Issue No.80
FRIENDS’ NEWSLETTER
January 2020
BEETHOVEN HIGHLIGHTS March sees the wind come to the fore, with Beethoven’s Quintet for Piano and Wind being performed alongside Louise Farrenc’s Sextet for Piano and Wind (adding the flute) on 20 March. Born over 20 years before Beethoven’s death, Farrenc became a Professor of Piano at the Paris Conservatoire, teaching there for over 30 years. As a composer her music was premiered by some of the leading musicians of the day, including the violinist Joseph Joachim; but her works became largely neglected until the recent interest in rediscovering ‘forgotten’ female composers, which led to her being featured as a BBC Radio 3 Composer of the Week in 2013.
CONTENTS
PAGE ONE Beethoven Highlights PAGE TWO - Modern Classics PAGE THREE - Maya Youssef PAGE FOUR - National news PAGE FIVE - SCMF 2020 PAGE SIX - Focus on E360 PAGE SEVEN - MitR news PAGE EIGHT - Dates for your diary
It is the year of Beethoven! Having launched the String Quartet Cycle last autumn with a fabulous concert in November from the Ensemble 360 string players, our celebrations really get underway in 2020. Beethoven’s second quartet is contrasted with one of his last works, the Grosse Fuge, in a concert on 11 February that also features the world premiere of Carmen Ho’s piece The Way It Is as part of our relationship with the Royal Philharmonic Society.
Don’t miss this opportunity to hear why her chamber music is generally regarded as her best work and deserves to be heard more often. Ensemble 360 is joined by some very special guests on 22 March to perform Beethoven’s Sextet and Octet. Oboist Ilid Jones has performed with most of the UK’s leading orchestras, including alongside Adrian at the Royal Scottish National Orchestra; and horn player James Pillai plays regularly with orchestras in London - as well as being the husband of our bassoonist, Amy! Music from Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro arranged for octet also features, in a change to the advertised programme.
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