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June update from Norwich Chamber Music

We are delighted to announce that Steven Isserlis will join our Artistic Director Misha Donat in a Zoom pre-concert talk at 6.30 pm on Friday June 18th in advance of his concerts at the John Innes Conference Centre on Saturday June 19th. As usual, register at NCM TicketSource.

For Covid related reasons, Connie Shih will be unable to accompany Steven at his recitals on June 19th, but we are  delighted that Sam Haywood has agreed at short notice to come to Norwich in her stead.

The Norwich Chamber Music summer series now includes: 

Steven Isserlis (cello) and Sam Haywood (piano), Saturday 19 June at 3.00pm and 6.00pm 

Bruch. Kol Nidrei
Strauss. Sonata in F Op.6 (original version)
Dvořák, arr. Isserlis. Four Romantic Pieces
Le Beau. Sonata in D Op.17 

At 6.30pm on Friday 18 June, Steven Isserlis will join with Misha Donat to give a pre-concert talk online. Registration is at NCM TicketSource. Tickets are £5.00, with no charge to NCM Season ticket holders and Members. 

Paul Lewis (piano), Saturday 26 June at 3.00pm and 6.00pm 

Mozart. Sonata in A K.331 (‘Turkish Rondo’)
Scriabin. Five Preludes Op.74
Mussorgsky. Pictures at an Exhibition

At 6.00pm on Friday 25 June, Richard Wigmore will give a pre-concert talk online. Registration is at NCM TicketSource. Tickets are £5.00, with no charge to NCM Season ticket holders and Members. 

Lawrence Power (viola) andHuw Watkins (piano), Saturday 3 July at 3.00pm and 6.00pm

Couperin. Prelude from Première Suite in E minor (Pièces de violes 1728)
Adès. Three Berceuses from ‘The Exterminating Angel’
Brahms. Sonata in F minor Op.120 No.1
Clarke. Sonata (1921)

Pavel Kolesnikov (piano), Saturday 17 July at 3.00pm and 6.00pm

Chopin. Mazurka in C sharp minor Op. 63 No. 3;
Chopin. Waltz in A flat Op. 42
Chopin. Mazurka in A minor Op. 17 No.4
Chopin. Nocturne in C sharp minor Op. 27 No. 1
Chopin. Ballade No 3 in A flat Op. 47
Mozart. Sonata in A minor K.310
Chopin. Nocturne in E Op. 62 No.2
Chopin. Polonaise-Fantasy in A flat Op.61

For all of these concerts, the ticket price is £20, (complimentary to 2020-2021 Season Ticket holders, £15 to for 2020-2021 Members). Please note that everyone, including Season ticket holders, must have a booking before attending. There will be no sales on the door.  

Tickets can  be booked at NCM TicketSource. If you prefer to book by telephone, you can call the TicketSource box office on 0333 666 3366 (there is a fee of £1.80, and it is open weekdays 9.00am to 5.00 pm). As usual, please let us know if you require special seating arrangements.

For all of these concerts, we’re operating under the prevailing restrictions (with social distancing, masks, and no interval). The seating arrangements which meet these requirements are complex, so we ask you to accept and remain in the seats that the stewards offer you.  We shall endeavour to offer seats in the lower body of the auditorium first.

As ever, please share this newsletter with anyone you know who might be interested, and encourage them to both put themselves on our mailing list (via the NCM website) and come to one – or more –  of our concerts.  

With our best wishes,

Norwich Chamber Music

Norwich Chamber Music newsletter spring 2021

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Norwich Chamber Music is delighted to offer you three events over the next few weeks, and invites you to book for them.

1.   Zoom talk by Misha Donat on Schumann, Friday April 30th, 6.30 pm 

This talk continues the series that Misha began during the winter months on the subjects of “Beethoven” and “Schubert”. Richard Wigmore has also spoken on “Haydn in London”. 
 
Tickets are priced at £5.00, but free of charge to Season ticket holders and Members. You may book now through NCM TicketSource  – or call us on 01603 505974 to reserve a place. On April 28th, sign in details will be sent to all who have registered. .
 
 2.   NCM 70th Anniversary Zoom party on Friday May 7th, 7.00 pm
         
The original Music Club held its inaugural meeting on April 28th 1951 under the Presidency of Benjamin Britten. This evening’s anniversary Zoom will consider our history and look to the future. It will be hosted by Christine Webber, and feature:

Gillian Cannell, daughter of Miriam Cannell, concert organiser for 40 years,
Stephen Orton, son in law of Kurt Schwarz, many years Treasurer,
Roger Rowe, our current President, and concert organiser in recent decades,
Misha Donat, current Artistic Director

Fill your glasses and enjoy the celebration!
 
This event is free of charge, but please book a ticket through NCM TicketSource  – or call us on 01603 505974 to reserve a place. On May 5th, sign in details will be sent to all who have registered.

3.   The Elias Quartet, John Innes Centre, Saturday May 29th at 3.00 pm and 6.00 pm
         Booking is through the Norwich and Norfolk Festival Office or website
 
Purcell, Henry: Fantasia in D minor z.739
Purcell, Henry: Fantasia in A minor z.740
Haydn, Joseph: String Quartet in G major op. 33 no. 5
Schumann, Robert: String Quartet in A op.41 no.3
 
This pair of concerts is promoted by NCM as its contribution to the 2021 Norfolk and Norwich Festival. All tickets are being offered through the Festival Box Office on a “Pay what you want” basis.
 
Priority booking is now available for Season ticket holders. General booking begins on April 15th. You can book through the   Festival Website or the Festival Box Office  01603 531800 (opening hours Mon-Fri 10am-5.30pm; Sat 11am-4pm). You can also book in person at the pop up box office in Chantry Place Shopping Centre, NR1 3SH (Next to Hotel Chocolat) (opening hours Tue; Thu; Sat 11am-4pm) from Thursday 15 April.

We hope we shall see you at some of these events, if not all of them

With our best wishes,

The NCM Committee.

News from Norwich Chamber Music

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Norwich Chamber Music is hosting a discussion led by Misha Donat about “Schubert”. It will be held on Zoom at 6.00 pm on Sunday February 14th, and follows the highly successful discussion on ‘Beethoven’ that Misha led in December. If you haven’t already signed in, please do so. Everyone is welcome. 

If you are a Season ticket Holder or Member, you can register for a complimentary ticket at  NCM TicketSource  or by writing to us at info@norwichchambermusic.org.uk, in either case quoting your Season or Membership number.   

All other supporters are welcomed and can register for £5.00.atNCM TicketSource

Sign in details will be circulated to all who have registered 48 hours before the event.

If you have not already registered, we hope you will be able to attend

Concerts

Our current plans for concerts are a little uncertain as we emerge from Covid restrictions. As a reminder, these are the dates that we currently plan, and we hope us to welcome you on many of them as regulations permit.

Sunday April 18th              Christiane Karg and Simon Lepper (if international travel restrictions permit)
Saturday May 15th            Alina Ibragimova and Cédric Tiberghien (Norwich and Norfolk Festival) 
Saturday June 19th          Steven Isserlis and Connie Shih (postponed from March 26th)
Saturday June 26th           Paul Lewis  (postponed from March 6th)
Saturday July 3rd               Laurence Power and Simon Crawford-Phillips (postposed from February 14th) 
Saturday July 17th             Pavel Kolesnikov (postponed from September 12th 2020) 

The programmes originally planned are shown on our website, These may well change, however, particularly if social distancing arrangements cause us to offer two shorter concerts to limited audiences.

With best wishes to everyone, and let’s all hope for a speedy return to some form of normal life.

The Committee
Norwich Chamber Music

40 socially-distanced singers performing ‘Spem in alium’ at the Tate Modern

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https://players.brightcove.net/6057949401001/default_default/index.html?videoId=6191767227001

Majestic Renaissance music, the striking surroundings of the Tate Modern in London, and a deeply moving experience for us all.

There’s no piece of music like Thomas Tallis’ Spem in alium. It’s one of the most iconic works for the human voice, featuring the choir of 40 independent singers and interweaving lines of music.

Written 450 years ago in 1570, it’s a masterpiece of composition. Writing for 40 different voices requires elaborate musical architecture. Often the voices join one by one and sing in different combinations, but several times in the 10-minute piece, all 40 voices enter at the same time. The sound is majestic and overwhelming.

It’s a piece that’s often sung in big, distinctive acoustics like cathedrals or cavernous basilicas. In May 2020, the leading British choir ORA Singers and their founder and director Suzi Digby planned to sing it somewhere quite different: one of London’s most strikingly modern spaces.

The Tate Modern on the banks of the Thames is one of the world’s most iconic galleries, with huge austere rooms situated in a massive Victorian former power station. The performance was to take place in the building’s Turbine Hall, to coincide with Tate Modern’s 20th birthday.

https://www.classicfm.com/composers/tallis/tate-modern-ora-simgers-spem-in-alium/?fbclid=IwAR1E_hXDOhlgdFlEmtdQrg2O5hBsTrajF29Cr2cVns8kJzOkuniG-1I_WKo

Mancroft Music returns in October

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Mancroft Music returns in October with a series of organ and piano recitals,
on Saturdays at 1pm. Admission is free.
 
10th October – George Inscoe, organ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uupc9oKz0Q8
17th – Sohyun Park, piano
24th – Dr Anthony Gritten, organ 
31st – Constance Chow, piano 

Although there are still restrictions on numbers attending events at the church because of the need for social distancing, we are hopeful that all those wishing to attend in person will be able to do so.

However, if numbers are large, we’re unable to guarantee a place for everyone, and we’d advise arriving in good time so you can make sure of your seat. Or you can watch from home as the performances will be live-streamed on the St Peter Mancroft YouTube channel. You can set a reminder by following the link. St Peter Mancroft YouTube

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Britten Sinfonia has a new CEO and Artistic Director Meurig Bowen

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Introducing Meurig Bowen

Meurig Bowen joined Britten Sinfonia last month from BBC National Orchestra & Chorus of Wales as the new Chief Executive & Artistic Director.

Find out a little more about Meurig below in this exclusive Q&A. 

WHERE HAS YOUR WORK TAKEN YOU BEFORE BRITTEN SINFONIA?
Over three decades, I’ve been really fortunate to work in a range of music management roles. First of all, there were six-year stints with The Hilliard Ensemble in London and the Australian Chamber Orchestra in Sydney. I directed the Lichfield Festival for four years and the Cheltenham Music Festival for a decade, and in between I was Head of Programming at the Aldeburgh Festival/Snape Maltings. Most recently, I’ve been Head of Artistic Planning for BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales. Being close to all that hugely varied and classy music-making has been an enormous privilege.

DID THE INTEREST IN MUSIC COME FROM HOME OR ELSEWHERE?
My father was a concert and opera singer, and so music was a big part of my life from early on – it’s likely that I attended more Messiahs, Verdi Requiems and Gerontiuses than any other under-18 on the planet (and the cool-gang would say this is nothing to be proud of). I was a chorister in my local, North London parish church choir, and that set me up for getting a choral scholarship to King’s College, Cambridge, where I studied music. I am also a long-lapsed viola player. The high points were playing Lutoslawski’s Concerto for Orchestra with the London Schools Symphony Orchestra – conducted by the composer, no less – and hacking my way through Brandenburg 6 with fellow King’s string players in the college chapel.

WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO IN YOUR NEW ROLE?
Just as David Butcher did so brilliantly himself for so long, I aim to be an enabler for the musicians – to deliver for them the performing opportunities, and the audiences, so that they can be as fulfilled and inspiring as possible. That means keeping the programming as fresh as it’s always been, and striving to maximise the musicians’ contact points in the community. The social and geographical reach of Britten Sinfonia will be as important going forwards as its undoubted artistic range and quality.

WHAT ABOUT COVID AND ITS EFFECT ON MUSIC AND MUSICIANS?
Obviously, this six-month shutdown of music-making has been devastating – for the livelihoods of musicians as much as their sense of being and purpose. So many have missed the enriching effect that live, communal music-making can have. Lockdown montage videos online have been ingenious, but they were a means to an end, and we need to rebuild urgently the artist-audience bond of live performance. COVID presents us with great challenges going forward, but the need to create new live performance formats that are COVID-compliant is a great opportunity for resourceful and imaginative thinking. Watch this space…

WHICH COMPOSERS OF THE PAST ARE YOU MOST DRAWN TO?
I don’t know whether there’s a thread running through the following but here goes: Bach, Schubert’s songs and chamber music, Verdi and Puccini operas, Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov, Ravel, some Stravinsky and Shostakovich, a lot of 20th century British music. There are some very fine tunesmiths amongst those I guess, and little of it is overly cerebral. But in listing those, some of my most-loved music gets sidelined: Mozart concertos, Beethoven’s Eroica symphony, Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht, Strauss’s Metamorphosen…it’s so tough to narrow down! And I’m also drawn to the lives and music of a couple of musical oddballs, the eccentric visionaries Percy Grainger and Erik Satie.

AND THE LIVING ONES?
I was very fortunate to get to know Arvo Pärt when working for The Hilliard Ensemble. The best of his pieces really affect me (Tabula Rasa above all others), and so I’d rank him and Steve Reich as the two elderly greats of our time. Having said that, Birtwistle’s The Mask of Orpheus last year at ENO was mind-blowingly good, and the most recent new orchestral piece I heard that really made an impression was Anders Hillborg’s startling Through Lost Landscapes. I try to keep my ears open at all times.

WHAT ELSE, APART FROM MUSIC, FILLS YOUR LIFE?
If the COVID lockdown has delivered any positives, it’s been bonus time with my wife and daughter. That’s been very precious.

But generally…getting out into the UK’s more dramatic landscapes, travelling further afield when time allows, getting better in the kitchen, aiming for a balanced and nutritious diet of books (fiction mainly), TV and film.

And then there’s the sport. Cricket still captivates me, even if it has to be mainly via TV highlights and Test Match Special (I refuse to sign up to Sky). Rugby interests me less and less – it’s too calculating now, too pumped up. I used to play tennis, and still hope to do so again, and I manage to play golf a few times a year. The last time I played cricket was in a match I organised with David Butcher no less – Aldeburgh versus Britten Sinfonia. Each side enlisted some visiting Tibetan monks in Snape to make up the numbers. True…

MEURIG BOWEN has been appointed Chief Executive and Artistic Director of Britten Sinfonia, succeeding David Butcher.

Dr Jerome Booth, Chairman of Britten Sinfonia’s Board of Trustees comments:

“Britten Sinfonia has always been fearless in its approach to music making and Meurig shares our sense of energy and inquiry. He is an experienced and adventurous programmer and a passionate advocate for reaching wider audiences with music of the highest quality and ambition. The match between his dynamic approach and one of the world’s finest chamber orchestras is an enticing one and we look forward to welcoming him this summer.’’

Meurig Bowen comments:

“I’ve been a long-time admirer of Britten Sinfonia’s distinctive musicianship and the vitality and sheer excellence of its music making. It’s therefore a great joy to be able to follow in David Butcher’s footsteps and to work with Britten Sinfonia’s virtuoso musicians, highly committed staff and board to help shape an invigorating future for one of the world’s finest chamber orchestras.”

Meurig succeeds David Butcher, who has left Britten Sinfonia to take up the post of Chief Executive of Manchester’s Hallé Orchestra from September 2020.

Carolyn Sampson and Matthew Wadsworth at The Chapel Park Lane Sunday 20 September

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There are just a couple of returns for each of these concerts on Sunday if anyone would like them – £20 each, Roger

SUNDAY 20th September at 2pm & 6.30pm

Carolyn Sampson and Matthew Wadsworth present a programme of some of their favourite 17th century songs, touching all corners of society. From  plaintive folk songs and ballads to the genius and depths of Dowland, Johnson and Purcell. Music was played and heard, in the street, at home, in religious settings and in the theatre, just like today. At the centre of the programme is Echos in air by Laura Snowden – a wonderfully hypnotic work for solo theorbo, written for Matthew Wadsworth in 2019.

PROGRAMME

Anon: I will give my love an apple

Paggingtons pound

Lord Willoughby’s welcome home

John Dowland (1563-1626)

Fortune my foe (lute solo)

In darkness let me dwell

If my complaints

Robert Johnson (1583-1633)

Away delights

O let us howl

Henry Purcell (1659-1695)

O solitude

Laura Snowden

Echos in air (solo theorbo)

Henry Purcell (1659-1695)

Amidst the shades

The fatal hour

Mad Bess

An evening hymn

ALSO PLEASE NOTE SLIGHT AMENDMENTS TO FUTURE CONCERTS

THERE WILL NOW BE TWO PERFORMANCES OF THE ZOFFANY QUINTET 

Sunday 8th November at 4pm & 6.30pm 

ZOFFANY ENSEMBLE

Manon Derome violin Catherine Musker viola

Michael Dussek piano Tony Pleeth cello

Beethoven; Piano Quartet No 3 in C major

Brahms; Piano Quartet No 2 in A major Op 26

AND CHIAROSCURO QUARTET  

Monday 16th November at 3pm & 7pm

CHIAROSCURO QUARTET

Mozart Prussian Quartets

No 21 in D major K575

No 22 in B flat K589

No 23 in F major K590

Two concerts at The Chapel, Park Lane, Norwich

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Herewith details of two further Chapel concerts, programmed by Roger Rowe.

The distinguished soprano Carolyn Sampson, well known for her work with historically informed performances and Masaaki Suzuki’s famed Bach Cantata performances, gives a mouth watering concert preview with Matt Wadsworth, of her Wigmore Hall live stream later this month. 

The Mark Viner concert next Sunday is fully booked,  returns only – there are just a few seats left for the 6th September Beethoven cello Sonata series.

Lovely to be back with live music – do try it! Roger  

Sunday August 30th at 1pm & 4pm    

Returns  only

 MARK VINER (piano)

 Beethoven: Piano Sonata No 27 in E minor Op 90
Liszt:  Die Zelle in Nonnenwerth, elegie, S.534
Alkan: Trois petites fantaisies, op.40
Liszt: Hymne a Sainte Cécile de Charles Gounod, S.491
Deux Légendes, S.175
1. St. François d’Assise  2.  St. François de Paule marchant sur les flots

 

Sunday 6th September at 3pm & 6.30pm 
A few seats still available 

RICHARD TUNNICLIFFE cello  &  MAGGIE COLE piano

Beethoven Cello Sonatas I
Sonata No 1  in F major Op 5/1
Seven Variations on Mozart’s “Bee Mannern, welche Liebe fühlen”
Sonata No 4 in C  major Op.102/1

Sunday 20th September at 6.30pm
Booking now open

Wigmore Preview

CAROLYN SAMPSONsoprano    MATT WADSWORTH lute

Music Everywhere

A programme of  favourite  17th century songs, touching all corners of society, from plaintive folk songs and ballads to the genius and depths of Dowland, Johnson and Purcell. 

Music that was played and heard, in the street, at home, in religious settings and in the theatre.  

At the centre of the programme is Echos in air by Laura Snowden – a wonderfully hypnotic work for solo theorbo, written for Matthew Wadsworth in 2019.

Sunday 18th October at 3pm & 6.30pm 

Booking now open

MITHRAS PIANO TRIO

Haydn: Piano Trio in E flat in E major XV;28
Tchaikowsky: Piano Trio in A minor Op 50

Two outdoor concerts coming up soon at Wolterton Hall on 21/22 August 2020

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At last some good news on the concerts front as so many have been cancelled or postponed in the last few months

These concerts have been organised by Hannah Perowne who has brought together a new ensemble of excellent musicians at Wolterton Park, just north of Aylsham, supported by the owners at Wolterton Hall.

Hannah says ‘ I am so happy to have some truly fantastic players involved. Every single one of us has been adversely effected by the crisis of the last few months and for all of us, these concerts will be our first public performances since March’. 

There are limited tickets available, to ensure that the rules surrounding public gatherings are adhered to and that everyone is as safe as possible. All the performers will be receiving a fee and the rest will go to Help Musicians, a charity who have been incredibly helpful to many of us over the last few months. 

For tickets, please book via the Eventbrite link below

The link to the website is:

Register on Eventbrite

Lockdown updates

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Norwich Chamber Music

With true creative resilience, many organisations are bouncing back with online activities to keep us going during tis strange lockdown period. This post has been pulled together by Norwich Chamber Music group to give you an easy-access set of links

Although live concerts, as we know them, have been put on hold, you can get ready for a festival of delights– the Wigmore Hall will be presenting a lunchtime concert every weekday in June, played live to an empty house (In full compliance with current guidelines) and relayed via Radio 3.  Recitals will also be available on the Wigmore Hall website and BBC Sounds for the following month.  Perhaps an excuse to sit with a glass of wine and imagine you’re in the concert hall (with extra benefits!).  Please read the article below for further information.  A full programme of artists can be found on the Wigmore Hall website – many of the performers are alumni of the JIC concerts.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/may/12/glimmer-of-hope-leading-performers-return-to-londons-wigmore-hall

For those of you who enjoy an occasional visit to the world of full orchestral music, American conductor Michael Tilson Thomas has created a series of video lectures, liberally illustrated by the San Francisco Symphony, exploring some of the symphonic masterpieces of the repertoire.  The series is called Keeping Score, and it’s well worth a look: https://michaeltilsonthomas.com/keeping-score/

Some of us are thinking regretfully of the cancelled 2020 Glyndebourne festival. But there’s some consolation in their programme of streamed past performances, which begins on Sunday 24th May.  See here for details:
https://www.glyndebourne.com/openhouse/
Why opera matters, a programme from Glyndebourne by Petroc Trelawny, first broadcast in 2014https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b048bghw
Glyndebourne operas also available on Radio 3.

And here’s a reminder of the range of continuing on-line treats:
An excellent summary of global online resources featuring classical music, opera, theatre and dance is on Bachtrack:
https://bachtrack.com

This Guardian page automatically updates, so you can use the click-through week after week
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/mar/16/classical-music-opera-livestream-at-home-coronavirus?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Great musicians have opened their houses or played in empty concert halls on a daily basis to share their music with audiences around the world.   We particularly enjoyed daily twitter concerts by Igor Levit (see recent New Yorker magazine article about this great pianist, link below).
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/05/18/igor-levit-is-like-no-other-pianist?utm_source=onsite-share&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=onsite-share&utm_brand=the-new-yorker
 Igor Levit has now finished his two month run of nightly house concerts on Twitter (52 concerts), but you can still catch up with his wonderful series of mini recitals.

Lockdown listening
Whatever you’re listening to – whether on-line streams, forgotten or unplayed CD from the back of the shelf, recommendations from friends, familiar favourites, new discoveries, Radio 3 – we’d be delighted to hear something about your experience of music under lockdown.  Just send us a few sentences (or more if you’re feeling inspired) to share with the members of our community.  We’ll edit, and circulate in the next newsletter.  Think of it as an ongoing concert-interval conversation!

For now, we hope you’re all keeping well, enjoy the sunshine and we look forward to seeing you at the John innes centre for teh next season

Peter Lawson
Chairman

Norwich Chamber Music