In a city blessed with one of the world’s richest musical landscapes, the London Festival of Chamber Music at Smith Square Hall offers something truly new: a rare week in which some of today’s most inspiring musicians come together not only to perform, but to create, to collaborate, and to share a profound sense of camaraderie with their audience.

Our inaugural artists, Sarah Aristidou, Alena Baeva, Lucille Chung, François Leleux, Eugene Lee, Lawrence Power, Natalia Lomeiko, Nabil Shehata, Paul Watkins, Radovan Vlatković, and I, are all well known to London audiences. Yet in this festival they reveal themselves in a new light: as a close-knit family of like-minded musicians who live and breathe the music together, rehearsing, exchanging ideas, experiencing London, and shaping programmes that exist nowhere else than in the venue where you will hear them.

Each evening concert is conceived as a seamless journey, weaving chamber works, orchestral pieces, and concerti into a single, richly satisfying whole. A few of our artists will also step onto the podium as conductors, deepening the dialogue between performers and offering audiences fresh, unexpected perspectives on their artistry.

Because of this special environment, the collaborations take on an intensity and vitality that can only be experienced in this setting. The trust, joy, and inspiration we share among ourselves radiates into the performances, creating something at once intimate and unforgettable.

From 25–29 March 2026, the festival unfolds in programmes of great breadth and depth: Mozart, Beethoven, Ligeti, Schubert, Ravel, Respighi, Strauss, Kurt Weill, Luciano Berio, Garth Knox, Cypriot folk songs, and much more. Alongside the evening concerts, there will be intimate lunchtime recitals, evocative late-night performances, and masterclasses that open a window into the creative process.

Partnering with Sinfonia Smith Square, with whom I have collaborated for more than two decades, within the inspiring and flexible setting of their home at Smith Square Hall, the festival promises performances that are alive with imagination, immediacy, and excitement.

All of us are thrilled to be part of the inaugural London Festival of Chamber Music. I warmly invite you to join us, to support this new venture, and to witness music-making at its most vibrant: an experience unlike any other, and one that can only be truly lived in the moment.