Gould Piano Trio + Robert Plane - 25th January 2026

Stephen Tees writes:
Well that was a great turnout on Sunday afternoon to hear our old friends the Gould Trio and Robert Plane. Over 100 in the audience braved the unrelenting cold wet weather to witness another exceptional concert. There was a buzz in the air! The sparky, atmospheric Judith Weir Trio No 1 started the performance and sounded wonderful in the church. This was followed by a very enthusiastic introduction to his new piece The Rising of Sirius, by Piers Hellawell who lives and works in the Outer Hebrides. We were lucky he was able to be with us to give us insight into his music. Clarinettist Robert Plane then rehearsed the audience in their chanting part in the piece which turned out to be very effective. After the interval tea and biscuits and mingle, the second half of the concert started with two lovely tuneful pieces for clarinet and piano by the virtually unknown Joseph Holbrooke. Finally, the magnificent C minor piano trio by Mendelssohn finished off the afternoon. I was again turning pages for Ben Frith in last item and the true virtuosity of all the players was amazing. Once again I thought the performers’ use of the church microphone made a huge difference to the enjoyment of the event. Let’s hope that the good turnout indicates that audiences are finally making their way back to live performances again after COVID.

We were also pleased to welcome Piers Helliwell (above) to the concert, composer of The Rising of Sirius. Piers travelled all the way from his home on Harris to hear the performance. He gave us a fascinating introduction to the piece - this was its Scottish premiere! - and afterwards sent us this message:
It’s not uncommon for Music Society Concerts to take place in elegant churches, and in Kelso they abound… luckily, this visitor approaching from the North was greeted, outside the town, by a cheerful banner proclaiming ‘Concert Today!’, with venue details. This front-foot approach to concert promotion signposted me to a very go-ahead group of chamber music supporters. By the time I found the exquisite Parish Church I had seen two more such posters, and the concert in which I featured attracted a large, well-informed audience. What a tonic, when so much talk of classical chamber music is mired in funding problems, ‘difficulty’ of finding an audience (not here!) and, frankly, invisibility - in a noisy world given to instant sensation. Music is a socially engaged art: even great artists like Gould Piano Trio do not function in a vacuum, for the audience is the crucial other half. in Kelso, they were ready and waiting. Half of our musical fare was ‘alive’ – Judith Weir and myself – and Mendelssohn was much the oldest composer featured. Today’s composers are not always welcome in programmes… Yet, far from being cold-shouldered, I was approached and quizzed about my work, with very informed and useful comments coming from my own introductory remarks. My appearance was treated as a honour, yet I was the lucky one - I departed knowing full well why I had long heard of Kelso Music Society, but sorry that it had taken me until 2026 to attend in person. It fairly fizzes with energy.

Some photos of the audience - old and ... young.