Founded in 1949 by violinist Harry Blech, the London Mozart Players played at the opening week of London’s Royal Festival Hall and has performed on London’s South Bank every year since then. Rightly recognised for its performances of Mozart and other core classical repertoire, the orchestra has also commissioned – and continues to perform – many new works by British composers. The LMP tours extensively and under music director Matthias Bamert made an acclaimed debut at the Vienna Musikverein in 1996. It has recorded a highly acclaimed CD series, Contemporaries of Mozart, on Chandos Records and can be heard in excellent form on Opera Rara’s Offenbach pastiche Christopher Columbus.