Classical Season stamford arts centre
October 2018 - May 2019
stamford arts centre BOX OFFICE 01780 763203 WWW.STAMFORDARTSCENTRE.COM
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e are all very much looking forward to the new season of classical concerts at the Stamford Arts Centre. But first, may I thank all our audience members last season for their generous and loyal support? The 17/18 season saw our audience numbers continue to grow and it was encouraging to see so many new faces. I really hope that when you read this brochure you will find at least one concert that you feel you cannot miss. Indeed, don’t miss out on the discount when buying tickets for three or more concerts at the same time! Our piano recital this year will be given by one of the most sought-after young pianists in the world, Benjamin Grosvenor. He has received superb reviews for his performances in both the concert hall and the recording studio. He brings to us a programme of Liszt, Schumann, Janáček and Prokofiev. This season’s string quartet concert is given by the Escher Quartet from New York. Their programme includes quartets by Beethoven and Schumann, but also the String Quartet by Samuel Barber, from which comes Barber’s famous Adagio for Strings. We also welcome the Oculi Ensemble, a development of the award winning Badke Quartet. The Ensemble’s flexibility means that they bring to Stamford music not only for string quartet but also for string duo and quintet. We welcome back the Smetana Piano Trio who continue to receive awards throughout Europe for their recordings.
They bring a programme of trios by Rachmaninov, Martinů and Dvorak.
The Orchestra of The Swan
The early music band Fretwork need no introduction. Their imaginative programme spans six centuries, from Byrd to Alexander Goehr via Bach and Grieg.
13 October 2018
Once again we are grateful to Orchestras Live for their support in bringing professional orchestras to Stamford. We open the season with the Orchestra of the Swan in a concert called Arrivals and Departures. The programme includes both a single and a double cello concerto, in which the orchestra will be joined by Laura van der Heijden. Laura won the BBC Young Musician of the Year contest in 2012. We close the season with a concert by the European Union Chamber Orchestra, in which the winner of the Young Musician of the Year 2002, Jennifer Pike, will perform Mozart’s third Violin Concerto. Coincidentally, Nicholas Daniel, also a winner of the Young Musician of the Year competition, comes in December with the Britten Oboe Quartet in a programme of masterpieces from the oboe and cor anglais quartet repertoire.
3 November 2018
So, I do hope you enjoy the season. Please feel free to find me at a concert with any thoughts you may have regarding future programming, and I will see if it is possible to make your idea work at Stamford.
9 March 2019
Oculi Ensemble Britten Oboe Quartet 1 December 2018
Benjamin Grosvenor 12 January 2019
Smetana Piano Trio 2 February 2019
Fretwork
Escher String Quartet 6 April 2019
EU Chamber Orchestra 4 May 2019
Classical Season Programmer
BUY FOR THREE OR MORE CONCERTS AT THE SAME TIME AND GET £2 OFF EACH TICKET * Offer will apply to an equal amount of tickets for each concert
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B O X O F F I C E 01780 763203
OCTOBER
NOVEMBER
THE ORCHESTRA OF THE SWAN Händel Haydn Roth Vivaldi Haydn
The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba Cello Concerto No. 2 in D major, Hob. VIIb/2, Op. 101 Departure of the Queen of Sheba Concerto for Two Cellos in G minor, RV531 Symphony No. 45 in F# minor, ‘Farewell’
Stacey Watton Laura van der Heijden Nick Stringfellow
Conductor Cello Cello
The Orchestra of the Swan visit with a programme of ‘Arrivals and Departures’. Händel’s Arrival of the Queen of Sheba from the oratorio Solomon is balanced by Roth’s Departure of the Queen of Sheba, also a duet for double reed instruments. The concert ends with Haydn’s Farewell Symphony in which, famously, the whole orchestra gradually leaves the stage. In between, we have Haydn’s Cello Concerto in D major and the Vivaldi Concerto for Two Cellos played by Laura van der Heijden and Nick Stringfellow. Laura was the winner of the BBC Young Musician of the Year in 2012 and has already made a name for herself as an emerging talent, captivating audiences and critics alike with her insightful interpretations. Nick is the principal cellist of the orchestra but is also acclaimed as a chamber musician playing with such ensembles as the Fitzwilliam String Quartet and the Brook Street Band. The Orchestra of the Swan has its home in Shakespeare’s Stratfordupon-Avon, but now has a regular concert series as the Associate Orchestra at Birmingham Town Hall. They have recently toured China and Mexico, and have performed at the Istanbul International Festival and at Carnegie Hall in New York. The Orchestra has received critical acclaim for recent recordings. They made the world premiere recordings of the complete symphonies of Hans Gál, which were then featured on BBC Radio 3’s ‘Composer of the Week’.
OCULI ENSEMBLE
Mozart String Quintet No. 4 in G minor, K. 516 Beethoven Duo for Violin and Cello No. 1 in C major, WoO. 27 Haydn String Quartet Op. 77, No. 2 in F major, Hob. III:82 Mendelssohn String Quintet No. 1 in A major, Op. 18 Charlotte Scott Emma Parker Jon Thorne Simon Tandree Pau Codina
The Oculi Ensemble is a new flexible ensemble derived from the award winning Badke Quartet. The Badke was formed in 2002 at the Royal Academy of Music, and performed regularly at concert halls and festivals in the UK and abroad, including Aldeburgh, Montreux, Bad Kissingen, Malmö, Mecklenburg, Ljubljana, Santander, Aixen-Provence, Verbier, Presteigne, West Cork, the Concertgebouw, Wigmore Hall, Kings Place, and the Musikverein in Vienna. Now, capitalising on their rich history of musical collaborations, they are inviting some fine chamber musicians to share the stage with them regularly, so that the Quartet can explore the breadth of chamber music written for a flexible ensemble. Hence, in this concert, we have only one string quartet, the very last Haydn completed, together with string quintets by Mozart and Mendelssohn, and a duo for violin and cello from the beginning of Beethoven’s career.
Saturday 13 October 2018 7.30pm
Saturday 3 November 2018 7.30pm
£23 (£21) £10 under 26s
£18 (£17) £10 under 26s
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Violin Violin Viola Viola Cello
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JANUARY
CrediT: Patrick Allen/Opera Omnia
DECEMBER
BRITTEN OBOE QUARTET
BENJAMIN GROSVENOR
Moeran Fantasy Quartet Richard Rodney Bennett Arethusa Francaix Cor Anglais Quartet Bach Goldberg Variations (selection arranged for string trio) Britten Phantasy Quartet, Op. 2 Mozart Oboe Quartet, K. 370
Schumann Schumann Janáček Prokofiev Liszt
Nicholas Daniel Jacqueline Shave Clare Finnimore Caroline Dearnley
Oboe Violin Viola Cello
Nicholas Daniel, long acknowledged as one of the world’s great oboe players and one of Britain’s best- known musicians, founded the Britten Oboe Quartet together with his colleagues and coprincipals of the Britten Sinfonia. They all bring to this ensemble not only the highest musical standards but also the experience of playing together over many years, resulting in warm, expressive and above all enjoyable playing. They explore the highest quality oboe and cor anglais quartet music, both the lesser-known works and classics such as Mozart’s Oboe Quartet. The quartet has been heard throughout the UK, from Aberdeen to the Gregynog Festival in Wales, the Swaledale and Wimbledon Festivals, Oxford, Brighton, and Wigmore Hall and Kings Place in London. Their most recent UK tours have included concerts at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, Sheffield and Keele Universities and the Djanogly Hall in Nottingham.
Blümenstück in D flat, Op. 19 Kreisleriana, Op. 16 Piano Sonata, 1. X. 1905, ‘From the Street’ Visions fugitives, Op. 22 Réminiscences de Norma (Bellini)
Benjamin Grosvenor is internationally recognized for his electrifying performances and insightful interpretations. His virtuosic command over the most strenuous technical complexities underpins the depth and understanding of his musicianship. Benjamin is renowned for his distinctive sound, described by The Independent as ‘poetic and gently ironic, brilliant yet clear-minded, intelligent but not without humour, all translated through a beautifully clear and singing touch’. He is quite simply one of the most sought-after young pianists in the world. Benjamin first came to prominence as the winner of the Keyboard Final of the 2004 BBC Young Musician Competition at the age of eleven. Since then, he has performed internationally, and was invited to perform with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the First Night of the 2011 Proms, aged just nineteen. During his career to date, Benjamin has received Gramophone Magazine’s Young Artist of the Year Award, Gramophone’s Instrumental Award, a Diapason d’Or for his first CD recording, and the Queen’s Commendation for Excellence when he graduated from the Royal Academy of Music. In 2016 he was the inaugural recipient of The Ronnie and Lawrence Ackman Classical Piano Prize with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. He has been featured in two BBC television documentaries and CNN’s Human to Hero series. Benjamin has been supported since 2013 by EFG International, the global private banking group.
Saturday 1 December 2018 7.30pm
Saturday 12 January 2019 7.30pm
£18 (£17) £10 under 26s
£20 (£19) £10 under 26s
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B O X O F F I C E 01780 763203
FEBRUARY
MARCH
SMETANA PIANO TRIO Rachmaninov Martinů Dvořák
Trio élégiaque No. 1 in G minor Bergerettes, H. 275 Piano Trio in F minor, Op. 65
Jitka Cechová Jiří Vodička Jan Pálenícek
Piano Violin Cello
We are delighted to welcome the Smetana Trio back to Stamford. The Trio was founded in 1934 by the legendary Czech pianist Josef Pálenícek, violinist Alexandr Plocek and cellist František Smetana. Despite changes in personnel, it remains the foremost Czech chamber ensemble. As BBC Music Magazine wrote recently, “There is nothing routine about the Smetana Trio’s approach to this engaging repertoire. Every aspect of their interpretation is carefully considered without losing an ounce of spontaneity. Individual lines are remarkable for their focus and beauty, though the powerful sense of ensemble is never sacrificed to individual display.” In Spring 2017, the Smetana Trio won the BBC Music Magazine Chamber Award for the second time, this time for its recording of the complete trios by Bohuslav Martinů, released on Supraphon. (The first award was for their recording of Dvořák piano trios ten years earlier). The recording of Martinů trios received other recognition, including BBC Music Magazine’s Recording of the Month, Sunday Times Recording of the Week, a Diapason d'Or award, and an Arts Desk review saying, “This is the greatest chamber disc I’ve heard in ages, and I can’t imagine a better introduction to Martinů's music.”
FRETWORK
Henry Purcell William Byrd Nico Muhly Robert Parsons Eustache Du Caurroy Claude Debussy William Lawes Giovanni Legrenzi John Jenkins Edvard Grieg Alexander Goehr Alfonso Ferrabosco J.S. Bach
Two Fantasias in Four Parts Browning, or The Leaves be Green Slow: an In Nomine Ut re mi Eustache Du Caurroy La fille au cheveux de lin Consort set in A minor Sonata sesta Fantazy in Five Parts Heiweh, Op.57 No. 6 Two Fantasies Hexachord Fantasy Passacaglia, BWV 582
Few other ensembles can match the range of Fretwork’s repertory, spanning as it does the first printed music of 1501 from Venice to contemporary music commissioned by the group. Their recordings of arrangements of J. S. Bach have won particular praise, but they have recently issued a disc containing music by Grieg, Debussy, Shostakovitch, Warlock and Britten. This extraordinary breadth of music has taken them all over the world in the 25 years since their debut, and their recordings of the classic English viol repertory – Purcell, Gibbons, Lawes and Byrd – have become the benchmark by which others are judged. The consistently high standards they have achieved have brought music old and new to audiences hitherto unfamiliar with the inspiring sound-world of the viol.
Saturday 2 February 2019 7.30pm
Saturday 9 March 2019 7.30pm
£18 (£17) £10 under 26s
£18 (£17) £10 under 26s
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APRIL
MAY
ESCHER STRING QUARTET
EUROPEAN UNION CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
Beethoven Barber Schumann
Warlock Mozart Rodrigo Haydn
String Quartet No. 1, Op. 18 No. 1 String Quartet in B minor, Op. 11 String Quartet No. 1 in A minor, Op. 41 No. 1
Adam Barnett-Hart Danbi Um Pierre LaPointe Brook Speltz
Violin Violin Viola Cello
The Escher String Quartet has received acclaim for its expressive, nuanced performances that combine “unusual textural clarity” with “a rich, blended sound”. A former BBC New Generation Artist, the Quartet has performed at the BBC Proms at Cadogan Hall and is a regular guest at Wigmore Hall. In its home town of New York, the ensemble serves as Season Artists of The Chamber Music Society of the Lincoln Center, and are the quartet in residence at both Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas and the Tuesday Musical Association in Akron, Ohio. Their recordings have won accolades in the Guardian, the Gramophone and BBC Music Magazine, with their most recent set of the Zemlinsky String Quartets winning “Classical CD of the Year” in the Guardian, a Recommendation in The Strad and yet another nomination for a BBC Music Magazine Award. The Quartet bring to Stamford a programme of ‘first’ quartets, Beethoven’s Op. 18, No. 1 and Schumann’s Op. 41, No. 1, as well as the only string quartet completed by Samuel Barber. This piece contains the famous Adagio, which is often performed by string orchestra as a stand-alone piece. We will hear the Adagio set in its original context.
Capriol Suite, IPW 10 Violin Concerto No. 3 in G major, K. 216 Cançoneta for violin and string orchestra Symphony No. 44 in E minor, ‘Trauer’
Hans-Peter Hofmann Jennifer Pike
The European Union Chamber Orchestra was formed in 1981 and soon gained a worldwide reputation as a musical ambassador for the European Union. It has made intercontinental tours covering South and East Asia, North, South and Central America, North Africa and the Middle East as well as Europe. Performances have included concerts in the presence of Queen Noor of Jordan, the King and Queen of Belgium and its own Patron, Queen Sofia of Spain, as well as a concert in 1999 to mark the birthday of King Sihanouk of Cambodia in the Royal Palace at Phnom Penh. The EUCO has performed with many distinguished artists, for example Nicola Benedetti, Alison Balsom, Nicholas Daniel, Nikolai Demidenko, Peter Donohoe, Angela Hewitt, Guy Johnston, Tasmin Little, Lazar Berman, Mischa Maisky, Igor Oistrakh, James Galway, Ivo Pogorelich, Alina Ibragimova, Emma Johnson and now, Jennifer Pike. Jennifer Pike is renowned for her "dazzling interpretative flair and exemplary technique" (Classic FM). She won the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition in 2002 at the age of 12. Since then, she has taken the musical world by storm with her unique artistry and compelling insight into music from the Baroque to the present day. In demand as soloist and recitalist all over the world, she is known as an artist of exceptional integrity and depth, whilst her ability to "hold an audience spellbound" (The Strad) and "luminous beauty of tone" (The Observer) have established her as one of the most exciting artists performing today. You may remember that Jennifer’s father, Jeremy, taught music at Stamford School.
Saturday 6 April 2019 7.30pm
Saturday 4 May 2019 7.30pm
£18 (£17) £10 under 26s
£23 (£21) £10 under 26s
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Director Violin
B O X O F F I C E 01780 763203
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BOOKING INFORMATION
We are open for you to come in or call Monday to Saturday from 9.30am to 8.00pm. Please note, on busy show nights, telephone bookings can only be taken until 7.30pm. You may pay by cash, cheque (made payable to South Kesteven District Council) or credit/debit card. You can collect your prepaid tickets from the box office at any time before the performance, or we can post them for 99p.
FOOD AND DRINK
There are a number of options for refreshments at the Arts Centre. The gallery and cellar bars will be open for pre-show and interval drinks. The sweet kiosk will also be open for all concerts.
DISCOUNTS
Discounts (priced in brackets) are available to Artscene members, unwaged, over 60s, disabled patrons & their companion. There is a special £10 ticket for under 26s. If you are planning to bring a large group to a concert, please contact the box office to see if we can help organise your trip or if we are able to offer you a discount. We regret that we are unable to exchange tickets or to refund money. If an event is sold out, we will try to resell unwanted tickets. Tickets may also be provisionally reserved over the phone. Payment must be made within three working days or half an hour before the performance, whichever is sooner. Please ask at the box office if you wish to join our mailing list or become an Artscene member. The Classical Season Multi Buy Discount is available to customers who purchase for three or more concerts in one single transaction. The offer will only apply to an equal number of tickets for each concert bought.
ACCESS
Our classical music concerts are held in the ballroom, which is on the ground floor and easily accessible. To avoid any steps please enter via our door in St George’s Square. Please let the box office know in advance if you wish to reserve a wheelchair space and if you require an adjoining seat for a companion. Toilet facilities are available close to both the theatre and the ballroom and we have baby changing facilities. If you need further information or assistance, please talk to the Box Office staff prior to your visit.
FIND US
Parking is available at Wharf Road, Cattle Market, Bath Row and St Leonard’s Street car parks. All are free after 6pm. There is parking for disabled badge holders close to the Arts Centre in St Mary’s Street and St George’s Square.
stamford arts centre 27 St Mary’s Street, Stamford, PE9 2DL Box Office 01780 763203 Tourist Information 01780 755611 Admin 01780 480846 Stamford Arts Centre
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Classical Season stamford arts centre
met opera live in hd 2018-19 now on sale
Aida Verdi Sat 6 Oct 5.55pm LIVE
Adriana Lecouvreur Cilea Sat 19 Jan 5.55pm ENCORE
Samson et Dalila Saint-Saens Sat 20 Oct 5.55pm LIVE
Carmen Bizet Sat 2 Feb 5.55pm LIVE
La Fanciulla del West Puccini Sat 27 Oct 5.55pm LIVE
La Fille du Regiment Donizetti Sat 2 Mar 5.55pm LIVE
Marnie Muhly/Wright Sat 10 Nov 5.55pm LIVE
Die Walkure Wagner Sat 30 Mar 5pm LIVE
La Traviata Verdi Sat 22 Dec 5.55pm ENCORE
Dialogies des Carmelites Poulenc Sat 11 May 5pm LIVE
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