The London Myriad Ensemble was formed in 2004 by a group of young musicians from the London colleges. Over a decade later, individual members all continue to share a passion for chamber music, and have gone on to work with major ensembles and orchestras in the UK and internationally, including the RPO, Hallé, Royal Opera House, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble 360 and the London Contemporary Music Group, alongside working on west end shows including Phantom of the Opera, the King & I, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Wicked.
With a wind quartet as its core, the group has performed a wide range of repertoire ranging from that of duos to sextets, often expanding ranks to include strings, piano, harp and/or narrator in many recitals and concerts both in the UK and internationally.
As first prize winners of the Israeli Music International Music Competition, the London Myriad Ensemble performed at the Purcell Room in the Southbank Centre and live on BBC Radio 3. The ensemble performs regularly in recital including other notable venues such as St. Martin-in-the-Fields, St. James’s Piccadilly, the National Portrait Gallery, the British High Commissioner to the Seychelles and the State Drawing Room at 11 Downing Street to name but a few.
The London Myriads released their CD of French and British wind quartet music, ‘FOUR,’ in October 2019 on the ‘Divine Art,’ Metier label, featuring works by Francaix, Bridge, Rodney-Bennett, Bozza and the world premiere recording of Arrieu’s ‘Suite en Quatre,’ which was named ‘Top Chamber Music Album of 2019’ by ‘Music Notes,’ and was featured in Apple Music’s new classical releases highlights. With a keen interest in new music and in expanding the repertoire for wind chamber ensemble, London Myriad plan to release their second album ‘FOUR2’ featuring newly commissioned works for wind quartet in 2021.
They have commissioned new works, as well as having several works written for them, performing as resident ensemble with composers from ‘New Music Brighton’ and the ‘London Composers Forum.’ They will be performing the world premiere of Melanie Spanswick’s Wind Sextet as a virtual performance in Summer 2020. They also feature on a recently made recording of Rob Keeley’s music, called “Twists and Turns” (on the Divine Art label) performing his Studies for Wind Quartet.
Also passionate about music education, the ensemble is the resident ensemble at Whitgift School in Croydon, and has a wealth of experience of devising and running school education workshops. In their capacity as Concordia International Artists they have hosted, devised and led a number of large outreach workshops and performances at Wiltons Music Hall as part of their Young Audiences project in Tower Hamlets and beyond.
The ensemble has also successfully run a popular course for pre-formed advanced wind ensembles at Benslow Music twice a year since 2010. This course has enabled the group to work with passionate amateur wind players on some of the most wonderful repertoire for all manner of combinations of wind instruments, both well-known and more obscure. The ensemble now also tutors a third course each year due to demand.