Philip Rham meets up with our two soloists in a break from rehearsal at the Royal College of Music . They will perform the Brahms Double Concerto with KPO on 25 June 2023. Philip I’m here with Lucilla Rose Mariotti and Marion Portelance. Marion, you’re originally from Montreal, aren’t you? Marion Actually I […]
Melina was born in Locarno, Switzerland, into a family of musicians. She started playing the violin at the age of four. At ten she was accepted in the prestigious Yehudi Menuhin School in London. Further intense studies were with Prof. Zachar Bron in Lübeck, and Prof.Boris Kushnir at the University of Graz. At the […]
Strike a chord …. with Laurie Watt Interview by Philip Rham PR – Welcome Laurie. It truly is an amazing achievement as you’ve been a member of the KPO for fifty years. Doing my maths, that means you joined in 1972. This was also when you qualified as a solicitor and joined the solicitors firm Charles […]
A passionate, vibrant performance The Kensington Philharmonic Orchestra – one of London’s leading non-professional orchestras – gave their Spring Concert on Sunday, 13th March 2022, 7 p.m., at the Chelsea Old Town Hall. The programme was: SIBELIUS: Finlandia, Op. 26 RICHARD STRAUSS: Oboe Concerto in D Major (Layla Baratto, soloist) SIBELIUS: Symphony No. 2 […]
As we finally emerge from the darkness of the various Greek letters that have overshadowed music-making for a while now, come and celebrate with us as we contemplate a new world of spring with the clear, invigorating air of Sibelius and the warm glow of Richard Strauss. We start with Finlandia, which Sibelius aptly subtitled “Happy […]
Mission Accomplished This performance made me weep. I am not familiar with the work, but I am familiar with the huge amount of work and dedication that went into learning the piece. Darin Qualls made it his mission in Lockdown to learn this challenging work. Most of us made excuses about how the lockdown […]
Our Spring 2022 soloist – Layla Köhler Baratto oboist. Born in Brazil, oboist and ABRSM scholar, Layla Köhler Baratto won her first award at the age of 11 in the Municipal Music School of São Paulo Young Soloists Competition. She has also won the São Paulo Symphony Young Soloists 2017 in first place, the […]
New conductor Claudio Di Meo Kensington Philharmonic Orchestra starts a new chapter with new conductor Claudio Di Meo. The KPO, founded in 1965, is one of London’s leading amateur orchestras. It provides opportunities for advanced players of all ages to perform works from the classical and modern repertoire, including pieces that are rarely heard […]
First rehearsal for KPO this year On Monday 17 May 2021 we made a wonderful start towards returning to a new musical normal. We had our first full orchestra rehearsal since March 2020. Thanks to St Peter’s, we were able to rehearse in the spacious church, rather than the usual more modest parish hall […]
Brief Encounter Lawyers love Brief Encounter for all the right reasons, of course. But also for the magical passage where Trevor Howard’s cut-glass voice lists the appalling diseases that shaped 20th and 21st century jurisprudence on causation: pneumoconiosis, anthracosis, chalicosis and silicosis. Mesothelioma was not mentioned as it was not identified for another 20 years. There […]