Fleet Street Quarter: Dr Johnson's Salon Series
Wednesday 29th April, 5.15pm
Dr Johnson's House
17 Gough Square, London EC4A 3DE
Enjoy an intimate salon concert at Dr Johnson's House, themed around music inspired by water and landscapes.
Performed by Orchestra for the Earth, the evening includes the opportunity to walk about Dr Johnson's House, and a complimentary drink, alongside an hour of evocative classical music celebrating rivers, nature, and the outdoors. From the glittering currents of The Blue Danube to the flowing sweep of Smetana’s Moldau and the bright, ceremonial sparkle of Handel’s Water Music, this programme brings together some of classical music’s most vivid responses to water and the natural world. At its heart is Dvořák’s much-loved American Quartet—a work infused with folk character, wide horizons and a deep sense of landscape.
By turns lyrical, expansive and full of movement, this is an hour of music shaped by rivers, dancing water and the open air.
Chamber Music at 22 Mansfield Street
Thursday 21 May · 7 for 7.30pm
22 Mansfield St, London W1G 9NR
Experience an intimate piano quartet concert at 22 Mansfield Street, as four soloists from Orchestra for the Earth appear in the setting of this celebrated London salon series.
Performed by four soloists from the orchestra, this programme brings together British and Czech chamber music of warmth, lyricism and depth, including works by Bridge, Dvořák, Elgar, Rebecca Clarke and Howells. The concert reflects OE’s ethos of making music at the highest level in close, human-scale settings, and is part of the lead-up to a tour (by land) to the Czech Republic. Read more about our sustainable touring here.
Drinks and canapés after.
Family Sunday Workshops at the Royal Ballet and Opera
Sunday 10 & Sunday 31 May 2026 · Morning & afternoon sessions
Paul Hamlyn Hall, Royal Ballet and Opera
Join Orchestra for the Earth for a joyful, interactive family workshop that brings the natural world to life through music. As families arrive, the musicians play welcoming music inspired by birdsong, flowers and landscapes, before inviting children and grown-ups alike to take part in a short, playful workshop.
Together we’ll create our own “musical garden” — discovering how composers use sound to evoke animals, plants, sunshine and rain, and how an orchestra can tell stories inspired by nature. With singing, movement and gentle audience participation, this relaxed session is designed especially for young listeners and their families.
Led by professional musicians, A Musical Garden offers a warm, inclusive introduction to orchestral music, encouraging curiosity, imagination and shared listening.
Chamber Music at 22 Mansfield Street
Thursday 21 May · 7 for 7.30pm
22 Mansfield St, London W1G 9NR
Experience an intimate piano quartet concert at 22 Mansfield Street, as four soloists from Orchestra for the Earth appear in the setting of this celebrated London salon series.
Performed by four soloists from the orchestra, this programme brings together British and Czech chamber music of warmth, lyricism and depth, including works by Bridge, Dvořák, Elgar, Rebecca Clarke and Howells. The concert reflects OE’s ethos of making music at the highest level in close, human-scale settings, and is part of the lead-up to a tour (by land) to the Czech Republic. Read more about our sustainable touring here.
Drinks and canapés after.
Chamber Music at New House
Saturday 23 May · 6.30pm
New House, Hanney Road, Southmoor
Join soloists from Orchestra for the Earth for an intimate piano quartet concert in the beautiful surroundings of New House, generously hosted by Robert and Caroline Jackson.
Performed by four soloists from the orchestra, this programme brings together British and Czech chamber music of warmth, lyricism and depth, including works by Bridge, Dvořák, Elgar, Rebecca Clarke and Howells. The concert reflects OE’s ethos of making music at the highest level in close, human-scale settings, and is part of the lead-up to a tour (by land) to the Czech Republic. Read more about our sustainable touring here.
Further details and booking information to follow.
Alpine Tour Launch Concert
Saturday 20 June 2026 · 7.30pm
St John's Waterloo, SE1 8TY
OE launches its Alpine Tour 2026 in London with an intimate chamber concert exploring how Mahler listened to the Alpine landscape — and turned what he heard into music.
Performed by a 14-player chamber orchestra with baritone Rory Green, the programme weaves together Mahler's songs and symphonic movements into a single continuous journey: from the freshness and folk spirit of the early works to the profound stillness of the late music, including "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen" and "Der Abschied" from Das Lied von der Erde. Shaped and introduced by conductor John Warner, the evening offers Mahler's music up-close, in a setting that invites listening, reflection and connection.
This concert marks the start of OE's annual Alpine Tour: the same programme then travels by train through Austria, with performances in the mountain communities where Mahler himself composed, alongside workshops for local children making music from the sounds of their own landscape.
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Tickets for trees
For every ticket sold to an OE concert, we plant a tree with the Eden: People + Planet. This is not about offsetting our emissions or environmental footprint. It's simply about adding to the good our performances achieve.
Eden+ collaborates directly with local communities to recreate healthy forest systems in countries where deforestation has caused extensive damage to natural ecosystems and exacerbated extreme poverty among forest-dependent human communities. These new forest systems purify water sources, control flooding and erosion, replenish soil with nutrients needed for farming, and restore wildlife habitats.
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Past Highlights
Harrogate Music Festival
OE opened the Harrogate Festival's 'Gigs at Gaia' series, performing under Luke Jerram's stunning GAIA artwork. To a full house, they played a nature-inspired programme of Debussy, Tchaikovsky, Grieg and more: a musical journey through earth, sea and sky to stir the senses and reconnect with the natural world through sound.
Regent's Park
Music Festival
Every summer OE performs open-air in the stunning setting of the Regent's Park Music Festival, working with the Royal Parks on a series of concerts highlighting the importance of urban green spaces for wildlife, as well as the health and wellbeing of city-dwellers. The Patron of the Festival is Sir Karl Jenkins.
Earth Hour
OE gives an annual candlelit charity concert with WWF to mark Earth Hour, a global 'lights-out' event for climate awareness. The concert combines music inspired by nature with spoken word delivered by a leader from the environmental movement, making for a uniquely powerful, accessible and memorable way to experience Earth Hour.
Royal Opera House
Working with the Opera Story, OE presented 'Dewi in the Deep' at the Royal Opera House in 2024. This magical children's opera follows young Dewi and her pet tortoise Tortellini on an adventure about nature and climate change with a brilliant score by Joaquim Badia and Lucie Treacher. Check out the audiobook version!
Keele Arts Festival
The orchestra has performed a number of times at the Keele Arts Festival, one of the highlight's being a performance under Luke Jerram's mesmerising 'Gaia' artwork. The concert included a panel with leading scientists, covering music, climate, the universe and the future of the planet we all call home.
Trees of Music
For a unique collaboration between OE and the London Mozart Players, the two orchestras recorded a new piece by Misha Mullov-Abbado to raise funds for Trees of Music. This reforestation project has a special musical focus: developing sustainable forestry for the Pernambuco tree, favoured for centuries for making bows for string instruments.
COP 26
When the UK hosted the COP26 international climate summit in 2021, OE was invited to give a special concert to mark the start of summit. As a pioneer of low-carbon touring, especially by train, OFE was perfectly placed to advocate for this, performing for the politicians, diplomats and other delegates who had chosen to travel to the UK by land.
CHANGE Festival
In 2021, OE featured at Warwick’s CHANGE Festival, which uses the arts to inspire action on climate and the environment. The event was aimed at young children, interweaving music with a specially commissioned film narrated by Indonesian artist and author Innosanto Nagara, based on his children’s book ‘Oh, the things we’re for!’
"Singer for the Earth"
In 2021, OE was the subject of a documentary by Dutch directer Frank Scheffer. Filmed during their Alpine Tour, the film explores how Mahler's music, not least in the great song-symphony The Song of the Earth, is taking on an urgent new meaning in the context of the current climate and environmental crises.
A Theme for
Terra Carta
OE was honoured to be invited by HRH The Prince of Wales to record a theme for his Terra Carta, the charter at the heart of his Sustainable Markets Initiative. The theme, composed by Sarah Class, was played to His Royal Highness at the COP26 UN Climate Summit in Glasgow, November 2021.
Milton Keynes International Festival
In 2021, OE was hosted at the Milton Keynes International Festival for their first live performances since the COVID-19 pandemic, performing on a spectacular open-air stage. The concert was to raise funds and awareness for the campaign Trees of Music.
Waterloo Festival
For their first concert with live audience since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, OE was hosted by the Waterloo Festival for an evening exploring Bach and his relationship with the natural world. Award-winning author Horatio Clare read extracts from his book on Bach, illustrated by musical performances by a group of OFE musicians playing on period instruments.
Earth Overshoot Day
OE partnered with renewable energy firm Good Energy to make a film to mark Earth Overshoot Day, the date when humanity’s demand for ecological resources in a given year exceeds what Earth can regenerate in that year. Filmed on-site at Delabole Wind Farm, the film attracted wide media attention, including Sky News and Classic FM.
COVID: Virtual Concerts
While in lockdown, OE created several ground-breaking online performances, including concerts for Earth Hour, the Concertgebouw's Mahler Festival and performances of Mahler's monumental Second and Eighth symphonies. These videos raised funds for environmental charities and attracting tens of thousands of views around the world.
Eden Project Arts Weekend
In 2019, the Eden Project invited OE to curate and perform a weekend of music and activities for young families in the magical setting of their Mediterranean Biome. The weekend included a specially composed piece for narrator and orchestra, and DIY musical instrument-making workshops for the children.
International Student Energy Summit
OE was invited to headline the opening ceremony for the 2019 International Student Energy Summit at the Royal Geographical Society. The summit brought together hundreds of students from around the world, working with leading experts from the Grantham Institute on the future of renewable energy.
UK Houses of Parliament
One of OE's first concerts was at the UK Houses of Parliament, hosted by the APPG Polar Regions in front of an audience of MPs, Lords, senior scientists, diplomats and business leaders. Music was interwoven with readings from the final diary of Robert Falcon Scott and a talk by Prof. Martin Siegert about climate change on the Antarctic continent.
