The annual summer concert is always a highlight of the Trust’s year. The music room in Dr Anderson’s former home on Hornton Street in Kensington was where he himself regularly played with his brother, John, and friends, including some distinguished musicians, most notably the celebrated cellist, Jaqueline du Pré. Our concerts keep that tradition alive, and each provides the opportunity for the musicians we support to perform for friends of the Founder and the Trust, and for all of us to celebrate the Trust’s most recent activities. This page serves as a record of these events, our musicians and the pieces they have played, in keeping with Dr Anderson’s practice of keeping a record of his own musical gatherings.
During the 2025-26 academic the Trust began to host a series of less formal concerts in the music room at Hornton Street arranged by our Resident Musician, Jose Teixeira. For more information about the events so far – with photographs – and future performances please see here.
2025
Michal Oren, the Trust’s Resident Music Scholar, who organised the 2025 event, in front of her ensemble
2025 marked ten years since the death of the Founder, Dr Robert Anderson and to celebrate his life and legacy the Trust’s summer concert was hosted not at Dr Anderson’s former home on Hornton Street as in the past, but at Leighton House, where we were able to accommodate a larger ensemble of musicians, and to put on a very special programme.
The event combined many of the things that Robert most cared about: the decorative scheme at Leighton House reflected his passion for, and work in, the Middle East; the concert programme included pieces by some of the composers whose work he loved most, in particular Elgar, the subject of three of Robert’s books. Most of all the music was conducted and played by fine young musicians who are supported by his Trust. Louis-Victor Bak, Trust Eibenschütz Award holder for 2023-25 played – superbly – works by Dutilleux and Ravel during the first half.
Louis Victor-Bak
Michal Oren, the Trust’s Resident Music Scholar for 2022-25, organised the programme and musicians, and conducted the ensemble during the second half. Jean Middlemiss Award holder Florence Cope’s solo during the performance of Britten’s Two Portraits for String Orchestra was a highlight of the second half.
Florence Cope
Michal Oren
We are grateful to all our musicians for a splendid performance and fitting tribute to Robert which the audience – many of them his friends, former students and colleagues whom he mentored, or representatives of organisations he was involved with – enjoyed immensely.
To view the 2025 programme as a pdf please click here. The above photos of the 2025 concert were taken by Andrew Maltzoff – thank you Andrew! For more photos please see here.
2024
Filipe Abreu playing Strauss’ Violin Sonata in E-flat Major along with Hamish Brown.
From the programme:
Welcome! The Trust’s summer concert for 2024 has been arranged, as last year, by our Resident Music Scholar, Michal Oren, who has recently completed her Master’s degree at the Royal College of Music (RCM). Unfortunately, her many conducting commitments will prevent Michal from playing the clarinet for us this evening but there will be one more opportunity, at next year’s summer concert, for her to perform with the Trust as its resident musician: Michal has been chosen by the Royal Academy of Music to study for an artist’s diploma, and we will be extending her stay at the house to enable her to do so. Congratulations, Michal! José Teixeira, who will be performing this evening, has been living at the house since 2021, and will complete his undergraduate degree this summer. He will also be extending his stay with us into the next academic year as he has been offered a scholarship by the RCM to study for a Master’s Degree. Congratulations, José!
The Trust continues to support a student of viola through the Jean Middlemiss Award, and the current holder, Florence Cope, will also be performing this evening. And in 2023, the Trust inaugurated a new ‘Award in Memory of Ilona Eibenschütz’ to support a student pianist (see below).
Elsewhere, we received more researchers as part of our visitors’ programme in 2023 than ever before – 23 in total – and the first of the 2024 cohort arrived in April. In January 2024 the Trust’s first ‘Joan Hawkins Resident Egyptologist’, Amany Abd el-Hameed, arrived at Hornton Street at the start of a six-month stay. Among the residents at the Trust’s Highgate house is Anton Zhybak, who is with us as part of the ‘Homes for Ukraine’ scheme while studying for a Master’s degree at King’s College London. We remain committed to continuing Dr Anderson’s work in supporting a wide variety of students, particularly from countries, and in subjects, which were dear to his heart. We hope he would approve of the Trust’s recent activities and are thrilled to have you with us this evening to remember and celebrate his legacy.
To view the 2024 programme as a pdf please click here.
Florence Cope playing Bruch’s Romanza for viola & piano accompanied by Hamish Brown.
José Teixeira who played Telemann’s Sonata in F minor and Brahms’ Four Serious Songs with Hamish Brown.
Filipe Abreu mid-performance.
Spring 2024, Special Extra Concert
From the programme for the Summer concert 2024: At a special extra concert hosted by the Trust in May 2024 the first holder of the Eibenschütz Award, Louis-Victor Bak, performed works by Debussy and Chaminade which he has also recorded for an album to be released later in 2024. On the same occasion, the Brompton Quartet performed ‘Camanchaca’, an original work by composer Anibal Vidal, holder of the Trust’s ‘Special Award’ in 2021-22. The Trust provided financial support to assist with the release both of Louis-Victor’s album, and Anibal’s Music for Strings which is available now.
Anibal Vidal takes a bow.
PROGRAMME:
Sonata in A-flat major HobXVI:46 (Allegro moderato/Adagio/Presto) – 15 min
Anibal VIDAL
Dear Wife for Baritone and Cello – 9 min
Leif Tse – Baritone
Wallis Power – Cello
Leif Tse and Wallis Power perform Anibal Vidal’s Dear Wife for Baritone and Cello.
Claude DEBUSSY
Cloches à travers les feuilles (from images book 2) – 4 min
Cécile CHAMINDE
Piano Sonata in C minor, Op. 21 – 1st movement: Allegro Appassionato – 6 min
Louis-Victor Bak – Piano
Louis-Victor Bak is applauded by the audience following his performance.
— Interval —
Anibal VIDAL:
Camanchaca for String Quartet – 15 min
Joseph HAYDN:
String Quartet Op. 33 No. 3 “The Bird” – 18 min
Brompton Quartet:
Maja Horvat – Violin
Mee-Hyun Esther Park – Violin
Edward Keenan – Viola
Wallis Power – Cello
Notes from Anibal Vidal on his compositions:
Camanchaca refers to a dense, cold, and persistent type of fog that appears along the seashore on the coast of Chile. The word originates from the native Aimara language and translates to ‘darkness’ due to its density. In this work, I aimed to create ‘Camanchaca’-like foggy-loose textures that could coexist and transform into a more solid and rhythmical material, back and forth traveling, from the highest harmonic possible on the 1st string of a violin, to the bottom rattling windy sound of a detuned fourth string on the cello.
At the same time, this piece explores how the performers’ use of voice air effects and whistling blends and expands the colour of instrument techniques, while their interaction with each other transits from senza misura sections to measured tempo, and vice versa.
Listen to Camanchaca on Spotify here.
Dear Wife is the first song of an upcoming song cycle where I intend to use authentic letters and messages discovered inside bottles in the sea as sung text, aiming to transform these unconventional sources into a compelling musical narrative. I aim to research and gather these letters from various websites dedicated to collecting such material. I’m interested in this concept because, in contrast to the immediacy of modern communication, these messages in bottles carry a timeless and contemplative quality and were written by a real person. They represent a true ‘poetic’ outreach in hopes of making a meaningful human connection transcending time and distance.
The text used in this song corresponds to a letter sent by Private Thomas Hughes, a 26 year old soldier, who sent this message into the English Channel, on his way to fight the Great War on September 9th, 1914. The bottle drifted in the sea for 85 years when caught in a net by the fisherman Steve Gowan on the Essex coast, in England, 1999. Tragically, just two days after tossing the bottle into the sea, Private Thomas Hughes was killed in combat. He left behind his wife Elizabeth and two-year-old daughter, Emily. His letter reads as follows:
“Dear Wife, I am writing this note on this boat and dropping it into the sea just to see if it will reach you. If it does, sign this envelope on the right hand bottom corner where it says receipt. Put the date and hour of receipt and your name where it says signature and look after it well. Ta ta sweet, for the present. Your Hubby. Sir or madam, youth or maid, would you kindly forward the enclosed letter and earn the blessing of a poor British soldier on his way to the front this ninth day of September, 1914. Signed Private T. Hughes, Second Durham Light Infantry. Third Army Corp Expeditionary Force.”
Anibal Vidal with the Brompton Quartet at the end of their performance.
2023
José Teixeira playing Romance for trombone and piano by Carl Maria von Weber accompanied by Stella Marie Lorenz.
From the programme:
Welcome to the Robert Anderson Trust’s summer concert for 2023! The Trust provides talented young students and scholars with the opportunity to spend time in London in pursuit of their studies and research, through the provision of accommodation and financial support. Priority is given to those who stand to benefit most in terms of their work and future careers.
This year’s concert will, as usual, be led by the Trust’s Resident Music Scholar, currently conductor and clarinettist Michal Oren, a Master’s student at the Royal College of Music. Much else has changed since our last event in 2019, however. During the pandemic, while our programme of visiting scholars was suspended, the Trust increased the support it provides to students of music. First, a ‘special award’ was created to support the studies of a student of the Royal College in both the 2020-2021, and 2021-22 academic years. Second, from 2020 onwards we were able to accommodate an additional student at 54 Hornton Street, and José Teixeira, an undergraduate bass trombonist at the Royal College, has been in residence at the house since that time. Finally, in 2021 a further award was made possible by a bequest from the estate of the late Jean Middlemiss, a musician, teacher and lifelong friend of Dr Anderson. The holder of the Jean Middlemiss Award during the 2021-2 and 2022-3 academic years is Elena Accogli. We are delighted that both José and Elena will be joining Michal to perform this evening.
To view the 2023 programme as a pdf please click here.
Resident Music Scholar Michal Oren performs Debussy’s Première Rhapsodie for clarinet 8’ and piano.
The very first holder of the Jean Middlemiss Award, Elena Accogli, performed Schumann’s Märchenbilder for viola and piano with Stella Marie Lorenz.
The Morassi Quartet played Bacewicz’ String Quartet No. 4
2023 photos courtesy of visiting scholar Ali Mahfouz. Thanks Ali!
2021
The Trust’s concerts were suspended in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic, and in 2022 due to lingering concerns about gathering in the intimate space at Hornton Street. In 2021, mindful that our Resident Music Scholar for 2019-21, David Hedley, would not have the opportunity to perform at a Trust event, we asked David to arrange a ‘virtual concert’, the superb results of which can be enjoyed here and below:
PROGRAMME:
J. S. Bach
Concerto for Oboe and Violin in D minor, BWV 1060
David Hedley – Oboe
Viviane Plekhotkine – Violin
J. S. Bach
‘Kommt, eilet und laufet’ (Easter Oratorio), BWV 249
David Hedley – Oboe
Antonio Pasculli
Variations on a theme from Donizetti’s La Favorita
arr. David Hedley
ENSEMBLE:
David Hedley, solo oboe
Viviane Plekhotkine, Solo Violin / Violin 1
Emmanuel Webb – Violins 1/2
Lucy Holmes – Violin 2
Hattie Quick – Viola
Özgür Deniz Kaya – Cello
Video produced by Ashby Mayes.
2019
Jack Wong (Resident Music Scholar 2027-19, at the piano) leading the string quartet in a performance of Elgar’s Piano Quintet in A minor, Op.84.
2019 was the last of a series of concerts arranged by Jack Wong. Jack was the Trust’s first Resident Music Scholar during 2017-19 while studying for a master’s degree in ‘Performance (Repetiteur)’ at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He had originally been invited to live at the house by Robert Anderson himself at the start of his undergraduate degree at in 2013. The programme – which can be read as a pdf, here – included a short piece by Jack on his time at the house and his memories of Robert. The choice of Elgar’s Piano Quintet in A minor, Op.84 to close the concert was inspired by Robert’s association with the conductor.
2018
Samantha Clarke and Benson Wilson accompanied by Jack Wong at the piano.
To view the 2018 programme as a pdf please click here.
Jack Wong performing Schubert’s Impromptu Op.90 No.2 in E flat major.
Jack Wong and Benson Wilson.
Jack Wong, Samantha Clarke and Benson Wilson take a bow at the end of the encore.
2018 photos courtesy of Peter Hudston. Thanks Peter!
Other Events
Occasional informal gatherings are also held in Dr Anderson’s room, usually arranged by our musicians or other friends.
Dr Eugenia Cheng is a mathematician and musician and met Dr Anderson when they discovered they had both occupied the same room in Gonville and Caius College during their studies at the University of Cambridge. She is also the organiser of regular informal ‘Liederstübe’ events at which she and her friends perform songs for one another and a small audience. Several have now taken place in Dr Anderson’s music since the first in 2018.
The Robert Anderson Trust 