Season 2014 - 15
Monday October 6th 2014: The Castalian String Quartet
· Sini Simonen(violin), Daniel Llewellyn Roberts(violin), Charlotte Bonneton (viola), and Christopher Graves(cello)
· Mozart: Quartet in B flat K589
· Ravel: Quartet in F
· Schubert: Quartet in D minor D810
The season opened with yet another thrilling young string quartet.Winner of the 2011 Royal Overseas League Award for the best Chamber Music Ensemble, the Castalian Quartet is rapidly gaining a reputation at Festivals and Concert Halls in the UK and abroad for its phenomenal impact on audiences.The Castalian has performed at the Wigmore Hall, the Purcell Room and King’s Place in London, and were chosen to represent the UK on a British Council Tour of China.As well as performing as the quartet in France, Sweden and Italy, the four musicians all have busy solo careers.The quartet’s website is atwww.castalianquartet.com. The programme will include Schubert’s wonderful “Death and the Maiden” quartet..
Monday November 10th 2014: The Atalanta Piano Quartet
· Cecilia Bernardini(violin),Tom Hankey(viola),Nathaniel Boyd(cello) andSimon Lane(piano)
· Beethoven:Piano Quartet in E flat op. 16
· Schumann:Piano Quartet in E flat op. 47
· Martin Butler:”Sequenza Notturna”
· Fauré:Piano Quartet no. 1 in C minor
This splendid Piano Quartet, formed by pianist Simon Lane, is made up of four highlysuccessful musicians, with a strong and shared passion for chamber music. CellistNathaniel Boyd and pianist Simon Lane have played for us before in different groups,Simon in a duo with cellist, Philip Higham, and Nathaniel as a former member of theNavarra Quartet. Their concert for us will be part of the North East Sound Festival whichtakes place each year in November. Their programme will include a short work bycontemporarycomposerMartin Butler, but also Beethoven’s early piano quartet op. 16 (hisown transcription of the quintet for piano and wind) and two more well-loved piano quartets,that by Schumann, and Faure’s C minor piano quartet.The Atalanta’s website is at:www.simon lane.eu/pianoquartet
Monday 1st December 2014: High Heels and Horse Hair
· AliceRickards (violin) &Sonia Cromarty(cello)
· Matteis:Ground after the Scotch Humour
· Oswald:Selection from Airs for the Seasons
· Morley:Canzonettas
· Fennessy:The Changeless and the Changed
· Edwards: Ecstatic Danes
· Stout: The Juniper Run
· Bartok: Selection from 44 duos for 2 violins
· Kodaly: Duo for violin and cello op. 7
This violin and cello duo have been selected as the Residency Project Ensemble byEnterprise Music Scotland, and we are delighted that our December Concert will be part oftheir tour ofScottishMusic Societies. Cellist Sonia Cromarty is from Aberdeen, whileviolinist Alice Rickards hails from Australia. You can read all about them at:www.highheelsandhorsehair.com.As is usual for our December concert, the programme will include some lighter music forChristmas. We are grateful to EMS for supporting this concert.
Monday 12th January 2015: The Pavri Duo
· Naomi and Fali Pavri
· Brahms:Sonata in E minor op. 38
· Beamish:”Bridging the Day”
· Mayer:Prabhanda Suite
· Rachmaninov:Sonata in G minor op. 19
Husband and wife duo, Fali and Naomi Pavri, will start our 2015 concerts with a programmeincluding two of the loveliest works for these instruments, Brahms E minor sonata andRachmaninov’s op. 19. Drawing on Fali’s lndian background, they will also play a piece basedon lndian Ragas, which will certainly be a first for us, and a work by Sally Beamish should alsobe a draw. Naomi will be known to many as a cellist with the Scottish Ensemble, while Fali isProfessor of Piano at the Royal Scottish Conservatoire. They love the chance in their busy livesof playing together as a duo, and we are delighted to give them that opportunity. You can read about them on Fali’s website at www.falipavri.com/Site/Welcome.html
Monday 16th February 2015: The Rubens String Quartet of The Netherlands
· Sarah Kapustin(violin),Tali Goldberg(violin),Roland Jagers(viola) andJoachim Eijlander(cello)
· Beethoven:Quartet in D op. 18 no. 3
· Roukens:”Visions at Sea”
· Brahms:Quartet in A minor op. 51 no.2
The members of the Rubens Quartet come from Holland, lsrael and the USA, and, as their name suggests, they are based in the Netherlands. Since it was founded in 2000, the quartethas become one of the finest of their generation. Their mission is to combine the old with thenew, and their programme will include an exciting work, ‘Visions at Sea”, by young Dutchcomposer Joey Roukens, who has worked with the Rubens Quartet as their “composer-inresidence”for the past two years. The “old’ in the programme will be Beethoven’s quartet op.18 no. 3, and the great A minor quartet by Brahms, op. 51 no.2. The Quartet’s website is at:
http://www.rubenskwartet.nl/rubens-quartet/en-GB/home.aspx
Monday 16th March 2015: Arctic Winds
· Yvonne Paterson(flute),Catherine Earnshaw(oboe),Rebecca Whitener(clarinet) Anthea Wood(bassoon) andJamie Shield(horn)
· Ibert:Three Pieces
· Fauré:Dolly Suite
· Reicha:Quintet in A flat
· Poulenc: Novelette
· Holst: Quintet in A flat
· Parker: Mississippi Five
Our last concert was given by the wind quintet, Arctic Winds. The members of this Scottish group are all busy orchestral players, and teachers, but enjoy working together to bring the wind quintet repertoire to audiences around the UK. Their varied programme will include works by Poulenc, Reicha and Holst. lt will be five years since we have had a concertfrom a purely wind ensemble, and it is always refreshing to hear the quality of sound that a windquintet brings. This group has a reputation for its very good rapport with the audience andgave us a final treat of the 2014/15 season!Arctic Winds’ website is at: www.arcticwinds.co.uk/home.html