Redefining brass chamber music through the uniquely expressive sound of the brass septet, Septura brings together London’s leading players in a programme of bright and bold virtuosity. This is brass playing at its highest level.

Finzi – God is Gone Up

Elgar – Serenade

Shostakovich – Quartet No. 8

Handel – Suite from ‘Rinaldo’

Gershwin – An American in Paris

Septura’s Japan tour is supported by the Royal Academy of Music.

Septura visit Poland for the first time with a programme of works by baroque and renaissance composers.

Programme:

Gabrieli Exultavit cor meum
Handel Suite from Rinaldo
Victoria Four Motets
Rameau Suite from Dardanus
Lassus Lagrime di San Pietro

To those who revere the great composers of the past, their works are practically sacred. Transcribing these for brass is an almost criminal profanity, and Septura is the culprit. Why brave the wrath of the music lover? Well, the brass septet is a brand new creation, so we have no choice: driven to thieving by the paucity of the established repertoire. The aim is not to produce cheap counterfeits though; rather it is to shed new light on masterpieces. And so we invite our audience to a rite of passage: a re-evaluation of five centuries of music – both sacred and secular – as it is re-cast for brass and illuminated anew.

Programme:

Brahms Geistliches Lied Op 30
Gabrieli Exultavit cor meum en Domino C53
Bruckner Ave Maria WAB 6, Os Justi WAB 30
Bach Suite
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Rameau Dardanus Suite
Prokofiev Suite
Debussy Preludes

Human Nature

Nature has often inspired composers and librettists to reflect on aspects of the human condition: love and loss are portrayed with nature’s help in Tchaikovsky’s iconic ballet, Swan Lake; Debussy’s programmatic Préludes reference the natural world as he re-creates “scenes from my emotional life”; and the fast-growing human habitat – the bustling metropolitan city – is vividly brought to life in Gershwin’s inimitable An American in Paris. The unique sound of the brass septet casts all of these music masterpieces in a brand new light.

Programme:

Tchaikovsky Suite from Swan Lake
Debussy Préludes
Gershwin An American in Paris

Free concert.

Septura explore a great transatlantic relationship, charting a course from Debussy’s Préludes, through Ravel’s Mother Goose, to his friend Gershwin’s Songbook and iconic An American in Paris, especially arranged for brass and solo car-horns.

Programme:

Ravel Mother Goose Suite
Debussy Préludes
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Gershwin Three Piano Preludes
Gershwin Songbook
Gershwin An American in Paris