Friday 15th October 2010 7.30pm

The Vogler Quartet

VolgerSTRAVINSKY  Concertino
BEETHOVEN  Quartet No.131 in C sharp minor
J S BACH  Art of Fugue (part)
BARTOK  Quartet No.4

The Vogler Quartet always present us with a challenging and stimulating programme and on their two previous visits to Kelso they have shown themselves to be one of the most thoughtful and craftsmanlike quartets we have had to play for us. This is their 25th year together as an unchanged group and they have dreamed up a really exceptional programme to celebrate the occasion.

Tim Vogler - violin
Frank Reinecke - violin
Sefan Fehlandt  - viola
Stephan Forck  - cello

www.voglerquartet.com

Friday 12 November 2010 7.30pm

Michael Collins (clarinet), Michael McHale (piano)

CollinsSAINT-SAENS Clarinet Sonata Op.167
BRAHMS Clarinet Sonata in E Flat major Op.120 No.2
LUTOSLAWSKI  Dance Preludes
POULENC  Sonata for Clarinet and Piano
WEBER  Grand Duo Concertante

Regarded widely as unsurpassed among clarinettists, Michael Collins, who won the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition in 1978, has never looked back.

We are exceptionally fortunate to have him come to play for us in Kelso with one of his regular accompanists, Michael McHale, a really exciting programme of works for the clarinet and piano. Not only is Michael Collins a superb instrumentalist he is also an entertaining presenter of his work.

He has recently been appointed Principal Conductor of the City of London Sinfonietta.

www.michael-collins.co.uk

www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyGKW7tTWhc

www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPwh0ncixdc  

Sunday 16th January 2011 2.30pm

Idomeneo String Quartet

IdomendoHaydn String Quartet in C major Op.50 No.2
Shostakovich String Quartet No.3
Schubert String Quartet No14 in D minor ‘Death and the Maiden’.




Formed in 2009 as post graduate students of the Guildhall School of Music, this group of young German musicians is already making a big name for themselves.

They come to us as winners of a Tunnell Trust award. The last Tunnell winners who came to us were the excellent Navarra Quartet, who many will remember.  Interestingly the Idomeneos have recently been studying with the Vogler Quartet in Germany, and there is no record of the last time we had masters and pupils playing in the same season.

Mark Derudder
Eugene Lee
Reinoud Ford
Matthias Wiesner

www.idomeneoquartet.com

Friday 4th February 2011 7.30pm

Victoria Simmonds (mezzo soprano)
Anna Tilbrook (piano)


Love and Pain, Life and Dreams

BIZET               3 Songs

MAHLER            Lieder eines Fahrenden Gesellen (Songs of a Wayfarer)

SCHUBERT        Schwanengesang

SimmondsVictoria Simmonds is a singer of great virtuosity and flexibility with a real stage personality. With English National Opera and Opera North she has sung many of the Mozart roles (Dorabella, Cherubino, Zerlina) and coloratura roles such as Rosina in the Barber of Seville, she has sung the role of Carmen in the Albert Hall, and Wellgunde (Rheingold) with Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic at Aix en Provence.

More recently she has taken on contemporary music with the title role of Simon Dove’s Pinocchio (Opera North, playing in Edinburgh in the autumn), and, with Alan Oke and David Atherton and the London Sinfonietta, recorded the very abstract  ‘Voices’ by Henze. She has been asked by Covent Garden to sing in George Benjamin’s new opera which will travel around Europe to Aix and La Scala, Milan among other European opera houses. 
We are very privileged to have her sing for us a magnificent programme of works with Anna Tilbrook, one of the finest young accompanists around, currently having big recording successes accompanying James Gilchrist in song cycles.

Read an interview with Victoria about the production of Pinocchio by Clicking Here.

On Youtube you can see an excerpt from ‘Pinocchio’, and an interview with Victoria and Alan Oke about Henze’s ‘Voices’.


   Pinocchio

   Voices

www.victoriasimmonds.com


www.annatilbrook.co.uk

Friday 4th March 2011 7.30pm

Nikolai Demidenko

DemdienkoSCHUMANN     Faschingschwang aus Wien
SCHUMANN     Carnaval Op.9
BACH/LISZT    Organ Fantsay and Fugue in G minor
J S BACH         Italian Concerto
LISZT              Variations on a theme by Bach
                      ‘Weinen, Klagen’


One of the towering presences in the world of pianists, Nikolai is of Ukrainian origin with British nationality and now living in Madrid.  A truly international artist.  He combines agile fingers with a real understanding of the power in the music which makes his Bach, Chopin, Scarlatti and Beethoven superlative.  You can see a beautifully made series of short films of him talking about and playing Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier below.

   Well Tempered Clavier

www.vanwalsum.com/artists/nd.php

Friday 25th March 2011

AGM 7.00pm - 7.45pm Followed by Martinu Quartet

MartinauMOZART  Quartet No.23 in F major  K.590
JANACEK  Quartet No.1 ‘Kreutzer Sonata’
DVORAK  Quartet No.13 in G major Op.106

Many will remember the last concert that the Martinus gave for us three years ago which was rapturously received. They are returning to play some more of their wonderful Czech repertoire in Janacek and Dvorak together with Mozart’s last beautiful quartet K590.  There is a change of personnel at the centre of the quartet so this time we will be welcoming Libor Kanka and Zbynek Padourek as new members of the group.  The Martinus have made many recordings including the complete Martinu quartets for Naxos.

Lubomir Havlak – violin
Libor Kanka – violin
Zbynek Padourek – viola
Jitka Vlasankova – cello

www.martinuquartet.eu