Latest News
Forthcoming concerts
08 May 2013
A diverse few days of playing coming up: Weber's Grand Duo Concertante and music by Poulenc and Bliss in London with clarinettist John Slack tomorrow (Munster Square Music Live); an eclectic programme from Handel to Eva Cassidy with countertenor Jeremy Kenyon in Dartmouth on Saturday (Dart Music Festival); and then a reprise of the Konstellation programme Magic of the woods, shimmers of the sea: music by Elgar for violin, voice and piano in Cambridge (Fitzwilliam Promenade Concerts).
Berkeley Ensemble Chamber Course
29 Apr 2013
Back from a triumphant first Berkeley Ensemble Chamber Course in Somerset. A beautiful long weekend was spent coaching a talented and lovely bunch of players on various aspects of chamber music playing.... plus the small matter of giving three concerts in 48 hours just to keep us tutors on our toes. A very successful weekend and plans are already underway for next year!
Sixty cellos
15 Apr 2013
Back from another great week on the annual International Cello Gathering course at Bryanston, with sixty cellists this year, all headed up by the tireless Sue Lowe. As usual the schedule was hectic but rewarding, spent playing for classes given by Louise Hopkins, Pierre Doumenge, Sandy Baillie, Matt Lowe, and Tim Lowe, and coaching the cellists on working with the piano. Wonderful repertoire to be immersed in for a week!
Masters of the Monarchs' Music reviewed
14 Apr 2013
Outstanding review from Organists' Review for Tom Bell's new disc, Masters of the Monarchs' Music, which I produed for Regent Records in the autumn. "This is an imaginative idea for a CD, which has brought together vibrant, colourful music with a vibrant, colourful organ, and some exceptional playing from Tom Bell... The listener has plenty of opportunity to enjoy various Harrison and Harrison high pressure reeds on this CD and the whole instrument is recorded with clarity by the Regent engineers... This is a marvellous recording, full of light, from a charismatic and virtuosic musician."
Passiontide at Merton review
13 Apr 2013
Lovely extensive article by Roderic Dunnett in this week's Church Times about last month's Passiontide at Merton festival, including glowing coverage of the recital with Jeremy Kenyon and Thomas Elwin. Dunnett praises the "four exquisitely accompanied Britten folksongs" and continues "The plum was Kenyon's singing, with his (here) light-touch accompanist Libby Burgess, of Tippett's three Songs for Ariel... Dark, delicate, impish, buoyant, trumpetingly triumphant, these songs typify the best of Tippett, and capture to perfection the best of Shakespeare." The full article is available here.
CD launch concert
04 Apr 2013
First concert back after an Easter break is the launch concert tomorrow with James Turnbull for The English Oboe: Rediscovered, recently launched on Champs Hill Records, featured on BBC Radio 3's In Tune, and reviewed warmly by the Observer. Tickets are still available here.
Primary school project
25 Mar 2013
Great to be involved in kick-starting this week's education project run by the Berkeley Ensemble in a Camden primary school, performing and reworking Stravinsky's A Soldier's Tale.
Passiontide at Merton
22 Mar 2013
Looking forward to tomorrow's trip back to Oxford, to give the first concert of this year's Passiontide at Merton festival, the brochure for which can be seen here. The programme is based around Britten's captivating canticle Abraham and Isaac, which we'll present alongside songs by Tippett, Britten and Purcell.
Berkeley Ensemble
16 Mar 2013
Lots of chamber music with the Berkeley Ensemble this month - a rehearsal patch in Somerset, a clarinet trio concert in Bradford last night (Beethoven, Ireland, Bruch, Brahms), a performance of the Bridge Phantasy Quartet and Michael Berkeley's Fierce Tears in Luton coming up on Monday, more clarinet trios in Didcot next weekend, and then Beethoven Archduke and Mendelssohn D minor piano trios the following week in Surrey.
Observer review
11 Mar 2013
A very warm Observer review for The English Oboe: Rediscovered yesterday - "there is no disputing the technical facility of James Turnbull or the warm, sensitive pianism of Libby Burgess". See here for the full review.