In 2023, LCO celebrated its ten year anniversary. Here’s what Thomas Payne, our
Musical Director, said at our anniversary concert at St John’s Smith Square on 8 th
July 2023.
First of all, thank you so much for coming tonight as we celebrate the LCO’s 10 th
anniversary. It’s extraordinary how much has happened in those ten years.
The LCO was founded by four friends back in January 2013. They were Tom
Fotheringham, who still regularly plays the viola with us today, along with Ben Craft,
Jessica Fontaine and Sarah Anderson.
The four of them decided to set up their own orchestra because they wanted to play
together in a group that was open, inclusive and democratic, while also performing to
a high standard.
The first concert took place in April 2013 at the National Musicians’ Church on
Holborn Viaduct and by the next concert in November 2013, Pablo Urbina had taken
over as conductor. Pablo led the orchestra during a time of huge growth and
development, and I’m delighted that he’s still one of our trustees today.
In the early days, the orchestra had a small core membership of around 20 to 30
people. Zara Lim, who played violin and managed the orchestra, recalls that the LCO
was always incredibly friendly and approached things as a team. She says: “We had
big ambitions to play more challenging repertoire but we knew that in order to do
that, we had to grow, and that’s what we did.”
Over the next few years the orchestra slowly and steadily grew its membership to 40
people, then 50, then 60, and suddenly it was a full-sized symphony orchestra, able
to play an exciting range of repertoire with its new forces.
I came on board in late 2019, just in time for the pandemic, and am pleased to say
that we continued to rehearse and perform, keeping the music going throughout. At a
time when Covid restrictions were in force and few other ensembles were playing, we
successfully put on four socially-distanced concerts.
In the ten years since 2013, the orchestra has worked with fantastic soloists,
collaborated with choirs, performed at major venues such as the Queen Elizabeth
Hall and Cadogan Hall, and commissioned new music from composers including
Dani Howard, Amy Crankshaw and Emma-Kate Matthews. We’ve been fortunate to
be able to showcase so much new talent.
We’ve also been incredibly lucky to have been offered a new rehearsal space at
Fishmongers’ Hall in the City, which gives us a luxurious place to practise every
Monday.
Everything that we’ve achieved in this decade comes down to the people who are
involved with LCO. We have a special mix of an extremely dedicated and hard-
working committee, highly talented musicians and a strong feeling of community.
We constantly welcome new members while cherishing those who have been with us
for longer, and appreciate hearing everyone’s thoughts and ideas for the music that
we play.
I’d like to thank our committee for their exceptional support, our players, who are
mostly non-professional and show amazing dedication to this orchestra, and of
course, all of you who have come to hear us perform tonight.
I’m so proud to be here, conducting the LCO at St John’s Smith Square on our 10 th
anniversary. I hope you enjoy the rest of our concert tonight and that you’ll keep
coming back to hear us over the next ten years and beyond.
