16th NORTH NORFOLK MUSIC FESTIVAL 5-15 AUGUST 2020
IMPORTANT MESSAGE
In line with many other arts organisations, we are waiting for further clarity on the current situation before we make a decision about this year's NNMF. We expect the Government to make an announcement on 16 April 2020, which will be three weeks after lockdown began, at which point we will decide on how to proceed. Meanwhile we are in the process of making contingency plans.
In the event that the Festival cannot take place in August we will invite all of the artists who have been booked for this year's Festival to come instead in 2021 in the hope that many of them will be able to take part. Depending on the circumstances we hope that we might also be able to present some concerts in August or later in this year - either in South Creake, Burnham Norton or The Maltings in Wells. August 2021 seems too long to wait to enjoy concerts in Norfolk - the least we can do is to hope and to be ready!
WEDNESDAY 5th AUGUST
3-6pm St Mary's Church, South Creake
FESTIVAL MASTERCLASSES
MELVYN TAN and SIMON ROWLAND-JONES working with young International pianists THOMAS KELLY and ANA MANASTIREANU, and the SALOMÉ STRING QUARTET from the Royal College of Music. The young musicians will take part in two NNMF Festival concerts on Friday 7th August.
TICKETS £5 You are invited to stay on to meet the students over a glass of wine following the class.
THURSDAY 6th AUGUST
10am - 1pm St Mary's Church, South Creake
FESTIVAL MASTERCLASSES
MELVYN TAN and SIMON ROWLAND-JONES working with young International pianists THOMAS KELLY and ANA MANASTIREANU, and the SALOMÉ STRING QUARTET from the Royal College of Music. The young musicians will take part in two NNMF Festival concerts on Friday 7th August.
3.30pm St Margaret's Church, Burnham Norton
OLIVER CONDY organ
We are delighted to kick off the 16th NNMF by welcoming back organist and Editor of BBC Music Magazine Oliver Condy for his fourth appearance here, with a programme of 17th and 18th century German and Spanish organ music, including works by JS Bach, Franz Tunder, Juan Cabanilles, Dietrich Buxtehude and Antonio de Cabezón.
5.45pm Festival Marquee, St Mary's Church, South Creake
FESTIVAL SUPPER 1
TICKETS £23 includes two-course buffet supper, mineral water, bread and olives, tea or coffee
7pm St Mary's Church, South Creake
ANDREA MASTRONI bass-baritone IAIN BURNSIDE piano
SCHUBERT Winterreise
Andrea Mastroni was born in Milan where he still lives. That he has chosen to sing Winterreise in South Creake is proof that Andrea is one of the most versatile of today’s international singers - in the current season alone he has sung major roles in works by Pergolesi, Cavalli, Wagner, Stravinsky and Mozart. He sang the role of Pallante in Agrippina by Handel at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden opposite Joyce DiDonato and made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 2017 as Sparafucile in Rigoletto. He will sing the role of King Mark in Tristan und Isolde in Atlanta in June 2020.
This concert is generously supported by Patricia Hewitt in memory of her husband, William Birtles, who died on the 13th January 2020.
FRIDAY 7th AUGUST
4.30pm St Mary's Church, South Creake
SALOMÉ STRING QUARTET, THOMAS KELLY piano, ANA MANASTIREANU piano
The first of two programmes given by star students from the Royal College of Music who have been taking part in the NNMF Masterclasses this week with Melvyn Tan and Simon Rowland-Jones
SCHUBERT Quartettsatz
REBECCA CLARKE Viola Sonata, 1st movement
BEETHOVEN Violin Sonata in C minor, Op.30 No.2 Adagio cantabile
CHOPIN Polonaise brillante, for cello and piano
STRAUSS Violin Sonata 1st movement
MOZART String Quartet in D, K.575 “Prussian”
THOMAS KELLY who gave an outstanding concert last year at NNMF still only 21 years old continues to go from strength to strength. Romanian pianist ANA MANASTIREANU is currently a Masters of Performance student at the RCM and in 2019 was a Leeds Lieder Young Artist. Ana’s international competition successes include top prizes at the “Rosario Marciano” International Piano Competition in Austria and the “Carl Filtsch” International Piano Competition in Romania. She appeared recently at the Toronto Summer Music Festival, Orford Music Festival, SoNoRo Chamber Music Festival, British Isles Music Festival, Vienna International Pianists Festival and the George Enescu International Festival.
TICKETS £23 includes two-course buffet supper, mineral water, bread and olives, tea or coffee
7pm St Mary's Church, South Creake
SALOMÉ STRING QUARTET, THOMAS KELLY piano, ANA MANASTIREANU piano
The second of two programmes given by star students from the Royal College of Music who have been taking part in the NNMF Masterclasses this week with Melvyn Tan and Simon Rowland-Jones
HAYDN String Quartet in D minor, Op.76 No.2 “Fifths”
BEETHOVEN Piano Sonata No.12 in B flat, Op.22
SCHUMANN Piano Quintet in E flat, Op.44
SATURDAY 8th AUGUST
4.30pm St Mary's Church, South Creake
TRIO ONDINE
HAYDN Piano Trio in C, Hob.XV:27
NØRGAARD Spell
BRAHMS Piano Trio in B, Op.8
The Danish Trio Ondine was formed in Copenhagen in 1999, became BBC New Generation Artists in 2006 and won major prizes at the Joseph Haydn Competition in Vienna, the Chamber Music Competition of the Danish Radio, the ARD competition in Munich and the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition. If you came to the Danish Clarinet Trio at last year’s NNMF you will no doubt remember the pianist Martin Hansen and cellist Jonathan Slaatto. They are also both members of Trio Ondine, the third being distinguished violinist, Erik Heide, concertmaster of the Copenhagen Philharmonic and the Danish National Chamber Orchestra as well as visiting concertmaster of the Gulbenkian Orchestra in Lisbon and the Hamburg Staatsoper. Two well-known masterpieces for piano trio frame Per Nørgård’s highly intriguing and enchanting work “Spell” composed in 1973.
5.45pm Festival Marquee, St Mary's Church, South Creake
FESTIVAL SUPPER 3
TICKETS £23 includes two-course buffet supper, mineral water, bread and olives, tea or coffee
7pm St Mary's Church, South Creake
LOUIS SCHWIZGEBEL piano
DEBUSSY Estampes, L.100: Pagodes, La soirée dans Grenade, Jardins sous la pluie
DEBUSSY Images oubliées, L.87: II. Souvenirs du Louvre
DEBUSSY L'isle joyeuse, L.106
RACHMANINOV Five Études-Tableaux from Op.39 and Op.33
SCHUMANN Symphonic Études, Op. 13
One of NNMF’s favourite pianists, Louis Schwizgebel, returns for a long-awaited third visit. Born in 1987 into a family of artists from Switzerland and China, Louis Schwizgebel has been praised repeatedly for the clarity of his playing and his exceptional finger work. At the age of only seventeen, he won the Geneva International Music Competition and, two years later, the Young Concert Artists International Auditions in New York. In 2012 he won second prize at the Leeds International Piano Competition and between 2013-2015 he was a BBC New Generation Artist. This 2019/20 season included debuts with the Bavarian Radio Symphony, Frankfurt Radio Symphony and Bern Symphony orchestras in Europe, with Cincinnati Symphony, Omaha Symphony and Louisiana Philharmonic orchestras in the US and further afield with the Tasmanian Symphony and Auckland Philharmonia Orchestras.
This concert is generously supported by Richard and Briony Linsell.
SUNDAY 9th AUGUST
4.30pm St Mary's Church, South Creake
ELIZABETH WATTS soprano SHOLTO KYNOCH piano
A programme of songs by GRIEG, RACHMANINOV, RICHARD STRAUSS
and a selection of English folksongs arranged by BENJAMIN BRITTEN
Elizabeth Watts was born in Norwich where she still lives with her husband and twins. She was a chorister at Norwich Cathedral before studying Archaeology at Sheffield and then singing at the Royal College of Music.
She is one of the most highly regarded British singers of recent years, equally at home in the opera house, concert hall and recital platform. She won the Kathleen Ferrier Award, took the song prize in the 2007 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition and was also a BBC New Generation Artist.
Highlights this season include performances of Messiah in Boston, as The Countess in the Marriage of Figaro at ENO and the demanding role of Aspasia in Mozart’s Mitridate, re di Ponto in July at Garsington Opera.
Elizabeth has not been heard in South Creake since 2010 and we are all delighted that she will be back here this August.
This concert is generously supported by Baroness Shephard and by Susan Thaw.
5.45pm Festival Marquee, St Mary's Church, South Creake
FESTIVAL SUPPER 4
TICKETS £23 includes two-course buffet supper, mineral water, bread and olives, tea or coffee
7pm St Mary's Church, South Creake
TRIO ONDINE, SIMON ROWLAND-JONES viola
MOZART Piano Quartet in G minor, K.478
ROWLAND-JONES Piano Trio No.2 “Eidfjord”
BRAHMS Piano Quartet in A, Op.26
In their second NNMF concert the Trio Ondine will be joined by Joint Festival Director, Simon Rowland-Jones in piano quartets by Mozart and Brahms, the rarely played monumental A Major. In between is Simon’s 2nd piano trio, inspired by the Eidfjord in Norway, and is the first of several works as NNMF celebrates his compositions in his 70th birthday year.
This concert is generously supported by Anthony Clamp
MONDAY 10th AUGUST
5.30pm St Mary's Church, South Creake
ALESSANDRO FISHER tenor SHOLTO KYNOCH piano
CLARA SCHUMANN Songs
ROBERT SCHUMANN Liederkreis Op.24
Songs by DONIZETTI, BELLINI and TOSTI, and RENALDO HAHN’s cycle 'Venezia'
British tenor Alessandro Fisher was a Choral Scholar at Clare College, Cambridge where he studied Modern and Mediaeval Languages. He continued his musical studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He won the 2016 Kathleen Ferrier Award, was an Associate Artist of Classical Opera and is currently a BBC New Generation Artist.
He has sung with a number of opera companies in England including West Green Opera, Brampton Opera and at Garsington. He sang the role of Fenton in Falstaff at Grange Park Opera which won him warm reviews for his 'supple tenor' and 'ardent tone.’
His performance at a 2019 Prom reached a worldwide audience when he and the pianist Stephen Hough gave a recital of songs composed by Prince Albert for Queen Victoria in which he ‘sang mellifluously’.
Future engagements include a series of concerts in Utrecht and Amsterdam with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra.
He will take part in the annual Kirker Music Festival on Ischia in October this autumn.
6.45pm Festival Marquee, St Mary's Church, South Creake
FESTIVAL SUPPER 5
TICKETS £23 includes two-course buffet supper, mineral water, bread and olives, tea or coffee
8pm St Mary's Church, South Creake
KARSKI QUARTET
HAYDN String Quartet in B minor, Op.33 No.1
ROWLAND-JONES String Quartet No.3
MENDELSSOHN String Quartet in A minor, Op.13
The Karski Quartet already impressed NNMF supporters at our Christmas concert with their thrilling and mature playing. Formed in Brussels in 2018, three members are from Poland and the violist from Belgium. They are concurrently Artists in Residence at the prestigious Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Brussels, studying with members of the Artemis Quartet, and Masters students at the European Chamber Music Academy. They take their name from the Polish resistance hero, Jan Karski (1914 Lodz – 2000 Washington DC).
Their performance of Simon Rowland-Jones’s 3rd String Quartet at the Royal Northern College of Music Chamber Festival last year was described by The Sunday Times as 'fresh and gripping.'
This concert is generously supported by Brian Hatfield.
TUESDAY 11th AUGUST
4.30pm St Mary's Church, South Creake
MAXWELL QUARTET
A programme of the Maxwell Quartet’s own enchanting arrangements of Scottish folk music and a stirring string quartet by the young Dutch composer, Joey Roukens “Visions at Sea.”
Nicholas Kenyon in The Observer found the quartet’s arrangements: "….evocative Scottish folk tunes, ….gentle, wistful punctuations between Haydn’s essays, beautifully serene"
5.45pm Festival Marquee, St Mary's Church, South Creake
FESTIVAL SUPPER 6
TICKETS £23 includes two-course buffet supper, mineral water, bread and olives, tea or coffee
7pm St Mary's Church, South Creake
MARIAN CONSORT “Music for the Queen of Heaven”
A programme of music from the Renaissance to the present day by BRITTEN, BYRD, DODGSON, LUDFORD, McDOWALL, PANUFNIK, PARSONS, TALLIS, and WEIR
The Marian Consort vocal ensemble was founded and is directed by Rory McCleery, countertenor, conductor and academic.
The group give performances in the USA and throughout Europe and the UK and in the spring of 2020 make their first visit to Japan with concerts in Tokyo, Nagoya and Nishinomiya where they will perform their programme ‘Singing in Secret: music from recusant Catholic England.’
Other highlights this season include performances at the Cambridge Early Music Festival, in Truro Cathedral and the Three Choirs Festival in Worcester where they will perform a new work by Dani Howard.
The Consort’s repertory extends from Renaissance music to the works of contemporary British composers.
WEDNESDAY 12th AUGUST
4.30pm St Mary's Church, South Creake
ROMAN KOSYAKOV piano
SHOSTAKOVICH 2nd Piano Sonata in B minor, Op.61
RACHMANINOV Two Preludes
TCHAIKOVSKY "Grand Sonata" in G, Op.37
Roman Kosyakov was born into a musical family and made his debut with an orchestra at the age of 12. He graduated from the Central Music School in Moscow and went on to the Tchaikovsky Moscow Conservatory to study with Vladimir Ovchinnikov. Since September 2017, he has lived in Birmingham where he studies with Pascal Nemirovski.
He is a laureate and a winner of many national and international competitions, among them “Young Talents of Russia” (Russia, Moscow 2006), the 1st International competition “Sforzando” (1st Prize, Berlin, 2007) and the International Alexander Scriabin Piano Competition (1st Prize, Paris 2011).
Most recently Roman won the prestigious 1st Prize and the Royal Philharmonia Orchestra Prize of the 14th Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition in 2018. Festival director, Simon Rowland-Jones heard him last year in London and was so impressed with him that he immediately invited Roman to take part in the 16th NNMF.
5.45pm Festival Marquee, St Mary's Church, South Creake
FESTIVAL SUPPER 7
TICKETS £23 includes two-course buffet supper, mineral water, bread and olives, tea or coffee
7pm St Mary's Church, South Creake
MAXWELL QUARTET
PROKOFIEV String Quartet No.1 in B minor, Op.50
HAYDN String Quartet in G minor, Op.74 No.3 "Rider"
DVORAK String Quartet in G, Op.106
1st Prizewinner and Audience Prizewinner at the 9th Trondheim International Chamber Music Competition in 2017, and hailed as “brilliantly fresh, unexpected and exhilarating” by The Scottish Herald, the Maxwell Quartet is now firmly regarded as one of Britain's finest young string quartets, with a strong connection to their folk music heritage and a commitment to bringing together wide-ranging projects and programmes to expand the string quartet repertoire. Performing to sold out venues in New York, Florida, California and Washington its debut tour of the USA in January 2019 garnered critical acclaim from the New York Times“eloquent performers who bring the same sense of charisma and sense of adventure to their programming.”
A rare chance to hear the “peculiarly Russian Romantic introspection” of Prokofiev’s 1stQuartet.
This concert is generously supported by Frances Yorke in memory of her husband, the Very Revd Michael Yorke, who died on the 19th April 2019.
THURSDAY 13th AUGUST
4.30pm St Mary's Church, South Creake
PETER MALLINSON and MATTHIAS WIESNER viola duo
GLINKA Ruslan & Ludmilla Overture (arr. Taylor-Cohen)
ROWLAND-JONES Suite for Two Violas (première)
TERTIS Variations on a Passacaglia of Handel
SCHUBERT Three Songs (arr. Taylor-Cohen)
DRUZHININ Sinfonia a Due
Despite being a medium that has inspired composers for over three hundred years, the repertoire for two violas is still relatively underexplored and consequently unappreciated. Not for much longer! Peter Mallinson and Matthias Wiesner are members of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and have been giving concerts together as a Viola Duo since 2013, performing regularly around the UK and Europe. They have recorded two CDs on the Meridian Records label and work closely with many composers and arrangers. Friends of NNMF spent a wonderful evening with Peter and Matthias at the 2018 Christmas concert; their festival programme will show a great deal more about what is possible on two violas, including legendary violist Lionel Tertis’s spectacular take on a Handel passacaglia.
5.45pm Festival Marquee, St Mary's Church, South Creake
FESTIVAL SUPPER 8
TICKETS £23 includes two-course buffet supper, mineral water, bread and olives, tea or coffee
7pm St Mary's Church, South Creake
MELVYN TAN piano
HAYDN Sonata in E flat major, No.62 HOB XVI/52
MESSAIEN Excerpts from Vingt Regards
CHOPIN The four Scherzi
Melvyn Tan returns to South Creake for the eighth consecutive Festival. Each year he has performed to capacity audiences with his outstanding performances and programmes. This year, Melvyn is back for another solo recital but will also be working with two young pianists in the NNMF Masterclasses, preparing them for their own concerts at St Mary’s.
Born in Singapore, Melvyn first came to notice with his performances on fortepiano, quickly becoming one of the world’s best-known musicians. He has played as a guest soloist with all the world’s leading orchestra around the globe. Recent performances have taken him to Linz and Vienna. His 60th birthday concert at Wigmore Hall was broadcast live on Radio 3.
Melvyn is an Artist in Residence at Singapore’s the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory.
He continues to add to his extensive discography.
This concert is generously supported by a long-standing friend of the Festival.
FRIDAY 14th AUGUST
4.30pm St Mary's Church, South Creake
EMA NIKOLOVSKA mezzo-soprano SAMUELE TELARI accordion
Bach to the Balkans!
A programme of music for accordion, and songs with accordion, by BACH, PURCELL, MESSIAEN, MUSSORGSKY, SCHNITTKE, DE FALLA, MARTINU, SHOSTAKOVICH and Macedonian composers.
We are very excited to welcome these extraordinary young artists to NNMF this year. Both of them have already achieved highly successful careers. They were taken on by Young Classical Artists Trust and it was a stroke of genius for the two of them to join forces to develop some out-of-the-ordinary programmes together.
Born in Macedonia, Ema Nikolovska grew up in Toronto where she studied at the Glenn Gould School, then completed her Masters at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. In 2019 she was selected as a BBC New Generation Artist and won the Ferrier Loveday Song Prize at the Kathleen Ferrier Awards. Highlights over the last year include a Schubert recital with Malcolm Martineau at the Pierre Boulez Saal, and her debut at Wigmore Hall with pianist Dylan Perez.
Samuele Telari was born in Spoleto and completed his Masters at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome. Engagements this season include recitals at Aldeburgh Festival, Verbier Festival, Wigmore Hall, Ryedale Festival Spring and the Festival Villa Solomei. He is Accordion professor at the “Bruno Maderna” Conservatory in Cesena, “Carlo Gesualdo da Venosa” Conservatory in Potenza and “Nino Rota” Conservatory in Monopoli.
5.45pm Festival Marquee, St Mary's Church, South Creake
FESTIVAL SUPPER 9
TICKETS £23 includes two-course buffet supper, mineral water, bread and olives, tea or coffee
7pm St Mary's Church, South Creake
BENJAMIN APPL baritone JAMES BAILLIEU piano
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Songs of Travel
SCHUMANN Kerner Lieder
RICHARD STRAUSS Four songs
and songs by IRELAND, QUILTER, BUTTERWORTH SOMERVELL
Benjamin Appl was born in Regensburg where he was a chorister at the city’s distinguished Regensburger Domspatten choir. He studied in Munich and later moved to London, where he still lives, to continue his studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
He has a very busy and varied career and is equally in demand on the concert platform and as a recitalist. Refusing to be pigeonholed, Benjamin’s versatility enables him to be just as at home in English song as in the great German song cycles. During the first part of 2020 he will give an extensive tour of Germany, will perform in Scotland with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, give a recital in San Francisco and appear at Wigmore Hall in a concert performance of Blow’s Venus and Adonis. He will also perform Winterreise in Salzburg and sings Beethoven’s song cycle An die ferne Geliebte in a new arrangement of the work for baritone and string quartet by Simon Rowland-Jones at the final concert of the 2020 North Norfolk Music Festival.
SATURDAY 15th AUGUST
Beethoven 250th anniversary - a celebration of quartets and song
4.30pm St Mary's Church, South Creake
CARDUCCI STRING QUARTET
Part 1
String Quartet in F, Op.18 No.1
String Quartet in A minor, Op.132
NNMF’s tribute to Beethoven in his 250th anniversary year is in the hands of the wonderful Carducci String Quartet, familiar faces at our Festival. Founded in 1997, the Anglo-Irish string quartet is based in the UK.
Their two concerts will feature quartets from each period of the master’s works. Highlights include his transcendental ‘Song of thanksgiving of a convalescent to God’ (the slow movement of the Late A minor quartet Op.132) and the thrilling fugue which ends the 3rdRazumovsky quartet from the Middle period.
"'...the Carducci players displayed a deep and almost familial sense of unity in everything they played… full of life and vitality...extravagantly beautiful...' The Washington Post
"...the Carducci String Quartet were stunning...they are clearly musicians of high intelligence..." The Times
TICKETS £18 or COMBINED TICKET FOR BOTH BEETHOVEN CONCERTS £35
This concert is generously supported by Timothy Leese
5.45pm Festival Marquee, St Mary's Church, South Creake
FESTIVAL SUPPER 10
TICKETS £23 includes two-course buffet supper, mineral water, bread and olives, tea or coffee
7pm St Mary's Church, South Creake
CARDUCCI STRING QUARTET and BENJAMIN APPL baritone
Part 2
String Quartet in F, Op.135
Song cycle ‘An die ferne Geliebte’ in a new transcription by Simon Rowland-Jones for string quartet and baritone
String Quartet in C “Razumovsky”, Op.59 No.3
TICKETS £22 or COMBINED TICKET FOR BOTH BEETHOVEN CONCERTS £35
This concert is generously supported by Jane and Jeffrey Thomas and by Giles and Sonia Coode-Adams.
9pm Festival Marquee, St Mary's Church, South Creake
FREINDS OF NNMF SUMMER PARTY Post-concert drinks in the Festival Marquee
Programmes subject to change
Patron: Sir Nicholas Grimshaw, CBE, PPRA
Festival Directors: Barry Cheeseman and Simon Rowland-Jones