About | Community concerts

The story

'the Aspley road concert is by far the highlight of my week' - Jo

Music is a universal language and it is my passion.

My name is Chloé van Soeterstède, I am a French conductor; I guest conduct in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and soon in Canada and the USA. I also founded my chamber orchestra, Arch Sinfonia in London in 2012 whilst finishing my studies at the Royal Academy of Music.

If you wish to read more about me, visit my personal website here or read my biography on the Artists page.

The community concerts @Aspley road started from the very first NHS Thursday clapping, where my instinct said 'take your violin and make some music for everyone so I can express what I feel through music'.

At first, I played one tune on my violin. The response of the neighbours was thrilling. Then, I performed longer tunes with some accompaniment made by friends from their homes. The community loved it and many ideas started to align in my mind so I began to involve the audience with some singing, some moves and all sorts of musical activities.

'The weekly concert is by far the highlight of my week' neighbour, Jo tells me.

As a result, everyone felt closer together and the community started to open up. Maggie and Victor, Jo and Lucas, Dani, Stacey, Valerie and Christophe, Angus, Ed and Oli...to name a few. We were all eventually talking to each other from our front gardens and taking the time to stop and say hello in the street. We even organised a tea and cake afternoon.

But to me, something was still missing. What more could I offer to the community? That's where I surprised my neighbours by inviting some of my players at Arch Sinfonia to come and perform with me. Anna, my principal flautist and Juliette, my principal cellist, Craig (clarinet), Olivia (violin), Anil (cello), Pascha and Craig (piano) and many more. They all came along for three separate community street concerts, giving us the chance to perform live. A joy for us as well as for the community.

Stay tuned for the next dates and the biographies of the artists.

The story

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