The 81st season of Lunchtime Concerts
Hansom Hall, Adult Education Centre, Belvoir Street
2024/25
thursday 3rd october, 2024 1pm:
ivana gavric (piano)
Award-winning British pianist Ivana Gavric was named Newcomer of the Year at the BBC Music Magazine Awards 2011, and has attracted considerable praise for her interpretations of a broad repertoire, the Washington Post describing her playing as “impressive, insightful…ravishing”.
Grieg: Holberg Suite Op.40 [18']
Chaminade: Autrefois and Norwégienne from Pièces humoristiques Op.87 [7']
Dora Pejačević: Erinnerung Op.24 [4']
Ravel: Le Tombeau de Couperin [23']
thursday 17th October 2024, 1pm:
trio bohémo
Winner of the 2021 Parkhouse Award, Trio Bohémo, from the Czech Republic, built on their success by winning the IX International Stasys Vainiūnas Competition for Chamber Ensembles in Lithuania in April 2022. The following year they received first prize for the best interpretation of Joseph Haydn, and the audience prize at the International Joseph Haydn Chamber Music Competition in Vienna.
Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Trio No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 1 [27’]
Peteris Vasks: Lonely Angel [15’]
Benjamin Yusupov: Piano Trio No. 2, From Jewish Traditions [22’]
thursday 31st october 2024, 1pm:
fibonacci string quartet
The Fibonacci Quartet are one of Europe's leading young string quartets. Celebrated for their exciting and insightful performances and programming, the quartet is part of the prestigious YCAT artist roster and most recently won both the 1st Prize and Audience Prize at the Premio Paolo Borciani International String Quartet Competition.
Florence Price: Adoration [3’ 40”]
Mozart: String Quartet No.16 in Eb Major, K428 [28’]
Bartok: String Quartet No.4 [21’]
thursday 14th november 2024, 1pm:
jack hancher (guitar)
Described by Gendai Guitar Magazine as a “poet and a painter, colouring sounds out of the guitar as if his imagination and the guitar were one”, Jack Hancher is a rising star of the classical guitar. In 2022, he won the prestigious Gold Medal of the Royal Overseas League Competition at London's Wigmore Hall, becoming just the third guitarist to win the award. This was preceded in 2021 by a tour of several European Guitar Festivals as a EuroStrings Artist.
John Dowland (1563 – 1626)
Praeludium
Fantasia in G Major
Forlorne Hope Fancy
Malcolm Arnold (1921 – 2006): Fantasy for Guitar
Prelude
Scherzo
Arietta 1
Fughetta
Arietta 2
March
Postlude
Laura Snowden (b.1989): The Memory Garden
Dani Howard (b. 1992: You Don't Have to Tell Me Twice
Benjamin Britten (1913 – 1976): Nocturnal after John Dowland
Musingly
Very Agitated
Restless
Uneasy
March-Like
Dreaming
Gently Rocking
Passacaglia
Slow and Quiet
thursday 28th november 2024, 1pm:
rebecca caine (soprano) & nathan martin (piano)
International opera singer and actress Rebecca Caine created the role of Cosette in Les Miserables for the RSC and was a celebrated Christine Daae in Phantom of the Opera in the West End and her native country, Canada.
Join her and Nathan Martin at the piano for a journey of self-discovery with help from writers including Bernstein, Bucchino, Guettel, La Chiusa, Sondheim, Weill, and Yeston.
Adam Guettel: Migratory V
Michael John LaChiusa: Curiosity
Stephen Sondheim : If You Can Find Me, I’m Here
Dorothy Parker: The Red Dress
John Clare/Steve Marzullo: I Hid My Love
Michael John La Chiusa: Mistress Of The Senator
John Bucchino: Powerful Man
Alan Jay Lerner/ Leonard Bernstein: Take Care Of This House
John Bucchino: Temporary
Adam Guettel: Fable
Stephen Sondheim: The Glamorous Life
Michael Korie/Scott Frankel:
Will You?
Another Winter In A Summer Town
Maury Yeston
December Snow
Where Are You Now?
Please Let’s Not Even Say Hello
By The River
William Shakespeare: Fear No More
Adam Guettel: How Glory Goes
thursday 12th december 2024, 1pm
mathilde milwidsky (violin) and huw watkins (piano)
Named a 2023 Classic FM Rising Star and One to Watch by Gramophone Magazine, British violinist Mathilde Milwidsky has been praised by The Strad’s Charlotte Gardner for her “perfect intonation and beautiful shaping and colouring, comprehensively nailing each new stylistic and emotional universe as she went”.
Huw Watkins is one of Britain’s foremost composers and his music has been performed throughout Europe and North America. As a pianist, Huw Watkins is in great demand with orchestras and festivals, and is a favourite partner for chamber collaborations.
“The performance, needless to say, was a tour de force… it made this second concert in the Musica Viva Series probably the finest violin and piano duo recital heard in the city for a number of years.”
Seen and Heard International, Nov 2022 (Mathilde Milwidsky with Huw Watkins at Levinsky Hall, Plymouth).
Ravel: Sonata in G Major, M. 77 [18’]
Wynton Marsalis: Fiddle Dance Suite [7’]
ii) As the Wind Goes
iii) Jones’ Jig
Huw Watkins: Elegy [10’]
Lili Boulanger: Deux Morceaux: Nocturne and Cortège [7’]
Ravel: Tzigane [10’]
thursday 16th january 2025, 1pm:
nicholas daniel (oboe) & julius drake (piano)
One of Britain’s best-known musicians, Nicholas Daniel OBE won the BBC Young Musician competition in 1980, after which he quickly established his career, travelling all over the world, broadcasting widely, and making many critically acclaimed recordings of both new and familiar music. This programme - with the very distinguished painist, Julius Drake - features a wide selection of chamber music by Robert Schumann, alongside the Three Romances by Clara Schumann. At the time these pieces were written, there was a rapidly growing interest in amateur music making in the home, fuelled by a burgeoning middle class. Brahms, Schumann, and Mendelssohn all contributed significantly to the array of works published for this market, and it was quite normal practise for parts to be substituted for whatever instruments happened to be available. So, although the Three Romances, Op. 94 are the only works originally composed for the oboe, the programme is not only musically rewarding in its own right, but also in keeping with what the Schumanns would have considered normal practise.
thursday 30th january 2025, 1pm:
jess dandy (contralto) & Keval shah (piano)
Eternity in an Hour
‘What is here may be found elsewhere; what is not here is nowhere at all.’
Indian and Western philosophies converse in this recital, in a fusion of cultures, perspectives and soundscapes. Commissioned for The Oxford Lieder Festival, Indian- American composer Reena Esmail’s settings of Sanskrit verses from the Bhagavad Gita draw out the essence of Vedantic thought, and are interspersed with music from the canon of Lied repertoire, highlighting the ways in which Western and Eastern philosophies converge and diverge. Two outstanding artists join forces for this unique reimagining of India’s most celebrated and influential scripture, and its fascinating relationship with European poetry and music.
Benjamin Britten: Proverb VII,Op. 74 No.13 from Songs and Proverbs of William Blake
Reena Esmail: Gayatri Mantra
Johannes Brahms: Verzagen, Op. 72 no.4
John Dowland: In darkness let me dwell
Johannes Brahms: O wüßt ich doch den Weg zurück, Op. 63 no.8
Benjamin Britten: Batter my heart three person'd God; for, you, from The Holy Sonnets of John Donne
Hugo Wolf: Alles endet, was entstehet, from Drei Gedichte von Michaelangelo
Franz Schubert: Auf dem Wasser zu singen D774
Olivier Messiaen: Répétition planétaire, from Harawi (Chant d'amour et de mort)
Elizabeth Poston: Jesus Christ the Apple Tree
thursday 13th FEBRUARY 2025, 1PM:
junction t: Japheth Law (flute); Gen Li (Cello); Daisuke Yoshida (piano)
The 2023 Leamington Music Prize Winners from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. This Trio of young musicians hailing from China, Japan, and Malaysia (explaining its unusual name) will charm and entertain with a programme that will take us on an exciting trip around Europe.
Philippe Gaubert: Trois Aquarelles [16m]
Claude Debussy: Trio in G major, L. 5, movements III and IV, arr. for flute, cello, and piano [10m]
Thea Musgrave: Canta, Canta! arr for alto flute, cello, and piano [4m]
Louise Farrenc: Trio in E minor, Op. 45 [22m]
thursday 27th february 2025, 1PM:
Sacconi quartet
A UK-based classical music string quartet founded in 2001 by four graduates of the Royal College of Music, London, UK.
"A quartet of genuine substance" The Daily Telegraph
Roxanna Panufnik: Heartfelt [12’]
Ravel: String Quartet [29’]
Jessie Montgomery: Strum [8’]
thursday 13th march 2025, 1pm:
fiachra garvey (piano)
1st prizewinner at the 2012 Jaques Samuel Competition, London, Fiachra Garvey ARAM, has performed in venues from the Fazioli Auditorium in Italy to London’s Wigmore Hall.
‘…brings a deep and infectious enthusiasm, combined with insight and technical comfort.’ Sunday Times
City Inspiration
George Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue
Claude Debussy: La Cathédrale Engloutie
Isaac Albeniz: Triana
Felix Mendelssohn: Venetian Gondola Song, Op. 19 No. 6
Modest Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition
thursday 27th march 2025, 1pm:
oliver pashley (clarinet) & george fu (piano)
Oliver Pashley is a clarinettist based between London and St Leonards-on-Sea. He is a founding member of contemporary quartet The Hermes Experiment and holds the position of Sub-Principal Clarinet with Britten Sinfonia. Oliver plays regularly with leading orchestras and ensembles at home and abroad.
‘…..mercurial monarch of the clarinet.’ The Times
George Xiaoyuan Fu is an American pianist and composer. George performs regularly as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician in venues around the world. His debut album Mirrors was the winner of BBC Music Magazine’s 2024 Newcomer Award.
Oliver and George’s programme will include new commissions from Zoë Martlew and Philip Cashian.
