Thursday 14 May 2026
7pm
Silk Street Music Hall

presented by City Music Society

in memory of Ivan Sutton

adjudicators:

Leslie East is Chairman of City Music Society, Director of Music at Guildhall School between 1976 and 1987 and Publishing Director of Novello & Co. during the 1990s. Leslie is also a former Publishing Director and Chief Executive of ABRSM.

Ivana Gavrić has attracted international acclaim for her interpretations of a broad range of repertoire and storytelling programming, her playing described as “electrifying” (BBC Music Magazine) and “impressive, insightful…ravishing” (Washington Post). Recent concerto performances include Grieg and Rachmaninov with the Philharmonia Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall, and Beethoven’s Emperor with the RPO at the Royal Albert Hall. She has also performed with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, South Denmark Philharmonic and Southbank Sinfonia. She especially enjoys working with chamber orchestras, and highlights include performing with the Trondheim Soloists, Aurora Orchestra, Camerata Zürich and City of London Sinfonia. Ivana has been heard on the concert platform at Wigmore Hall, the Barbican, the Berlin Konzerthaus, Tonhalle Zürich, KKL Lucerne and the Gilmore Piano Festival, as well as across China, in Canada and recently in Peru. Ivana is drawn to composers like Janáček, Grieg and Chopin, who each take features of their respective homelands to create a distinctive musical voice, whether from the landscape and nature or from elements of folk music and dance. A long-standing collaboration with the award-winning composer, Cheryl Frances-Hoad, has led to solo works and more recently a concerto, entitled Between the Skies, the River and the Hills, written for Ivana. Ivana is also committed to performing works by female composers of the past, particularly Dora Pejačević, with whom she shares her origins.

Emma Wernig is a German-Austrian violist recognized for her expressive artistry, distinctive musical voice, and imaginative programming. A laureate of the Tertis International Viola Competition and winner of the Cecil Aronowitz International Viola Competition, she has performed as soloist with ensembles including Kremerata Baltica, the Meininger Hofkapelle and the Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen. Passionate about expanding the viola repertoire, she released a critically acclaimed debut album of rare Austrian viola works in 2021 with pianist Albert Cano-Smit on Champs Hill Records and recorded Concerto for Three alongside Gidon Kremer and Magdalena Ceple in 2024.

Emma is the violist of the acclaimed Doric String Quartet, internationally recognized for its dynamic performances, elegant style, and acclaimed recordings on Chandos Records. The quartet appears regularly at many of the world’s major concert halls and festivals and in tours to America, Japan, and Australia. She has collaborated with artists including Janine Jansen, Steven Isserlis, and Christian Tetzlaff, and has appeared at festivals including the Verbier Festival, Aldeburgh Festival, and the Edinburgh Festival. She served as Principal Viola of the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra and regularly appears as Guest Principal Viola with the London Symphony Orchestra and BBC Symphony Orchestra. Emma plays on a 2019 Viseltear viola and resides in London.

City Music Society

City Music Society has been the leading promoter of chamber music concerts in the City of London since 1943 when it was founded by Ivan Sutton MBE (1914–1986).  The Society has 2,451 concerts to its credit, over 1,800 of those having been presented in the Great Hall of Bishopsgate Institute and 445 having been evening concerts, over 400 of which were given in Goldsmiths’ Hall between 1946 and 2012.  The Society marked its 75th anniversary in its 2018/19 season with three celebratory concerts.  In February 2022 it presented its 2,000th lunchtime concert, including a new commission by Adam Kornas for string quartet.

Since January 2016 concerts have been presented in the medieval church of St Bartholomew the Great in West Smithfield. In its 20 lunchtime concerts per year, the Society presents 50-minute programmes of music, ranging from medieval to jazz, with special emphasis on the great composers of the Baroque, Classical, Romantic and Modern eras.

Some of the world’s greatest musicians have performed in the Society’s concerts, many of them, like Jacqueline Du Pré and Miloš Karadaglić, at the start of their careers.  In addition to featuring well-established musicians it has always been the Society’s policy to invite outstanding young professional artists at the beginning of their careers, many of whom have since attained international status.

Members of the Society are more than passive listeners.  Over the years the Society has commissioned many new works, usually funded by members’ contributions.  Composers commissioned include Roger Smalley, Nicholas Maw, Diana Burrell, Richard Rodney Bennett, Elizabeth Maconchy, Phyllis Tate, Robin Holloway, John McCabe, Geoffrey Burgon, Peter-Paul Nash, Kevin Volans, Stuart MacRae, Michael Berkeley and Adam Kornas.

New members are always welcome – details can be found on the Society’s website.

Registered charity No. 285985

www.citymusicsociety.org