Concerto for Jon is the memorial concert in memory of Jon’s music and life.
Right now it is shaping up, and details are coming together.
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To Notice Such Things, Jon’s suite in memory of Sir John Mortimer, is set for a one-off performance in Rostock, Germany.
On April 7, the Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock with Anja Setzkorn-Krause (flute), Jens Hoffmann (piano) and Opernchor des Volkstheaters Rostock conducted by Manfred Hermann Lehner will perform an evening of Rossini combined with Jon’s suite.
On December 15 the Wiesbadener Orchesterverein will perform the title track of Jon’s Sarabande album as part of their Pop Meets Klassik concert.
For a couple of years, the orchestra had been planning to perform Jon’s Concerto for Group and Orchestra with him, when his illness last year put a stop to everything.
The orchestra has since decided to go ahead and honour Jon’s memory on an evening of pop meets classics where the title track from Sarabande is included among tracks by many other artists.
The concert takes place at the Kurhaus Wiesbaden, Germany, which was also the desired venue for the original Concerto performance.
Today, Sunday September 16, two months after Jon’s passing, sees him remembered at two different events - in London and in Liverpool.
The Sunflower Jam at London’s Royal Albert Hall will feature a slew of Jon’s peers including his brother-in-law and Deep Purple band mate Ian Paice, Led Zeppelin‘s John Paul Jones, Queen‘s Brian May, Steve Balsamso who toured with Jon in recent years and many more.
The evening’s programme is not entirely devoted to Jon’s memory, but promises to afford him special attention.
Listen to Classic Rock Radio‘s interview with Ian Paice speaking about how the Sunflower Jam came into being, and Jon’s involvement in it.
Before I Forget in Liverpool
Also today, at Liverpool’s Philharmonic Hall, Jon will be remembered by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society with a performance of the title track from his 1982 album Before I Forget arranged for cello and piano.
Jon Lord with Paul Mann
On September 28, the samme day Jon’s new recording of Concerto for Group and Orchestra is released, the Filarmonica de Stat Transilvania will perform a special concert honouring Jon.
Conducted by Paul Mann, the orchestra with which Deep Purple toured Europe in 2000, will conclude the evening’s programme with a performance of Brahms‘ German Requiem.
- Its theme of consolation and solace is an especially appropriate memorial, says Paul Mann who also conducted the new recording of Jon’s Concerto.
Click to see the poster for Sunflower Jam 2012
Exactly two months to the day Jon Lord passed, the Sunflower Jam 2012 will celebrate his memory with a special tribute and donate funds to the fight against pancreatic cancer.
The Sunflower Jam 2012 – at London’s Royal Albert Hall on September 16 – will feature a tribute to Jon. Details of the music featured have yet to be confirmed, but the list of stars performing on the night includes a slew of Jon’s peers; Ian Paice, John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin), Brian May (Queen), Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden), Steve Balsamo, and more.
Jon Lord was a trustee of the charity and performed there seveal times, most recently with Rick Wakeman and Joe Bonamassa in 2011.
By supporting this year’s Sunflower Jam, you will be helping to fight pancreatic cancer, help research new approaches and enable all pancreatic cancer patients and their relatives to get all the information they require.
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Review 2011: Lord & Wakeman world premiere at Sunflower Jam Read the rest of this entry ?
A special performance of the Durham Concerto in Hagen, Germany on July 6 is set to be Jon’s first concert appearance this year.
The concert is rounding off Jon’s stretch as this year’s ‘composer in residence’ with the Hagen Philharmonic Orchestra near Dortmund. To this end, the orchestra has been performing several of his pieces over the past few months, most recently a breath taking performance of From Darkness To Light, which was broadcast by German radio WDR3 on May 15.
About that performance, Jon later wrote to Hagen’s conductor Florian Ludwig:
‘It was a truly wonderful and emotional experience sitting in my house in England and listening to the glorious sounds you were making in Hagen – wanting to be there and yet in a way happy that you could not see me with the tears in my eyes. The piece means a very great deal to me, and you played it as if you had looked into my heart and soul and found what I was thinking and feeling as I wrote it.’
For the concert on July 6, and subject to the continued progress of his recovery from cancer, Jon will play Hammond organ on his Durham Concerto and piano on a further selection of his solo pieces mixed with works by other composers connected to Jon and his music.
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Der Westen review of From Darkness To Light in Hagen (German language)
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