Sir Lennox Berkeley was a seminal figure in twentieth-century English music, as both composer and teacher. Within these pages you’ll be able to find out more about the man and his music, with a Biography, Picture Gallery, lists of Works and Recordings and many useful Links.
You’ll also discover how you can become a member of the Society. We are a small organisation (with charitable status), dedicated to the promotion of Berkeley’s music. We exist to encourage performance, study, recording and broadcast of his work. In recent years his rich repertoire has become more prominent than at any time since his death. As you’ll see on the Recordings page, CDs produced by internationally-acclaimed record labels cover the full range of Berkeley’s output: symphonies, operas and ballets, chamber and instrumental music, songs, choral music and liturgical settings. The one-act comic opera, A Dinner Engagement, is always in production somewhere in the world, and the sacred works are in regular liturgical use in cathedrals, churches and university chapels.
Between 2008 and 2024 the Society produced an annual printed Journal, edited by Berkeley’s biographer, Tony Scotland, and designed by our Webmaster, Thomas Daly, covering articles about Berkeley’s life and work, new recordings and reviews, score editions, books and newly-discovered manuscripts, concerts and other performances, etc. And in 2024 Tom began converting the article archive to HTML format to allow them to be preserved on the internet, available for all in perpetuity, and easily read on, and downloaded from, desktop computers, tablets and mobile phones. You can find the articles here, beautifully laid out with all their original photographs and illustrations, and easily searchable. To locate a specific article, enter your search terms – e.g., ‘Boulanger’ or ‘Nelson’ – in the search box at the top of the page, and this will bring up brief details of the article you’re looking for; to read the full piece, simply click on the one that’s appropriate.
Since 2024 we have been producing a quarterly Newsletter, compiled by Ashleigh Bridges and emailed to all members.
I hope you find this site useful – whether you’re new to Sir Lennox’s music, or a performer or music-lover already familiar with it.
Do let us know your thoughts about the man, the music, the site – we’d really like to hear from you. And don’t forget we're here to promote the Berkeley repertoire, so do get in touch if you need help raising funds for a concert or recording: just fill in our grant application form.
Petroc Trelawny
President, The Lennox Berkeley Society
Please let us know of performances of Berkeley works, and we'll add to the events diary.
Wigmore Hall, 36 Wigmore Street, London, W1U 2BP
A rare performance of an interesting work by Lennox Berkeley: The Variations on an Elizabethan Theme, a collaborative work composed with Arthur Oldham, Michael Tippett, Benjamin Britten, Humphrey Searle and William Walton. Performed by the Orchestra of the London Choral Sinfonia and Michael Waldron. Tickets available from the Wigmore Hall.
The Berkeley Ensemble runs a chamber music course at Chaffcombe in Somerset.
The Theophilus Chamber Orchestra conducted by Hiroshi Takabatake performs Lennox Berkeley's Divertimento at the Hikifune Cultural Center in Sumida City, Tokyo, Japan.
The Berkeley Ensemble runs a chamber music course at Chaffcombe in Somerset.
Clarendon Muse Concert Hall, Watford Boys’ Grammar School, Rickmansworth Road, Watford, WD18 7JF
The Bushey Symphony Orchestra performs Lennox Berkeley’s Divertimento conducted by George Vass.
The Lennox Berkeley Society was founded by Kathleen Walker and Jim Nicol in 1999. The first meeting took place on 9 September 2000, at the home in London of the composer’s widow, Lady [Freda] Berkeley, with Jim Nicol in the Chair. The Society became a charity in 2002.
Chairman
Adam Pounds
Hon. Treasurer & Hon. Membership Secretary
Anthony Sheppard
Secretary
Rupert Robertson
Editor, LBS Journal
Tony Scotland
Editor, LBS Newsletter
Ashleigh Bridges
Julian Berkeley
Sidney Buckland
Paul Cott
Dinah Pounds
Thomas Daly (Webmaster)
To contact us, please complete and submit the form below, and one of our executive officers will respond. Fields marked * are required.