Originally founded in 1985 as the Orchestra of St James, the London Pro Arte Orchestra is now in its fourteenth season. Murray Stewart has served as Artistic Director and Principal Conductor since its inception, and the Orchestra has delivered over 100 concerts at home and abroad. It debuted at the South Bank in 1986 and regularly performs in London’s major concert halls, including the Barbican, Fairfield Hall in Croydon, and Colston Hall in Bristol.
The Orchestra has toured internationally, performing in France and Denmark, where it opened the Vendsyssel Festival and recorded for Danish Radio. Its associated Brass Ensemble has also performed and recorded in Denmark. Distinguished soloists like Manoug Parikian, Erich Gruenberg, Peter Katin, and Tim Hugh have graced its stage, and it has participated in prominent festivals such as Beethoven Plus, the French Bicentenary Festival, and the Szymanowski Festival. Notable premieres include Aulis Sallinen’s Iron Age Suite and Howell’s Sine Nomine.
Committed to contemporary works, the Orchestra has premiered compositions by Paul Patterson, Piers Hellawell, and Jean Langlais. It premiered Naji Hakim’s Organ Concerto and Violin Concerto, along with Robert Walker’s Mele Livida. Its first CD, featuring works by Langlais, was released in 1998, and it produced the premiere recording of Richard Maunder’s edition of Mozart’s Requiem on modern instruments.
Since 1997, the Orchestra has been in residence at the People’s Palace Concert Hall, Queen Mary and Westfield College, London. It has also performed at the Henley Festival, Portchester Castle, Tredegar House, and Trinity Hall, Cambridge. It has played to its largest audiences—ten thousand people—at Hampshire’s ‘Music in the Air’ events. Future concerts include appearances at St John’s, Smith Square; St Martin in the Fields; and St Giles’, Cripplegate in London, with plans for another ‘Music in the Air’ performance.
