Orchestra of St Paul’s
Ben Palmer Musical Director
Sir Roger Norrington Patron
Alexandra Reid Leader
The Orchestra of St Paul's (OSP) is a dynamic and versatile chamber orchestra resident at the famous Actors' Church in Covent Garden. In addition to a thriving concert series in its home venue, OSP makes annual visits to the Southbank Centre's Purcell Room and St John's, Smith Square, and is regularly invited to appear at venues and festivals throughout the UK. Under the baton of musical director Ben Palmer, the orchestra has developed a reputation for imaginative programming and exciting, stylish performances.
OSP is unique among modern instrument chamber orchestras in playing music of the baroque, classical and even romantic periods entirely without vibrato. This pure tone is complemented by the orchestra's employment of authentic articulation, phrasing and style.
The 2012/13 season includes UK première arrangements of Ravel's Le tombeau de Couperin and Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition at the Purcell Room, a two-week tour of China, a programme of Bridge, Stanford, Britten and Moeran at St John's, Smith Square, Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique and Messe solennelle at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, and the world première of David Owen Norris's Symphony at the English Music Festival. Recent highlights include a double-bill of Façade and Pierrot lunaire at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts at Birmingham University, Copland's complete Appalachian Spring at the Southbank Centre, Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen with Roderick Williams and Beethoven's Ninth at St John's, Smith Square, a classical programme at the Victoria & Albert Museum, and the UK première of the original version of Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 5.
The Orchestra of St Paul's performs all around the UK, and has made visits to Devon, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, North Yorkshire, Oxfordshire and Suffolk; last season OSP performed for the first time at LSO St Luke's. OSP's opera productions include Così fan tutte, Die Zauberflöte, Dido and Aeneas, Die Fledermaus and Ravel's L'enfant et les sortilèges.
Plans for 2013/14 include Verdi Requiem at St John's, Smith Square, performances of Haydn's The Seasons and Bach's St Matthew Passion, and a Shakespearean programme of Shostakovich and Korngold incidental music at the Purcell Room.
The orchestra's patron is Sir Roger Norrington.
OSP is unique among modern instrument chamber orchestras in playing music of the baroque, classical and even romantic periods entirely without vibrato. This pure tone is complemented by the orchestra's employment of authentic articulation, phrasing and style.
The 2012/13 season includes UK première arrangements of Ravel's Le tombeau de Couperin and Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition at the Purcell Room, a two-week tour of China, a programme of Bridge, Stanford, Britten and Moeran at St John's, Smith Square, Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique and Messe solennelle at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, and the world première of David Owen Norris's Symphony at the English Music Festival. Recent highlights include a double-bill of Façade and Pierrot lunaire at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts at Birmingham University, Copland's complete Appalachian Spring at the Southbank Centre, Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen with Roderick Williams and Beethoven's Ninth at St John's, Smith Square, a classical programme at the Victoria & Albert Museum, and the UK première of the original version of Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 5.
The Orchestra of St Paul's performs all around the UK, and has made visits to Devon, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, North Yorkshire, Oxfordshire and Suffolk; last season OSP performed for the first time at LSO St Luke's. OSP's opera productions include Così fan tutte, Die Zauberflöte, Dido and Aeneas, Die Fledermaus and Ravel's L'enfant et les sortilèges.
Plans for 2013/14 include Verdi Requiem at St John's, Smith Square, performances of Haydn's The Seasons and Bach's St Matthew Passion, and a Shakespearean programme of Shostakovich and Korngold incidental music at the Purcell Room.
The orchestra's patron is Sir Roger Norrington.