London Mozart Players

Formed in 1949, The London Mozart Players (LMP) are the longest-running chamber orchestra in the UK. The ensemble was founded by violinist and conductor Harry Blech, who had previously spent time playing in the Hallé Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and his own small group before he slowly began to transition towards conducting. After conducting the Blech Quartet and the London Wind Players, he founded the London Mozart Players. The LMP began a series of performances at the Royal Hall Festival in 1951 before continuing their performances at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. Harry Blech led the LMP until 1984, recording many albums including Haydn: Symphony No. 49 (1953), Schubert: Symphonies Nos. 4, "Tragic" and 5 (1954), Schubert: Symphonies Nos. 4 "Tragique" & 6 (1956), Mozart: Mass No 14 In C Major, K.317 (1962), Piano Concerto In A (K 488), Symphony In C K551 (Jupiter) (1974), and Offenbach: Christopher Columbus (1977). When Harry Blech stepped down as conductor, he was replaced by Jane Glover, who continued to focus on the Works of Mozart, Handel, Haydn, and others. The London Mozart Players also accompanied soprano Felicity Lott on the 1989 album Mozart Arias. Jane Glover stepped down in 1992 and was replaced by Swiss conductor and composer Matthias Bamert. In order to expand their repertoire, the ensemble focused on recording Contemporaries of Mozart, a series of albums that highlighted the works of lesser-known composers such as Michael Haydn (younger brother of Joseph) and Leopold Mozart (father of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart), alongside composers such as Clementi, Gossec, Herschel, Pleyel, Richter, Salieri, Stamitz, Vogler, and others. The London Mozart Players were then led by several more conductors including Andrew Parrott (2000-2006) and Gérard Korsten (2010-2014) before the arrival of Howard Shelley in 2015. In 2022, Jonathan Bloxham was brought in as Conductor in Residence as well as artistic advisor. In 2020, the ensemble released Hubert Parry’s Judith which featured soprano Sarah Fox and tenor Toby Spence. Three years later, they revisited the work of Parry on the album Scenes from Shelley's Promotheus Unbound, Blest Pair of Sirens (2023), which featured Sarah Fox joined by mezzo soprano Sarah Connolly. The acclaimed album reached number 13 on the British Classical Albums chart.

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