Shostakovich: Donglai Shi, Ali Hancorn & Blake Phillpot
About This Concert
From the sweeping energy of Elgar’s Introduction and Allegro to the wit and brilliance of Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 1, this programme showcases the incredible versatility of the string orchestra. Elgar’s masterpiece was originally written to demonstrate the virtuosity of the newly formed London Symphony Orchestra, making it a fitting opener for the City Chamber Orchestra’s inaugural concert. Soloists Donglai Shi and Ali Hancorn join the orchestra for Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 1. A double concerto for piano and trumpet, the work marks a dramatic textural shift, taking the listener through a sardonic, unpredictable landscape. Full of parody and clever musical quotes from Beethoven and Haydn, its extreme virtuosity has maintained its position as an audience favourite ever since its premiere. The journey continues with Grieg’s Holberg Suite. Subtitled "Suite in olden style", it looks back to Baroque dance forms through a warm, nineteenth-century lens, treating traditional Gavottes and Sarabandes to romantic harmonies and a prevailing sense of Nordic colour.
Venue Details
St Giles' Cripplegate Fore St Barbican, London EC2Y 8DA
Programme
Edvard Grieg
Holberg Suite, Op. 40
Duration: 21'
Dmitri Shostakovich
Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 35
Duration: 25'
20-minute Interval
Edward Elgar
Introduction and Allegro for Strings, Op. 47
Duration: 17'
Specific seats are not allocated for this concert. A priority ticket guarentees the ticket holder a seat in the first three rows.
Young Person
Students and Under 18s
£7.50
Standard
Standard Entry
£12.00
Priority
Priority Entry
Sold out
£20.00
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Our Soloists
Donglai Shi - Piano
Donglai Shi is an Artist Diploma pianist at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, studying with Carole Presland and Ronan O’Hora. His competition successes include 3rd Prize at the 2025 London Liszt Society International Piano Competition, 3rd Prize at the 2026 Cambridge International Piano Competition, and Young Musician of the Year at the 2026 Newry Musical Feis. He has also been a national finalist in the Canadian Music Competition in 2014, 2015 and 2022, a finalist in the McGill Concerto Competition, and twice a finalist in the McGill Chamber Music Competition. His recent performances include a solo recital at Bechstein Hall and chamber performances at Guildhall’s Milton Court Concert Hall.
Ali Hancorn - Trumpet
Ali Hancorn is a trumpet player based in London and the South East, and a Royal Academy of Music postgraduate alumnus. He has held principal positions across symphony orchestras, brass and baroque ensembles, big bands, jazz orchestras and pit bands, and has received tuition from leading trumpeters including Mark David, Paul Beniston, Philippe Schwartz, Jason Evans, Paul Mayes and Jeroen Berwaerts. Ali performs regularly across the UK and internationally, with recent engagements at venues including Disneyland Paris, Kensington Palace, Royal Ascot, Glyndebourne Opera House, Cadogan Hall and Shakespeare’s Globe. He is also an experienced military musician, having served as principal cornet in the Band of the Royal Yeomanry, and has performed with the London Fanfare Trumpets at the Royal Albert Hall for the 2022 British Fashion Awards.
Nasia Quartet
Since its formation, the Nasia Quartet has performed across Europe, including at the Virtuoso & Belcanto Festival in Italy and Klassik I Sentrum Festival in Germany. The quartet has performed Mozart’s Dissonance String Quartet with the Marmen Quartet, from whom they receive regular guidance, and has been mentored by leading chamber musicians including Heime Müller, Adrian Brendel, Jan Bjøranger, Bruno Giuranna and Simone Gramaglia of the Quartetto di Cremona, as well as members of the Calathea, Piatti, Sacconi and Brodsky Quartets. The quartet was formed at the Royal College of Music, where they have performed at the RCM Chamber Music Festival, RCM Museum and St Mary Abbots Church, with upcoming engagements including the Lake District Music Festival Spring Series in 2027.
Conductor
Blake Phillpot
Blake Phillpot is a conductor, cellist and baritone, and the founder and Artistic Director of the City Chamber Orchestra. He is currently studying conducting with Peter Stark, Professor of Conducting at the Royal College of Music. Blake leads the City Chamber Orchestra, an ensemble bringing together postgraduate, undergraduate and early-career musicians from London’s conservatoires. The orchestra seeks to bring professional-standard orchestral performance to the City of London while creating opportunities for emerging conservatoire musicians to develop through orchestral and concerto repertoire. He has also worked with postgraduate musicians at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, providing independent concerto performance platforms and repertoire sessions. Alongside his work with the City Chamber Orchestra, he has conducted youth orchestras, amateur ensembles, outreach orchestras and choirs. His conducting has been shaped by work with Peter Stark, Colin Metters and Lionel Friend, and his musical background is rooted in orchestral and choral performance. As a musician, he has performed extensively as a cellist and baritone and was a choral scholar and Head Chorister at the Chapel of St Augustine, performing in the UK, the Netherlands, Italy and France. Blake is also a prize-winning mathematician from Imperial College London, where he graduated with First Class Honours in Mathematics in 2024.