London City Orchestra at Regent Hall - 5th Anniversary Concert (Mar 2018)

Three years on from our first event photography collaboration, I had the pleasure of capturing yet another beautiful event - London City Orchestra's 5th anniversary concert! Led by the very talented conductor Pablo Urbina, the orchestra offered a lovely evening of classical music at Oxford Circus's Regent Hall, right at the heart of central London.

The theme for this year's spring programme was Death and Rebirth, a lovely exploration of timeless masterpieces inspired by it, such as Westside Story, Bernstein's iconic rendition of Romeo and Juliet set in the streets of New York. There was also music by Mahler, Debussy and Tchaikovsky, performed with the same energy and enthusiasm I experienced at the last concert I photographed for them - An American in London on the 4th July 2015.

The concert in March was dedicated to LCO´s 5th anniversary, therefore including composers whose anniversaries are being celebrated this year (Bernstein's centenary, 100th years since death of Debussy), and being rounded off with one of the most celebratory pieces in the classical repertoire, Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture.

Why was it special? Conductor Pablo Urbina summarised it for us: 'London City Orchestra and myself have grown up together. Its musicians have improved dramatically with each concert, and so have I. When we first started working together, I was still a young conductor studying at the Royal College of Music, and five years down the line I've come to really understand the orchestra and its strengths, and it holds a very big place in my heart.'