The LCE were invited to appear in London's Southbank Centre’s International Chamber Music Season 2020/21 in Madeleine Mitchell's programme 'A Century of Music by UK Women' 1921-2021, including a world premiere by Errollyn Wallen CBE. This was filmed as a live stream at St John's Smith Square on International Women's Day and was deemed a huge success, with coverage on BBC Radio 4, Radio 3, Classic FM, Scala Radio, The Guardian, The Independent, BBC Music Magazine, The Strad Premiere of the Month, Musical Opinion - Articles Watch Here
LCE was formed by Madeleine Mitchell in 1992, initially at the request of a UK festival, to perform Messiaen Quartet for the End of Time. This group, with Madeleine Mitchell, violin, Joanna MacGregor, piano, Christopher Van Kampen, cello and David Campbell, clarinet, went on to perform at the BBC Proms with Mitchell and MacGregor’s arrangement of Bach - the last of The Art of Fugue. They gave many other concerts and BBC broadcasts over 5 years including Ravel piano trio and other works for the BBC Millennium Series and at venues such as Wigmore Hall, until the untimely death of Van Kampen. The group’s recording of the Messiaen, along with Krauze Quatuor pour la Naissance, was the widely recommended version of the work for many years: “an all star group which manages to outdo all its rivals” Gramophone
The ensemble then expanded for concerts of Vivaldi Four Seasons with solo strings and harpsichord, receiving standing ovations at festivals and music clubs such as Saffron Walden Music Club which attracted their largest audience to date. This programme for 7 players includes Dvorak Waltzes with double bass and Mozart string quintet. Other programmes featured in Music in Quiet Places which Madeleine directed for 3 years. For St George’s Bristol, LCE performed 2 series of concerts – Russian and Hungarian music, broadcast by BBC Radio 3. They also performed in Malta, Spain - for National Spanish Radio and for Bulgarian TV.
Other combinations include voice (e.g. Mary King in Schoenberg Pierrot Lunaire), horn trios with Michael Thompson/Richard Watkins, violist Roger Chase, clarinettist Richard Hosford and cellist Paul Watkins. Pianists Kathryn Stott and Huw Watkins have both performed with the group, the latter in a concert for the Hall for Cornwall International Series, replacing the Academy of St Martin’s Chamber Ensemble at short notice.
Many of the musicians are professors at conservatoires and offer imaginative educational work.
The LCE has a lighter programme called Jazzed Up with Kyle Horch, saxophone, Madeleine Mitchell, violin and Nigel Clayton, piano (all RCM professors), of jazz inspired music – Gershwin An American in Paris (“in Mitchell’s own highly effective arrangement” The Times), Shostakovitch Jazz Suite and Weill Little Threepenny Music has delighted audiences. The trio gave a well received concert in St John’s Smith Square Americana Season on American Independence Day.
