Opening Night Concert: London Mozart Players

Friday 21 June, 7.30pm

London Mozart Players at Thaxted Festival

Images: London Mozart Players © Kaupo Kikkas; Iyad Sughayer © James Cardell-Oliver

George Jackson, conductor / Iyad Sughayer, piano

Our Orchestra-in-Residence opens our Festival with three works by Gustav Holst, marking the 150th anniversary of his birth. We also feature the world première of Noah Max’s Symphony No 1, and Iyad Sughayer plays Mozart’s much-loved Piano Concerto No 23.

Holst: A Fugal Concerto Op 40 No 2
Max: Symphony No 1 World Première
Holst: Lyric Movement for viola and Chamber Orchestra
Holst: Brook Green Suite
Mozart: Piano Concerto No 23 in A major K488

Our opening concert brings together three 2024 residencies: Orchestra-in-Residence London Mozart Players, Artist-in-Residence Iyad Sughayer, and Composer-in-Residence Noah Max. Noah’s Symphony No 1 is a commission from Thaxted Festival, and we are proud to present this world première in our Holst 150 anniversary season.

Three sumptuous works by Holst mark the 150th anniversary of his birth. His Fugal Concerto from 1923 showcases his love of Bach in its second movement, while the simple pastoral of the Brook Green Suite contrasts with the hauntingly beautiful Lyric Movement, Holst’s last completed work. Iyad Sughayer then plays Mozart’s much-loved Piano Concerto No 23. Iyad was nominated as a Rising Star Artist by Classic FM in 2022 and was a prize-winner with the Young Classical Artists Trust in 2021. Iyad appears as part of Thaxted Festival’s Developing Artists Programme.

‘He [Iyad Sughayer] captures the music’s essence with such a close sense of recreative identity that it feels on occasion as though he could be composing it as he goes along.’
Julian Haylock, BBC Music Magazine

This concert is produced in association with Orchestras Live, and is sponsored by friends of Thaxted Festival who wish to remain anonymous.

The composition of Noah Max’s First Symphony is supported by a substantial grant award from the Leche Trust, together with a contribution from a Thaxted Festival legacy from the estate of Denys and Marie Stott.

Tonight’s opening concert is dedicated to the memory of Tony Hiron, who died last month. Tony was a much-loved member of the Festival family – a dedicated volunteer since 2007 – whose roles included administration and front-of-house, before stage lighting became his speciality. He will be missed by us all.

Venue: Thaxted Parish Church
Tickets: £44*, £40, £34, £26, £16. Age 30 and under: £10
*Premium seating in centre front rows.

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“[The Tippett Quartet] concert as part of the 2023 Thaxted Festival revealed a group of musicians of profound interpretative depth, and capable of traversing a wide range of repertoire.”
Colin Clarke, Classical Explorer

“A positively life-enhancing performance of Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love in English with reduced ensemble by Wild Arts…”
Colin Clarke, Classical Explorer

“The performance was a joy … and the quartet brought out its sense of both structural and linear perfection.” Holst’s Phantasy Quartet Op 36 performed by the Tippett Quartet.
Colin Clarke, Classical Explorer

“The Tippett Quartet and Emma Abbate have performed Schumann’s Piano Quintet together many times. On this occasion they combined flawless execution with instinctive – and utterly engaging – musicianship.”
Claire Seymour, in Seen and Heard International.

“…this was a wonderfully enjoyable and engaging performance that really punched above its weight. The audience in Thaxted clearly loved it and were fully engaged, whilst this experienced reviewer was carried away as well.”
Wild Art’s production of The Elixir of Love, reviewed by Robert Hugill in Planet Hugill

“2 terrific concerts I heard with London Mozart Players.”
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“I think Gustav is smiling down to see how his memory and that of his best friend and colleague Ralph Vaughan Williams are honoured by the expertly played pieces they both composed.”
Thaxted Festival concertgoer

“It's always the variety and quality which keeps me coming back.”
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