Archived News for May 2012
John Ireland anniversary celebrations
05 May 2012
Very productive rehearsal patch and run-through concert down in Somerset with members of The Berkeley Ensemble, in preparation for next week's John Ireland portrait concert at The Forge. Ireland's music is an intoxicating mix of the English pastoral style and French impressionism and this is a wonderfully varied programme to mark the 50th anniversary of his death: beautiful songs, luscious piano music, a substantial clarinet trio, plus the (non-piano!) sextet for clarinet, horn and string quartet. Petroc Trelawney will be introducing the concert and it's supported by The John Ireland trust.
Royal Academy of Music
09 May 2012
Finished teaching at RAM for the year, as exams kick in so early for the students. It's been great to work with the undergraduate singers this year, alongside various involvements in the opera department!
Music at St Peters
13 May 2012
We completed the third season of Music at St Peter's concerts last night: Schubert's Shepherd on the Rock, Brahms' clarinet trio, songs by Walton and Strauss, the Debussy cello sonata.... A wonderful mixed bag of a programme! Aoife Miskelly (soprano), John Slack (clarinet) and Cara Berridge (cello) were a great team to perform with, so it was a buoyant end to a year of recitals, in addition to come-and-sing events and our first schools' project. Keep checking to see what's next.
Summer plans
14 May 2012
The summer is shaping up to be an action-packed one: a week down at Dartington as one of their resident accompanists; a few days up in Aldeburgh as assistant conductor / chorusmaster on a production of Curlew River (in collaboration with a Japanese Koh Theatre project); a week in Denmark with The North Sea Vocal Academy; a week in Somerset as the pianist for Matt Lowe's new cello course; a few days in Versailles with The King's Consort playing continuo for Messiah performances; a big collaborative project based in Skegness as part of The Berkeley Ensemble, for the SO Festival and Latitude Festival; and a number of song recitals in various summer festivals. Looking forward to it all!
Nonsuch Singers
16 May 2012
Have been invited to be guest conductor for the Nonsuch Singers next term. Looking forward to joining them!
Sacconi Festival
21 May 2012
Brief foray down to the south coast this weekend for a recital as part of the Sacconi Quartet's festival in Folkestone. Now in its fifth year, the festival sees the quartet joined by various guest musicians each year. On Sunday afternoon Cara Berridge (their cellist) and I played music by Fauré and Schumann, and the Debussy sonata, which was followed by Ben Hancox (the quartet's first violinist) and Tom Poster playing the Elgar violin sonata. Wonderful to finally see the festival in action after hearing so much about it: it clearly has a very loyal following, and real 'buzz' to it!
Berkeley Ensemble
24 May 2012
Another Berkeley Ensemble concert this week, following last week's John Ireland programme at The Forge - this time in the lunchtime concert series at Munster Square. Winning combination of the Mozart Quintet for Piano and Winds, and the Poulenc Sextet for Piano and Winds!