Madeleine Mitchell violin
Gordon MacKay violin
Bridget Carey viola
Roger Chase viola
Joseph Spooner cello
Kirsten Jensen cello

Programme:
Schubert — String Quintet in C major D956
Brahms — String Sextet No. 2 in G major Op. 36

This concert takes place at St Christopher’s Church, St Christopher's Green, Haslemere, GU27 1DD.

The London Chamber Ensemble includes the UK’s most experienced chamber musicians. It was founded by violinist Madeleine Mitchell in 1992 at the request of the Vale of Glamorgan Festival to perform Messiaen’s Quatuor pour la fin du temps, going on to perform at the BBC Proms. Their recording of the Messiaen with Joanna MacGregor, along with Krauze Quatuor pour la Naissance, was the widely recommended version of the work for many years. “An all star group which manages to outdo all its rivals” Gramophone

Madeleine was asked by the Alwyn Trust to put together an album for Naxos of William Alwyn Chamber Music and Song, all first recordings including Roger Chase, violist. This was followed by the London Chamber Ensemble album for Naxos/BMS of chamber music by Grace Williams (2019), all world premiere recordings, listed as Guardian CD of the Week and no.2 in the Classical Charts: “Passionate and persuasive advocacy, gripping interpretations..more please” Gramophone

The LCE were invited to appear in the Southbank Centre’s International Chamber Music Season 2020/21 in Mitchell's programme 'A Century of Music by UK Women' 1921-2021 (on youtube). This was live streamed from St John's Smith Square on International Women's Day, supported by the RVW and Ambache Trusts, with wide media coverage on BBC Radio 4, Radio 3, Classic FM, Scala Radio, The Guardian, The Independent, BBC Music Magazine, The Strad Premiere of the Month and Musical Opinion: “very fine performances of a broad range of fresh and rewarding repertoire…the players brought energy, precision and interpretative imagination”.

For the past six years the core has been a permanent string quartet with violinists Madeleine Mitchell and Gordon MacKay, violist Bridget Carey and cellist Joseph Spooner including late Beethoven for the 250th anniversary and Schubert Quintet with cellist Kirsten Jenson for the Schubert Society of GB. Madeleine Mitchell won a Royal Philharmonic Society Enterprise Award in 2022 for her creative project linking art and music in film – see youtube, including her Anglo-Russian LCE String Quartet introduced concert programme with the V&A exhibition Fabergé: Romance to Revolution. A return invitation followed, again sold out, for their quartet concert ‘French Impressions’ with the V&A Chanel exhibition. Other recent quartet engagements include the Worshipful Company of Glaziers, the Highgate Festival and recording a work by Effy Efthimiou. They opened Kensington & Chelsea Music Society season with the Quartet no.5 by Joseph Horovitz in tribute to the composer and Brahms Clarinet Quintet: “superb high-quality chamber music-making” Musical Opinion.

In October 2024 their premiere recordings of Herbert Howells’s Quartet ‘In Gloucestershire’, 2 short pieces arranged by Madeleine, and Howells’s teacher Charles Wood’s quartet were released by SOMM to high critical acclaim: “The playing of the slow movement is perfection…the finale thrillingly realised” Gramophone recommended recordings 2024, “Full of vitality…expertly played”, Fiona Maddocks, The Observer. They performed in the international Red Violin Festival and made successful tours of South Wales and Scotland. In 2025 concerts include Music in Country Churches and Pinner Music Festivals and in 2026, Three Choirs and English Music Festivals.

www.londonchamberensemble.com