St Paul’s Sinfonia was formed in 2004 to perform concerts at the beautiful St Paul’s Church in Deptford. We spent our first seven seasons there very happily, but in 2011 we spread our wings and moved to new venues, including the beautiful churches of St Alfege in Greenwich, and St Margaret’s in Blackheath. 

2024-25 marks our twentieth season, and as we continue to go from strength to strength, we remain eternally grateful for the support of you, our audience. Your enduring enthusiasm is the reason we enjoy performing so much!

The season opens with one of our longest-serving members, Christian Halstead, performing Samuel Barber’s astonishing Violin Concerto. This is one of two violinists we’ll hear this year as we also welcome the acclaimed Ofer Falk to play Henri Vieuxtemps’ Fourth Concerto in March. 

We are delighted to see the return of soprano Justine Viani in October, who, along with James Schouten as Cavaradossi and Thom Isherwood as Scarpia, will sing the role of Tosca in a concert performance marking 100 years since Puccini’s death. In addition soprano Emma Tring joins us in May to perform Saariaho’s kaleidoscopic song cycle Quatre instants, and, in June, we have a St. Paul’s ‘first’ with not just one, but two, organ concertos played by St. Alfege Director of Music Benjamin Newlove.

Elsewhere in the season, we welcome French horn player Nivanthi Karunaratne in November; winner of Trinity Laban’s Soloist Competition, she brings the exuberant Horn Concerto by Reinhold Glière. Other wind soloists to look out for include St. Paul’s regulars Hannah Robinson and Naomi Thomas, bringing works by Vivaldi (December) and Copland (January), and Huw Wiggin, fresh from last season’s David Wallace premiere, who plays the Kalevi Aho Concerto for Soprano Saxophone in February. Speaking of Wallace, in April we are privileged to present his First Symphony in a concert completely dedicated to the form.

Our repertoire, as always, spans the familiar and the fascinating, the ancient and the new, and this year includes well trodden symphonies by Tchaikovsky, Schubert, Beethoven and Sibelius, along with exciting works by Ina Boyle, Villa Lobos, Stephen Montague, Gossec, Julia Perry, and Adrian Sutton. Plus we end our season by exploring Shostakovich’s stunning First Symphony. It promises to be a season full of new horizons – and our best yet!

DON’T MISS A NOTE! WE HOPE TO SEE YOU AT ONE OF OUR CONCERTS VERY SOON!