Florilegium has announced an exciting new chapter for the ensemble, with changes to its artistic line-up for the season ahead.
Magdalena Loth-Hill has been appointed as the new leader of Florilegium. Magdalena is already well known to Florilegium audiences, most recently appearing with the group as solo violinist alongside Rowan Pierce on Tra le fiamme (Channel Classics).
The ensemble has also welcomed violinist Gabi Jones as a new core member. Gabi will be heard as guest leader on Florilegium’s forthcoming recording featuring Telemann double concertos and the cantata Ino, supported by a Continuo Foundation grant and planned for release around the time of the ensemble’s Wigmore Hall recital on 16 March 2026.
Florilegium’s director Ashley Solomon described the appointments as the start of an inspiring new phase, looking ahead to fresh perspectives and bold programming in the seasons to come.
Beethoven Mixtape is a programme of carefully-selected movements by composers who influenced, were influenced by, or were in close contact with Beethoven. These include names both familiar and lesser known: Ferdinand Ries, Carl Czerny, Anton Reicha, Joseph Haydn, Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn, Anton Eberl, Luigi Cherubini, Antonio Salieri, Louis Spohr, Nikolaus Zmeskall, Emilie Mayer and others.
Developed in collaboration with Sheffield’s Music in the Round, and writer and broadcaster Dr Katy Hamilton, whose expertise has shaped the narrative and repertoire choices, the programme aims to illuminate the lesser-known threads of musical influence and mentorship surrounding Beethoven.
For more information, read on here.
Consone Quartet’s Mendelssohn series continues with Mendelssohn: String Quartets, Vol. 2, bringing together two major quartets by Felix Mendelssohn alongside Fanny Mendelssohn’s only work in the genre.
Released on Outhere / Linn (CKD766), the album is available digitally from 7 November 2025, with the CD release dated 14 November 2025.
- Felix Mendelssohn: String Quartet in F minor, Op. 80
- Fanny Mendelssohn: String Quartet in E flat major
- Felix Mendelssohn: String Quartet No. 2 in E minor, Op. 44 No. 2
Op. 80 is one of Felix Mendelssohn’s most intense chamber works, written in the aftermath of Fanny’s death. In contrast, Op. 44 No. 2 comes from a period of stability and creativity, yet still carries a distinctive restless energy.
Fanny’s E flat major quartet is a particularly special inclusion: it remained unpublished until 1988, and stands as a vivid reminder of the quality and ambition of her compositional voice. Consone Quartet bring it to life with the same clarity and bite that has made their period-instrument approach so compelling.
Listen out for the stark emotional arc across the programme: from Op. 44’s urgency, through the directness and drive of Fanny’s quartet, to the raw intensity of Op. 80. Read more here.