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None of this played into Sondergard’s or the Bowl’s strengths as Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Ballade in A Minor opened the program.

It’s a vigorous work of mid-20th-century Neo-Classicism, and has fine company on the album in another: Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson’s Sinfonietta No. 1, with a wrenching slow movement and a driving finale.

The ensemble was both larger and more showcased in the evening’s opening work, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s “Ballade,” from 1898, which had its Philharmonic debut on Thursday.

The display at East Bank, Stratford, will pay homage to pioneers like Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Winifred Atwell and early international musicians like Eddy Grant.

Other events include a Music Heritage Trail and the first play about Croydon's black composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, premiering in June.