Welcome to FN’s weekly diary column featuring all the best titbits from around the City of London...

Tuneful transaction
Alliances between the music industry and private equity aren’t always harmonious — take Guy Hands’ ill-fated takeover of EMI. But Capital is happy to reveal a flourishing collaboration between Mark Redman, the outgoing global private equity head of Canadian pension fund Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (Omers), and classical music composer Keith Burstein. The pair met through renowned conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy, who is also the president of the London Chamber Orchestra (LCO). Redman is one of the orchestra’s donors. ‘I commission work from Keith and l pay him — that’s the normal way,” says Redman. “Keith asked me if I wouldn’t mind listening to his music and I was blown away by it,” he adds. “We got on very well and it struck me [as] a great opportunity to commission some music from him. I’ve commissioned a couple of violin pieces from Keith as well as Memories of Bonn, Symphonic Poem No 1.” The latter work, composed to mark the 250th anniversary of Ludwig van Beethoven’s birth, will be performed by the LCO at the Cadogan Hall in Chelsea on 25 March.