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.

Beethoven looms large in our Spring series as the composer's 250th anniversary is celebrated in 2020. Both his teacher, Haydn, and his greatest successor, Schubert, provide reminders of Beethoven's place in the great canon of the classical tradition while Bach's sons are rightly recognised (26th March) as important links between the High Baroque of their father's music and the Viennese legacy that followed. Ensembles from three of London's great conservatoires - Guildhall, Royal College and Trinity Laban - contribute to these fascinating programmes alongside an outstanding chamber orchestra (27th February), four remarkable young chamber groups and an astonishingly talented pianist (6th February).

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.

23rd January 2020
GUILDHALL CHAMBER ENSEMBLE Hana Mizuta Spencer violin Simon McKenzie viola Frederick Winterson cello Seth Edmonds double bass Kerry Waller piano
Franz Schubert by Wilhelm August Rieder
Schubert	Impromptu in F minor Op. 142
Schubert	Quintet in A Op. 114, D667 (The Trout)
Dedicated to the memory of Bryan Marson-Smith
The 'Trout Quintet' is the popular name for one of Schubert's sunniest and heart-warming works, thanks to the second movement's variations on his song Die Forelle. Though written when the composer was only 19 in 1822, perhaps because of its unusual scoring it was not published until after Schubert's death. A fabulous hand-picked group from the Guildhall School perform the quintet in a concert dedicated to the memory of Vice-President of City Music Society, Bryan Marson-Smith, who died in 2019. With Kerry Waller contributing the composer's dark and intense F minor piano Impromptu, the concert will be a great tribute to Bryan's contribution to the Society and his great love of Schubert's music.

30th January 2020
RCM WIND ENSEMBLE Simon Channing director

Nielsen	Quintet in E Op. 43
Dvorák	Serenade in D minor Op. 44
Renowned for the quality of its many ensembles, the Royal College of Music brings its Wind Ensemble for its annual concert for the Society. Nielsen's Wind Quintet was famously written to enshrine the character of its five dedicatees, the members of the Copenhagen Quintet, each part cunningly made to suit the individuality of each player. In contrast, Dvorák's reflects the world of the Rococo, when music for the aristocracy mixed with folksong, creating an atmosphere that is both sophisticated and homespun.

6th February 2020
Hin-Yat Tsang piano

Schumann	Humoreske Op.20
Rachmaninov	Sonata No. 2 in B flat minor Op. 36
Admitted to the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts as a junior student, Hin-Yat Tsang later graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree before moving to London to study at the Royal College of Music. There he was The Musicians' Company Constant and Kit Lambert Fellow in 2015-16, studying with the renowned Dimitri Alexeev. Prizewinner in many competitions Hin-Yat recently was awarded the Prize d'Or at the 16th International 'Piano-Campus' Competition in Pontoise of Paris. He is continuing his studies at the Universität der Künste wth Klaus Hellwig in Berlin.

13th February 2020

AFFINITY QUARTET Nicholas Waters violin Iona Tache violin William Clark viola Mee Na Lojewski cello

Caroline Shaw	Punctum
Beethoven	Quartet in F Op. 59 No. 1 (Razumovsky)
Described by Classic Melbourne as 'one of the most exciting young ensembles to make their mark', Affinity Quartet has given Australian premières of complete string quartets by Janácek, Haas, Britten and Panufnik and world premières by Matt Laing and Jack Symonds. Their 2016 International Tour included Prussia Cove International Musicians Seminar, UK, the Yehudi Menuhin Festival at London South Bank Centre, and concerts in Berlin. Affinity's 2020 Season includes Residency at the Amsterdam String Quartet Biennale, Melbourne Recital Centre's Local Heroes Series, Australian Music Festivals, and performances in Italy, Salzburg, Paris and London. Pulitzer Prize-winner Caroline Shaw's Punctum reveals her affinity with Bach, Beethoven and philosophy.
Affinity Quartet is supported by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.

20th February 2020

THE AURORA DUO Emma Halnan flute Heather Wrighton harp
Paul Lewis	Norfolk Idyll
William Alwyn	Naiades for flute and harp
Arnold	Fantasy for solo flute
Alwyn	Crepuscule for solo harp
Paul Patterson	Canonic Lullaby
Andy Scott	Sonata for flute and harp
This concert is presented in memory of Eric Falk, a former Vice-Chairman of City Music Society
The Aurora Duo are renowned for exploring some little-known but extremely attractive works by British composers and their programme includes two works by the distinguished composer, conductor and teacher, William Alwyn. A virtuoso flautist himself, Alwyn's two compositions in this concert demonstrate his attractive modern style that he applied so effectively in his numerous film music scores. Paul Lewis has been a leading composer for film and TV and is acclaimed for his approachable and popular concert works, now numbering more than a hundred.

27th February 2020
ENGLISH YOUNG ARTISTS' SINFONIA Robert Pepper conductor

Beethoven	Coriolan Overture Op. 62
Haydn	Symphony No. 104 in D (London)
Growing out of the English Schools' Orchestra, founded by Robert Pepper in 1994 and thus celebrating its quarter century this year, the EYAS is made up of outstanding instrumentalists, graduates of the ESO and many now pursuing professional careers in music. Haydn's remarkable final symphony, composed for his visit to London in 1794-5, is preceded by his pupil Beethoven's dramatic representation of the Roman general Coriolanus.

5th March 2020
TRINITY LABAN STRING ENSEMBLE Nic Pendlebury director

Mendelssohn	String Symphony No. 2 in D
Stravinsky	Concerto in D
Beethoven	String Quartet in F minor Op. 95 (arranged by Mahler)
Beethoven's quartets are familiar repertoire to the director of the Trinity Laban String Ensemble Nic Pendlebury in his role of violist in the internationally acclaimed Smith Quartet. Gustav Mahler's arrangement of Opus 95, the 'Serioso', was booed on its premiere in Vienna in 1899 but it is actually respectful to the original while enhancing Beethoven's directness and intensity. Described as 'a light, vivacious work' by Roman Vlad, Stravinsky's Concerto provides a vivid contrast to Beethoven's seriousness and Mendelssohn's youthful exuberance in one of the twelve string symphonies he wrote between the ages of 12 and 14.

12th March 2020
SULKIN PIANO TRIO Millie Ashton violin William Clark-Maxwell cello Eran Sulkin piano

Haydn	Trio in D Hob. XV:16
Schumann	Trio No. 1 in D minor Op. 63
Winners of the Ivan Sutton Chamber Music Prize, 2019
Formed at Guildhall School of Music in 2018 under the guidance of Richard Lester and Caroline Palmer, the Sulkin Trio has also been tutored by Simon Blendis, Evan Rothstein and Ursula Smith and was a featured ensemble in the GSMD Chamber Music Festival in July 2019, performing Clara Schumann's Piano Trio. Additionally they were chosen to participate in master classes with the Emerson String Quartet, Gould Piano Trio and with Wolfgang Redik, violinist of the Vienna Piano Trio.

19th March 2020
BARBICAN STRING QUARTET Amarins Wierdsma violin Tim Crawford violin Christoph Slenczka viola Yoanna Prodanova cello

Mozart	Quartet in B flat K589
Bartók	Quartet No. 5
First prize-winners in the 2019 Joachim International Chamber Music Competition, the Barbican String Quartet are currently St John's Smith Square Young Artists. They were the recipients of the RPS Albert and Eugenie Frost Award in 2018 and made their Wigmore Hall debut in 2017 as part of The Musicians' Company's Maisie Lewis series. The second of Mozart's Prussian Quartets provides a striking contrast to the exciting, atmospheric Fifth Quartet of Béla Bartók, full of the influences of his Hungarian and Bulgarian folk music collecting.

Presented with the support of The Royal Philharmonic Society

26th March 2020
Please note that the concert scheduled for this date has been postponed to 2nd April.

2nd April 2020
LES BOUGIES BAROQUES Ian Peter Bugeja director and fortepiano

W F Bach	Sinfonia in D, BR C-Inc.16
C P E Bach	Quintet in A Op. 11, No. 5, WB74
J C Bach	Sinfonia in E, Wq. 182/6 H.662
J C F Bach	Keyboard Concerto in A, BR C30
Sons of Bach
Les Bougies Baroques is an international vocal and period instrument ensemble founded in November 2012 by Maltese conductor-harpsichordist/fortepianist Ian Peter Bugeja. The ensemble specialises in vocal and instrumental repertoire from the late sixteenth century through to the beginning of the nineteenth century on period instruments and period instrument reproductions. Les Bougies Baroques represents the new generation of music-making in the 'baroque spirit', with its 'new pioneers' illuminating the path to contemporary enlightenment through the medium of earlier music. In this spirit the music of Johann Sebastian's talented sons is explored in works that encompass the fascinating stylistic transition from baroque to classical eras.

Future events
City Music Society takes its summer break after the concert on 2nd April. Its first concert of the Autumn series is our traditional Bach Cantata concert in association with The Musicians' Company on the 24th September.

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

Latest update: 31 December 2019	Top of Page

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