London Musici
Eternal Light: A Requiem by Howard Goodall has been commissioned by London Musici (Artistic Director: Mark Stephenson) to celebrate its 20th Anniversary and its award winning partnership as Associate Orchestra with the world renowned Rambert Dance Company.
Mark Stephenson was a chorister at St John's College, Cambridge, a student at the Royal Academy of Music and a ‘cellist in The Philharmonia and he founded the chamber orchestra London Musici in 1988. The orchestra has recorded and performed with the choirs of Trinity College, Cambridge and Christchurch Cathedral, Oxford, The Philharmonia Chorus and the New London Chamber Choir. Its album of music from Handel's Messiah featuring Bryn Terfel and John Mark-Ainsley, with the London Musici and Chamber Choir, conducted by Mark Stephenson was re-issued by Classic FM in 2000. Mark Stephenson and London Musici have performed and recorded with international singers including Nathan Berg, Michael Chance, Inessa Galante, Angelika Kirchschlager, Sergei Leferkus, Christopher Maltman and Patricia Rozario. The orchestra has given over 1000 performances with Rambert, recognised with an outstanding achievement award by Time Out magazine in 2004. Its popular albums of music by Handel, Rossini, Mendelssohn, Prokofiev, Arnold and Nyman have each been selected as record choices in the press, as have its rare recordings of music by Galina Ustvolskaya and Andrzej Panufnik. Its music education projects have won numerous national awards.
Renowned for their innovative programming, and as part of the orchestra’s 20th Anniversary celebrations, Mark Stephenson and London Musici will follow the 11th November 2008 London première at Sadler’s Wells Theatre of the dance piece Eternal Light (choreographed by Mark Baldwin for Rambert Dance Company) with a ground breaking collaboration with the Queen of Fashion, Dame Vivienne Westwood of a Performance Art Catwalk Show at Banqueting House, Whitehall Palace, sponsored by George Piskov and Unistream Money Transfers, in aid of the NSPCC on 18th November 2008..
