St. Martin-in-the-Fields was the venue for a candlelit concert on Saturday 28th of May 2016. The Brandenburg Sinfonia performed music by Mozart and Haydn with the professional choir of St. Martin’s Voices, led by St. Martin-in-the-Fields’ Director of Music, Andrew Earis.

On this occasion, the orchestra played on modern instruments and I played in a section with Paul Archibald. The concert began with Mozart’s ‘Inter natos mulierum’ K.72, followed by ‘Ave verum corpus’ K.618 - which demonstrated the controlled skill of the choir. Haydn’s ‘Theresienmesse’ Hob.XXII:12 proceeded the interval and provided a change of flavour for the audience. The second half of the concert featured Mozart’s ‘Requiem’ K.626 (the version that had been completed by Franz Xaver Süssmayr), which is always a joy to play or hear. A particular highlight was the wonderfully virtuosic bass playing in the ‘Offertorium: Domine Jesu’ played by, among others, double bassist Andrew Davies with fantastic control and with a great deal of excitement.

The ensemble gave excellent performances of these works and the full audience at St. Martin-in-the-Fields gave a standing ovation after Mozart’s Requiem.