Schubert String Trio in B flat D581
Klein String Trio
Feld Nocturne
Mozart Flute Quartet in A K298
Four young musicians who met, following their studies, in the Southbank Sinfonia bookend charming works by Schubert and Mozart with two Czech works. Gideon Klein, who was born in 1919, was possibly the most talented of all the Terezin composers to perish in Auschwitz and this Trio, which has been played several times in Leamington, is a wonderful example of his genius. Jindřich Feld (1925-2007) taught composition at the Prague Conservatory and had posts abroad in Australia, various European countries, Japan and USA and was very active after the Velvet Revolution. The musicians come from Scotland, Czech Republic, Latvia and Albania – a truly European line-up which we must continue to encourage.
Tickets: £16 reserved, £13 unreserved sides.
Concert supported by the Low-Beer Trust
Lubomír Havlák and Libor Kaňka violins
Zbyněk Paďourek viola, Jitka Vlašánková cello
Mozart Divertimento in D K136
Glazunov Quintet in A Op 39
Schubert Quintet in C D956
The Martinů String Quartet returns to Leamington following an outstanding concert at the end of November and joins up again with Gemma Rosefield to repeat their striking interpretation of Schubert’s ever popular Quintet and to introduce the audience to the Quintet by Glazunov, written in 1892, during the golden age of romantic Russian music. The concert begins with Mozart’s evergreen, Divertimento in D, written in 1772 when the great composer was just 16 years old and already held the post of Court Concertmaster to Hieronymus Coloredo, Prince Archbishop of Salzburg.
Tickets: £24 and £19 reserved, £14 unreserved sides.
Concert generously supported by Paul & Jane Watts
Bach Fantasia in G major, BWV 572
Brahms Herzlich tut mich verlangen Op 122 No 10
Brahms O Welt, ich muss dich lassen Op 122 No 11
Mendelssohn Organ Sonata in A Op 65 No 3
Schubert Fugue in E minor for four hands D952 (with David Williams)
Duruflé Prelude from Suite Op 5
Howard Skempton Nature’s Fire
Mushel Toccata from Uzbekistan Suite
Schubert arr. Piatigorsky Introduction, Theme and Variations in B flat D968a
Prokofiev Ballade Op 15
Delius Cello Sonata
Schubert Sonata in A minor ‘Arpeggione’ D821
Regular visitors since the 1990s, Raphael Wallfisch and John York were celebrating 35 years as a duo on their last visit to the Festival in 2017 and Raphael returned in the Autumn to play the Bach cello suites in a fund-raising concert in Warwick. This concert begins with an arrangement of Schubert’s music by the great American cellist, Igor Piatigorsky, with whom Raphael studied, and adds some exhilarating Prokofiev to the Delius Sonata and Schubert’s ‘Arpeggione’.
Tickets: £16 reserved, £13 unreserved sides.
Concert generously supported by Peter Glanfield
Lucy Russell and Marcus Barcham Stevens violins
Alan George viola, Sally Pendlebury cello
Schubert Sehnsucht D636
Schubert Quartettsatz (ii: Andante) D703
Schubert Gute Nacht from ‘Winterreise’
Roderick Williams Fremd bin ich (première)
Delius Late Swallows
Schubert Quartet in G D887
The Fitzwilliam Quartet returns to Leamington with a concert that reflects three strands of the Festival programme. It involves Roderick Williams, described as a national treasure by BBC Music Magazine, as performer and composer, with the première of a work he has written specially for the Quartet and which is a further extension of his Schubert crusade that has seen him perform all three song cycles for Leamington Music. The Quartet in turn champions Schubert’s quartets, in particular the greatest and last of them all in G major. Delius is also part of their mission and leads us to the BBC documentary to be shown on Sunday 5 May in the afternoon.
Tickets: £24 and £19 reserved, £14 unreserved sides.
Benjamin Nabarro violin
Gemma Rosefield cello
Tim Horton piano
Arensky Trio No 1 in D minor Op 32
Schubert Trio No 1 in B flat D898
The members of the Leonore Piano Trio met in Ensemble 360, which has been performing regularly for Leamington Music since it was founded in 2006. The Trio emerged in 2012 and since then has appeared regularly in Leamington Music Festivals and made a series of acclaimed recordings, mostly of composers deserving more exposure such as Arensky, Lalo, David Matthews, Pixis, Rimsky-Korsakov and Taneyev. The Leonore’s rendition of the trio by Lalo in the 2017 Festival went down very well, and this year’s offering of the first of Schubert’s sublime trios is preceded by Arensky’s wonderfully Romantic first trio from 1894.
Tickets: £16 reserved, £13 unreserved sides.
Concert generously supported by Jennifer Lorch
Brahms Sonatensatz WoO2
Delius Violin Sonata No 2
Prokofiev Violin Sonata No 2 in D Op 94a
Schubert Moment Musicale No 4 in C sharp minor D780
Strauss Violin Sonata in E flat Op 18
Szymanowski Notturno e Tarantella Op 28
There can be no finer beginning to the thirtieth Festival than a concert from Tasmin Little, and we look forward to welcoming Andrey Gugnin to Leamington for the first time. Tasmin has for years delighted audiences in the area, playing at Charlecote Park, in Leamington, Leamington Hastings, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwick Arts Centre and Warwick town. A pupil of Yehudi Menuhin, she has championed Delius and, more recently, Szymanowski and includes both of them in the wide-ranging programme that opens the Festival. Awarded the OBE in 2012 and with appearances all over the world, she can, ”justly be regarded as Britain’s finest violinist.” (The Independent). She has performed with Andrey Gugnin in Australia and throughout the UK, and we have a solo recital from Andrey to look forward to as our Monday lunchtime concert.
Tickets: £24 and £19 reserved, £14 unreserved sides.
Brian Newbould, the Schubert scholar who has “completed” the ‘Unfinished’ Symphonies Nos 7, 8 and 10, will talk about the String Quartet in G D887 to be played in the evening concert and, joined by the Fitzwilliam Quartet, will also talk about the Quartettsatz D703 and the fragmentary Andante that follows it, which will be played in his completion.