, the environment is inspirational. It's the convergence of art forms that gives this initiative a unique potency and audiences cannot help but be inspired in turn by the marriage of music and art. We are really looking forward to going back this autumn.'

Says Elizabeth Dellert, Membership & Business Development Director, Cromwell Place, "We so enjoyed collaborating with the Philharmonia to celebrate the launch of London Art Week in July, and are thrilled to welcome back their accomplished musicians through the autumn. Their specially-curated repertoires are conceived to speak to, and interplay with, our own artistic programming, to deliver a uniquely rich and rounded artistic experience.'

Members of the Philharmonia have formed ensembles and selected music to reflect the themes of the changing exhibitions at Cromwell Place:

In September, to accompany MacArthur Park in the Pavilion Gallery, an exhibition exploring transcendence, tenderness and queer ecology through the lens of Donna Summer's 1978 disco arrangement of the seminal song. For this first recital, the Philharmonia will perform Tchaikovsky's String Quartet No. 3. The composer's anguish at not being able to express his sexuality openly gave us some of the most expressive music in the classical repertoire.

October's recital is inspired by a range of exhibitions across Cromwell Place's gallery spaces as part of Asian Art in London. It explores the crosscurrents between East Asian and Western culture, with Debussy's String Quartet, music by Philip Glass taken from his soundtrack to the film Mishima, about Japanese writer Yukio Mishima, and Toru Takemitsu's arrangement of the jazz standard Autumn Leaves.

To coincide with the National Portrait Gallery's 2022 Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize in the Pavilion Gallery in November, the players have chosen Johannes Brahms's Horn Trio. Brahms's choice of violin, piano and horn, the three instruments he learned as a child, and his exploration of different facets of bereavement after the death of his mother, make this something of a musical self-portrait. This is music full of emotion, from deeply-felt grief to the warmth of happy memories.

And in December, string quartets by Mozart and Beethoven create a soundworld fit for exhibitions showcasing works by Old Masters being staged across a range of galleries throughout the Cromwell Place buildings.

Tickets for the Philharmonia Concerts at Cromwell Place are on sale now and can be purchased at cromwellplace.com

The Philharmonia recital series at Cromwell Place is supported by NJA Limited.

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