Laura Piras - Flute, Anna Brigham - Violin, Carina Drury - Cello, David Wright - Harpsichord

Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens was one of many such public spaces in London in the 17th-19th centuries. The original Vauxhall Band performed at Vauxhall Gardens in an ‘orchestra’ building, elevated above crowds of thousands of listeners, who would experience the music among the trees, illuminated by lanterns and moonlight, accompanied by the heady scent of flowers and shrubs.

A small pocket of creative activity by specialist instrument-makers such as the Stanesby, Potter and Urquhart families, led to a vast output of finely-crafted, unique flutes in London.

The Vauxhall Band perform music for the flute, violin, cello and harpsichord inspired by the stories of the people who made the flutes, performed on them, and by composers associated with Vauxhall Gardens and London, including Thomas Arne, Handel, William Boyce, Lewis Granom, Carl Weiss and James Oswald.