There’s nothing like playing without a conductor to keep an orchestra on its toes, recognising their full responsibility for shaping and driving the music forward. Our annual collaboration with musicians of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields – world leaders in this art – puts the power into our players’ hands, setting them up with a trove of ensemble skills to drive them through the year. It always leads to one of the most popular and electrifying concerts of our Rush Hour Concert series.
This long-standing partnership has led a handful of Southbank Sinfonia players to join the Academy itself, including their principal clarinettist James Burke who regularly returns to coach his successors.