| Biography | The London Musical Theatre Orchestra is the world's only professional orchestra dedicated to performing musical theatre repertoire. LMTO produces spectacular concerts of musicals in major London venues with our full orchestra and world class soloists. The orchestra is formed of musicians who love musicals - most of whom are established professionals, but a quarter of whom are always young developing professionals.
Since LMTO's public launch in June 2016, the orchestra has performed at iconic central London venues such as the London Palladium, the Lyceum Theatre and Cadogan Hall to sell-out crowds and rave five-star reviews.
LMTO is a charity, and receive financial support from a number of philanthropic sources.
LMTO was founded by Freddie Tapner in June 2015, almost by accident. A Facebook post, (multimedia field), triggered an instant reaction from the musical community, with over 250 replies from musicians in the space of 24 hours. A few weeks later, on Sunday 13th July 2015 the London Musical Theatre Orchestra met for the first time, in the privacy of St Silas Church, Islington. Together with a group of singers, the orchestra 'played through' a major musical score just for fun, with no audience present. That event would become known as the first "Play-through."
The Play-throughs continued to be a hit. Once a month players and singers from all over the UK gathered in London to rehearse a musical for experience and for the love of it. LMTO took up the position of Orchestra-in-Residence at Bishopsgate Institute in January 2016, where the Play-throughs remain to this day.
In June 2016, one year and twelve Play-throughs after its founding, LMTO launched its first public season: Rodgers and Hammerstein's State Fair at Cadogan Hall and Alan Menken, Lynn Ahrens and Mike Ockrent's A Christmas Carol at the Lyceum Theatre, starring Robert Lindsay. |