2025–26 Season Preview

St Paul’s Sinfonia was founded in 2004 to give concerts at the beautiful St Paul’s Church in Deptford. We spent our first seven seasons there, before expanding in 2011 to new venues including the stunning churches of St Alfege in Greenwich and St Margaret’s in Blackheath.

2025–26 marks our twenty-first season, and as we continue to grow and evolve, we remain deeply grateful to you, our audience. Your ongoing enthusiasm is what makes performing such a joy.

We open our season with a pair of classical symphonies set against two twentieth-century works, both featuring Hassan Marzban on recorder. It is the first in a series of concerts spotlighting the woodwind repertoire as we welcome back our friend Nicola Hands, performing Ruth Gipps’ Oboe Concerto in March, and Amy Thompson, a regular at St Paul’s, who appears as soloist in Elizabeth Maconchy’s Bassoon Concertino and plays a central role in David Wallace’s Symphony No. 3 ‘Ricercare’, both in February.

In April, and in a long awaited return, internationally acclaimed cellist Guy Johnston brings us Britten’s dark and compelling Cello Symphony, marking 50 years since the composer’s death.

New to the Sinfonia this year are Michael Foyle, who plays the London premiere of Philip Cashian’s Violin Concerto;  Ash Howard, winner of the Trinity Laban Soloist Competition singing Elgar’s Sea Pictures; Louis Schwizgebel, directing Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto from the keyboard; and Samantha Ege, who joins conductor John Andrews to perform Avril Coleridge-Taylor’s Piano Concerto in May.

We’re also thrilled to welcome back, in June, our friends Tim Jackson (horn) and Guy Elliott (tenor), who perform Britten’s esoteric and beautiful Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings.

Beyond the solo repertoire, you can expect a signature Sinfonia blend of the familiar and the unexpected. Classical favourites by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert sit alongside the increasingly modern symphonic voices of Tchaikovsky, Sibelius, Vaughan Williams and Malcolm Arnold, culminating in the heroic grandeur of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3.

It promises to be a season of discovery, with bold programming, and unforgettable performances.

Don’t miss a note – we can’t wait to welcome you to one of our concerts!