London Mandolin Ensemble
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Rehearsals & Classes
  • News & Events
  • Useful links
  • Gallery
  • Contact Us
  • Blog

Meet Lewis Sloan, LMQ guitarist & workshop tutor

31/1/2025

0 Comments

 
Lewis Sloan is a Scottish classical guitarist with a passion for both ensemble and solo performance. He began playing the guitar at the age of 11 and has studied under both Peter Stewart and Adele Neilson.
While a member of the Lanarkshire Mandolin and Guitar Association (LGMA), Lewis led the guitar sections of both Da Capo Alba and, in 2019, the British Fretted Orchestra (BFO). With Da Capo Alba, he premiered a new work by Nicholas Olsen in the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall to BBC Radio 3. He also collaborated with the RCS Youth Orchestra on a performance of Shostakovich's Jazz Suite No. 2. Beyond orchestral work, Lewis has performed in various chamber groups, most recently as part of the guitar trio, Trio Con Brio.
Picture
0 Comments

Mandolin and Guitar workshop with Italian mandolin virtuoso Raffaele La Ragione on Sunday 26th May 2024

29/2/2024

0 Comments

 
Mandolin virtuoso Raffaele La Ragione is visiting London for a concert with La Serenissima on Thursday 23rd May at St Martins-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square, London. LME seized the opportunity of this visit to arrange a mandolin and guitar workshop with him on Sunday 26th May from 3.00-5.00pm at LME's rehearsal venue, Crown Court Church in Covent Garden, WC2B 5EZ. The workshop is open to mandolinists, mandola players and guitarists, and we look forward to seeing you all there! Information and details about the workshop, along with registration, can be obtained by emailing: [email protected]
Picture
0 Comments

Maria & Raffaele Calace play Tarantella Op. 18 for mandolin, mandocello and piano.

30/11/2023

0 Comments

 
Remastered by and with thanks to Fabio Gallucci/The Mandolin World

Raffaele Calace (1863 – 1934) was an Italian mandolin player, composer, and luthier.
Calace was born in Naples, Italy, the son of Antonio Calace, a successful instrument maker. He initially trained to be a musician, discovered the mandolin, and soon became a virtuoso. 
After Calace graduated with high honours from the Regio Conservatorio di Musica in Naples, he set out to elevate the mandolin's place in music. To achieve this, he toured Europe and Japan, giving concerts on the Neapolitan mandolin and liuto cantabile. 
The liuto cantabile is a bass variant of the mandolin family that scholars believe Neapolitan luthiers of the Vinaccia family created in the last decade of the 19th century, and that Raffaele Calace subsequently perfected.
Calace made three long-playing phonograph records on which he plays mandolin and liuto cantabile.
He wrote about 200 compositions for mandolin. These include concert works for mandolin solo and compositions for mandolin and other instruments—duets with piano, trio combinations with mandola and guitar, the Romantic Mandolin Quartet (two mandolins, mandola, and guitar), and quintets.
Calace also wrote pedagogical works, including a mandolin method and a method for playing the liuto cantabile. The mandolin method was published in 1910 and elaborates on the 18th-century Italian mandolin tutors by Giovanni Battista Gervasio (c. 1725–c. 1785), Gabriele Leone (c. 1725–c. 1790) and others. It shows the development of the traditional Italian playing style. 
The Calace school forms a bridge between other modern methods for mandolin, such as those by Raffaele Calace's countryman Silvio Ranieri (1882-1956), a Roman virtuoso who settled in Brussels, and the American-based Italian mandolinist Giuseppe Pettine (1874-1966).
0 Comments

London Mandolin Quartet concert at Waltham Forest Music Society, London

9/3/2023

1 Comment

 
LMQ had a very special concert on 17th February - we were delighted to introduce the mandolin, its history and music to a brand new audience. The Waltham Forest Music Society has a large membership, and does a fantastic job in promoting classical music - they were wonderful hosts, had a full house, and gave us a sparkling review!
 “On Friday last, 17th February, the London Mandolin Quartet - Maxine Wiltshire {mandolin}, Anna Lombardi {mandolin}, Chan Yuk Fan, Ryan {guitar} and Tom Smith {guitar} - played to an audience of over 100 concert-goers who had assembled expectantly in All Saints church. 
Although quartets had featured in previous seasons, this was the first occasion on which such a combination of instruments had been the focus of a WFMS recital. And what a recital it was! The programme of music, carefully-selected under the supervision of the LMQ’s founder, Maxine Wiltshire, to reflect the mandolin’s development across the centuries, ranged from Pachelbel in the 1600s to Sandoval in the present day.
The recital fell into two distinct halves, with Baroque music (Boyce, JS Bach, Pachelbel, D. Scarlatti and Vivaldi) played before the interval and music from the 20th century (Hadjidakis, Sandoval, Amadei, Piazzolla and Baumann) after. The sedate first half conjured images of times long past while in the second the sounds we tend to associate with mandolins came to the fore as familiar tremolos immediately created the illusion of having been transported from Highams Park to the coast of the Aegean or Mediterranean. Most of the pieces were special arrangements for mandolin and guitar (e.g. Boyce’s 1st Symphony) while others had been created for this instrumental combination. Special mention must be made of Entre la Sombras by Ricardo Sandoval and Suite Marinaresca by Amadeo Amedei in which the timbres of each instrument blended perfectly. It’s a shame that these pieces aren’t heard more widely and, to my knowledge, neither has been recorded. 
At various points, Tom spoke about the mandolin’s history while Maxine displayed her selection of antique instruments. These were on show during the interval while the musicians were at hand to chat to the audience, pose for photos and answer questions. 
The enthusiastic applause which greeted the final notes of Baumann’s Andalusian Serenade clearly demonstrated the audience’s wish for an encore and we weren’t disappointed. Tarantella Piedigrotta by Luigi Ricci brought the evening to a joyful close.
In case you missed the recital, or are eager to see them again, London Mandolin Quartet has been booked to appear on July 20th at one of the twice-weekly lunchtime recitals held in St. Olave’s Church, Hart Street, near Tower Hill.“ 
Picture
1 Comment

Rare video of Raffaele Calace on tour in Japan 1924-1925

8/3/2022

0 Comments

 
In 1924 Raffaele Calace embarked on his first trip to Japan, where he was welcomed triumphantly in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and Nagoya. This short and very rare video portrays him in some images taken from that trip.
0 Comments

Sebastiaan de Grebber Mandolin Tutorial 2 - Speed & Accuracy 'How to Practice'.

8/11/2021

0 Comments

 
Sebastiaan de Grebber created a second workshop for the Classical Mandolin Society of America Convention 2020. This workshop covered how to practice speed and accuracy on the mandolin, including strategy and exercises. 
0 Comments

Sebastiaan de Grebber 'Caught Right Handed' Mandolin Workshop

26/3/2021

0 Comments

 
Professional Dutch mandolinist Sebastiaan de Grebber created workshop tutorials for the Classical Mandolin Society of America's online Convention 2020. They are extremely useful for improving tremolo, speed and accuracy and arpeggios. Here is his video tutorial on tremolo:
0 Comments

L'Italia dei 1000 Mandolini - Ep. 2 - Torino

21/5/2020

0 Comments

 
The second episode of Carlo Aonzo's mini-documentary series features the history of the mandolin in the city of Turin. An album of photos and documents used in the making of Episode 2 can be found on Facebook, via this link:
https://www.facebook.com/pg/carloaonzomandolin/photos/tab=album&album_id=2935238659886877&ref=page_internal
0 Comments

L'Italia dei 1000 Mandolini - Ep. 1 - Genova

13/5/2020

0 Comments

 
International artist and mandolin virtuoso Carlo Aonzo has created a new mini-documentary series on the history of the mandolin. The series has been well researched, and the episodes contain anecdotes, music, period photos, interviews and video footage, and while the commentary is in Italian, the series will very much appeal to anyone with an interest in the mandolin. We will feature each episode here on our blog, and also on the LME Facebook page. Enjoy Episode 1!
0 Comments

Mandolinist Anna Lombardi joins LME

9/3/2020

0 Comments

 
We’re delighted to welcome mandolinist Anna Lombardi. Anna comes from a small village in northern Italy, and has been playing the mandolin since she was six years old.
She studied mandolin with Dorina Frati, and played for over 15 years in the ‘Orchestra a plettro Claudio e Mauro Terroni’ under her direction. She’s attended courses and masterclasses and has collaborated with ‘La Verdi’ orchestra in Milan and the ‘Fondazione Orchestra Giovanile L. Cherubini’ in Piacenza, under the direction of Riccardo Muti.
She holds a PhD in experimental physics and a Masters in Science Communication and is currently working as a data journalist at The Times of London.

Picture
0 Comments
<<Previous

    The LME blog

    Players, music and plucked strings.

    Archives

    January 2025
    February 2024
    November 2023
    March 2023
    March 2022
    November 2021
    March 2021
    May 2020
    March 2020
    April 2019
    August 2017
    June 2017
    February 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012

    Categories

    All
    Mandolin Technique
    Video References

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly