Two years in the planning; originally we were going to hold it in 2021, Leonard Salzedo’s centenary year, but because of covid we delayed it a year and made the film Leonard Salzedo A Life Composed in Music instead. And now it’s only a day away. Buy tickets and programmes here

The Artists

We approached a few artists we knew who had links with Leonard, started getting a programme together, and from there it spiralled out. Some of the artists are old friends who knew Leonard; some hadn’t known him but knew of him and had played his music before. Some were completely new to his music but I hope and trust will carry on performing it. I am very excited to hear so many of his works all played at the same concert.

Conway Hall

Leonard himself performed at Conway Hall – just before I was born.

He wrote: ‘During 1951 Walter Mony and I had been practising violin duos and we had arranged a concert for January 1952 at Conway Hall when we would play duos by Bartok and my own Eleven Caprices.  Roy Watson would also play my Double Bass Rhapsody and a piece of his own and Thomas Rajna would play some Bartok Mikrokosmos and some of his Preludes.   I broke my finger and we had to postpone the concert until February 11^th.  February 6^th had been my father‘s eightieth birthday.  However, he hated any sort of celebration and went to his office as usual.  On the evening of the Conway Hall concert my father had a mild fainting attack while he was having his evening meal.  His hand dropped into his soup and he had to go into hospital to have the burn treated.  As a result, my wife Pat was nearly late for the concert.’

I trust there won’t be any accidents before tomorrow’s concert!

Concerto for Percussion recording

And his Concerto for Percussion was recorded there in 1968. He wrote:

‘At the end of December, the recordings took place in Conway Hall.  My concerto occupied one side of the record and, on the other, was ‘Talas’ by John Mayer, which included some Indian percussion, and ‘Inconsequenza’ by Geoffrey Grey.  The recording manager was John Boyden who produced a very good master tape.  Each composer conducted his own piece.’

Very auspicious!

I hope to see you at the concert tomorrow. Buy tickets and a programme here