LGSO Winter Concert 2026

Event information

London Calling: our 30th season's Winter Concert explores and celebrates the nations capital through the lens of 3 of Britain's best 20th century composers.

Programme:
Elgar - Cockaigne Overture
Tippett - Ritual dances (Midsummer Marriage)
Vaughan Williams - Symphony number 2 (London Symphony)

Programme Notes:
The programme will start with a bit of good old British pomp in the form of Elgar's boisterous Cockaigne Overture, a musical portrait of Edwardian London, and being named after the capital's tongue-in-cheek nickname at the time: "Cockayne", originally meaning utopian luscious lands, but at this time being more associated with gluttony and drunkenness!

After this, we shall enter into the dappled world of London-born Tippett in our programmes second piece: The Ritual Dances of The Midsummer Marriage opera. The story of the opera, which is largely based on Mozart's The Magic flute, follows two couples, one royal pair and one working class, that must both overcome their inner shadows of their inner psyches before being considered ready for marriage. The music is heavily symbolic in nature and is broken up into a colourful series of short but vivid vignettes.

We close our programme back in London with Vaughan Williams' second symphony titled A London Symphony. This London is a far cry from Elgar's Cockaigne; Vaughan Williams manages to portray the quieter moments of early 20th century London with the close countryside not yet replaced by urban sprawl and prior to internal combustions domination of the capital's busy streets. It starts out on a quiet Westminster Bridge before the chimes of big Ben bring about a bustling rush hour and meanders through the city before quietly exiting down the Thames in the east.