KCO Reviews
“Knighton Opera Rigoletto a griping account of an Italian masterpiece”
“Five star performance”
“Sparkling Night with the Knighton…”
“Glorious performance by musicians…”
“Adventurous choices and an agile performance…”
“A great night out in Leicester”
The last concert I went to was by the Knighton Chamber Orchestra in Leicester, probably the best amateur orchestra in the country. They played Aaron Copland, Philip Glass and Amy Beach, and it was absolutely brilliant.
Dominic Sandbrook, The Sunday Times – 4 Feb 2024
Brahms: Double Concerto
A review by David Fisher – 20 Sep 2025
This popular orchestra drew a large audience for three stunning concerti which proved to be a dazzling evening of string instrument virtuosity. In all concerto works, as I’ve noted before, the orchestra under maestro Paul Jenkins accompanies with such sensitivity that the interplay with the soloist (and in the last concerto both the soloists) is magical and every nuance required by the violinist and cellist was accurately gauged to allow the musical interpretations to shine. The Haydn concerto proved to be a great opener. The opulence of the cello sound was a marked feature of Matthew Sharp’s playing coupled with astonishing a richness of melodic line and virtuosity, the latter notably in the last movement. Sitting atop a small podium, and beautifully spotlit, the audience was able to fully appreciate the players skill. Every phrase was imbued with Classical sensitivity in which the soloist projected his joy in the piece to the audience.
Fenella Humphreys was not accorded any decent lighting so as a result she seemed occasionally to be in partial shadow for both the concertos she played. This was a great shame and one wished she’d used the same podium so we could see her stylish playing rather than just listening to it. Her graceful and precise playing in the beautiful Mozart concerto exemplified the Classical style to perfection and this was especially evident in the slow movement where forte/piano contrasts were managed so well. In the ‘Turkish rondeau’ the orchestra came into its own highlighting the episodic nature of the form despite occasional ensemble blips. Particularly lovely in this movement were the connecting cadenzas which increased in complexity and wit each time they occurred. They cleverly referenced the themes of the movement and when it ended quietly the applause showed the audience’s enjoyment of the charming work.
Whilst the previous concertos demonstrated the stylish Classical skills of the soloists, Brahms’ Double Concerto is far more challenging technically. Additionally, the two players need to demonstrate a symbiotic relationship in the interplay between them. This was evident from the start where, in the second of the opening cadenzas, the semiquaver arpeggios flowed effortlessly between the two and then the exciting rising fortissimo unison scales which followed showed just how in sync they were in tempo and dynamics. Throughout the opening movement the thematic dialogue between the two was perfect although, disconcertingly, because they are equal partners, there was an apparent discrepancy of importance in their placement in front of the orchestra. Later in the opening movement the solo oboe and then flute floated delightfully over quaver figuration in the solo parts. The voluptuous [as described in the programme] duet in the Andante movement continued the uncanny rapport between the soloists. This proved to be a perfect demonstration of their equal importance and the silky sound they produced was most persuasive in the gorgeous unison melodies. The last movement is a perfect finale to the work. Almost helter-skelter in its tempo, the excitement which the duettists and orchestra created was helped by the firm hand of Paul Jenkins on the podium.
The ovation at the end of this exhilarating concert encapsulated the audience’s thrill of hearing two players at the top of their game, producing performances of international standard and accompanied by an orchestra in perfect harmony with strength and depth in each department. Any praise I laud upon the soloists is somewhat superfluous because they were obviously chosen for their versatility of style and as top-notch virtuosi in their own right.
A Concert of American Music
A review by Arthur Sandbrook (Age 12) – 20 Jan 2024
It was late as I entered the majestic Church of St James the Greater which was to host Leicester’s first ever performance of Amy Beach’s Gaelic Symphony. That evening there were to be three pieces: Aaron Copland’s An Outdoor Overture, Philip Glass’s mesmeric Violin Concerto No 1 and Beaches’s symphony.
Amy Beach has a remarkably interesting story. A child prodigy, she was composing her first waltzes at the age of four.She started formal music lessons on the piano when she was six, but her only formal tuition was with individual tutors in New Hampshire and Boston. She was largely self taught, but blessed with perfect pitch and synaesthesia which allowed her to see notes in colour.
When she grew up, she married Harvard lecturer Doctor Henry Beach and, as was the custom at that time, her performances from then on were under his name. Dr Beach only allowed his wife to give two perfomances a year and restricted her access to a tutor. Despite this, she completed he Gaelic Symphony in 1896. It is the first symphony published by an American woman. I enjoyed hearing it, in particular ther violin solo, which to my ear brought the Gaelic tones to the piece. This was the first performance of Amy Beach’s symphony in Leicester. I hope it will not be the last.
The opening piece of the evening was Aaron Copland’s monumental Outdoor Overture. Like other pieces by Copland, this was bold music designed to make the audience feel the might and power of America. Copland wrote this piece especially for the High School of Music and Art in New York, which was inspiring, I loved that this ambitious piece of music which was written for young people, not much older than me. The more I listened to it, the more I felt the sense of optimism and hop that was part of Copland’s vision of America.
The second piece was the first of Philip Glass’s violin concertos. I loved this, It felt familiar because we sometimes listen to Philip Glass at home and last year I saw the opera Akhenaten. This violin concerto was in three parts and had a solo, which was played by, in the conductors’s own words, ‘One of the most, if not the most, talented violinists in the country, Fenella Humphreys.’The soloist’s performance was magnificent, as was the piece. The speed of her playing was asatonishing. At many times, some of the hairs on her bow snapped! There was great energy to this performance and, as with other pieces by Glass that I have heard, a sense of menace. Miss Humphreys was really impressive.
It was a real privilege to hear this concert of American music on a cold January night. Leicester is very lucky to have Knighton Chamber Orchestra.
Golden chance to hear renowned pianist
Leicester Mercury Mailbox – 28 Jan 2020
Mat Salleh, Leicester
How lucky we are to have the chance to hear the renowned pianist Arina Lazgiian play Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto, just before she is to play it in London at st John’s, Smith Square.
The Russian pianist, who has performed in many parts of the world, will be playing the concerto with the Knighton Chamber Orchestra with Paul Jenkins Conducting. The concert is at Fraser Noble Hall, Leicester on Saturday, February 1st, 2020 at 7-30.
Also included in the programme are two pieces by Benjamin Britten Soirees Musicales and the Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, with Mark Penny playing the horn and Richard Roddis singing. Tickets are available on the door or at the Attenborough Arts Centre.
Two performances that were outstanding
Leicester Mercury Mailbox – 12 Feb 2020
Roger Cairns, Swannington
The Knighton Chamber Orchestra continues to suprise and delight.
At its latest concert we had two outstanding performances: first there was Britten’s extraordinarily moving serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, magically evoked by Richard Roddis and Mark Penny, and to follow an electrifying performance of Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto, by Arina Lazgiian.
For both, Paul Jenkins’s orchestra provided subtle accompaniment, and reminded us that there is still, dare I say in these greyish times, a vibrant European culture that we are part of.
This Concert was an Auspicious and Memorable Occassion
Review by a member of the audience – 12 Oct 2019
The concert was given to celebrate two hundred years of the Holy Cross Priory Church and it attracted a very large audience, many of whom, no doubt, were curious to hear a live performance of Rossini’s Stabat Mater – a work that received one of its first ever church performances at Holy cross.
It is a large scale piece, which in many respects is typical of the composer, its ten sections ranging from a jaunty quasi – Neopolitan song style to moments of intensity and high drama. Throughout, Rossini’s lyrical talent is to the fore and this compelling performance, conducted by Paul Jenkins brought out both the sisitivity and the power of the work and it is clear that a lot of care and attention had gone into its preparation.
Coro Nostro may be called a chamber choir , but its members certainly produced enough tone to fill the huge space of Holy Cross Priory. However, they could also bring the volume down to a whisper where necessary and it was this flexibility, coupled with an infectious enthusiasm that made their contribution enjoyable.
The four hard – working soloists: Michelle Carlin, soprano; Alice Chambers, Mezzo; Richard Roddis, tenor and Robert Clarke, bass also relished the superb accoustic and were clearly audible in their various sections, thanks in no small measure to the conductor’s careful control of dynamics.
Choir and soloists were well – matched by the ever – impressive KCO, which on this occasion, also sounded far bigger than the term “chamber” would imply. We heard good playing from all sections allied to a wide dynamic range and a strong sense of momentum. In the heat of the moment the very occasional lapse of ensemble and intonation did not detract from what was a truly impressive achievement.
Prior to the Rossini the choir under its resident musical director, Lydia Hind, performed a number of shorter items including a somorous account of Bruckner’s Locus Iste, and a sparkling performance of Monteverdi’s Beatus Vir; both of which were idiomatic and stylish, as was Tantum Ergo by Charles Guynemer Holy Cross’s first director of music. Frank Ticheli’s attractive motet, There will be rest, displayed a gentle contemporary idiom. Finally the choir was joined by Paul Jenkins and the orchestra for Mozart’s sublime Ave Verum
Mahler Concert Set to be my Weekend Treat
Michael Martin, Loughborough – 22 Jun 2019
Mahler composed his greatest symphony, ‘The Song of the Earth,’ a couple of years before his death over 100 years ago, but this magnificent work is cogently relevant for us at this time.
How prescient is it that theKnighton Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Paul Jenkins is performing this work at Fraser Noble Hall at the University of Leicester on Saturday, June 22nd, 2019.
“The green earth everywhere blossoms in spring and grows green”- thesewords are sung by the mezzo soprano Rozanna Madylus, at the end of the work; for although Mahler knew he was dying, he had hope for mankind; as we take our farewells, we leave the earth blossoming eternally.
I was lucky enough to be invited to a rehearsal of the concert and can vouch that the orchestra is in fine fettle, with the other soloist, tenor Richard Roddis , in strong voice singing of the drunken man in spring , enjoying life while he can.
The first part of the concert is given over to Schumann’s piano concerto, a fiendishly difficult piece to perform. How lucky are we to have the dexterity of Moritz Wagnere to thrill us? At the rehearsal, the first movement, a delightful lyrical allegro, was played beautifully with a wonderful dialogue between the piano and the woodwind. This movement is marked “Tender and affecting,” and it certainly was. I look forward to teh concert on Saturday.
Orchestra’s concert a most moving evening
Leicester Mercury Mailbox – Jan 2019
Roger Cairns, Swannington, Leicestershire.
The Knighton Chamber Orchestra have just done it again – given us, in their latest concert, an evening that was entertaining, instructive and, above all, moving. Butterworth’s “Banks of Green Willow,” reminded us again of what was senselessly lost in the First World War. Brahms fouth completed Paul Jenkins’s symphony cycle, and the way the orchestra captured the opening’s restless intensity and also gave shape and meaning to the final passacaglia convinced that this was the best of the group.
I mentioned moving earlier. If music fails to do this something is missing and the heart of this concert was Francois Salignat’s performance of Ravel’s piano Concerto, its opening beautifully integrated here by the woodwind, and his interpretation of the second movement was almost heart-stopping. This was Francois’s seventh concert in Leicester. He must like us.
He gave us Ravel’s “Jeux d’eau,” as a parting gift. Make sure that was only “au revoir,” Francois.
A musical night to remember
Leicester Mercury Mailbox – 7 November 2017
Michael Lane, Leicester
I recently had a most enjoyable, even adventurous, evening as a member of the audience of Concerto, presented by the Univeristy of Leicester in the Fraser Noble Hall, London Road. It was a play with music about the composer Maurice Ravel, especially his time in the First World War. What made the evening special was that we didn’t just watch but also took part in the production. Its devisors and actors, Ryan O’Shea and Katt Perry, arranged for us to eat apples, beat time with pencils, even shred musical scores, which gave us a feeling of dislocated engagement, as if we were in the war itself, when you never knew what would happen next. We were constantly engaged but put on our guard at the same time, like the need in wartime to be constantly alert.
Though, unlike being in a war, our invitations to take part were gently and stylishly done by Ryan and Katt, so that our acceptance made the evening an enjoyable participation.
The actors, guided by Michael Pinchbeck’s writing, gave us Ravel’s biography in all its lyrical poetry of the lost.
At the play’s centre was Ravel’s music, especially the Piano Concerto for the Left Hand. This was magnificently played by Nicholas McCarthy, a professional one-handed player.
The University of Leicester Orchestra and Knighon Chamber Orchestra revealed hte innovation of Ravel’s music, with its swirls and dwellings, advances and retreats from compositions before the war and how it embraced the jazz age afterwards.
The evening was inified by the most able conducting of Paul Jenkins, who brought the orchestra together with actors and pianist to blend the moods, at times strong and deperate, at other times playful and relaxed.
As an encore, the orchestra treated us to Bolero, a familiar climax to an otherwise experimental but satisfying evening.
This was a fine way for the Univeristy of Leicester to reachout to the city; by displaying its ambitious standards, its ability to take risks and to do so by entertaining the public
Classics played with a sense of fun
Leicester Mercury Mailbox – 12 Oct 2017
Michael Gerard, Stoneygate
It was a real privilidge to attend the concert by the Knighton Chamber Orchestra on Saturday September 10, at Fraser Noble Hall, Leicester.
The hall was full-a reflection of the reputation that this orchestra has built up, unerder the capable direction of Paul Jenkins.
They started with a concertino for tuba and strings by Arthur Franckenpohl. In spite of being a composer unknown to most audiences, this turned out to be an approachable work-plenty of geniality and jokey moments with some seious-sounding stuff in the slow movement.
I last heard the second work, Peter and the Wolf, in about 1962, in South-East London, with Alvar Liddel, the wartime newscaster, who read the narration. It was sombre and accurate-but not fun.
The Knighton Chamber Orchestra’s performance was alive. The orchestra playing gave real life to the musical portraits. Andrew Radford, narrating, realy drew you into the story.
The master stroke was to have a group of children acting out the story simultaneeously as the bird, the wolf, Peter, the hunters, the duck and the cat. We loved it. But the main work was yet to come.
After the interval, a young woman came forth, along with the orchestra playing the Shostakovich Violin Concerto No 1. This must be one of the heaviest and most difficult works in the violin repertoire. The soloist, Fenella Humphreys, not only played it, but played it superbly.
I am sure that many in the audience were, like me, on the edge of their seats during the last movement, and many stood in their applause at the end.
Rising music star earns plaudits
Leicester Mercury Mailbox – 14 Nov 2017
At a concert by Knighton Chamber Orchestra, Moritz Wagner won the plaudits of a large audience at the Fraser Noble Hall, Leicester. This young man demonstrated great sensitivity in his performance of Mozart’s well-known D minor piano concerto.
Moritz has the consummate ability to make lyrical passages memorable without over-sentimentalising them. At the same time, he relishes the bravura passage at the start of the third movement.
This is a Leicester pianist to make us proud and who will, I have no doubt, become the toast of this city should he persevere in the hard work necessary to pursue this very strenuous career.
Under the guidance of meistro Paul Jenkins and supported by the fine musicians of Knighton Chamber Orchestra, Leicester is given teh opportunity to hear fine music.