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| Jess Gillam, Tom Fetherstonhaugh & Fantasia Orchestra in rehearsal (Picture: Fantasia Orchestra) |
In Could final 12 months I chatted conductor Tom Fetherstonhaugh [see my interview] about Fantasia Orchestra which he based approach again in 2016 (when he was nonetheless in school). Throughout 2024 the orchestra had debuts on the BBC Proms, Northern Aldborough Pageant and Ryedale Pageant, and it continues to go from power to power. Fantasia Orchestra and Fetherstonhaugh launch their 2025/26 season with a live performance at Smith Sq. Corridor on 23 November which additionally marks the beginning of a four-concert residency on the corridor. On 23 November, Fetherstonhaugh and the orchestra shall be joined by soprano Lucy Crowe for Birdsong, a specially-curated programme impressed by the great thing about nature and of avian track. The programme consists of Spring from Strauss’ 4 Final Songs, ‘Dove Sono’ from Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, Berg’s The Nightingale from his Seven Early Songs, music from Messiaen’s Harawi plus Handel, Vivaldi, Haydn, Gerswhin and much more.
In February the orchestra is in Nottingham with saxophonist Jess Gillam for a programme that features James MacMillan’s Saxophone Concerto, and music by Steve Reich, Kate Bush, Bartok, Joni Mitchell and far more.
In April they return to Smith Sq. with visitor sitar participant and composer Jasdeep Singh Degun for a programme that features Degun’s music alongside Rameau and Philip Glass together with a motion from Degun’s sitar concerto Arya. Nonetheless at Smith Sq. Corridor, in could they’re joined by pianist Steven Osborne for Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 1 (with trumpeter Aaron Akugbo) alongside music by Bartok, Cole Porter, Gershwin and a few of Shostakovich’s lighter items. Their ultimate live performance of the residency options mezzo-soprano Niamh O’Sullivan (who has been singing the title position in Bizet’s Carmen at ENO) in songs by Alma Mahler, Richard Strauss alongside instrumental music by Strauss and Elgar, plus songs by Ellington, Kern, Sondheim and Cole Porter.
Full particulars from the Fantasia Orchestra web site.
