Events
Please find below a selection of concerts around the country, and sometimes beyond, featuring woodwind instruments. If you have a concert that you think might be relevant for listing on our page, please ‘Get in Touch’ with the details and a link to the booking page.
Emma Johnson clarinet, conductor; Orchestra for the Environment
July 16th 2025 at 13:00 – 14:00
Emma Johnson and the virtuoso players of her Orchestra for the Environment close this vibrant celebration of the natural world with the clarinettist and composer’s Tree of Life. Inspired by her lifelong love of nature, the piece sends a message of hope ‘that by acting together, we can mitigate the effects of climate change’.
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Vivaldi’s Venice
July 18th 2025 at 19:30 – 20:45
Ziyang Huang – erhu
Tamás András – director/violin
Gordon Hunt – oboe
Soloists of the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra
Join the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra for an enchanting evening of Baroque brilliance, featuring iconic works that highlight the era’s expressive beauty. Baroque elegance comes alive in Vivaldi’s dramatic A minor Concerto and Corelli’s graceful F major work. Marcello’s Oboe Concerto showcases the instrument’s lyrical elegance, performed with virtuosity and grace. The concert concludes with a unique spin on Vivaldi’s celebrated Four Seasons, where two movements will be performed on the Erhu by the exceptional Zíyang Huang. A captivating journey through Baroque music awaits!
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The African Concert Series – Tunde Jegede
19/07/2025 11:30 am
Wigmore Hall, 36 Wigmore St, London W1U 2BP
The African Concert Series
Music by Tunde Jegede
July 19th 2025 at 11:30
Programme
Still Moment
Layline Ripples
Reflections/By The Will
Shuna
Moon Waters
All Our Yesterdays
Songs of the Eternal
3 Mandé Songs
The Elements
Tunde Jegede – kora
Jan Hendrickse – flute
Vincent Ademola Haastrup – violin
Deep knowledge of western classical composition and the timeless oral tradition rooted in Malian culture have nourished the music of composer, producer, cellist and kora virtuoso Tunde Jegede. Having journeyed from his native London to Gambia during childhood, he absorbed the ancient griot tradition of West Africa and continues to develop its legacy in compositions that speak to the heart.
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Vivaldi’s Venice
19/07/2025 7:00 pm
St Martin-in-the-Fields Church, Trafalgar Square, London WC2N 4JJ
Vivaldi’s Venice
July 19th 2025 at 19:00 – 20:15
Ziyang Huang – erhu
Gordon Hunt – oboe
Soloists of the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra
Join the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra for an enchanting evening of Baroque brilliance, featuring three iconic works that highlight the era’s expressive beauty. Marcello’s Oboe Concerto showcases the instrument’s lyrical elegance, performed with virtuosity and grace. The concert concludes with a unique spin on Vivaldi’s celebrated Four Seasons, where two movements will be performed on the Erhu by the exceptional Zíyang Huang. A captivating journey through Baroque music awaits!
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Lonarc Oboe Trio
23/07/2025 7:30 pm
1901 Arts Club, 7 Exton Street, Waterloo, London, SE1 8UE
Lonarc Trio
July 23rd 2025 at 19:30 – 21:00
Joseph Sanders – oboe
Owen Dennis – oboe
Judy Proctor – cor anglais
Join us for a summer’s evening concert of Oboe Trio music from late 18th century Vienna to modern day London with works by Beethoven and Roxburgh including the world première of his new Scottish themed oboe trio.
Raving Winds Around Her Blowing, based on a Robert Burns poem composed in 1788 which was accompanied by M’Grigor of Rora’s Lament (1784) sourced from MacDonald’s Highland Airs. This work is dedicated to the oboist Robin Miller (1942-2014).
This concert is promoted by the Lonarc Foundation.
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Open Air Concert – Bellini Oboe Concerto at Schleißheim Palace
01/08/2025 7:30 pm
The Arcades, Schleissheim Palace, Max-Emanuel-Platz 1, 85764 Oberschleißheim, Germany
Bellini Oboe Concerto
August 1st 2025 at 19:30 – 21:30
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Mark Simpson & Richard Uttley
06/08/2025 11:00 am
The Queen's Hall, 85-89 Clerk St, Newington, Edinburgh EH8 9JG
Mark Simpson & Richard Uttley
August 6th 2025 at 11:00 – 12:30
Programme
Sir James Macmillan – After The Tryst
Mark-Anthony Turnage – Cradle Song
Jay Capperauld – So My Tears Flow
Mark Simpson – Echoes and Embers
Brahms – Clarinet Sonata in F minor, Op.120 No.1
Zoë Martlew – Pyrrhos
Mark Simpson – Lov(escape)
Gavin Higgins – Three Broken Love Songs
Brahms – Clarinet Sonata in E flat, Op.120 No. 2
Mark Simpson – clarinet
Richard Uttley – piano
Mark Simpson brings dual talents as composer and clarinettist to an intimate programme featuring Johannes Brahms and his own works.
A virtuoso clarinettist with a ‘glittering composing career’ (The Arts Desk), Mark Simpson is joined on stage by Richard Uttley, Piano Professor at the Royal College of Music. Together, they perform a selection of Simpson’s own compositions alongside works by Brahms.
Since becoming the first-ever winner of both the BBC Young Musician of the Year and BBC Proms/Guardian Young Composer of the Year competitions in 2006, Simpson has forged a dual career, championing new music while delivering insightful, nuanced interpretations of the clarinet repertoire. Uttley is celebrated for the integrity and breadth of his musicianship as a soloist, chamber musician and recording artist.
Simpson’s performances of Brahms have been praised for their ‘real sense of shape and flow’ and ‘cathartic’ emotion (The Guardian), qualities that will bring out the warmth and richness of Brahms’s contemplative music.
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Soweto Kinch/LSO: Soundtrack to the Apocalypse
13/11/2025 7:00 pm
Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London, EC2Y 8DS
Soweto Kinch/LSO: Soundtrack to the Apocalypse
November 13th 2025 at 19:00- 21:00
Programme to be announced
London Symphony Orchestra
Soweto Kinch – saxophone
The saxophonist, rapper and composer Soweto Kinch presents the final instalment of a trilogy of works in collaboration with the LSO, which began with The Black Peril and White Juju.
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SCO – John Adams’ Gnarly Buttons – Maximiliano Martín
11/12/2025 7:30 pm
The Queen's Hall, 85-89 Clerk St, Newington, Edinburgh EH8 9JG
SCO – John Adams’ Gnarly Buttons – Maximiliano Martín
December 11th 2025 at 19:30 – 21:30
Programme
Adams – Shaker Loops
Adams – Gnarly Buttons
Adams – Fearful Symmetries
Scottish Chamber Orchestra
Andrew Manze – conductor
Maximiliano Martín – clarinet
Once a self-identifying minimalist, radical American composer John Adams quickly jumped from cool, hypnotic pulsations to red-hot emotion and vast cinematic soundscapes in his colourful, witty music. Experience that thrilling journey in three iconic pieces by this pioneering musician.
Minimalist classic Shaker Loops is a rippling soundscape of quivering energy – sometimes frenetic, sometimes meditative, but never less than mesmerisingly beautiful.
Mooing cows and ancient American hymns are among the inspirations behind Adams’ zany clarinet concerto Gnarly Buttons – played by charismatic SCO Principal Clarinet Maximiliano Martín – which blends humour and heart in music that spans jazz, pop, folk and the surging repetitions of minimalism. Fearful Symmetries is one of Adams’ boldest and brightest pieces, a high-energy workout of driving rhythms and larger-than-life orchestral sound.
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SCO – John Adams’ Gnarly Buttons – Maximiliano Martín
12/12/2025 7:30 pm
City Halls & Old Fruitmarket, 100 Candleriggs, Glasgow G1 1NQ
SCO – John Adams’ Gnarly Buttons – Maximiliano Martín
December 12th 2025 at 19:30 – 21:30
Programme
Adams – Shaker Loops
Adams – Gnarly Buttons
Adams – Fearful Symmetries
Scottish Chamber Orchestra
Andrew Manze – conductor
Maximiliano Martín – clarinet
Once a self-identifying minimalist, radical American composer John Adams quickly jumped from cool, hypnotic pulsations to red-hot emotion and vast cinematic soundscapes in his colourful, witty music. Experience that thrilling journey in three iconic pieces by this pioneering musician.
Minimalist classic Shaker Loops is a rippling soundscape of quivering energy – sometimes frenetic, sometimes meditative, but never less than mesmerisingly beautiful.
Mooing cows and ancient American hymns are among the inspirations behind Adams’ zany clarinet concerto Gnarly Buttons – played by charismatic SCO Principal Clarinet Maximiliano Martín – which blends humour and heart in music that spans jazz, pop, folk and the surging repetitions of minimalism. Fearful Symmetries is one of Adams’ boldest and brightest pieces, a high-energy workout of driving rhythms and larger-than-life orchestral sound.
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Kebyart Ensemble
05/02/2026 7:30 pm
Kleine Saal, Elbphilharmonie, Platz d. Deutschen Einheit 4, 20457 Hamburg, Germany
Kebyart Ensemble
February 5th 2026 at 19:30- 21:00
Works by Steve Reich, Nico Muhly, Caroline Shaw and others
Kebyart
Pere Méndez – soprano saxophone
Víctor Serra – alto saxophone
Robert Seara – tenor saxophone
Daniel Miguel – baritone saxophone
It’s all in the mix: Original works, visionary new creations, and original arrangements combine in the Kebyart saxophone quartet’s programs to create a distinctive work of art. With explosive staging, the four likeable Catalans transform each of their concerts into an experience. These excellent musicians share not only a passion for chamber music, but also a strong desire to breathe new life into the traditional communication of classical music. Their brimming tour schedule demonstrates their success: from Barcelona to Paris and across Europe, Kebyart is in demand at festivals and concert series with innovative aspirations. The saxophone has never been so multifaceted before.
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Berlage’s Vision
05/03/2026 8:15 pm
De Grote Zaal, Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ, Piet Heinkade 1, 1019 BR Amsterdam, Netherlands
Berlage’s Vision
Berlage Saxophone Quartet + Vincent Bijlo
March 5th 2026 at 20:15 – 22:00
Bach – selection from Goldbergvariations (arr. Peter Vigh)
Erwin Schulhoff – Fünf Stücke (arr. Peter Vigh)
Claude Debussy – Pagodes (arr. Peter Vigh)
Joey Roukens – Quodlibet
Berlage Saxophone Quartet
Lars Niederstrasser – soprano saxophone
Peter Vigh – alto saxophone
Juani Palop Tecles – tenor saxophone
Eva van Grinsven – baritone saxophone
At the centre of the concert evening is the brilliant Jess Gillam, one of the most exciting musicians of our time. With her soprano saxophone, she combines technical virtuosity and charismatic stage presence like rarely seen. Two works put the saxophone in the spotlight: Dave Heath’s “The Celtic” and James MacMillan’s Concerto for Soprano Saxophone and String Orchestra. Both works are tailor-made for Jess Gillam. Heath’s “The Celtic” combines Celtic melancholy with rhythmic energy, while MacMillan’s work explores the boundaries of the instrument’s timbres and expressive possibilities. His most famous is certainly the Ninth, but for many, Antonín Dvořák’s Seventh Symphony is his best. This music feels rugged and melancholic, yet compact and strict. There is no superfluous note here, every motif is worked through, every counterpoint has something to say. No question: this is not cozy folk music from a Bohemian village tavern, but highly concentrated symphonic music in the spirit of Beethoven and Brahms.
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Saxophone Dreams with Jess Gillam
11/03/2026 7:30 pm
Holy Trinity Church, South St, St Andrews KY16 9NL
Saxophone Dreams with Jess Gillam
March 11th 2026 at 19:30 – 21:30
ANNA CLYNE – Sound and Fury†
DANI HOWARD – Saxophone Concerto*
GEORGE WALKER – Lyric for Strings
CAROLINE SHAW – Entr’acte
DAVE HEATH – The Celtic*
JOHN HARLE – Rant!*
Scottish Chamber Orchestra
Ben Glassberg – conductor
Jess Gillam – saxophones*
†Commissioned by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.
An inspiring fixture on radio and TV, Cumbrian-born Jess Gillam is first and foremost a world-class saxophonist. She brings her invigorating musical personality to a typically adventurous collection of music across diverse styles and sounds for the last of our New Dimensions concerts.
Young British composer Dani Howard wrote her effervescent new Saxophone Concerto specially for Gillam, while Dave Heath throws you into the whirling energy of a raucous ceilidh in his galvanising concerto The Celtic.
Haydn provides the calmer inspiration for Anna Clyne’s scintillating Sound and Fury, written for the SCO in 2019, and also for Caroline Shaw’s mercurial Entr’acte. The great African American composer George Walker, meanwhile, regularly moves listeners to tears with his striking Lyric for Strings.
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Saxophone Dreams with Jess Gillam
12/03/2026 7:30 pm
The Queen's Hall, 85-89 Clerk St, Newington, Edinburgh EH8 9JG
Saxophone Dreams with Jess Gillam
March 12th 2026 at 19:30 – 21:30
ANNA CLYNE – Sound and Fury†
DANI HOWARD – Saxophone Concerto*
GEORGE WALKER – Lyric for Strings
CAROLINE SHAW – Entr’acte
DAVE HEATH – The Celtic*
JOHN HARLE – Rant!*
Scottish Chamber Orchestra
Ben Glassberg – conductor
Jess Gillam – saxophones*
†Commissioned by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.
An inspiring fixture on radio and TV, Cumbrian-born Jess Gillam is first and foremost a world-class saxophonist. She brings her invigorating musical personality to a typically adventurous collection of music across diverse styles and sounds for the last of our New Dimensions concerts.
Young British composer Dani Howard wrote her effervescent new Saxophone Concerto specially for Gillam, while Dave Heath throws you into the whirling energy of a raucous ceilidh in his galvanising concerto The Celtic.
Haydn provides the calmer inspiration for Anna Clyne’s scintillating Sound and Fury, written for the SCO in 2019, and also for Caroline Shaw’s mercurial Entr’acte. The great African American composer George Walker, meanwhile, regularly moves listeners to tears with his striking Lyric for Strings.
Click on the button below to purchase ticket.
Saxophone Dreams with Jess Gillam
13/03/2026 7:30 pm
City Halls & Old Fruitmarket, 100 Candleriggs, Glasgow G1 1NQ
Saxophone Dreams with Jess Gillam
March 13th 2026 at 19:30 – 21:30
ANNA CLYNE – Sound and Fury†
DANI HOWARD – Saxophone Concerto*
GEORGE WALKER – Lyric for Strings
CAROLINE SHAW – Entr’acte
DAVE HEATH – The Celtic*
JOHN HARLE – Rant!*
Scottish Chamber Orchestra
Ben Glassberg – conductor
Jess Gillam – saxophones*
†Commissioned by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.
An inspiring fixture on radio and TV, Cumbrian-born Jess Gillam is first and foremost a world-class saxophonist. She brings her invigorating musical personality to a typically adventurous collection of music across diverse styles and sounds for the last of our New Dimensions concerts.
Young British composer Dani Howard wrote her effervescent new Saxophone Concerto specially for Gillam, while Dave Heath throws you into the whirling energy of a raucous ceilidh in his galvanising concerto The Celtic.
Haydn provides the calmer inspiration for Anna Clyne’s scintillating Sound and Fury, written for the SCO in 2019, and also for Caroline Shaw’s mercurial Entr’acte. The great African American composer George Walker, meanwhile, regularly moves listeners to tears with his striking Lyric for Strings.
Click on the button below to purchase ticket.
Lowell Liebermann’s Flute Concerto No 2 – Gareth Davies
26/03/2026 7:00 pm
Barbican Centre, Silk St, City of London, London EC2Y 8DS
Lowell Liebermann Flute Concerto No 2 – Gareth Davies
March 26th 2026 at 19:30
Bernstein – Symphonic Dances from ‘West Side Story’
Lowell Liebermann – Flute Concerto No 2 (European premiere)
Dvořák – Symphony No 9, ‘From the New World’
London Symphony Orchestra
Anja Bihlmaier – conductor
Gareth Davies – Flute
An American dream: Dvořák’s ode to the US and Bernstein’s gritty portrait of New York frame a new concerto.
The Symphonic Dances from West Side Story are Bernstein’s own exhilarating whistle-stop tour through his greatest musical, with every great moment given a dazzling orchestral make-over with moments of heart-stopping beauty.
We turn next to New York-born composer Lowell Liebermann, whose 2023 Flute Concerto No 2 has been lauded for its tunefulness and fizzing energy, and finally Dvořák and his epic hymn to the vast and infinite beauty of rural America.
Gareth Davies, the LSO’s Principal Flute, takes to the stage for Liebermann’s concerto, all conducted by one of today’s most dynamic and engaging conductors, Anja Bihlmaier.
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