Royal Over-Seas League celebrates 65 years of excellence in the arts with a series of celebratory concerts this October. 

It is hard to imagine a Royal Over-Seas League without its Annual Music Competition, a centrepiece of the ROSL ARTS programme and a gathering point for musicians and audiences from around the world. The Competition grew out of a series of concerts inaugurated at Over-Seas House London in 1947 under the banner ‘Festival of Commonwealth Youth’. The Festival became competitive in 1952 and it’s this anniversary we now mark.

Since 1952 the competition has grown in scope and prestige, and now awards prize money in excess of £75,000 for solo performers, accompanists and chamber ensembles. Many of the world’s most celebrated musicians have competed and household names jump out from the roster of winners in every decade: 


1961 – Jacqueline du Pré cello
1963 – John Lill piano
1976 – Melvyn Tan harpsichord
1982 – Piers Lane piano
1983 – Susan Bullock soprano
1992 – Paul Lewis piano
2001 – Juliette Bausor flute
2002 – Lucy Crowe soprano
2005 – Timothy Orpen clarinet
2010 – James Sherlock piano

To celebrate the first 65 years of their arts programme, ROSL ARTS brings together over 20 prize winners and gold medallists, of different generations, to collaborate and perform renowned chamber works, opera arias and ensembles by composers including Mozart, Verdi, Chopin, Rossini and Gershwin in the Princess Alexandra Hall, ROSL London.

Chamber Concert
Thursday 26 October 2017, 7pm
Princess Alexandra Hall, ROSL London

Schubert          The Shepherd on the Rock Op. 129, D. 965
Frolov              Concert Fantasy on Themes from Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, Op. 19
Poulenc           Sextet for Piano and Wind FP 100
Chopin             Piano Concerto No.1 E Minor, Op. 11 (String Quintet arrangement)

Gillian Keith soprano, Timothy Orpen clarinet, Ben Schoeman piano, Juliette Bausor flute, Timothy Orpen clarinet, Jonathan Williams horn, Justin Sun bassoon, Daniel Bates oboe, Martin Cousin piano, Michael Foyle violin, Anne Beilby viola, Bartholomew Lafollette cello, Toby Hughes double bass, Emily Sun, violin

https://www.rosl.org.uk/events/event/686-65th-anniversary-celebration-chamber-concert

Chaplin: Silent Soundtracks
Friday 27 October 2017, 7pm
Princess Alexandra Hall, ROSL London

Featuring 1995 ROSL Gold medal winner, pianist Ashley Wass with internationally renowned violinist Matthew Trusler, this evening of cinematic treasures celebrates 100 years since the creation of Chaplin’s Mutual Comedies and explores the fascinating relationship between music and film in the hands of one of the 20th century’s greatest cultural icons.

https://www.rosl.org.uk/events/event/687-chaplin-silent-soundtracks



65 Years of ROSL ARTS Opera Gala
Saturday 28 October 2017, 6.30pm
Princess Alexandra Hall, ROSL London

To round off our celebrations, 1999 ROSL Accompanist prizewinner Simon Lepper, together with ROSL vocal alumni come together for the final night of our 65th birthday anniversary celebrations to perform famous operatic arias, duets and ensembles. Featuring Anna Huntley mezzo soprano, Nico Darmanin tenor, Njabulo Madlala baritone and Simon Lepper piano.

https://www.rosl.org.uk/events/event/690-65-years-of-rosl-arts-opera-gala

Join us for the celebrations. Tickets are available from www.rosl.org.uk/events
Press tickets available on request

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IMAGES
Available on request

CONTACT

For more information contact Geoff Parkin, Director of Arts on T 020 7408 0214 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

NOTES FOR THE EDITOR

Founded in 1910, the Royal Over-Seas League (ROSL) is a non-profit private members' club dedicated to championing international friendship and understanding. ROSL helps artists and musicians across the Commonwealth connect, collaborate and create. Our humanitarian work benefits communities and changes lives.

ROSL ARTS supports talented young artists and musicians from the UK and Commonwealth, providing performance and exhibition opportunities which bring their work to the attention of the professional arts community, media and general public.

To mark ROSLs centenary in 2010 an appeal was launched to secure the future endowment of the ROSL Annual Music Competition Awards and Commonwealth Music Scholarships, currently worth £125,000 per annum. The funds are held in the ROSL Golden Jubilee Trust (registered charity 306095). To make a donation contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.