The Royal Conservatory’s ARC Ensemble recently returned from the United Kingdom, concluding a multi-city tour that combined sold-out performances, educational outreach, and renewed international attention for the ensemble’s mission: to resurrect and reintroduce music suppressed and marginalised under 20th-century repressive regimes.
At the heart of the tour were three concerts presented in a single day at London’s renowned Wigmore Hall, forming a sweeping musical journey through exile, survival, and rediscovery. Structured as morning, afternoon, and evening performances, the trilogy explored different composers and musical responses to displacement, showcasing the depth and scope of ARC’s ongoing Music in Exile project.
The morning concert focused on the music of composer Walter Kaufmann, whose career was shaped by forced migration across Europe and Asia. The program featured Kaufmann’s String Quartet No. 11, Sonatina No. 12 (heard in a transcription for clarinet and piano), and his vibrant single-movement Septet, performed alongside students from London’s Royal Academy of Music — a collaboration that underscored ARC’s commitment to mentorship and artistic exchange.
The afternoon concert turned to composers Alberto Hemsi and Paul Ben-Haim, illuminating musical traditions carried into exile from the Mediterranean and Central Europe. Hemsi’s richly coloured works, including Three Egyptian Dances, Méditation, and Arie Antiche based on Sephardic melodies, were paired with Ben-Haim’s Clarinet Quintet, highlighting how displaced composers forged new musical identities while preserving cultural memory.
The evening concert brought the series to a powerful close with chamber works by Ernest Kanitz, Frederick Block, Jerzy Fitelberg, Robert Müller-Hartmann, and Szymon Laks — composers whose lives were profoundly shaped by Nazi persecution, exile, or survival. The wide-ranging program included Kanitz’s String Quartet in D, Block’s Piano Trio No. 2, Fitelberg’s atmospheric Nachtmusik, Müller-Hartmann’s instrumental works, and Laks’s Piano Quintet on Popular Polish Themes, affirming the creative vitality of a generation nearly erased from the repertoire.
Beyond London, the tour travelled to Manchester, Leeds, and Glasgow, where audiences and critics applauded the ensemble’s programs exploring music shaped by exile and survival. Reviews praised the performances that illuminated rarely heard repertoire with emotional immediacy and historical insight. Writing in Seen and Heard International, one critic described the concert series as a “life-affirming exploration” that proved “thrilling” and deeply moving, while The Jewish Chronicle praised the “outstanding ARC Ensemble.” Classical Music Daily likewise commended the ensemble’s “scholarly insight allied to vivid performance,” noting how the concerts restored forgotten music “to its rightful place.”
In addition to the performances, members of the ensemble shared their insights and artistry with the next generation of performers through master classes at the Royal Northern College of Music and the Royal Scottish Conservatoire.
The tour was made possible through the generous support of the Sir Jack Lyons Charitable Trust and the Canada Council for the Arts, whose backing enabled both performances and educational initiatives across the UK.
A Final bow at London's Wigmore Hall, February 1, 2026 (photo: Paul Northgrave)
Continuing the Journey of Discovery
Momentum from the UK tour will now continue into the ARC Ensemble’s upcoming spring programming in Toronto, centred on their latest musical rediscovery.
On April 12, the ensemble will present a concert devoted to composer Arthur Willner, a Jewish musician who arrived in London from Austria shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War. Newly uncovered works reveal a distinctive and compelling voice shaped by displacement and resilience.
The concert will feature a string quartet, a Double Violin Concerto performed by 2025–26 Rebanks Fellow Astrid Nakamura and former Rebanks Fellow Matthew Hakkarainen, and a Concerto for String Orchestra performed by a combined ensemble of ARC musicians and students from The Glenn Gould School.
In advance of the performance, ARC’s Artistic Director Simon Wynberg will introduce audiences to Willner’s life and music during a public talk at the Koffler Centre of the Arts on April 4 at 6:00 p.m., including premieres of newly discovered violin duets performed by Yoanna Jang and Sophia Geng.
Tickets to the April 12 concert at the RCM’s Mazzoleni Concert Hall start at just $45 and are available here.