RPT Presents Midsummer Music

The Rugby Portobello Trust is pleased to invite you to Midsummer Music on Wednesday, 5 June 2019 at 6.30pm.

This year’s performance, sponsored by Strutt and Parker and Christie’s International Real Estate, will welcome the Outcry Ensemble for an evening of Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik and Beethoven’s Violin Concerto led by the English National Opera’s James Henshaw and featuring first violin Oscar Perks.

The evening will take place at the incredible 19th Century, neo-gothic St Mary Abbots Church on Kensington Church Street.

For this year’s event we have teamed up with four fabulous Kensington restaurants offering special offers to guests of Midsummer Music. Guests of Midsummer Music will be able to take advantage of special menus offered by Clarke’s, Pizzicotto, Enoteco Rosso and Il Portico.

All funds raised will be in support of The Rugby Portobello Trust, North Kensington’s local children’s and young people’s charity that has been supporting the community for 135 years.

Tickets are £75 and include a pre-performance drinks and canapes reception.

Purchase tickets by visiting www.rptmidsummermusic.co.uk

The Outcry Ensemble is an acclaimed chamber orchestra that draws together the most talented young professionals at the start of major international careers as orchestral, chamber and solo instrumentalists. The Ensemble has its pick of outstanding young musicians from leading academies and aims to combine an exceptionally high standard of musicianship with boundless youthful energy. Outcry is recognised within the classical music world as an important showcase for the very best emerging talent. The Ensemble is Orchestra in Association with The Temple Music Foundation and performs regularly at Middle Temple Hall.

As well as thrilling and compelling renditions of the most popular work of composers like Mozart and Beethoven, Outcry is renowned for a pioneering approach to programming and performs many world premiers championing the exciting new work of stellar young composers like Kate Whitley, Joel Rust and Misha Mullov-Abbado, much of it composed and orchestrated expressly for the Ensemble.

James Henshaw founded Outcry with fellow music scholars from the University of Cambridge and still manages to conduct and attract the best talent to the Ensemble whilst personally enjoying a meteoric rise in the mainstream classical music world. James is currently Chorus Master at English National Opera where he is the youngest ever incumbent in that role. During his tenure, the Chorus has won an Olivier Award for ‘Outstanding Achievement in Opera’ and ‘Best Chorus’ at the International Opera Awards.

During the 2017/2018 season, James made his conducting debut for Scottish Opera with Jonathan Dove’s Flight and conducted  Die Zauberflöte at Garsington Festival Opera. He has conducted at Longborough, the Aldeburgh Music Festival (assisting Mark Wigglesworth) and in The Proms with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Other experience has been garnered with the Bayerische Staatsoper, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Orchestra where he assisted Vladimir Jurowski on the Stravinsky series. This summer James will be returning to ENO Studio Live to conduct the award-winning production of Britten's Paul Bunyan. The season will also include his debut with the Brandon Hill Chamber Orchestra, the Salomon Orchestra and the Royal Orchestral Society, along with his on-going series of concerts with The Outcry Ensemble.

Oscar Perks is one of Britain’s fastest rising young violinists, both as a soloist and as a chamber musician.  His sensitive interpretations of pieces from both the classical and contemporary canons are imbued with exceptional technical virtuosity. Oscar is in great demand internationally and in 2018 gave acclaimed concerts in Japan and Norway, as well as regularly leading The Outcry Ensemble. Oscar also performs on both violin and viola for the Dante Quartet.