The 18th North Norfolk Music Festival 

Friday 11^th - Friday 18^th August 2023

Sunday 30 APRIL at 3pm,         Wells Maltings

DANIEL LEBHARDT piano 

Internationally renowned Hungarian pianist, Daniel Lebhardt, returns to Norfolk for the first time since his memorable NNMF début in August 2021 with works by BRAHMS, MENDESSOHN, SCRIABIN, BARTÒK, LIGETI and BEETHOVEN ‘Waldstein Sonata’

Sunday 5 MARCH at 3pm   Wells Maltings

LAURA LOLITA PERESIVANA soprano

WILLIAM VANN piano

Latvian soprano Laura Lolita Peresivana, currently at the National Opera Studio in London, won the second prize at the 2022 Kathleen Ferrier Awards and sang with British Youth Opera at Holland Park in the summer. 

Together with pianist William Vann their programme will combine song, including a Russian and Latvian selection, as well as some of Laura’s favourite opera arias. 

Saturday 4 MARCH at 4pm   Wells Maltings

MITSU PIANO TRIO

Pianist Tyler Hay, who gave his first Norfolk recital here at Wells Maltings in June 2021 with a virtuoso performance of Musorgsky’s ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’ will return with his Spanish and Japanese colleagues as the well-established Mitsu Trio, with works by SAINT-SAENS, MOZART and MENDELSSOHN

Sunday 12 FEBRUARY at 3pm    Wells Maltings    

MEDEA STRING QUARTET

The Polish/British/Italian Medea String Quartet from the Royal College of Music, who we heard all too briefly at an NNMF Friends event in April, will be back to present their first full recital in Norfolk with HAYDN String Quartet in D minor ‘Fifths’, BRITTEN String Quartet No.2 and BEETHOVEN 3^rd ‘Razumovsky’.

Saturday 11 FEBRUARY at 4pm  Wells Maltings

MORGAN SZYMANSKI guitar MUSICAL JOURNEY THROUGH LATIN AMERICA 

From the mountains of Mexico to Buenos Aires, classical guitarist Morgan Szymanski embarks on a Southbound musical journey from his home in Mexico to Argentina, with works by PONCE (Mexico) BROUWER (Cuba) LAURO (Venezuela) BARRIOS (Bolivia & Paraguay) VILLA-LOBOS (Brazil) and PIAZZOLLA (Argentina) 

Sunday 15 January at 3pm    Wells Maltings

THOMAS KELLY piano

Following his memorable NNMF recital in 2020 and subsequent success in the Leeds International Piano Competition, Thomas Kelly is back to kick off the New Year with a wide-ranging programme of works by RAMEAU, SAINT-SAENS, LISZT, CHOPIN, DEBUSSY and SCRIABIN

2022

Sunday 18 December at 3pm    Wells Maltings

ELIZABETH WATTS soprano SIMON LEPPER piano Composers and Their Muses

Elizabeth Watts introduces her new recital programme in Norfolk. It links composers with their muses: –

Debussy (Madame Vasnier & Mary Garden), Wagner (Mathilde Wesendonck), Richard Strauss (Pauline de Ahna, his wife), Martinu (Vitezslava Kaprálová) Britten (Peter Pears)

DEBUSSY Ariettes Oubliées

WAGNER Wesendonck Lieder WWV.91

Richard STRAUSS Four songs including Morgen Op.27

MARTINU Five Songs

BRITTEN Folksongs

Elizabeth Watts is a great favourite in north Norfolk where she last appeared in the 2021 North Norfolk Music Festival. She was born in Norwich where she was a chorister at Norwich Cathedral. She shot to international fame when she won the song prize at the 2007 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition and later as winner of the Kathleen Ferrier Award in 2016. Since then, she has sung all over the world in opera, concerts and recitals. She sang at the Proms earlier this summer alongside Benjamin Appl, Another regular guest in Norfolk.

Simon Lepper plays regularly with the world’s leading singers, He has appeared in the last two NNMF Festivals, with Stephan Loges in 2021 and with James Atkinson this summer. 

 

Sunday 20 November at 3pm    Wells Maltings George Harliono, piano                                                         

SCHUBERT/LISZT Three songs by Schubert, transcribed by Franz Liszt

SCHUBERT Wanderer Fantasie D760

BEETHOVEN Fantasia in G minor, Op.77

RAVEL Une barque sur l'océon

BRAHMS Variations on Theme by Paganini in A minor, Op.35

George Harliono was born in London in 2001. He studies with Vanessa Latarche, Head of Keyboard at the Royal College of Music and with Pascal Nemirovski at the Royal Birmingham Conservatory. He was a top prize winner at the Grand Piano Competition in Moscow in 2016.

This season George gives recitals at Wigmore Hall, the International Piano Series at the Royal Concert Hall Nottingham, St. David’s Hall Cardiff and Leeds Town Hall. He will also perform Liszt’s Concerto No.1 with the Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester conducted by Sebastian Weigle and returns to Moscow to perform Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto with the Musica Viva Orchestra conducted by Alexander Rudin.

17th NNMF

Friday 19 August                        

4pm ALICE NEARY cello BENJAMIN FRITH piano 

Alice Neary is well known to NNMF audiences both as soloist and as a former member of the Gould Piano Trio. This year, she and Benjamin Frith will play works by Janáček, Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn, and will finish with Beethoven’s A major Sonata, Op.69.

Janáček Pohadka

Felix Mendelssohn Sonata in D

Fanny Hensel Fantasia in G minor

Beethoven Sonata in A, Op.69

​This concert is generously supported by Brian Hatfield, and Giles and Sonia Coode-Adams                                     

7pm CASTALIAN STRING QUARTET 

Now firmly established as one of the world’s leading string quartets we welcome back the Castalians to NNMF to wrap up our 17th Festival in a programme of works by Haydn, Sibelius and Schubert. 

Haydn String Quartet in E flat, Op.20 No.1

Sibelius String Quartet in D minor, Op.56, "Voces Intimae"

Schubert String Quartet in G, D.887

​This concert is generously supported by Patricia Hewitt

Thursday 18 August                                                            

7pm 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

Rory McLeery’s vocal ensemble performs rich and varied programme of renaissance and contemporary works to reflect on Mary, who has been celebrated and venerated in Catholic motets and antiphons since the Middle Ages.

Works range from the simple lullaby by Stephen Dodgson, miraculous cascades of sound by Tallis, Britten’s Hymn to the Virgin, Roxana Panufnik’s complex and emotional Magnificat and Judith Weir’s ebullient Ave Regina Caelorum. 

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 17 August  

4pm TED BLACK tenor ANA MANASTIREANU piano 

The lyric tenor, Ted Black, was born in London and studied in Glasgow before going on to the International Opera School at The Royal College of Music. He was a finalist in the Kathleen Ferrier Awards in 2020 and in the Grange Festival Singing competition in 2019. Career highlights so far have been performances with John Wilson and with Marin Alsop at the Edinburgh International Festival, this summer’s Waterperry Opera Festival in Oxfordshire, and the role of Ferrando in Poland for the Wroclawska Opera where he will return this autumn as Don Ottavio.  He and Ana give a recital at the Oxford Lieder Festival in October.

Ted and Ana’s programme will include songs by Delius, Gurney, Vaughan-Williams and three women composers - Rebecca Clarke, Muriel Herbert and songs by Amy Beach set to words by Elizabeth Barrett Browning as well as songs by Clara Schumann, Wolf, Sibelius and Six Songs by Grieg Op.48.

This concert is generously supported by Andrew Ramsey                                

7pm CARDUCCI STRING QUARTET, JULIAN BLISS clarinet 

The Carducci Quartet and celebrated clarinettist Julian Bliss enjoy a longstanding musical partnership and we look forward to hearing them together in clarinet quintets by Brahms and Weber for this special collaboration.

Rebecca Clarke Poem, for string quartet

Weber Clarinet Quintet in B flat, Op.34

Brahms Clarinet Quintet in B minor, Op.115

​This concert is generously supported by Baroness Shephard

Tuesday 16 August                                                            

7pm ALIM BEISEMBAYEV piano 

Born in Kazakhstan, Alim shot to international attention after winning first prize in the 2021 Leeds International Competition, sweeping both the jury and the audience off their feet in a wave of admiration. His programme will include works by Haydn, Chopin and Liszt.

HAYDN Variations in F minor

CHOPIN Sonata No.2

LISZT 12 Ètudes d’exécution transcendantes S.139

​This concert is generously supported by Clive and Ann Aldred

Monday 15 August 

4pm JAMES ATKINSON baritone, SIMON LEPPER piano 

This will be James’s debut solo recital at NNMF, delayed from 2021, but many will remember his “An die ferne Geliebte” with the Carducci Quartet last year. 

James Atkinson has recently completed his studies at the Royal College of Music Opera Studio where he studied with Alison Wells and sang leading roles in several productions.

This year he has been singing Masetto for Welsh National Opera on their spring tour.

He will give recitals at Oxford Lieder, Lewes, at the English Son Weekend with Iain Burnside and in Messiah at Leith Hill Music Festival in Surrey. 

He will travel to Japan to take part in two performances of Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast at Suntory Hall, Tokyo and in Kanagawa with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra.

Schumann                 Liederkreis, Op.39                                                          

Schubert                    Gesänge des Harfners aus "Wilhelm Meister"                       

Ravel                         Don Quichotte à dulcinée

Finzi                           Let Us Garlands Bring

This concert is generously supported by Jane and Jeffrey Thomas                                                                                                          

7pm LEONORE TRIO, SIMON ROWLAND-JONES viola 

The Leonore Trio bring a terrific programme of trios by Haydn, Dvořák, and the Piano Quartet in G minor by Brahms, with its high-spirited gypsy Csardas finale.

Haydn Piano Trio in A, Hob.XV:18

Dvořák Piano Trio No.4 in E minor, Op.90 “Dumky”

Brahms Piano Quartet No.1 in G minor, Op.25

This concert is generously supported by a longstanding friend of the Festival

Sunday 14 August                                       

7pm LOUIS SCHWIZGEBEL piano 

BEETHOVEN Sonata in D minor, Op.31 No.2 ‘Tempest’, BRAHMS Klavierstücke, Op.118, SCHUBERT Sonata in C minor, D.958                                                                 

We are pleased to welcome Louis back to South Creake, five years since his last recital here, and to his programme of works by Beethoven, Brahms and Schubert. His engagements this season include concerts in Paris, Stuttgart, Oslo and Lucerne. 

Louis Schwizgebel was born in 1987. He won the Geneva International Music Competition when he was 17 and also the Young Concert Artists International Auditions in New York. He won second prize at the Leeds Internatioal Competition in 2012 and was a BBC New Generation Artist.

Major engagements this season include performances with the Omaha Symphony Orchestra, the Berne Symphony Orchestra and with the conductor John Wilson for the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.

This concert is generously supported by Anthony Clamp

Saturday 13 August 

4pm ECHÉA QUARTET

HAYDN String Quartet in F minor, Op.20 No.5

BEETHOVEN String Quartet in F, Op.59 No.1 "Razumovsky"

The Echéa Quartet has built up a loyal following in Norfolk over the past two years. They recently won 1st Prize in the Royal Over-Seas Music Competition. In their second Norfolk appearance this year they will perform string quartets by Haydn and Beethoven.

This concert is generously supported by Susan Thaw and by Zara Perry                                    

7pm AILISH TYNAN soprano IAIN BURNSIDE piano 

The much-loved Irish soprano Ailish Tynan and pianist Iain Burnside, both consummate recitalists, have created a typically entertaining and varied programme for their recital in South Creake.

Grieg: Sechslieder Op.48

Richard Strauss: Six Songs including ‘’Allerseelen’ and ‘Morgen’

Faure: Cinq Melodies de Venise

Herbert Hughes (1882-1937): Four traditional Irish folksongs collected and arranged by Herbert Hughes

Libby Larson (b.1950): Pregnant

Libby Larson’s hilarious song about how not to announce your good news from her song-cycle The Birth Project (2015)

Samuel Barber: Nuvoletto Op.25 (1947)

Set to words by James Joyce from Finnegan’s Wake The first performance was given at The Library of Congress in 1953 with the composer and soprano, Leontyne Price.

​This concert is generously supported by Richard and Briony Linsell

Friday 12 August                   

7pm VAUGHAN WILLIAMS GALA CONCERT  -  GARETH BRYNMOR JOHN baritone, WILLIAM VANN piano, ECHÉA QUARTET, WILL DUERDEN double bass

A special concert of Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) celebrating 150 years since his birth.  

Songs of Travel

Four poems by Fredegond Shove

Folksongs from Norfolk

Silent Noon

The Lark Ascending

Piano Quintet in C minor 

This concert is generously supported by David Green

WINTER SERIES

Sunday 6 March, 3pm

KARSKI QUARTET 

SIMON ROWLAND-JONES viola

MOZART String Quintet in G minor K.516

DVOŘÁK String Quartet in G, Op.106

At last, after more than two years, we can welcome the Polish-Belgian, Karski Quartet, back to Norfolk!  The quartet delighted us with their passionate playing at the Friends of NNMF Christmas Concert and Party in December 2019 and were due to play in NNMF in August 2021, but the complications of Covid travel restrictions made the summer Festival too problematic.  Since we heard the quartet, which is based in Brussels, it has gone from strength to strength and was awarded the Grand Prix as well as the Special Prize for the alumni of the Royal Conservatory in Brussels at the 4th International Music Competition Triomphe de l'Art.

Two major chamber works make up their programme; Mozart’s well-known G minor string quintet with two violas, and Dvořák’s great G major String Quartet, an outpouring of gratitude for his safe return from America to his native land in 1895. 

 

Sunday 6 February, 3pm

ROMAN KOSYAKOV piano

PROKOFIEV Sonata No.1, Op.1 
SCRIABIN 4 preludes Op.22
MEDTNER Sonata in B flat minor “Romantica”, Op.53 No.1
TCHAIKOVSKY Grand Sonata in G, Op.37

Roman Kosyakov was born in Siberia and later travelled to Moscow to study at the Central Moscow School and at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory. He arrived in the UK in 2017 to study at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. He won the First Prize and also the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Prize at the prestigious 14^th Hastings International Competition in 2018. 

Roman so impressed audiences at this year’s North Norfolk Music Festival and we are delighted that he is able to play in Norfolk again this year – if you missed his electrifying performance in August in South Creake, be sure not to miss this recital!

Roman’s programme takes us on a fantastical romantic Russian journey. Beginning with Prokofiev’s Opus 1, which Prokofiev described as “a naïve and simple little piece” of which he was “very fond,” it is an extraordinary accomplishment for 15-year-old.  Scriabin’s beautiful early Preludes Op.22 from 1897 and Medtner’s virtuosic 12^th piano sonata from 1930 lead on to Tchaikovsky’s aptly named Grande Sonate.

 

Sunday 9 January, 3pm

TIM HORTON piano

BEETHOVEN Sonata in E, Op.109

BEETHOVEN Sonata in A flat, Op.110

CHOPIN 24 Preludes, Op.28

Following numerous solo recitals and frequent participation in chamber music concerts with the Leonore Trio and others, Tim Horton needs no introduction to north Norfolk audiences. We have experienced Tim playing much of Beethoven’s keyboard output over recent years, so now it will be of particular interest to hear his insights into two of the late sonatas as well as the complete cycle of Chopin's 24 Preludes, Op.28.

 

Sunday 12 December, 3pm

SALOMÉ QUARTET

 

HAYDN String Quartet in G, Op.76 No.1

BRIDGE Three Idylls

SCHUBERT String Quartet in D minor, D810 “Death and the Maiden”

We are delighted to welcome the Salomé Quartet to Norfolk at last. They were due to make their début at NNMF in August 2020 but of course that Festival never took place. This truly international ensemble was formed in 2016 at the Royal College of Music; its members are Haim Choi (South Korea), Coco Inman (Japan/UK), Kasia Ziminska (Poland) and Shizuku Tatsuno (Japan). They have performed worldwide in venues including Muzikverein (Vienna), Mozarteum (Salzburg), Unesco Hall (Paris), Lutoslawski Concert Studio (Warsaw), Tel Aviv Opera House (Israel), as well as Wigmore Hall, Barbican Centre, Southbank Centre, Royal Albert Hall and Cadogan Hall in London.

Their programme of well-known string quartets by Haydn and Schubert encompasses an English gem at its centre, Frank Bridge’s Three Idylls, from 1906, and from which Bridge’s pupil Benjamin Britten drew the theme of his 1937 work for string orchestra, Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge Op.10.

Sunday 28 November, 3pm

BENJAMIN APPL baritone JAMES BAILLIEU piano

 

NOCTURNE a night journey of song 

Benjamin and James made an unexpected visit to north Norfolk in August at the North Norfolk Music Festival, flying in from Munich at very short notice to perform Schubert’s “Winterreise” in South Creake.

Here they are back again just three months later with an imaginatively conceived programme, ‘Nocturne’ celebrating the mystery, beauty, romance, dreams, fear and dark despair of the night. 

Carefully chosen songs by composers including Schubert, Brahms, Richard Strauss, Vaughan-Williams, Grieg and Tchaikovsky form a tapestry of myriad emotions we all experience before the dawning of a new day. 

16^th NORTH NORFOLK MUSIC FESTIVAL

10-21 AUGUST 2021

 

Tuesday 10th August, St Mary’s Church, South Creake

3-6pm FESTIVAL MASTERCLASS Day 1

MELVYN TAN and SIMON ROWLAND-JONES working with young pianists THOMAS KELLY and ANA MANASTIREANU from the Royal College of Music, and the CLOVA QUARTET from the Royal Academy of Music

Wednesday 11th August, St Mary’s Church, South Creake

3-6pm FESTIVAL MASTERCLASS Day 2

MELVYN TAN and SIMON ROWLAND-JONES working with young pianists THOMAS KELLY and ANA MANASTIREANU from the Royal College of Music, and the CLOVA QUARTET from the Royal Academy of Music.

Masterclasses on 10th and 11th August will last approximately three hours.

Both Melvyn Tan and Simon Rowland-Jones will be teaching and all the students will be playing in both classes. These will be relaxed and informal events, and listeners are invited to enter and leave as they please at any point between 3-6pm.

Audience members are welcome to stay for a drink after the class has finished and meet everyone involved

Thursday 12^th August, St Mary’s Church, South Creake    

3pm CLOVA QUARTET

​BEETHOVEN String Quartet in A, Op.18 No.5

BARTÓK String Quartet No.2

Formed at the Royal Academy of Music in 2019, the Clova Quartet is an exciting, young and innovative string quartet based in London.  Following on from their NNMF debut, the Clova Quartet will depart for Norway where they are competing in the 2021 Trondheim International Chamber Music Competition.

 

6pm THOMAS KELLY piano

BEETHOVEN Fantasia in G minor, Op.77

BRAHMS 4 Klavierstücke, Op.119

SCRIABIN Sonata No.4, Op.30 

CHOPIN Barcarolle, Op.60

LISZT Dante Sonata

MENDELSSOHN-RACHMANINOFF Scherzo

Thomas Kelly was born in 1998 and started playing the piano aged 3. Thomas has won 1st prizes including Pianale International Piano Competition 2017, Kharkiv Assemblies 2018, at Lucca Virtuoso e Bel Canto festival 2018, RCM Joan Chissell Schumann competition 2019, Kendall Taylor Beethoven competition 2019, BPSE Intercollegiate Beethoven competition 2019 and the 4th Theodor Leschetizky competition 2020. This is Thomas’s second visit to NNMF and those of you who came to his debut in 2019 will no doubt remember his spectacular recital.

Friday 13^th August  

11.30am ANA MANASTIREANU piano, CLOVA QUARTET 

Here is Anna playing with tenor Ted Black. They will appear together at another NNMF concert at The Wells Maltings next February.

SCHUMANN Adagio and Allegro, Op.70

Nadia BOULANGER Trois pièces

de FALLA Danse Espagnole, from ‘La Vida Breve’ 

WOLF Italian Serenade

SCHUMANN Piano Quintet in E flat, Op.44

Ana Manastireanu is currently the Constant & Kit Lambert Junior Fellow at the Royal College of Music in London, where she studies with Kathron Sturrock, Simon Lepper and Roger Vignoles. Recent festival appearances include the Oxford Lieder Festival, Lewes Festival of Song, Leeds Lieder Festival, London Song Festival, Toronto Summer Music Festival, Orford Music Festival and the British Isles Music Festival. In this mixed programme she is joined by the Clova Quartet for their second appearance at the 16^th NNMF.

3pm STEPHAN LOGES baritone SIMON LEPPER piano

​CHANGE OF SINGER

The baritone James Atkinson is unable to come to South Creake as planned as he is currently self-isolating in London.

We are very grateful to the London-based German baritone Stephan Loges for agreeing to replace James at short notice and to welcoming this distinguished lieder singer back to South Creake again.  He sang in the very first North Norfolk Music Festival in 2005.

The pianist Simon Lepper will still take part in this concert and their programme will be as follows:

Brahms - Parole; Mondnacht; O wüsst' ich doch den Weg zurück

Schumann - Eichendorff-Liederkreis op.39

Schubert - 6 Heine Songs (from Schwanengesang) [Der Atlas; Ihr Bild; Das Fischermädchen; Die Stadt; Am Meer; Der Doppelgänger]

Finzi - Let Us Garlands Bring

 

6pm MELVYN TAN piano

DEBUSSY Suite Bergamasque

COUPERIN Pieces de clavecin

RAVEL Tombeau de Couperin

CHOPIN Ballade No.1, Scherzo No.4, Ballade No.4

Although this concert is sold out the Vicar has kindly agreed to allow some additional seating in the chancel.  Naturally the view from behind the stage will be restricted but the seats will be close to the platform so the sound will still be excellent. If you would like to book chancel seats, please call the box office on 01328 730357. 

Chancel tickets are £10 each.

Melvyn Tan returns to NNMF for the eight consecutive Festival.  Each year he has performed to capacity audiences with his exceptional programmes and outstanding performances.

This concert is generously supported by a longstanding Friend of the Festival and by Zara Perry

Saturday 14^th August  

3pm BENJAMIN APPL baritone JAMES BAILLIEU piano

CHANGE OF ARTISTS

Andrea Mastroni is ill and unable to travel from Italy.

We are grateful to the baritone Benjamin Appl and pianist James Ballieu for agreeing to come to South Creake at such short notice.

The programme will remain as planned:

SCHUBERT Winterreise

 

6pm LEONORE PIANO TRIO

BEETHOVEN Piano Trio in G, Op.1 No.2 

ROWLAND-JONES Aniwaniwa, for cello and piano 

BEETHOVEN  Piano Trio in B flat, Op.97 “Archduke”

We are delighted to welcome back the Leonore Piano Trio to NNMF and are very grateful to them for replacing the Trio Ondine, who were unable to travel from Denmark this summer due to the ongoing uncertainties surrounding international travel.   

Formed in 2012, the Leonore Trio brings together three internationally acclaimed artists whose piano trio performances as part of Ensemble 360 were met with such an enthusiastic response that they decided to form a piano trio in its own right. The Trio has since given concerts throughout the UK, Italy, Norway (Bergen International Festival and Oslo Concert Hall), Denmark and in New Zealand.

“Excitable, high-octane brilliance...The Leonore Piano Trio haul these dazzling delights back into the daylight with suitably virtuosic verve”

Stephen Pritchard, The Guardian

This concert is generously supported by Anthony Clamp

 

Sunday 15^th August  

3pm LEONORE PIANO TRIO with SIMON ROWLAND-JONES viola

HAYDN Piano Trio in C, Hob:XV:27

AMY BEACH PIano Trio, Op.150

MOZART Piano Quartet in G minor, K478

In their second NNMF concert the Leonore Piano Trio begin with one of Haydn’s most outstanding and original piano trios. The highly romantic piano trio by American composer, Amy Beach, dates from 1938 and is a strong, captivating work. For the final work in the programme the trio will be joined by Joint Festival Director, Simon Rowland-Jones for Mozart’s Piano Quartet in G minor.  

6pm ALESSANDRO FISHER tenor SHOLTO KYNOCH piano

​Songs by CLARA and ROBERT SCHUMANN, DONIZETTI, BELLINI, TOSTI, HAHN

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, is currently a BBC New Generation Artist and has sung with a number of opera companies in England including West Green Opera, Brampton Opera and at Garsington.

 

Monday 16^th August  

6pm NAVARRA STRING QUARTET

MOZART String Quartet in E flat, K.428

BARTOK String Quartet No.3

BEETHOVEN String Quartet in G, Op.18 No.2

We are delighted to welcome back the Navarra String Quartet to NNMF and are very grateful to them for replacing the Karski Quartet, who are unable to travel from Belgium this summer due to the ongoing uncertainties surrounding international travel. Their programme includes the second of Beethoven’s Op.18 quartets, an extra contribution to NNMF’s 250-year celebration of Beethoven’s birth, now for obvious reasons one year late.

The Navarra String Quartet have a new format as the former violinists, Magnus and Marije Johnston, left the quartet at the beginning of this year.  The new players are Benjamin Marquise Gilmore, currently joint concert master of the Scottish Chamber orchestra and the Philharmonia Orchestra, and the brilliant young Swiss violinist, Laia Braun. We look forward very much to hearing such a promising fresh line-up.

This concert is generously supported by Brian Hatfield

 

Tuesday 17^th August 

11.30am PETER MALLINSON viola MATTHIAS WIESNER viola

and SIMON ROWLAND-JONES viola

​A programme of Viola Duos and one Trio!

GLINKA Ruslan & Ludmilla Overture (arr. Taylor-Cohen)

ROWLAND-JONES Suite for two violas (première)

SCHUBERT Three Songs (arr. Taylor-Cohen)

BRIDGE Lament and Caprice

DRUZHININ Sinfonia a Due

ROWLAND-JONES Smile, for three violas

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.

3pm ROMAN KOSYAKOV piano

BACH Partita No. 1 in B-flat major, BWV 825

BEETHOVEN Sonata op.10 No. 3 in D major

SCHUMANN Novelette Op.21 No. 1 in F major

SCHUMANN Kreisleriana Op.16  

Graduate from the Tchaikovsky Moscow Conservatory, Roman Kosyakov made his debut with orchestra at the age of 12. He is a laureate and a winner of many national and international competitions, most recently the prestigious 1st Prize and the Royal Philharmonia Orchestra Prize of the 14th Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition in 2018. 

This concert is in memory of Oliver Prince-White, who died on 6th December 2020

6pm MAXWELL QUARTET Concert 1

BEETHOVEN String Quartet in E flat, Op.74 "Harp"

DVORAK String Quartet in G, Op.106

Although this concert is sold out the Vicar has kindly agreed to allow some additional seating in the chancel.  Naturally the view from behind the stage will be restricted but the seats will be close to the platform so the sound will still be excellent. If you would like to book chancel seats, please call the box office on 01328 730357. 

Chancel tickets are £10 each.

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. 

This concert is generously supported by Frances Yorke in memory of her husband, Michael Yorke, who died on 19th April 2019 

 

Wednesday 18^th August 

11.30am MAXWELL QUARTET Concert 2

HAYDN String Quartet in G minor, Op.74 No.3 "Rider"

JOEY ROUKENS “Visions at Sea” (2011)

From Haydn at his most robust to 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"

This concert is generously supported by Giles and Sonia Coode-Adams 

6pm DANIEL LEBHARDT piano  

(This replaces the previously advertised concert by Louis Schwizgebel)

​FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN: Sonata in E flat major, Hob XVI:52

FRANZ SCHUBERT: Drei Klavierstücke, D. 946

FRANZ LISZT: Transcendental Etudes No.11 in D flat (Harmonies du Soir)

FRANZ LISZT: Mazeppa

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata in F minor, No. 23, Op. 57, "Appassionata"

Born in Hungary, Daniel studied at the Franz Liszt Academy with István Gulyás and Gyöngyi Keveházi and at the Royal Academy of Music with Pascal Nemirovski. In 2014 Daniel Lebhardt won 1st Prize at the Young Concert Artists International auditions in Paris and New York. A year later he was invited to record music by Bartók for Decca and in 2016 won the Most Promising Pianist prize at the Sydney International Competition. He was selected by Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT) in 2015 and is currently based in Birmingham, where he is enrolled on an Advanced Diploma in Performance at the Royal Conservatoire.

This concert is generously supported by Richard and Briony Linsell

 

Thursday 19^th August 

3.30pm BEETHOVEN FEST Concert 1 (new programme)

Members of the CARDUCCI QUARTET, TIM HORTON piano, SHOLTO KYNOCH piano, SIMON ROWLAND-JONES viola

One member of the Carducci Quartet, viola player Eoin Schmidt-Martin, is indisposed and unable to come to NNMF.  The three remaining members of the quartet will still take part in a modified version of the two programmes on Thursday 19th, which you will find below.  There will be three additional performers for the two concerts.

BEETHOVEN String Quartet in F minor, Op.95 “Serioso”

BEETHOVEN Bagatelles Nos.3 and 4 from Op.126                                          

BEETHOVEN Piano Trio in D, Op.70 No.1 “Ghost”                                               

6pm BEETHOVEN FEST Concert 2 (new programme, see not above)

Members of the CARDUCCI QUARTET, TIM HORTON piano, SHOLTO KYNOCH piano, SIMON ROWLAND-JONES viola, JAMES ATKINSON baritone

BEETHOVEN Sonata for violin and piano in F, Op.24 “Spring”                  

BEETHOVEN Piano Sonata in E minor, Op.90

BEETHOVEN ‘An die ferne Geliebte’ in the new version for string quartet and baritone by Simon Rowland-Jones

BEETHOVEN String Quartet in C minor, Op.18 No.4         

This concert is generously supported by Jane and Jeffrey Thomas

 

Friday 20th August

6pm TIM HORTON piano SIMON ROWLAND-JONES viola

​HAYDN Andante con variazioni in F minor, Hob.XVII No.6

ROWLAND-JONES An Elegy for William Birtles, for viola and piano

SCHUBERT Piano Sonata in G, D.894

We welcome back Tim Horton to South Creake for this very special concert dedicated to the memory of our great friend and supporter, William Birtles who died on 13^th January 2020. Patricia Hewitt asked Simon Rowland-Jones to compose an Elegy in Bill’s honour and this will be the first time the work is heard in public.  The concert concludes with Schubert’s monumental and uplifting late Sonata in G.

Immediately following there will be refreshments for the Friends of NNMF in the Festival Marquee, assuming there are no Covid restrictions in place that might prevent this from happening.

This concert and post-concert refreshments are generously supported by Patricia Hewitt and Alex Birtles.

 

Saturday 21st August

6pm ELIZABETH WATTS soprano SHOLTO KYNOCH piano

​The programme will include songs by GRIEG, RACHMANINOV, RICHARD STRAUSS and a selection of English folksongs arranged by BENJAMIN BRITTEN 

Elizabeth Watts 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.

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