Residency at Saffron Hall

The London Philharmonic Orchestra takes up a brand-new residency at Saffron Hall for the 2019/20 season. This new residency at Saffron Hall enables the LPO to share its work with audiences in the East of England regularly for the first time.

Saffron Hall is an award-winning 740-seat performance space built in the grounds of Saffron Walden County High School, Essex, just minutes away from Saffron Walden’s historic town centre.  The LPO will be a significant addition to the cultural life of the region, providing top-quality symphonic music and becoming increasingly involved in Saffron Hall’s ground-breaking model of world-class performing arts and educational provision at the heart of its community.

Each year the Orchestra will bring four concerts to Saffron Hall including our popular ‘FUNharmonics’ concerts for families. Conductors involved in the first season of the Saffron Hall residency include Vladimir Jurowski, the LPO’s Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor, Marin Alsop and Sir Antonio Pappano.

In addition to the concert programme, musicians from the orchestra will give masterclasses to students at the County High School and coach young people at the Saffron Centre for Young Musicians, a specialist Saturday school offering high quality musical training to students aged 4-18 through a partnership between the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Saffron Hall, Essex Music Education Hub and Saffron Walden County High School. The LPO will also work and perform with local community music groups. 

Angela Dixon, Chief Executive of Saffron Hall, said:’I am absolutely delighted that we are formalising the excellent relationship that exists between the LPO, Saffron Hall and our audience by announcing this residency alongside the excellent programme already offered by Britten Sinfonia. With the LPO and Britten Sinfonia as our Resident Orchestras, we have an exceptional offering for music lovers in the Eastern region”.

Timothy Walker, Chief Executive and Artistic Director of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, said:‘With this exciting new partnership, we are greatly looking forward to not only bringing more top-level artists and music making to the region, but to working with Angela Dixon and the team to fully involves ourselves in the visionary Schools and Communities programme there. We are delighted to have this opportunity to share our work with audiences in the East of England regularly for the first time.”

Booking for all the partnered events will be available on the Saffron Hall website from 22 May 2019