CJ Invite ImageFor the first time in its history, Wigmore Hall will open the new concert season with a photography exhibition – ‘Wigmore Hall: Portraying Our People.’ Between September 2021 and July 2022, documentary photographer Christopher Jonas was given unprecedented and unfettered access to Wigmore Hall to record the unseen side of daily life at the hall – revealing private and precious moments shared by artists and staff away from the glare of the limelight. Jonas works with a single 50mm manual focus lens on a Leica M series camera, always in ambient light. Nearly100 works, shown in the public for the first time, will be displayed throughout Wigmore Hall’s public spaces from 2 September.

John Gilhooly, Director of Wigmore Hall said, ‘The poignant intimacy of Christopher’s work complements what we strive to achieve each day at Wigmore Hall – bringing our audiences ever closer to the greatest music performed by the greatest artists. We are very grateful to our supporters for enabling us to present concerts every single day this autumn – a feat that should not be taken for granted as harsh economic realities lie ahead.’

Throughout September and October 2022, Wigmore Hall presents more than 100 concerts. Highlights include:

Bray’s 13-movement quartet is presented alongside the eponymous installation by the TBW Drawing Prize-winning British artist Caroline Burraway – comprising 13 children’s dresses, handmade from refugee lifejackets gathered by the artist at the Lifejacket Graveyard in Lesvos (Greece), hanging from old iron and brass weighing hooks, above piles of sand. Each dress represents 1 of the 13 million child refugees worldwide, signifying the absent body and evoking memory, absence and loss.

Year-long Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Retrospective (from 9 September):

Soprano Elizabeth Llewellyn and pianist Simon Lepper kick off Wigmore Hall’s five-concert series dedicated to the songs and chamber music of the Black British composer who was once a frequent visitor to and performer at Wigmore Hall. Coleridge-Taylor’s music will be performed in the context of his leading European colleagues including Mahler, Strauss and Vaughan Williams among others.

Vaughan Williams 150th Anniversary Celebration Series (from 13 October):

Wigmore Hall’s Vaughan Williams series begins with a song recital by baritone Roderick Williams and pianist Susie Allan, and a chamber music extravaganza from the Nash Ensemble, culminating in a performance of the composer’s masterwork, ‘Serenade to Music.’

Complete Bach Cello Suites performed by Alisa Weilerstein (16 October).

Complete Prokofiev Piano Sonatas performed by Olli Mustonen (31 October, 1 November).

The 12th edition of the Wigmore Hall International Song Competition features 25 singers from 13 countries. The top three singer’s prizes and the pianist’s prize, totalling £22,500, are donated by William and Judith Bollinger, who become headline sponsors of the 2022 and 2024 Song Competitions.

Hilary Hahn, violin (from 13 September); Iestyn Davies, countertenor (from 21 September); Angela Hewitt (from 22 September); Danish String Quartet (from 23 September); Beatrice Rana (from 11 October).

Concert for Parkinson’s UK with cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason, violinist Tai Murray and violist Amihai Grosz (24 September).

Royal Academy of Music Bicentenary Celebration performed by students past and present including soprano Lucy Crowe, violinists James Ehnes and Jack Liebeck, cellist Josephine Knight and a Royal Academy of Music student ensemble conducted by Adam Hickox (4 October).

50th Anniversary of the Santander International Piano Competition with pianist Barry Douglas and Cuarteto Casals (9 October).

Every Monday lunchtime, Wigmore Hall and BBC Radio 3 present an hour-long concert broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 and streamed on the Wigmore Hall website:

Christoph Prégardien tenor & Michael Gees piano (12 September), Inon Barnatan piano (19 September), Laura van der Heijden cello & Tom Poster piano (26 September), Ewa Pobłocka piano (3 October), The Gesualdo Six (10 October), Christine Rice mezzo-soprano & Julius Drake piano (17 October), Christian Lindberg trombone & Roland Pöntinen piano (24 October), Tim Mead countertenor, Laurence Cummings harpsichord & Jonathan Manson cello (31 October).

Diana Damrau soprano & Xavier de Maistre harp (12 September), Elisabeth Leonskaja piano & Staatskapelle Streichquartett (19 September), Fatma Said soprano & Malcolm Martineau piano (20 September), Igor Levit piano (25 September), Dame Sarah Connolly mezzo-soprano & Joseph Middleton piano (28 September), Maria João Pires piano (29 September), Midori violin, Jonathan Biss piano & Antoine Lederlin cello (2 October), Christian Tetzlaff violin & Kirill Gerstein piano (5 October), Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha soprano & Simon Lepper piano (19 October), Carolyn Sampson soprano & Joseph Middleton piano (25 October), Alina Ibragimova violin & Cédric Tiberghien piano (26 October), Richard Goode piano (29 October), Joshua Bell violin & Peter Dugan piano (30 October).

Heath Quartet (11 September), Belcea Quartet (11 September), Brentano String Quartet (14 September), Vox Luminis (15 September), Le Concert Spirituel (17 September), Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra (18 September), The English Concert (27 September), The Sixteen (1 October), Apartment House (12 October), Nash Ensemble (15 October), Wigmore Soloists (20 October), Castalian Quartet (21 October), Les Arts Florissants (23 October), Quatuor Ebène (25 October), O/Modernt Chamber Orchestra with Hugo Ticciati violin (28 October).

Christopher Jonas uses a single 50mm manual focus lens on a Leica M series camera to undertake documentary commissions, photographing the everyday. He photographs people unposed and always in ambient light. Recent documentary commissions include Westminster Abbey; Westminster School; Centenary of Women in the Metropolitan Police; 45 Commando, Royal Marines; Counter Terrorism Command, Met Police; Natural History Museum’s scientists; Wigmore Hall.

Exhibitions and publications:

2013: Royal Academy Summer Exhibition
2013: Goldsmiths College
2014: Carpe Momentum: Canary Wharf Art
2016: Tate Modern
2017: 'Transient:permanent' in Peltz Gallery, Bloomsbury
2107: 'Fleeting Encounters with Ten Cathedrals' at Bristol Cathedral
2019: Book: 'Ad Te Levavi' - published by Westminster School
2019: Exhibition of counter terrorism photographs - Mayor’s Office, City Hall, London.
2019: Book marking the centenary of Women in the Met, published by the Met
2022: 'Portraying our People', exhibition at Wigmore Hall, Sept 2022 to July 2023 October), Castalian Quartet (21 October), Les Arts Florissants (23 October), Quatuor Ebène (25 October), O/Modernt Chamber Orchestra with Hugo Ticciati violin (28 October).