Saturday 10th February 2024 – 7.00pm – St Gabriel’s Church, Pimlico Shock horror – KPO is giving a concert on a Saturday and at a different venue, namely at St. Gabriel’s Church, Warwick Square, Pimlico, SW1V. It is in fact where we rehearse every Monday. Why this change, you may ask? Well, we are […]
Philip Rham meets up with David King, the organ soloist at our forthcoming concert at St. Gabriel’s Church Philip Here I am with David King, organist at St. Gabriel’s, and you’ve been here for 28 years, is that correct? David It will be 29 in March! Philip Well I never did! And was it […]
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 […]
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 […]
JOEL ASHFORD, the horn soloist in the Strauss Horn Concerto No. 2 in our November 2023 Concert, talks to our regular KPO interviewer, PHILIP RHAM Philip Joel, welcome and thank you for being interviewed for our KPO website. Normally I ask about our soloist’s past, but actually we already know you because you […]
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 […]