Programme

Elgar – Serenade for Strings
Purcell – Chaconne
Bach – Air ‘on the G String’
Mozart – Concerto for Piano in B flat
Borodin – Nocturne
Mozart – Symphony No 40 in G minor

Thames Chamber Orchestra
James Lisney Piano
Keith Marshall Conductor

Performers

The Thames Chamber Orchestra was formed by Michael Dobson in 1962 to take part in a series of concerts in the 14th century Parish Church at Kingston-upon-Thames. The orchestra soon became widely known through its many BBC broadcasts both from the studio and from its public concerts.

The TCO has appeared at the festivals at Windsor, Norwich, Fishguard, Nottingham, Cambridge, Pershore, Madley, and at many other venues in this country and abroad, including several visits to the Flanders Festival.

The orchestra has given regular concerts at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall and has also appeared at the Royal Festival Hall, the Royal Albert Hall and St. John’s, Smith Square. Programmes have ranged very widely with music from the 17th to the 20th century and the orchestra has commissioned several works from young British composers which have had their first performances at the Queen Elizabeth Hall followed by BBC studio broadcasts.

Within its repertoire, the orchestra has introduced many lesser known works of the great composers as well as numerous worthwhile pieces by their less famous contemporaries.

The Thames Chamber Orchestra has always invited the finest chamber musicians to be amongst its members, and their sense of style and warmth of sound have frequently earned much praise both from the critics and from the many guest conductors who have worked with the orchestra.

Under its Artistic Director and Principal Conductor Keith Marshall, the TCO performs regularly at St Martin-in-the-Fields, St John’s Smith Square and other major London venues, recently inaugurating a series of orchestral concerts at The Landmark Arts Centre in Teddington. This new series marked both the return of the Thames Chamber Orchestra to West London, and a significant stage in the development of The Landmark as a major centre for the arts.

Keith Marshall began his musical education as a chorister at Birmingham Cathedral.  He read music at Caius College Cambridge, where he was a Choral Exhibitioner.  Having gained MA Hons in music, Keith went on to study oboe at the Royal Academy of Music, winning the Recital Diploma – the Academy’s highest award.  He was a First Prize winner in the opening “Croft Original” competition and was subsequently awarded the Academy’s Shinn Fellowship.

Keith Marshall has pursued a highly successful and broadly based freelance career as an oboist, performing on a regular basis with Britain’s most prestigious symphony and chamber orchestras at many of the world’s most important venues and music festivals.  Playing for extended periods with both the English Chamber and Philharmonia Orchestras, he has performed at the Salzburg and Edinburgh Festivals, the Concertgebouw, Carnegie Hall, the Musikverein and Tokyo’s Suntory Hall.
Keith Marshall has often appeared as soloist with the Thames Chamber Orchestra, playing concertos in both the Queen Elizabeth and Wigmore Halls, and at other venues throughout the United Kingdom. He has also given numerous solo recitals on BBC Radio Three and made a recording of Finzi’s “Interlude” for oboe and string quartet on the Hyperion label.  He has also recorded wind octets by Mozart and Myslivicek with Harmoniemusik of London for Virgin Classics.

In 1994 Keith Marshall was appointed Director of the Thames Chamber Orchestra.  He conducts a regular series of concerts at St Martin-in-the-Fields, at numerous festivals throughout the United Kingdom and at many London venues including St John’s Smith Square and the Royal Albert Hall.
Keith has conducted the TCO in the presence of HRH Princess Alexandra on several occasions and these gala performances have included works such as Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll, Mozart and Beethoven piano concertos and symphonies by Mozart, Mendelssohn and Schubert.

He works on a regular basis with the choir of Christ’s College, Cambridge, and repertoire includes most major works by Bach, Handel and Mozart.  Their performance of Handel’s Coronation Anthems was broadcast from St John’s Smith Square on Classic FM.

In 2009 Keith Marshall was invited to conduct at State Opera Rousse, Bulgaria, and in the last year he has directed highly acclaimed performances of Don Giovanni and La Traviata.

In January 2011 he had the honour of conducting a New Year concert in Salzburg with Austria’s Wallersee Philharmonie.