Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective, hailed for its “exhilarating performances” (The Times), was dreamed up in 2017 by Tom Poster and Elena Urioste, who met through the BBC New Generation Artists Scheme. Kaleidoscope’s flexible roster features many of today’s most inspirational musicians, both instrumentalists and singers, and the Collective is particularly renowned for its creative programming, marked by an ardent commitment to celebrating diversity of all forms and a desire to unearth lesser-known gems of the repertoire.
Across Kaleidoscope’s programmes, celebrated chamber works by Mozart, Dvořák and Brahms sit alongside unjustly neglected music by Coleridge-Taylor, Korngold, Pejačević and Price, while recent and forthcoming world premieres include works by Gary Carpenter, Cheryl Frances-Hoad, Alex Ho, Robin Holloway, Nicola LeFanu, Sir James MacMillan, Abel Selaocoe and Roderick Williams. Tom Poster’s own arrangements for the group have included English folksongs with Allan Clayton, Chinese folksongs with Fleur Barron, and Great American Songbook favourites for all manner of instrumental and vocal combinations.
In 2020, Kaleidoscope was appointed Associate Ensemble at Wigmore Hall, where the group makes multiple appearances each season, and was invited to give the Hall’s 120th birthday concert in May 2021. The Collective also has a close association with Oxford University’s new Schwarzman Centre, for which it has devised a series of innovative projects in collaboration with both students and leading academics across a range of fields. Kaleidoscope broadcasts regularly on BBC Radio 3 and has recently enjoyed major residencies at Aldeburgh, Cheltenham, Chipping Campden, Lammermuir and Ischia festivals, as well as a debut at the BBC Proms. Two extensive tours of the USA have included performances at The Phillips Collection, Yale University’s Schwarzman Center, New York’s Merkin Hall, and Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. European engagements have included performances in Spain, Italy, and Dortmund’s Konzerthaus (in collaboration with Hilary Hahn), and the Collective looks forward to debuts at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and Muziekgebouw.
Kaleidoscope’s debut recording for Chandos Records, American Quintets, received glowing reviews and a BBC Music Magazine Award nomination, and immediately led to an invitation to record a series of albums for the label. A subsequent album of Coleridge-Taylor chamber works was shortlisted for a Gramophone Award, and a Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn disc was included in The Times '10 best classical records of 2022'. Recent releases include Transfigured (featuring music of Schoenberg, Alma Mahler, Webern and Zemlinsky), an album of Reynaldo Hahn’s chamber music and songs, and a three-disc series of the piano quartets of Brahms and his female contemporaries.
Passionate about inspiring the next generation of musicians, Kaleidoscope has featured in Wigmore Hall’s Learning Festival, directed courses for the Benedetti Foundation, and held a visiting professorship at the Royal Academy of Music. For Schott Music, Kaleidoscope is making a series of editions of works which have hitherto lacked top quality performing materials, beginning with Coleridge-Taylor’s Nonet, released in autumn 2025. In 2024, Kaleidoscope was shortlisted for the Royal Philharmonic Society Ensemble Award.