Conductor
Tom Fetherstonhaugh
Tom is Fantasia's Conductor & Artistic Director.
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Fantasia Orchestra with Elizabeth Watts: Birdsong
Sunday
23
November
2025
,
7:00 pm
Smith Square Hall, London, SW1P 3HA
(view map)
Vivaldi Spring from Four Seasons: Allegro
Handel As When the Dove Laments Her Love
Price Little Pastorale
Trad. She’s Like the Swallow
Mozart Dove Sono from The Marriage of Figaro
Blasio Kavuma I am the sea (London premiere)
Messiaen The Lovebird of the Star from Harawi
Strauss Spring from Four Last Songs
Interval
Haydn Symphony no. 83 'The Hen'
Berg The Nightingale from Seven Early Songs
Sherwin A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square
Gershwin Little Jazz Bird
Kosma Autumn Leaves
With arrangements by Harry Baker
Tom Fetherstonhaugh
Conductor
Elizabeth Watts
Soprano
This event is now in the past
*Update
We’re sorry to share that Lucy Crowe is indisposed and unable to join us for Birdsong. We’re wishing her a very swift recovery.
We’re incredibly grateful that Elizabeth Watts, one of the UK’s most acclaimed sopranos, will be stepping in to perform with us.
We can’t wait to share this beautiful evening of music with you.
We open 2025/26 by making our debut at Smith Square Hall. Inspired by the enduring symbolism of birdsong in music, this concert brings together some of the most expressive and imaginative works from across the centuries.
Joined by the phenomenal soprano Elizabeth Watts, we journey across centuries and styles. From Handel and Haydn’s bright elegance to the vivid, kaleidoscopic textures of Messiaen, and from Berg’s exquisite The Nightingale to Gershwin’s jazz-tinged lyricism, come for an inspiring and beautiful range of music.
This concert promises to be a celebration of voice, nature and musical storytelling, and a chance to hear one of the UK’s finest singers in a concert that takes flight in every sense.
Collaborators
find out more
Tom Fetherstonhaugh
Tom’s start in music was fortuitous, as he was lucky to be introduced to an inspiring violin teacher by his grandmother at the age of four.
At eight he became a chorister of Westminster Abbey, an experience he describes as ‘transformative’, benefitting from musical training that featured high profile occasions like singing the solo at the Royal Wedding in 2011. Tom then attended Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School, a state comprehensive that champions music and the arts.
He continued with the violin, sang, played the organ, and started to explore conducting, enjoying the process of rehearsals and the ability both to make music with and to bring together large groups of people. It was in his final year at school that he saw the potential for a career in it, founding Fantasia Orchestra in 2016.
Tom now enjoys a busy career with major orchestras, including with the BBC Philharmonic and the National Symphony Orchestra Ireland. In his rare moments of downtime he enjoys running, listening to jazz, and cooking, likening the process to conducting — it being about balance, flavour, pacing and bringing people together.
Soprano
Elizabeth Watts
Elizabeth Watts is an English operatic soprano.
find out more
Elizabeth Watts
Elizabeth Watts was a chorister at Norwich Cathedral and studied archaeology at Sheffield University before studying singing at the Royal College of Music in London.
She was awarded an Hon DMus from Sheffield in 2013 and became a Fellow of the RCM in 2017. She is a prolific recording artist, and her recordings include critically acclaimed discs of Lieder by Schubert and Strauss, Mozart arias with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and Handel Brockes Passion with the Academy of Ancient Music.
Concert highlights
Venue
Smith Square Hall
Smith Square Hall is a concert hall in the centre of Smith Square, Westminster.
Smith Square Hall, London, SW1P 3HA