Uploaded March 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago
Guildhall Symphony Orchestra & Chorus
Adrian Leaper - Conductor
Christopher Cull - Baritone
During the 1920s, William Walton made his mark on
British musical life with his unique Façade, an avant-garde ‘entertainment’ for reciter and ensemble, dabbled in jazz composing and arranging, and edged closer to the mainstream with his Portsmouth Point Overture, Sinfonia Concertante for piano and Viola Concerto. Conspicuously absent from his output in that decade, despite his upbringing as a boy chorister at Christ Church, Oxford, was any choral music. But in 1929 he received a BBC commission for a work for soloists, small chorus and chamber ensemble, suitable for studio broadcasting. Osbert Sitwell, a member of the literary family that had taken Walton under its wing, suggested the Biblical subject of Belshazzar’s Feast, and prepared a libretto – to which the composer later made some modifications.
After Walton had started composing the piece, in 1929/30, it became apparent that his ideas had outgrown the scale proposed by the BBC, and the commission was withdrawn. But he went on working on a larger version. The project was taken on by the Leeds Triennial Festival, one of the leading British choral festivals, for its 1931 programme. The work was finished in May 1931, and first performed in Leeds Town Hall in October, conducted by the young Malcolm Sargent.
Adrian Leaper has a distinguished career during which he was Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of Spain’s RTVE Symphony Orchestra & Chorus in Madrid and previously Principal Conductor of the Orquesta Filharmónia de Gran Canaria for nearly 20 years. His career began with an unusually long tenure of five years as Assistant Conductor of the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester. He has recently returned to the Orchestre National d’Île de France, Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Aarhus Symfoniorkester and Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música alongside his work in Spain and Japan.
Northern Irish baritone Christopher Cull is an alumnus of Queen’s University Belfast, the Royal Irish Academy of Music and the Opera Course at the Guildhall School. He is currently a young artist at the National Opera Studio and studies with Robert Dean.
Guildhall Symphony Orchestra
Violin 1
Anna Roder
Lyrit Milgram
Thomas Rowan-Young
Millie Ashton
Long Wu Chan
Victoria Farrell-Reed
Andrea Timpanaro
Tilman Fleig
Sofia Presta
Marta Campana
Magdalena Lech
Ella Fox
Sara Scalabrelli
Matthew Sach-Keen
Arisa Nemoto
Julia Hernández
Katarzyna Zyznowska
Adrián Morena Tierraseca
Olivia Danielewicz
Violin 2
Juliette Roos
Callie Brennan
James Wicks
Berfin Aksu
Franziska Deschner
Yuriko Matsuda
Dominika Kusek Paula Gorbanova
Aria Kitaguchi
Nina Lim
Jin Kyung Park
Marju Tsokkinen
Duygu Ince
Joana Praça
Cheuk Yin Lam
Pau Mercadal Macías
Demver Blancio
Nadine Nigl
Viola
Henrietta Hill
Christoph Slenczka
Chu-Hui Huang
Sarah Teboul
Kirsty Clark
Freya Hicks
Sarah McCabe
Matthew Kendell
Ruth Kemna
Carlos Contreras Gálvez
Agnieszka Zyniewicz
James Flannery
Anna Growns
Anna-Lea Rebholz
Cello
Daniel Benn
Leo Van Debré
Molly McWhirter
Patrick Moriarty
Lucy French
Maria Marshall
Jonathan Gibson
Veryan Arteaga Clark
Jacky Siu
Benedict Swindells
Fraser Bowles
Anna Garde
Felix Stephens
Double bass
Daniel Molloy
Mario Torres Valdivieso
Piotr Hetman
Emanuel Oliveira
Stefano Colombelli
Sophie Walker
Alexandre Cruz Dos Santos
Paloma Vallecillo Rico
Jessica Martin
Flute
Maria Jose Sola Avila
Stephanie Tepper
Tora Rostvik
Piccolo
Tora Rostvik
Oboe
Rees Webster
Madeleine Randall
Clarinet
Roberta Marino
Patrick Davies
Heather Ryall
E flat clarinet
Patrick Davies
Bass clarinet
Heather Ryall
Alto saxophone
Max Ellenberger
Bassoon
Michael Elderkin
Finan Jones
Thomas Moss
Double bassoon
Thomas Moss
Horn
Mark Howlings
Lizzie Tocknell
Renee Kennedy
Matthew Head
Julia Daiger
Trumpet
Matthew Stein
Gideon Brooks
Jacob Rosenberg
Tenor trombone
Farkhad Bulatov
Jacob Coton
Bass trombone
Adam Crighton
Tuba
Chris Claxton
Timpani
Vittorio Angelone
Percussion
Chris Pott
Lewis Blee
Peter Ashwell
Harry Malabar
Elaine So
Organ
Richard Hall
Piano
Hunter Mabery
Harp
Manon Browning
Lise Vandersmissen
OFF-STAGE BRASS
BAND ONE
Trumpet
Oliver Haines
David Muncey
Clara Hyder
Tenor trombone
Peter Thornton
Elinor Chambers
Bass trombone
Stephen Williams
Tuba
George Lee
BAND TWO
Trumpet
Kaitlin Wild
Rebecca Toal
Isabelle Draper
Tenor trombone
Sam Barber
Neven Derrien
Bass trombone
Ali Goodwin
Tuba
Anna Carter
Guildhall Symphony Orchestra & Chorus
Adrian Leaper - Conductor
Christopher Cull - Baritone
During the 1920s, William Walton made his mark on
British musical life with his unique Façade, an avant-garde ‘entertainment’ for reciter and ensemble, dabbled in jazz composing and arranging, and edged closer to the mainstream with his Portsmouth Point Overture, Sinfonia Concertante for piano and Viola Concerto. Conspicuously absent from his output in that decade, despite his upbringing as a boy chorister at Christ Church, Oxford, was any choral music. But in 1929 he received a BBC commission for a work for soloists, small chorus and chamber ensemble, suitable for studio broadcasting. Osbert Sitwell, a member of the literary family that had taken Walton under its wing, suggested the Biblical subject of Belshazzar’s Feast, and prepared a libretto – to which the composer later made some modifications.
After Walton had started composing the piece, in 1929/30, it became apparent that his ideas had outgrown the scale proposed by the BBC, and the commission was withdrawn. But he went on working on a larger version. The project was taken on by the Leeds Triennial Festival, one of the leading British choral festivals, for its 1931 programme. The work was finished in May 1931, and first performed in Leeds Town Hall in October, conducted by the young Malcolm Sargent.
Adrian Leaper has a distinguished career during which he was Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of Spain’s RTVE Symphony Orchestra & Chorus in Madrid and previously Principal Conductor of the Orquesta Filharmónia de Gran Canaria for nearly 20 years. His career began with an unusually long tenure of five years as Assistant Conductor of the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester. He has recently returned to the Orchestre National d’Île de France, Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Aarhus Symfoniorkester and Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música alongside his work in Spain and Japan.
Northern Irish baritone Christopher Cull is an alumnus of Queen’s University Belfast, the Royal Irish Academy of Music and the Opera Course at the Guildhall School. He is currently a young artist at the National Opera Studio and studies with Robert Dean.
Guildhall Symphony Orchestra
Violin 1
Anna Roder
Lyrit Milgram
Thomas Rowan-Young
Millie Ashton
Long Wu Chan
Victoria Farrell-Reed
Andrea Timpanaro
Tilman Fleig
Sofia Presta
Marta Campana
Magdalena Lech
Ella Fox
Sara Scalabrelli
Matthew Sach-Keen
Arisa Nemoto
Julia Hernández
Katarzyna Zyznowska
Adrián Morena Tierraseca
Olivia Danielewicz
Violin 2
Juliette Roos
Callie Brennan
James Wicks
Berfin Aksu
Franziska Deschner
Yuriko Matsuda
Dominika Kusek Paula Gorbanova
Aria Kitaguchi
Nina Lim
Jin Kyung Park
Marju Tsokkinen
Duygu Ince
Joana Praça
Cheuk Yin Lam
Pau Mercadal Macías
Demver Blancio
Nadine Nigl
Viola
Henrietta Hill
Christoph Slenczka
Chu-Hui Huang
Sarah Teboul
Kirsty Clark
Freya Hicks
Sarah McCabe
Matthew Kendell
Ruth Kemna
Carlos Contreras Gálvez
Agnieszka Zyniewicz
James Flannery
Anna Growns
Anna-Lea Rebholz
Cello
Daniel Benn
Leo Van Debré
Molly McWhirter
Patrick Moriarty
Lucy French
Maria Marshall
Jonathan Gibson
Veryan Arteaga Clark
Jacky Siu
Benedict Swindells
Fraser Bowles
Anna Garde
Felix Stephens
Double bass
Daniel Molloy
Mario Torres Valdivieso
Piotr Hetman
Emanuel Oliveira
Stefano Colombelli
Sophie Walker
Alexandre Cruz Dos Santos
Paloma Vallecillo Rico
Jessica Martin
Flute
Maria Jose Sola Avila
Stephanie Tepper
Tora Rostvik
Piccolo
Tora Rostvik
Oboe
Rees Webster
Madeleine Randall
Clarinet
Roberta Marino
Patrick Davies
Heather Ryall
E flat clarinet
Patrick Davies
Bass clarinet
Heather Ryall
Alto saxophone
Max Ellenberger
Bassoon
Michael Elderkin
Finan Jones
Thomas Moss
Double bassoon
Thomas Moss
Horn
Mark Howlings
Lizzie Tocknell
Renee Kennedy
Matthew Head
Julia Daiger
Trumpet
Matthew Stein
Gideon Brooks
Jacob Rosenberg
Tenor trombone
Farkhad Bulatov
Jacob Coton
Bass trombone
Adam Crighton
Tuba
Chris Claxton
Timpani
Vittorio Angelone
Percussion
Chris Pott
Lewis Blee
Peter Ashwell
Harry Malabar
Elaine So
Organ
Richard Hall
Piano
Hunter Mabery
Harp
Manon Browning
Lise Vandersmissen
OFF-STAGE BRASS
BAND ONE
Trumpet
Oliver Haines
David Muncey
Clara Hyder
Tenor trombone
Peter Thornton
Elinor Chambers
Bass trombone
Stephen Williams
Tuba
George Lee
BAND TWO
Trumpet
Kaitlin Wild
Rebecca Toal
Isabelle Draper
Tenor trombone
Sam Barber
Neven Derrien
Bass trombone
Ali Goodwin
Tuba
Anna Carter
