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Rachel Mahon (organ)

Rachel Mahon organ

Director of Music, Coventry Cathedral

Rachel Laurin   Toccata from Symphony No 1
Parry   Chorale Prelude on “Martyrdom”
JS Bach   Prelude & Fugue in C minor BWV546
Whitlock   Scherzo & Paean from Five Short Pieces
Vaughan Williams   Prelude on ‘Greensleeves’
Bales   Petite Suite
Widor   Adagio & Toccata from Symphony No 5

A whirlwind programme for our annual Bank Holiday organ recital of music spanning five centuries, which features Preludes, Fugues, and Toccatas from the very greatest composers for the instrument.

Generously supported by the Friends of All Saints Music

Free entry | Retiring collection

Emma Johnson (clarinet), Raphael Wallfisch (cello), John Lenehan (piano)

Emma Johnson clarinet
Raphael Wallfisch cello
John Lenehan piano

Beethoven   Trio in B flat Op 11 ‘Gassenhauer’
Beethoven   Cello Sonata in C Op 102 No 1
Vaughan Williams   Six Studies in English Folksong for Clarinet
Simpson   Trio for Clarinet, Cello and Piano

We welcome three of the UK’s most distinguished musicians back to Leamington for a little bit more of Ludwig who was so short-changed in 2020 thanks to the pandemic.

A sprinkling of RVW from the clarinet leads us on to Leamington-born composer Robert Simpson’s Trio which should have been played in last year’s Festival celebrating his centenary year. Raphael Wallfisch champions Simpson’s music and his father, Peter, played the piano in the Trio’s première in 1968.

Generously supported by Jennifer Lorch and Paul & Jane Watts

Tickets: £25 reserved centre | £17 unreserved sides

Organ Recital – Christopher Cromar

Christopher Cromar organ

Vaughan Williams   Prelude & Fugue in C minor
Howells   Psalm Prelude Op 32 No 1
Howells   Sonata for Organ (1st mvt): Vivo, energico ed agitato
Simpson   Eppur si muove

A Festival Feast of English music.

Generously supported by Dr J Fenlon, Dr Sara Liptai and Mrs N Kohler

Free entry | Retiring collection

Lynn Arnold & Charles Matthews – four hands one piano

Lynn Arnold & Charles Matthews – four hands one piano

Vaughan Williams   Suite
Maconchy   Preludio, Fugato and Finale
Ravel   Mother Goose Suite
Tovey   Waltzes
Bliss   Rout
Howard Skempton   Plain Sailing
Howard Skempton   Première of new work
Benjamin   Jamaican Rumba

A concert of music for four hands on one piano is a first for Leamington Music, but who could resist such an eclectic but exciting programme?

Howard Skempton celebrates his 75th birthday this year and commissioning a new work from him to mark the occasion was an absolute must!

These two wonderful pianists have a mutual passion for English music and this is the perfect platform for them to share it with us as we celebrate RVW and his inspirations.

Tickets: £17 reserved centre | £12 unreserved sides

Sinfonia of Birmingham with Michael Seal (conductor) and Nicholas Daniel (oboe)

Sinfonia of Birmingham

Michael Seal conductor

Nicholas Daniel oboe

Vaughan Williams   The Wasps Overture
Parry   An English Suite
Vaughan Williams   Oboe Concerto in A minor
Vaughan Williams   Symphony No 5 in D

No Festival celebrating RVW’s music could be complete without his Concerto for Oboe and Strings – written in 1944 and all too often woefully overlooked. We are delighted to welcome Nicholas Daniel, the UK’s premier oboist, to shine a much-deserved light on this beautiful work in the central concert of our five-day Festival.

Associate CBSO conductor Michael Seal directs the Sinfonia of Birmingham which last appeared in the area as part of the Warwick & Leamington Midsummer Music Festival last June and is quickly gaining a reputation with our audiences for its lively and exciting performances.

A quintessential reminder of the influence on RVW’s music by his teacher, Hubert Parry, appears in the form of another rare gem – Parry’s English Suite for Strings – but it is RVW who occupies centre stage in this concert as we take advantage of having a full symphony orchestra in our Festival for one night only!

Unreserved Tickets: £25 front nave | £17 rear nave

Lana Trotovšek (violin) and Maria Canyigueral (piano)

Lana Trotovšek violin and Maria Canyigueral piano

Tartini   Violin Sonata in G minor ‘Devil’s Trill’
Vaughan Williams   The Lark Ascending
Ravel   Violin Sonata No 2 in G
Prokofiev   Five Pieces from ‘Cinderella’

We welcome Slovenian violinist Lana Trotovšek and Spanish pianist Maria Canyigueral to Leamington for the first time, delighted to be able to keep our European connections alive.

Following our Festival themes, they bring RVW’s original 1914 version of The Lark Ascending for violin and piano, paired with Ravel’s astonishing later Violin Sonata.

Tartini was born in Piran, on the coast of Slovenia, south of Trieste, and his explosive ‘Devil’s Trill’ Sonata is a treat. The addition of Prokofiev to the programme introduces a Russian flavour ahead of Monday night’s Festival finale.

Tickets: £17 reserved centre | £12 unreserved sides

Sacconi Quartet with Emma Abbate (piano)

Sacconi Quartet

Ben Hancox and Hannah Dawson violins
Robin Ashwell viola, Cara Berridge cello

with Emma Abbate piano

Vaughan Williams   String Quartet No 1 in G minor
Ravel   String Quartet in F
Elgar   Piano Quintet in A minor Op 84

We begin the 2022 Festival with a relatively rare gem from Ralph Vaughan Williams. RVW wrote his First String Quartet in 1908 after studying with Ravel for three months; it seems only natural, therefore, to pair this work with Ravel’s only Quartet which was completed in 1903.

Both RVW and Ravel served in World War I in non-combative roles, as ambulance crew and lorry driver respectively. Elgar’s great period was also the years before and during the Great War, writing patriotic music and following with his three great chamber works including the Piano Quintet of 1918.

The Sacconi Quartet return to Leamington after a superb opening concert of the Autumn Season and Emma Abbate, originally from Italy and now a professor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, makes her Leamington Music debut in this fine Festival opener.

Tickets: £25 reserved centre | £17 unreserved sides