Music-at-Hill

12/06/2026

Following two wonderful concerts on recent Fridays - the RAM Harp Collective two weeks ago and the Concerto Competition prizewinners from Wi******er College last week - today we shall lie fallow at lunchtime, as Holy Sepulchre is not available for our use due to an unrelated booking. Next Friday (19 June) will be the last regular recital of our current season - keep an eye on our website www.musicathill.org.uk for details. We will then take a short break before our annual Bach Festival kicks off on 3 July.

Founded as St Anne’s Music Society, and renowned for its annual Bach Festival each July, Music-at-Hill hosts free Friday lunchtime concerts in central London throughout the year.

15/05/2026

Today we welcome back an old friend of our concert society, Harry Buckoke, for a solo recital on his viola da gamba. He's devised a fascinating programme called "The Emigré Musician", exploring the works of composers who left their homeland for political, religious or career reasons. The featured composers range from Dowland (born 1563) to Weinberg (born 1919) - we look forward to this journey through the centuries :-)

08/05/2026

This lunchtime we welcome back the violinist Krassimira Jeliazkova, accompanied by Elizabeth Mucha on piano, to give us an imaginative programme entitled "The Virtuoso Stage". This will showcase four pieces inspired by or intrinsically linked to the dramatic visual arts (opera/theatre/dance/film), by composers ranging from Spohr to Stravinsky.

Their concluding item will be Milhaud's Cinema-Fantaisie after 'Le Boeuf sur le Toit' (The Ox on the Roof), an animal-themed piece which is perhaps an appropriate nod to Sir David Attenborough's 100th birthday today!

01/05/2026

After a fascinating concert last Friday at which we heard the Guildhall 'Women in Brass' Ensemble - an all-female posse of brass players from the Guildhall School of Music - performing a programme ranging from Hildegard of Bingen through Bach and Britten to contemporary composers, today we welcome back the superlative young guitarist Nathaniel Rosales-Merkies to bewitch us with the soothing sounds of his instrument. After his memorable rendition of Bach's Chaconne from the D minor Partita last year, we will again be treated to some Bach, as well as a variety of later music, including the first public performance of Nathaniel's own composition 'Wove'.

27/03/2026

Today see the final lunchtime concert of our current season, with a piano recital by Christine Stevenson which we've dubbed "Pilgrim's Progress". Christine will be playing excerpts from Volume 2 of Liszt's 'Années de pèlerinage', together with alternative variations on the celebrated theme of Diabelli by Liszt, Schubert and F X W Mozart (younger surviving son of the famous Mozart, also known as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Jr).

If you're unable to join us this afternoon, then our Spring Season will kick off on Friday 17 April. A fresh termcard will be available shortly after Easter, and do keep an eye on our website www.musicathill.org.uk for up-to-date concert listings.

20/03/2026

As the third and last fixture in our mini-Baroque series this month, we have a bumper concert this lunchtime provided for us by The Stanesby Players, who will be giving us a programme of Telemann, Bach and Schulze, including two complete Telemann cantatas.

The concert has been generously sponsored by one of our Society's longest-standing supporters and in return we will be helping him to celebrate his birthday with a post-concert reception. If any of you out there fancy marking your special occasion in a similar way in future, we'd be delighted to hear from you!

13/03/2026

We're on a roll with Baroque and early music repertoire this month, and today we're thrilled to welcome Sepia Dragon - the formidable duo of Belinda Paul and Louise Strickland, playing a mixture of chalumeau, musette and recorders. Sepia Dragon will be treating us to a programme of 18th century French music they've called "Shepherd in the Drawing Room", featuring a roll call of composers with exotic names including Joseph Bodin de Boismortier, Michel Pignolet de Montéclair, Pierre Danican Philidor and Esprit Philippe Chédeville.

06/03/2026

We have a series of Baroque-focused concerts for the next few Fridays, beginning today with a visit from Passiflora Baroque. Nikki Wilkinson and Annabelle Lee are bringing their flûtes traversières and will treat us to a programme of sonatas and fantasias by Telemann and W F Bach and works for solo flute by Hotteterre and J S Bach. We look forward to their performance!

27/02/2026

For today's lunchtime concert at Holy Sepulchre, we welcome the Scintilla String Quartet to give us a programme of Beethoven's C minor Quartet (Op. 18 no. 4) and Ravel's String Quartet in F major.

It's been a while since we featured a string quartet in our Friday series, so we're very much looking forward to this Beethoven and Ravel double-bill.

20/02/2026

Exactly 400 years ago today, the Renaissance composer John Dowland was buried at St Ann's Blackfriars in the City of London. The church itself no longer stands, but it's possible to visit the remains of the churchyard, tucked away in a quiet lane just downhill from St Paul's Cathedral.

Dowland is still revered by classical music lovers as one of the greatest composers of his age, and probably the finest lutenist this country has ever produced.

We're proud to be marking this quadricentenary day with a special concert of Dowland's own compositions (and those of a couple of his contemporaries, Campion and Morley), performed by two early music specialists, the countertenor David Yardley and the lutenist Augustin Cornwall-Irving.