Kenneth Woods and the English Symphony Orchestra (ESO) will make their debut at Kings Place in London on 11 December 2016. Part of the London Chamber Music Society series, the programme includes symphonies by Haydn and Mozart, and James Francis Brown’s Lost Lanes, Shadow Groves featuring clarinettist Emma Johnson.

Haydn’s Symphony No. 44 is among a group of six minor-key symphonies written around the late 1760s and early 1770s, that represent an expression of the composer’s Sturm und Drang period. The nickname Trauer (“Mourning”) was appended in the 19th century, after the work’s Adagio movement was played at Haydn’s funeral in 1809. Mozart’s “Great” Symphony No. 40 is one of only two minor-key symphonies written by the composer (the other being the “Little” Symphony No. 25, also in g minor). His penultimate symphony, it was penned in 1788, just three years before the composer’s death.

In between these two minor-key symphonies, Kenneth Woods and the English Symphony Orchestra offer a musical trou normand, the bucolic Lost Lanes, Shadow Groves, composed in 2008 by James Francis Brown and featuring the eminent English clarinettist Emma Johnson. The four movement concerto was inspired by memories of the composer’s childhood in Norfolk and has quickly become a favourite of clarinettists and string orchestras.

Kenneth Woods and the ESO’s debut at Kings Place comes in the midst of a banner year for the orchestra, the most recent highlight being the premiere performance of composer John Joubert’s opera Jane Eyre. A live recording of Jane Eyre is scheduled to be released in March 2017 to coincide with the composer’s 90th birthday. Other recent recording successes include the chart-topping premiere recordings of Elgar’s Piano Quintet and Sea Pictures in new arrangements by Donald Fraser (AVIE Records), and the acclaimed first volume of premiere recordings of Ernst Krenek’s Piano Concertos Nos. 1 – 3 (Toccata Classics).

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For any media enquiries, interview and image requests, please contact Melanne Mueller, melanne@musiccointernational.com, +44 (0) 20 8698 6933 or +1 917 907 2785

PERFORMANCE INFORMATION
Sunday, 11 December 2016 – 6:30 pm
Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9AG
Joseph Haydn (1732 – 1809) Symphony No. 44 in E minor, Hob.I/44 “Trauer
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James Francis Brown (b. 1969) Lost Lanes, Shadow Groves for clarinet & strings
     Emma Johnson clarinet
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 – 1791) Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K550

Kenneth Woods
English Symphony Orchestra