When we first had the idea for Baroque at the Edge back in 2017 and were thinking of the kinds of acts we might invite, it’s safe to say that the idea of a cello and bass guitar combo was not one that occurred to us. But, you know, as musicians out there get to hear of us, so we get to hear of them, and thus it was that we came across Jonathan Roozeman and Lauri Porra.
On one of the first drizzly Sundays in autumn, LSO Choral Director Simon Halsey rehearses Beethoven’s Christ on the Mount of Olives in a singing day at LSO St Luke’s.
In the words of Sir Simon Rattle, Beethoven is ‘absolutely inescapable’, especially as music-lovers around the world celebrate 250 years since his birth. Who can claim not to recognise the stirring chorus of ‘Ode to Joy’ or the melancholy second movement of his Symphony No 7, which has amassed a substantial number of references in popular culture? Yet even the most ardent Beethoven fans may find themselves scratching their heads at the mention of Christ on the Mount of Olives…
Ahead of the world premiere of her piece, Spellbound Tableaux, we caught up with composer and saxophonist Sophya Polevaya to talk about her compositional process, Hitchcock, and her debut album!
