Meet @ the Market: Session 1

As we open Meet @ the Market’s 2026 season, I wanted to begin with a program that feels like an invitation—into story, into sound, and into the shared experience of live music in our home at the Meat Market.

This concert brings together music shaped by myth, magic and the cosmos, but it also reflects something more personal: the relationships and artists that make this orchestra what it is. I’m especially delighted to welcome conductor Alice Farnham in her debut with OV. Alice is a wonderful colleague whose clarity, insight and generosity in music-making make her an ideal guide for a program that moves between such contrasting worlds.

At the centre of the program is another kind of celebration—our own musicians. It’s a real joy to spotlight Mathew Levy, our Principal Percussion, as soloist in John Psathas’s Djinn. There’s something special about hearing a musician you usually see within the orchestra step forward in this way, and Mat brings both virtuosity and imagination to this vivid, rhythmic music.

The program also traces a quieter thread of connection between Imogen Holst and her father Gustav Holst. Imogen’s music is still too rarely heard, and placing it alongside movements from The Planets offers a chance to hear her voice on its own terms—clear, direct, and deeply felt—while also reflecting the musical world they shared.

And, of course, there’s The Planets itself. Even in these more intimate arrangements, the sense of scale and character remains—channelled through both its stillness as well the irrepressible energy of the work. 

My vision for Meet @ the Market has always been about creating a more relaxed, close-up and intimate concert experience—one where the distance between audience and musicians is a little smaller, and the connection a little more immediate. I hope this program offers not just an escape into other worlds, but a chance to feel part of the one we’re creating together, right here.

Jessica Gethin
Artistic Advisor