City Music Society Lunchtime Concerts

CITY MUSIC SOCIETY
Lunchtime Concerts
Thursdays at 1.05 pm at St Bartholomew the Great,
West Smithfield, London EC1A 7BE

Admission to all lunchtime concerts is Free.

The City Music Society Young Artists Series celebrates the amazing talent of musicians performing and studying in the UK.

Many of our artists are major prize winners, emerging from the UK's leading conservatoires, while some of the concerts mark the role of The Worshipful Company of Musicians in supporting and encouraging outstanding young musicians as they begin their careers.

January 2019 marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of City Music Society and the Spring series contains three events marking this special date. As always themes and connections ripple through our concert series - two Beethoven trios, two works by Sally Beamish, three major works by Mozart: two wind serenades and his great penultimate symphony.

A collection will be taken at the end of each young artists' concert at St Bartholomew's to benefit the City Music Society.

Seats cannot be guaranteed after 1.00pm.

Limited standing is permitted at the discretion of the Society.

Latecomers are only admitted during a suitable pause in the programme.

All programmes are subject to change at short notice.

The City Music Society reserves the right to refuse admission.

Please note that City Music Society concerts are not suitable for children under the age of 8 and the Society reserves the right to refuse entry to children under that age.

24th January 2019
GUILDHALL WIND ENSEMBLE Richard Benjafield director
The concert hall of the Guildhall School in its original building in John Carpenter Street, the location of the first City Music Society concert in 1944.
Mozart	Serenade for 13 wind instruments in B flat K361 (Gran Partita)
City Music Society 75th Anniversary Concert City Music Society presented its first concert on 4th January 1944, in the Guildhall School in its original home in John Carpenter Street. 75 years later, to celebrate our anniversary we present an outstanding wind ensemble from the Guildhall, playing Mozart's Gran Partita, first played in a benefit concert in Vienna in 1784. In one of the most remarkable works for winds ever written Mozart explores an extraordinary spectrum of emotions, enhanced by the glorious combination of the darkly-hued basset clarinets and four French horns. Following the concert there will be a wine reception in the cloisters to toast the 75th anniversary of City Music Society.

31st January 2019
IGNIS TRIO Enyuan Khong violin Frederick Winterson cello Felix Hong piano

Beethoven	Trio in B flat Op. 11 (Gassenhauer)
Brahms	Trio in C Op. 87
Winners of the Ivan Sutton Chamber Music Prize, 2018
The Ignis Piano Trio won the 2018 Sutton Chamber Music Prize with an assured and dramatic performance of Rachmaninov's Trio Élégiaque. For our concert they bring Beethoven's early trio, originally for clarinet but now most often played by violin, and gaining its nickname from the third movement's popular melody, reputedly sung in the Vienna lanes or 'Gasse'.

7th Fenruary 2019
Camiel Boomsma piano

Schubert	Sonata in B flat D960
Chopin	Nocturne Op. 55 No. 2
The Dutch-born pianist Camiel Boomsma has already established himself as an international artist as much for his exploration of unusual repertoire as for his distinctive sound. His recordings of Wagner transcriptions received rave reviews from, amongst others, BBC Music Magazine and have been broadcast extensively throughout Europe.

14th February 2019

EBLANA STRING TRIO Jonathan Martindale violin Lucy Nolan viola Peggy Nolan cello

Finzi	Prelude and Fugue Op. 24
Sally Beamish	The King's Alchemist
Beethoven	Trio in G Op. 9 No. 1
Formed in 2006, the Eblana String Trio performs regularly for music societies and festivals throughout the UK and beyond, constantly winning praise from audiences and critics alike for the depth and insight of their performances. Featured artists in the City Music Foundation programme, the Trio is intent on performing the often-neglected string trio repertoire and their programme reflects this interest in their combination of one of Beethoven's great early works with Finzi's piquant exercise in counterpoint and Sally Beamish's vivid description of the Scottish King James IV's alchemist.
Supported by the Royal Philharmonic Society

21st February 2019
MARMEN QUARTET Johannes Marmen violin Ricky Gore violin Bryony Gibson-Cornish viola Steffan Morris cello

Haydn	Quartet in B flat Op.50 No. 1
Mendelssohn	Quartet in F minor Op. 80
This concert is presented in memory of Eric Falk, a former Vice-Chairman of City Music Society
Winners of the 2018 Royal Over-Seas League Competition, the Marmen Quartet has enjoyed extensive success. The Musicians' Company has awarded them a Wigmore Hall concert in July 2019, they were 2017 Selected Artists with Making Music, and The Royal Philharmonic Society awarded them their Albert and Eugenie Frost Prize. They now hold the String Quartet Fellowship at the Guildhall School. Mendelssohn's last major piece, a 'requiem' for his sister Fanny, was described by Julius Benedict as a piece of 'poetic melancholy' and 'a masterly and eloquent composition'.
Supported by the Royal Philharmonic Society

28th February 2019
RCM WIND ENSEMBLE Simon Channing director

Taffanel	Wind Quintet
D'Indy	Chanson et Danses Op. 50
Mozart	Serenade No. 12 in C minor K388
Renowned for the quality of its many ensembles, the Royal College of Music brings its Wind Ensemble for its annual concert for the Society. Two delightful, tuneful French Romantic compositions complement the classical elegance of Mozart's ominous, dark-hued serenade, not for nothing called 'Nacht musique' by the composer.

7th March 2019
ENGLISH YOUNG ARTISTS' SINFONIA Robert Pepper conductor Ben Marshall oboe

Vaughan Williams	Concerto in A minor for oboe and strings
Mozart	Symphony No. 40 in G minor K550
Growing out of the English Schools' Orchestra, founded by Robert Pepper in 1994, the EYAS is made up of outstanding instrumentalists, graduates of the ESO and many now pursuing professional careers in music. Guildhall graduate Ben Marshall is soloist in Vaughan Williams' beautiful concerto while the young players of the EYAS will relish the intense, unconventional and inspired music of Mozart's penultimate symphony.

14th March 2019
TRINITY LABAN STRING ENSEMBLE Nic Pendlebury director

Sally Beamish	Variations on a theme of Benjamin Britten
Britten	Variations on a theme of Frank Bridge Op. 10
From its base in Greenwich, the senior string ensemble of Trinity Laban Conservatoire brings works linked by the name of Benjamin Britten. Inspired by hearing Britten's Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes, and, as a violist, performing in the Frank Bridge Variations, Sally Beamish has created a homage of real imagination, full of echoes of Britten's dance-form tribute to his own teacher.

21st March 2019
Ming Xie piano

Rameau	Nouvelles suites de pièces de clavecin - Gavotte et 6 Doubles
Beehoven	Sonata in Op. 31 No. 3
Glazunov	Sonata No. 1
Described by the legendary Martha Argerich as 'phenomenal', the young Chinese pianist Ming Xie is quickly established himself as one of classical music's rising stars. A distinctive and enterprising artist, Ming has played with the Marinsky orchestra under Valery Gergiev and has completed an Oceania recital tour and concerts in New York, Bogota and Panama City. Awarded The Musicians' Company Silver Medal in 2017 for his outstanding achievements as a student at the Guildhall School, Ming will appear at the Wigmore Hall for a second time in the 2018/19 season.

28th March 2019
THE CHOIR OF ROYAL HOLLOWAY Rupert Gough conductor

Songs of Springtime - an 'eve-of-Brexit' programme of music by British and other European composers
The Choir of Royal Holloway is considered one of the finest mixed-voice collegiate choirs in the country. The 24 choral scholars that constitute the College's Chapel Choir undertake a busy schedule of services, concerts and tours and have recorded for Hyperion Records. This concert heralds a new recording featuring works by Ben Parry.

For further information about these concerts please contact
citymusicsociety@btopenworld.com

Latest update: 31 December 2018	Top of Page

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