Sarah-Jane Bradley & John Lenehan
Saturday, 21st November, 2026 | 7:30pm
Sarah-Jane Bradley - viola
John Lenehan - piano
PROGRAMME
Schumann - Fantasiestücke Op. 73
Bloch - Suite
INTERVAL
Rebecca Clarke - Morpheus
Fauré - Après un Rêve
William Harris - Suite
Elgar - Chanson de Nuit
Vaughan Williams - Romance
Prokofiev - Pieces from Romeo & Juliet (Balcony Scene and Dance of the Knights)
BIOGRAPHY – Sarah-Jane Bradley
Since her debut with the Philharmonia in 1992 and at the Wigmore Hall in 1997, Sarah-Jane has established a distinguished international reputation as a soloist and chamber musician.
Sarah-Jane has performed and recorded as a soloist with major orchestras such as the Philharmonia, Hallé, BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra and City of London Sinfonia, including live broadcasts on radio 3.
Sarah-Jane is a pioneer of new works and has premiered and recorded a number of new concertos written for her. Her extensive discography of acclaimed solo recordings includes 9 CDs of viola concertos and 4 recital discs.
Sarah-Jane is in high demand as a recitalist and chamber musician; she regularly plays in recital with pianists John Lenehan and Martin Roscoe. She is also a founder member of the Rossetti Ensemble, who are expected to make a return visit to Welwyn Garden Concert Club soon. A founder member of the Leopold String Trio, Sarah-Jane has also been a member of the Sorrel Quartet, Fidelio Piano Quartet, London Soloists Ensemble and Co-Artistic Director of Sound Collective. She has toured widely and her work as a chamber musician has taken her around the world.
Sarah-Jane has worked as guest principal viola with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia, London Symphony Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, London Mozart Players, City of London Sinfonia and Orchestra of the Swan.
Sarah-Jane is Professor of Viola and Chamber Music at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and also teaches viola at the Royal College of Music Junior Department and The Purcell School.
She plays on a G.A Chanot viola of Manchester, 1896.
BIOGRAPHY – John Lenehan
In a career of unusual diversity, with an extensive discography of more than 80 albums of music ranging from the seventeenth to the twenty-first centuries, John Lenehan has performed in concerts worldwide and his breadth of repertoire has led to his popularity on Spotify and Apple music with over a million monthly listeners globally.
As soloist he has appeared with LSO, RPO and LPO amongst many other orchestras and his recordings include piano recitals and concertos as well as duo sonatas, chamber music and jazz. Most recently he has recorded albums with the Rossetti Ensemble as well as concertos by Mozart (K.467) and Beethoven (Emperor) with the National Symphony Orchestra.
John Lenehan also composes. His Fantasy on Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker has been recorded by the Budapest Symphony Orchestra and his 2023 piano concerto “The Legend of Maritime Silk Road” (commissioned by the Silk Road International Arts Centre and premiered in Beijing) has been performed in China several times since then. He has written and arranged for a long list of soloists and orchestras including Lang Lang, Nigel Kennedy, Yuja Wang, Tasmin Little, Nicola Benedetti and the BBC Concert Orchestra, RPO and the Hong Kong Philharmonic. John’s interest in the combination of music and film has been long-standing. As well as performing on several more recent soundtracks (such as Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings) he has, as director of “Sounds for Silents” written and arranged more than 20 scores for silent films, and continues to present film and music programmes, reviving the art of the improvising pianist – the most recent being a tribute to the roaring twenties.
Photo: Robert Piwko