Brixton Blog: Brixton Chamber Orchestra Performs Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's Nonet

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912)

Brixton Blog [U.K.]

Alan Slingsby

22 July

The Cressingham Gardens Rotunda – one of the many things that makes the demolition-threatened estate special – hosted a concert by the Brixton Chamber Orchestra last night (22 July) that was a contrast to the noise and bustle of the Lambeth Country Show a few hundred yards away.

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Local but internationally famous Black British composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875—1912) was represented by a Nonet.

He lived in South Norwood and Croydon. In his day, he sold out the Royal Albert Hall for weeks at a time with his music-drama Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast. Today, his music is rarely performed and few have heard of him. As fellow South-Londoners, BCO champions his music whenever possible.

The Nonet played by the BCO was composed in 1894, while Coleridge-Taylor was completing his studies at the Royal College of Music.

“The energy sustained throughout is astounding, and the variation in texture across the ensemble continually reinvigoratos the sound,” says BCO director Matthew O’Keeffe.