Feature: The Aspidistra Draw­ing Room Orchestra at Lauderdale House

Published: 26 May 2011
by JOSH LOEB

THERE are so many people who listen to our albums and say ‘that’s lovely’, and who play them again and again,” says musician Adam Bakker. “But even more people never get them out of the cellophane wrapper. The thought of listening to them they find slightly disgusting.”

Mr Bakker plays the oboe and English horn with the Aspidistra Draw­ing Room Orchestra – a group founded in the 1990s which takes its inspiration from popular concerts which took place at the Waldorf Hotel in Aldwych in the early 1900s.

Known as “palm court”, these featured a wide repertoire including In a Persian Market by Albert W Ketèlbey and hits from Gilbert and Sullivan – and they were all the rage at the time. 

The popularity of this charming and humorous style of music has since declined, to the point where Mr Bakker says it is now considered “unfashionable”. But at Highgate’s Lauderdale House on Monday, the Aspidistra Drawing Room Orchestra will show just why we should be raving about it.

Actor and musician Elizabeth Menezes, who plays alongside Mr Bakker in the orchestra, says: “I call it Edwardian pop music because it’s the equivalent of just putting something in a jukebox. A lot of people think of this as classical so it gets overlooked by both extremes, but when people actually hear it, they really enjoy it.”

• The Aspidistra Draw­ing Room Orchestra’s spring bank holiday concert takes place at Lauderdale House, Highgate Hill, N6, at 2.30pm on Monday May 30. Tickets £9, concs £7.50, 020 7633 9313. www.aspidistra.org