Sacconi String Quartet with Ben Goldscheider horn
Ben Hancox and Hannah Dawson violins | Robin Ashwell viola | Cara Berridge cello
Robin Holloway First Partita Op 62 No 1
Mozart Horn Quintet in E flat K407
Robin Holloway Horn Quintet Op 135
Rachmaninov String Quartet No 1: Romance
Schubert String Quartet in D minor D810 ‘Death and the Maiden’
The Sacconi Quartet returns for its third concert in Leamington for three years and Ben Goldscheider plays here for the first time. Since being a Concerto finalist in the 2016 BBC Young Musician competition, his national and international rise has been meteoric. Chosen by the Barbican for the ECHO Rising Stars, he has performed at the most prestigious venues on the continent and he made his BBC Proms debut last year with the CBSO.
The Festival draws to a climax with two works by Robin Holloway, the beautiful Romance from Rachmaninov’s only completed string quartet, some delightful Mozart and one of Schubert’s greatest chamber works.
Join us in the Conservatory after the concert for a celebratory glass of wine!
Generously supported by Paul & Jane Watts
£26 | £16
(£1 children / students)
Greenwich Piano Trio
Lana Trotovšek violin | Heather Tuach cello | Simon Callaghan piano
Mozart Piano Trio in G K564
Rachmaninov Trio élégiaque No 2 in D minor Op 9
The award-winning Greenwich Piano Trio plays in the Festival for the first time, as we welcome back the Slovenian violinist Lana Trotovšek who thrilled our audience at a lunchtime concert last year, Heather Tuach, the Canadian cellist in the Fitzwilliam Quartet, and pianist Simon Callaghan who last played here in the 2016 Leamington Music Festival.
Opening with the last of Mozart’s six piano trios, completed in 1788, we follow with Rachmaninov’s monumental Trio written in 1893 and dedicated to Tchaikovsky who died in November that year. Earlier in the year, Rachmaninov’s opera Aleko was premièred at the Bolshoi Theatre and was warmly praised by Tchaikovsky. His death must have been a shock as only nine days before he had conducted the première of his sixth symphony in St Petersburg.
£17.50 | £12.50
(£1 children / students)
Sinfonia of Birmingham | Michael Seal conductor | Amy Dickson saxophone
Tchaikovsky Romeo & Juliet – Fantasy Overture
Glazunov Saxophone Concerto in E flat Op 109
Rachmaninov Symphony No 2 in E minor Op 27
The Sinfonia of Birmingham returns with Associate CBSO conductor Michael Seal, following a sell-out concert in last year’s Festival.
This is a mighty programme, taking full advantage of the opportunity of having a symphony orchestra. Tchaikovsky’s symphonic poem, completed in 1880, sets the scene for an evening of unabashed romanticism culminating in Rachmaninov’s glorious Second Symphony (1907).
In the midst of these two famous and much-loved works sits Glazunov’s beautiful Saxophone Concerto – his last completed work, and an absolute gem for the instrument. British-Australian saxophonist Amy Dickson comes to Leamington for the first time. Twice nominated for a Grammy™ award, Amy has been hailed by BBC Music Magazine as one of the world’s six best classical saxophonists ever.
£26 unreserved front nave | £16 unreserved rear nave
(£1 children / students)
Warwickshire Music Advanced Musicians
Annual Concert
A platform to showcase the cream of Warwickshire Music’s students from across the county, performing works that complement the Festival’s programmes and themes.
£4 students & children | £8 adults
Includes tea, squash and cake served afterwards
Alessandro Fisher tenor and Sholto Kynoch piano
Rachmaninov A Dream, Twilight, Lilacs, I beg for Mercy, I am alone again, Night is sorrowful, The morning of life, and Pied Piper
Jonathan Dove Out of Winter
Donizetti Boléro, Berglied, Barcaruola, and Preghiera
di Capua & Tosti Neapolitan Songs
Alessandro Fisher – who won the Kathleen Ferrier Prize in 2016 and was a BBC New Generation Artist 2018-21 – sings in Leamington for the first time. He is accompanied by Sholto Kynoch, well known as Director of the Oxford Lieder Festival.
A selection from Rachmaninov’s extensive collection of songs, a song cycle by Jonathan Dove, who studied with Robin Holloway at Clare College, Cambridge where Alessandro was a Choral Scholar and whose Italian roots will shine through with recently discovered songs by Donizetti and finally a trip to Naples.
Jonathan Dove’s opera The Enchanted Pig will be given at The Dream Factory in Warwick on 25 June.
£17.50| £12.50
(£1 children / students)
Rachmaninov Preludes Op 32
Tchaikovsky Album for the Young Op 39
Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition
Andrey Gugnin was introduced to the Festival in 2019 by the violinist Tasmin Little and they launched it with a memorable concert. Three days later, Andrey gave a lunchtime concert which ended with a performance of Pictures at an Exhibition, which prompted an immediate standing ovation. He was invited back to repeat this work the following year and the following two, but the pandemic and bureaucracy intervened. He returns this year with important examples of Russian music before repeating the Mussorgsky, which will again lead us to the Great Gate of Kyiv.
Andrey studied at the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory and soon after leaving began to win an impressive number of prizes in Vienna, Sydney, Zagreb and many others. Valery Gergiev invited him to appear with the London Philharmonic and Mariinsky Orchestras and he has performed in many of the world’s most important concert halls.
Concert generously supported by Peter Glanfield
£26 | £16
(£1 children / students)
Roman Kosyakov and Tanya Avchinnikova
four hands one piano
Mozart Sonata for Piano duet in D K381
Schubert Ave Maria D839
Glière Douze Morceaux Op 48
Rachmaninov Six Morceaux Op 11
Siberian pianist Roman Kosyakov was a Leamington Music Prize winner in 2019, and stepped in at the last minute to save the day last year giving a stunning concert to close the Festival with Ukrainian pianist Sasha Grynyuk. This year he teams up with his Belarusian wife, Tanya Avchinnikova, for a delightful afternoon duo concert.
Opening with a piece that Mozart regularly included in his own programmes when touring with his sister, Nannerl, as child prodigies, we follow his charm with some of Schubert’s characteristic warmth. Glière was born in Kyiv, of German and Polish descent, and this is a rare opportunity to hear these delightful pieces written in 1909.
Rachmaninov’s Six Morceaux Op 11 are an absolute must for this Festival programme. Written in 1894, they are among the best compositions of his youthful period following his studies at the Moscow Conservatory.
Generously sponsored by Maestro! Touring
£17.50 | £12.50
(£1 children / students)
Includes tea and cake served afterwards
Coffee Concert
Gemma Rosefield cello and Tim Horton piano
Beethoven Variations on “Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen” Op 66
Rachmaninov Vocalise Op 34 No 14
Rachmaninov Cello Sonata in G minor Op 19
Two of the Festival’s favourite musicians met as members of Ensemble 360 and, with Benjamin Nabarro, formed the Leonore Piano Trio which opens the Festival.
Gemma Rosefield and Tim Horton bring a gorgeous programme for a Coffee Concert on a Saturday morning starting with Beethoven’s witty and virtuosic variations on Papageno’s aria from The Magic Flute, which are followed by Rachmaninov’s haunting and beautiful Vocalise. His Cello Sonata, written in 1901 is surely the most romantic ever written for the instrument, and no Festival focusing on his works could be complete without it.
Concert generously supported by Jennifer Lorch
£17.50 | £12.50
(£1 children / students)
Includes coffee – available from 10.30am
Preludes, Nocturnes and Rhapsody
Bach/Busoni Chorale Prelude “Ich ruf zu Dir, Herr Jesu Christ” BWV639
Chopin Nocturne in E minor Op 72 No 1
Chopin Nocturne in F Op 15 No 1
Gershwin Three Preludes
Valentin Silvestrov Nocturne
Rachmaninov Prelude in G Op 32 No 5
Rachmaninov Prelude in G sharp minor Op 32 No 12
Grieg Notturno Op 54 No 4
Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue
Unwind at the end of the first full day of the Festival with a glass of wine in this relaxed late-night concert.
Since winning First Prize at the Maria Canals Competition in Barcelona, Viv has enjoyed an extremely varied career as soloist and chamber musician, performing with most major British orchestras and many leading chamber groups. Viv last appeared in our Festival back in 2018, and one of his many admirers – Howard Skempton – proposed his return with a programme like this for us to round off a truly Festival day. We are pleased to include music by Valentin Silvestrov, who was born in Kyiv but currently lives in Berlin.
Generously supported by Howard Skempton
£16 unreserved
(includes a glass of wine)
Michael Collins & Friends
Michael Collins clarinet | Benjamin Nabarro and Akiko Ono violins | Rachel Roberts viola | Steffan Morris cello | Michael McHale piano
Stravinsky The Soldier’s Tale: Suite
Robin Holloway Trio for Clarinet, Viola and Piano Op 79
Bartók Contrasts
Prokofiev Overture on Hebrew Themes Op 34
Shostakovich Piano Quintet in G minor Op 57
Michael Collins is joined for the evening concert by three more friends – Benjamin Nabarro and Rachel Roberts who are regular visitors with Ensemble 360, plus the Japanese violinist Akiko Ono – and they bring a programme which is true Festival fare. It includes another work by Robin Holloway, premièred by Emma Johnson in Malvern in 1994. Stravinsky effectively left Russia before World War One and wrote The Soldier’s Tale in Switzerland. Bartók left Hungary in 1940 for America where he composed Contrasts for Benny Goodman. Prokofiev, who was born in Ukraine, spent fifteen years in the USA and France before returning to Russia in 1933. He suffered, like Shostakovich, from the ideological demands of Communism but wrote many great scores. Shostakovich was eventually allowed to travel out of the USSR and his reputation has grown over the last fifty years. His Piano Quintet written in 1940 is a powerful masterpiece.
£26 | £16
(£1 children / students)