Philharmonia secures Covid testing sponsorship, performs first international concert in 18 months

Sponsorship from Circular1 Health has covered player testing for the Philharmonia, meaning that the orchestra can perform its first international concerts in 18 months at Romania’s Enescu Festival.

It makes the Philharmonia one of the first UK orchestras to perform in Europe since March 2020.

The relationship was brokered by Circular1’s Matthew Parry, a professional trombone player who, prior to the pandemic, was performing regularly in the West End including musicals such as Chicago, Motown the Musical and Hairspray. When theatres closed their doors, Parry had to rethink his career and took on a business development role at Circular1 Health, which also includes managing sponsorship. 

Parry said: ‘Playing a part in bringing the Philharmonia’s full capacity, non distanced concerts back to life has meant a great deal to me both professionally and personally. I’ve had to rethink my entire life since I was unable to continue playing so it’s incredibly gratifying that, in my new role, I have been able to give something back to an industry I love.’

Alongside standard PCR tests for travel, Circular1 Health also uses LampWorX, an ultra-high integrity testing process that offers the utmost certainty of accurate results, with 100% sensitivity and 99.995% specificity, and has allowed mission critical workforces including Sellafield Ltd, BAE Systems, EDF Energy, to continue to operate. It is faster and more economical than PCR.

The concert in Bucharest on 4 September includes Bartok’s Dance Suite, Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No 2 with violin soloist Nemanja Radulovic, and Enescu’s Symphony No 3.