59th Season
From October 2012 to March 2013
Dante Quartet
Saturday 6th October 2012, 7.30pm
Berkhamsted Civic Centre
Mozart String Quartet in F major, K 590 ‘Prussian’
Kodály String quartet No 2
Schumann Quartet in A major, Op 41 No 3
The Dante Quartet was founded in 1995 and won the Royal Philharmonic Society Award for best chamber ensemble in 2007. In the past two years they have appeared at the Aldeburgh, Bath, Cheltenham and City of London Festivals as well as Wigmore Hall and Kings Place in London. They broadcast regularly on BBC Radio 3 and have recorded Franck and Fauré’s string quartets on Hyperion. Since 2007 they have been quartet-in-residence at King’s College, Cambridge. The players are Krysia Ostostowicz (violin), Giles Francis (violin), Rachel Roberts (viola) and Richard Jenkinson (cello).
Castalian Quartet
Saturday 10th November 2012, 7.30pm
Berkhamsted Civic Centre
Dvořák String Quartet No 11 in C major, Op 61
Beethoven String Quartet No 11 in F minor ‘Serioso’, Op 95
Mendelssohn String Quartet No 4 in E minor, Op 44 No 2
The Castalian Quartet was formed in London in 2010 and is rapidly gaining a reputation at festivals and concert halls in the UK and abroad. It won the Elias Fawcett Award for an outstanding chamber music ensemble at the 2011 Royal Overseas League competition, and was selected by the British Council to represent the UK in a concert tour of South China last year. It will be giving concerts across the UK as artists on the Countess of Munster Recital Scheme. The players are Sadie Fields (violin), Daniel Llewellyn Roberts (violin), Charlotte Bonneton (viola) and Rebecca Herman (cello).
Joglaresa – Blow Northerne Wynd
Saturday 1st December 2012, 7.30pm
Berkhamsted Civic Centre
Belinda Sykes voice, bagpipes, director
Sianed Jones voice, fiddle
Jean Kelly harp, voice
Ruth Fraser voice, harp
Tim Garside dulcimer, percussion, voice
Joglaresa is a British/Israeli/Irish/Arabic ensemble that has been playing since 1992. Blow Northerne Wynd is a light-hearted programme of medieval and folk carols – ringing with echoes of winter pagan festivities. It contains re-workings of well-known carols as well as other songs such as Burns’ Cauld Blaws the Wind, and the traditional Welsh Plygain carol Ar Gyfer Heddiw’r Bore.
James Lisney (piano)
Saturday 9th February 2013, 7.30pm
Berkhamsted Civic Centre
Liszt Bénédiction de Dieu dans la Solitude
Schubert Drei Klavierstücke D 946
Schumann Fantasie in C, Op 17
Chopin Andante spianato et Grande Polonaise Brillante, Op 22
James Lisney made his Wigmore Hall debut in 1986. His career has taken him throughout Europe and the Americas, performing in many of the world`s most important venues. His recordings of music ranging from Schubert, Beethoven, and Tchaikovsky to Beach, Bjornsson and Scharwenka have gained recognition from colleagues and plaudits from the recording industry. He is celebrating his 50th year by playing at 50 concerts mainly at small venues like our own.
Florin String Trio
Saturday 9th March 2013, 7.30pm
Berkhamsted Civic Centre
Beethoven String Trio Op 9 No 1
Moeran String Trio in G
Mozart Divertimento for String Trio K 563
Each member of the Florin String Trio has a strong chamber music background. Charles Mutter (violin) is the associate leader of the BBC Concert Orchestra and has led them at the Proms and in the Maestro series, while Alistair Scahill (viola) regularly plays with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, including their performances at Glyndebourne. Catherine Rimer (cello) has for many years been a member of Sir John Eliot Gardiner’s English Baroque Soloists, and teaches at the Royal College of Music.