News

Dear Subscriber,

Here a reminder that our annual Lauderdale House concert is coming up in a week and we will be treating you to the following pieces:

Amparita Roca  - Jaime Texidor                       
Because  - Jacob Gade
Moomin  -  Robert Farnon
Gold digger's song  - Harry Warren
Moonlight melody  - Fred Hartley
I’ve got a lot of buttons  - Liz Menezes 
Galop chromatique  - Màtyàs Seiber
When I grow too old to dream  - Sigmund Romberg
Hunky Dory  - Abe Holzmann
Da Capo  - Georges Boulanger
Bohèma czardas  - Gustave Michiels
At the codfish ball  - Lew Pollack
The Butterfly  - Theo Bendix
That baboon baby dance  - Joe Cooper
Die Lustige Fiedel  - Rudi Rischbeck
A fella with an umbrella  - Irving Berlin
Fox-intermezzo  - Helmut Zacharias
Beer barrel polka  - Jaromir  Vejvoda

This should entertain and delight and activate your brain’s nostalgia centre. 
We hope to see you there, 4th May,  2:30pm at Lauderdale House, Waterlow Park , Highgate Hill,, London N6 5HG

Tickets are sold by Lauderdale House on the door and on their website: https://www.lauderdalehouse.org.uk/whats-on/aspidistra-2026

A taster

Dear Subscriber,

The weather has changed and we are preparing for our annual May concert. This year the concert will be held on the first May Bank holiday, the 4th of May and as in previous years, we’ll be in the lower gallery at Lauderdale House: Doors open at 2:00pm and the concert starts at 2:30pm. We are looking forward seeing you again and share some of our latest discoveries from the music archives as well as some of our old favourites.

We are finalising the programme and will announce it in detail on our website www.aspidistra.org in a couple of weeks 

Ticket prices haven’t changed for years and we don’t need to correct for inflation if we get a good attendance. So we count on you to keep the prices down 

Tickets £10, Concessions £9, Kids £5 can be obtained from Lauderdale House  in advance or on the door. 

The address of the venue is:

Lauderdale House, 
Highgate Hill, 
London, N6 5HG 

We hope to see you there on the 4th of May and here a teaser of what to expect: Amparito Rocca

Dear Subscriber,

This coming Saturday's concert will be the first St Valentine's Concert for Aspidistra. We have selected a special programme for the event and it promisses to be a good night out, with or without a companion. 

We hope you are able to join us on Saturday at 8:00pm:

Lauderdale House
Waterlow Park 
Highgate Hill,
London N6 5HG

Tickets £10 or £9 (children £5) from https://www.lauderdalehouse.org.uk/whats-on/aspidistra-valentines
For the programme visit our webpage: https://www.aspidistra.org/concert/valentine-concert

Dear Subscriber,

When we discovered that the only day in February we were all free was St Valentine's Day, we took this as a sign that we should organise an impromptu concert. Surprisingly Lauderdale House was still available despite the short notice.  So all is now set for a special St Valentine's Day Concert. 

Our Valentine Programme:

• Melodie Beguine   (Johan Øian)
• Happy Days Are Here Again (Jack Yellen)
• Extase  (Louis Ganne)
• Buttons and Bows (Jay Livingston)
• Love in Arcady (Haydn Wood)
• Parlami D’amore, Mariu (Cesare Bixio)
• Nobody’s Sweatheart (Elmer Schoebel)
• Yearning (Joe Burke)
• Aus Eigensin (Heinz Munsonius)
• Your Beautiful Clematis (Liz Menezes)
• The Continental (Con Conrad)
• Early in the Mornin’ (Charles O’Flynn)
• Souvenir d’Ukraine (Adelgiso Ferraris)
• I don’t Care if the Sun don’t Shine (Mack David)
• Tout est Permis quand on Rève (Werner Heymann)

We hope you will be able to join us on Saturday 14th February, 8:00pm at 

Lauderdale House,
Waterlow Park 
Highgate Hill,
London N6 5HG

Tickets can be booked on the Lauderdale House website  https://www.lauderdalehouse.org.uk/whats-on/aspidistra-valentines (for £10 or £9 pounds (Kids £5) 

And here is a taster: Extase

Dear Subscriber,

When the celebrations end, there is still an event to look forward to. We will be back at the enchanting Sands Music Room for our New Year concert. Last year, the venue  was not available but we are happy that the tradition is continuing and hope to see you at this intimate theatre on the 4th of January.

If you cannot make it to Rotherhithe on the day, there is an opportunity to watch the concert on a high quality lives-tream but of course we would prefer to see you at Sands to wish you a happy new year in person. To book a seat or get a link to the live-stream, visit https://www.sandsfilms.co.uk

Details of the programme can be found on our website: https://www.aspidistra.org/concert/2026-new-year-concert

The Music Room at Sands Films is a stone's throw from Rotherhithe Station at 82 St Marychurch Street, SE16 4HZ

We would also like to give you advance notification of our annual bank holiday concert on Monday 4th May at Lauderdale House.

Extase at Sands Music Room

Dear Subscriber

Soon the festive season will be upon us. Some look forward to it. Others just like to get it over and done with but once it is over and done with, there’s something else to look forward to:

The Aspidistra Drawing Room Orchestra’s New Year Concert 
7:30pm on Sunday 4th January 2026 in the Music Room at Sands Films
82 St Marychurch Street, Rotherhithe, SE16 4HZ.

The programme will feature works by Irving Berlin, Leroy Anderson, Jacob Gade, Haydn Wood, Sigmund Romberg and Mátyás Seiber. We hope you will be able to join us in person but if you are not able to make it on the day, you can watch us live online at home on the 4th of January or playback the recording as often as you like for a few weeks after the event.

To reserve a seat or request a link for the live-stream, go to Sandsfilms.co.uk

For those of you who don’t know what to expect, here is a link to a couple of our recordings:
Stringing Along and Hunky Dory

Dear Subscriber,

Here is a quick reminder that our annual concert will be held at Lauderdale House, Waterlow Park, Highgate Hill, N6 5HG. on Monday 26th May at 2:30pm. (Nearest tube is Archway)

Tickets can be obtained from the Lauderdale House webpage: https://www.lauderdalehouse.org.uk/whats-on/aspidistra-2025 and should also be available on the door. (The doors open at 2:00pm.)

Details about the programme can be found on our webpage: https://www.aspidistra.org/concert/annual-bank-holiday-concert.

We hope to see you there.

PS: I just discovered a little film of one of our New Year Concerts on the internet that I hadn't seen before. I have attached it to get you in the mood. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzMvh9yHeUo

Dear Subscriber,

We would like to inform you of three events involving the Aspidistra Drawing Room Orchestra in the coming month. 

On Sunday evening 27th April, 7:00pm, we will be giving a concert in rural Dorset titled ‘Countryside Caprice and other Palm Court Music’. The concert is being held in the pretty village of Powerstock, near Bridport in their village hall called  ‘The Hut’. Entry is by voluntary donation at the door of The Hut, School Hill, Powerstock, DT6 3TB.

Next, we are proud to be involved with the 120 year anniversary celebration of the birth of the Hungarian born British composer Mátyás Seiber, who regularly features on our concert programmes. This event takes place on Sunday 4th of May at the Hungarian Cultural Centre on Trafalgar Square. We will perform during the drinks reception at 6pm. This is not a public event but we might be able to add a few people to the guest list.  So let us know if you are interested

Finally, our annual bank holiday concert is planned for Monday 26h of May 2:30pm at Lauderdale house. We are pleased that we could book the lower gallery for this event because we think this has better acoustics and a better atmosphere than the upper gallery which we used for our New Year’s concert. We are not live streaming this concert so if you want to hear what we have been working on since last year, you need to attend in person. There is some very good music amongst this material that hardly ever gets performed.

The address of the venue is:

Lauderdale House, 
Highgate Hill, 
London, N6 5HG 

Tickets £10 (Concessions £9, Children £5) are sold at the door or can be prebooked a month in advance at Lauderdalehouse.org.uk .

Doors open at 2:00pm. Concert starts 2:30pm

Several people have asked us how to pay for the live-stream link for the New Year concert. The short answer is: the link is free and you don’t need to pay anything but if you feel driven to contribute something, it is possible to make a donation by bank transfer to the Aspidistra Drawing Room Orchestra using sort code: 09-01-55 and account number: 17775182

However, we hope you will brave it up Highgate Hill despite the current inclement weather and see you in person at Lauderdale House at 7:30pm tonight.

For the live-stream use this link: https://www.youtube.com/@StitchCreativeMediaLive

We are grateful for any donation you care to give.

Next Sunday evening, our New Year Concert will take place at Lauderdale House because the music room at Sands Studio was not available for any date at the beginning of the year. Therefore, we thought that we wouldn't be able to live-stream it but we are pleased to tell you that we've found a way around it. A cameraman who normally makes his living from streaming weddings has agreed to record and broadcast the event. 

Naturally, we hope to see you in person on the 5th of January but if you can't make it up Highgate Hill you can join us remotely. Doors open at 7:00pm. Concert starts 7:30pm

The address of the venue is:

Lauderdale House, 
Highgate Hill, 
London, N6 5HG 

Tickets £10, Concessions £9, Children £5 are available now from https://Lauderdalehouse.org.uk/aspidistra

Link for the live-stream is: https://www.youtube.com/@StitchCreativeMediaLive

Dear Subscriber,

With the whole world in turmoil, you might welcome some distraction. To this end we’d like to tell you about our New Year concert on the 5th of January 2025. Unfortunately, the Sands film Studio in Rotherhithe was not available this time so we are not able to livestream it but the face-to -face experience should be worth the trip.

We will be relocating the concert to Lauderdale House in Highgate, where you may have attended our May Bank Holiday performances. I hope you are able to join us there at 7:30pm on the first Sunday of the new year for some light relief and to welcome 2025 in style (that is in Palm Court style).

The programme will include The Hampden Roar by Fred Hartley, Rhythm on Rails by Charles Williams, The Black Cat Rag by Frank Wooster, Illusions Perdue by Jacob Gade and The Gold Diggers' Song by Harry Warren amongst others.

The address of the venue is:

Lauderdale House, 
Highgate Hill, 
London, N6 5HG 

Tickets £10, Concessions £9, Kids £5 are available now from https://www.lauderdalehouse.org.uk/aspidistra

Doors open at 7:00pm. Concert starts 7:30pm

And here are two videos to remind you of what we sound like:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oyd70wY5bg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_-n4bHLYY8

Dear Subscriber,

This is just a quick reminder of our concert on the 27th May at 2:30 pm on the bank holiday at Lauderdale House, Highgate Hill, London N6 5 HG.

Details about the programme can be found on our webpage: https://www.aspidistra.org/news 
and tickets can be obtained on line from Lauderdale House: https://www.lauderdalehouse.org.uk/whats-on/aspidistra-2024 
(or on the door but it is better to book in advance if you want to be sure you to get in).

We hope to see you there.

Dear Subscriber,

Just four weeks and we'll meet again, same time, same place, for our annual concert. That is, on the bank holiday afternoon, 27th May 2.30pm at Lauderdale house, Highgate Hill, N6 5HG. We are very excited because it promises to be a such a fun programme.

This is what we are planning to perform:

• Irish Whispers (Charles Ancliffe)
• As Time Goes By (Herman Hupfeld)
• Premier Bonheur (William Salabert)
• We Were So Young (Jerome Kern)
• Züse Kleine Henriett' (Gerhard Winkler)
• Chatterbox (Mathias Seiber)
• Diva de L'Empire (Erik Satie)
• Romanza Andaluza (Pablo de Sarasate)
• Corsican Serenade (Pablo Pareño)
• Tout Est Permit Quand On Rêve (Wilhelm Heymann)
• Ain't We Got Fun (Richard Whiting)
• Fra Frederiksværn (Ole Bull)
• When Baby Plays the Rumba (Leo Towers)
• Ukraine (Frederick Charrosin)
• I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles (John Kellette)

Tickets are available from the Lauderdale House website: https://www.lauderdalehouse.org.uk/whats-on/aspidistra-2024
If you want to be assured of a seat, we recommend that you book a ticket in advance.

To get you in the mood, here is a short clip of our January concert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oyd70wY5bg and also a video of our rehearsals last summer in Corsica, featuring several numbers that are on the programme for this concert. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9SRSjp2acs

We hope to see you on the 27th of May at Lauderdale House.

Dear Subscriber,

In case you missed our New Year concert you still have a chance to watch the recording of the concert for another week. The livestream is available on demand by voluntary donation via the Sandsfilms.co.uk  website or via this link. https://watch.eventive.org/sandsmusic.

Here is a list of the pieces we played

• Jeger Marsj - Leif Orvan
• Corsican Serenade - Pablo Pareño
• Zadok in Party Mood- G.F. Handel / Stratchey
• I Never Knew - Joe Burke
• The Continental - Con Conrad
• We were so Young - Jerome Kern
• Tartan Parade - Montague Ewing
• The Band played 'Nearer My God' - Harold Jones/ Rev Mason
• Gitarren Serenade - Franz Funk
• There's a New World - Michael Carr
• By the Beautiful Brownish Thames - J Strauss/ R Farnon
• I don't care if the Sun don't Shine - Mack David
• Baion de Santos - Eric Jupp
• Ukraine - Frederick Charrosin

Encore: O Mia Bella Napoli – Gerhard Winkler

To give you an idea of what you might be missing, here is a short clip of the concert

Finally a date for your diary: 

Our Annual concert this year will be at Lauderdale House, Highgate Hill, London N6 5HG, Bank Holiday Monday 27th May at 2:30pm

We hope you can join us for our New Year concert next week: Thursday 4th January 8:00 pm at Sands Music Room, 84 St Marychurch Street, Rotherhithe SE16 4HZ.

If you cannot make it to Rotherhithe on the day, you don’t need to miss out because the concert will be live-streamed. However, it is worth making the effort to join us in person because Sands Music Room is rather wonderful and an attraction in its own right (and only a two minute walk from Rotherhithe station).

Entrance to the concert and/or access to the live stream is by voluntary donation. Any revenue will be shared between the venue and the orchestra. The live-stream is made possible by Sands, a charitable arts organisation, so please donate generously. 

You can book using this link: https://www.sandsfilms.co.uk/sands-films-music-room.html.

To get you in the mood, here is a clip from our last New Year concert https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=3mhgfk-HJKg&t 

and also a short film of our rehearsal week on Corsica, which features some of the music we will be playing next week https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOmBV2yUx3U

We are approaching what is traditionally known as the festive season. With only a few more marches and Just-Stop-Oil protests, Christmas is fast approaching but it doesn’t feel very festive this year. However, there is something joyful to look forward despite the turbulent times we live in; On the 4th January, 8.00pm, Aspidistra is presenting its New Year concert. We’ll play music selected to give 2024 a promising start and works that look back light-heartedly at notable events of 2023.

We’re returning to Sands Music Room, the delightful little theatre in Rotherhithe where we will perform for a studio audience while the concert will also be live streamed for anybody who wants to watch at home or later. Sands Studio is a charitable arts organisation and entrance to the concert and/or access to the live stream is by voluntary donation. Any revenue will be shared between the venue and the orchestra so please donate generously. You can reserve your seats or register for the internet link via: https://www.sandsfilms.co.uk/sands-films-music-room.html

Last year fans logged on from as far away as New Zealand, New York and Canada! If you intend to watch from abroad please let us know by responding to this Newsletter, so we can acknowledge you in our welcome.

We rehearsed in the August heat on Corsica and as a taster here is short video of our holiday on this beautiful island which features some of the music you might hear in full at the concert: https://youtu.be/nOmBV2yUx3U?si=_PFCFvwDn9tU8SFj

We very much hope to see you in person on the 4th .