Orchestra of St John's
The Orchestra of St John's is an orchestra in the United Kingdom, founded in 1967 by John Lubbock. Originally named after St John's, Smith Square in central London.
The Orchestra has worked with British soloists including Dame Felicity Lott, Tasmin Little, John Lill and Stephen Kovacevich, and also aims to provide a platform for new musicians, including performers such as Julian Bliss and Chloë Hanslip. Our Young Professionals scheme supports emerging artists.
The Orchestra has held its own music festival each year at Dorchester Abbey in Oxfordshire since 2003, and also promotes concerts in London. These have included a 'My Music' series of lunchtime concerts at the Wigmore Hall: famous people/distinguished personalities talk about their lives, illustrated by their choice of music played by OSJ
Concerts at King's Place in connection with their collaborative projects for children from migrant, refugee and underprivileged backgrounds.
Our professional musicians, led by John Lubbock, play for children in special education needs schools under our Music for Autism programme.
In 1999 John received an Honorary Fellowship from the Royal Academy of Music. In 2015 he was awarded an OBE for services to the Orchestra of St John's and to people with autism and learning difficulties in the UK. He was a finalist in the prestigious The Times/Sternberg Active Life Award 2015.
The Orchestra has also featured on two albums by the rock group Radiohead: the Grammy award-winning Kid A and Grammy-nominated Amnesiac. OSJ performed the première of Escape Velocity by Benjamin Wallfisch at the 2006 BBC Proms festival. The composer Matthew King also collaborated with the orchestra and the savant pianist Derek Paravicini on a piano concerto entitled Blue in 2011.
