2017-18 PROGRAMME
Celebrating our 70th Anniversary
New Programme for 2018-19 Season - download colour brochure
(Marian Concert detailed program)
Tuesday 17 October 2017 at 7.30 pm
At Pittville Pump Room, Cheltenham
Parnassius Duo
Brahms - Selection from Hungarian Dances WoO 1
Schubert - Allegro in A minor D947 ‘Lebensstürme’
Nikolai Kapustin - Sinfonietta op.49 for four hands
Poulenc - Sonata for Piano Four Hands
Rachmaninov - Six morceaux op.11
Since meeting in 2003 at the Royal College of Music, Simon Callaghan and Hiroaki Takenouchi have had a thriving duo partnership. Their concerts throughout the UK and in Europe and Japan have earned them a growing reputation. Their engagements have included gala performances with principals from the English National Opera.
“Simon Callaghan and Hiroaki Takenouchi…play with such love, panache,
and exact synchronisation.”
BBC Music Magazine
Tickets £20 & £15
Under 26 £5
Wednesday 15 November 2017 at 7.30
At Pittville Pump Room, Cheltenham
Takács Quartet
Mozart - String Quartet no.21 in D major K575
Beethoven - String Quartet op.18 no.6 in B flat major
Brahms - String Quartet no.3 in B flat major op.677
We are delighted to welcome once again the Takács Quartet, our regular visitors since 1984. One of the world’s great quartets, their concerts are a never-failing source of pleasure.
“Anyone can play with wild abandon; few manage to make it sound pretty. The Takács Quartet is an exception. Even in the most fiendish repertoire these players show no fear, injecting the music with a heady sense of freedom.”
Financial Times
Tickets £30 & £25
Under 26 £5
Wednesday 13 December 2017 at 7.30 pm
At Pittville Pump Room, Cheltenham
Nash Ensemble
Music for Flute, Harp and Viola
Ravel - Sonatine arranged by Skaila Kanga for flute, viola and harp
Mozart - String Duo in B flat K424 transcribed for flute and viola
Bax - Elegiac Trio for flute, viola and harp
Piazzolla - Selection from Histoire du Tango for flute and harp
Debussy - Sonata for flute, viola, and harp
We welcome another appearance by The Nash Ensemble, acclaimed for its adventurous programming and virtuoso performances. The Ensemble has won many accolades including two Royal Philharmonic Society awards “for the breadth of its taste and its immaculate performance of a wide range of music.”
“Is there a better-equipped, more polished, stylish, or characterful chamber music group than the Nash Ensemble anywhere on the planet?”
Herald Scotland
“The Nash players are British chamber music royalty.”
The Sunday Times
Tickets £25 & £20
Under 26 £5
Thursday 18 January 2018 at 7.30 pm
At Pittville Pump Room, Cheltenham
Carducci Quartet
Haydn - String Quartet op.76 no.4 in B flat major ‘Sunrise’
Bartók - String Quartet no.1 in A minor
Simon Rowland-Jones - World Premiere of Commission for the Music Society
Mendelssohn - String Quartet no.6 in F minor op.80
Regular performers in Cheltenham, the Carducci Quartet is recognised as one of today’s most successful string quartets. Performing over 90 concerts worldwide each year, the quartet also run an annual festival in Highnam, Gloucester; and in 2014 they curated their first Carducci Festival in Castagneto-Carducci, the town from which they took their name.
“...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
Tickets £25 & £20
Under 26 £5
Tuesday 20 February 2018 at 7.30 pm
At Pittville Pump Room, Cheltenham
Busch Trio
Smetana - Piano Trio in G minor op.15
Bridge - Phantasie Trio in C minor
Schubert - Piano Trio no.1 in B flat major D898
This young piano trio has emerged as one of the leading piano trios among the new generation, receiving enthusiastic responses from audiences and critics across the UK and Europe. Winners of the 2012 Royal Overseas League Competition, the trio went on to win a string of international prizes. They delighted our audience in 2015, and we expect another stunning performance this year.
“…what impressed most was the group’s effortless musicianship and unity of thought and attack. The threesome even seemed to be breathing in synch.”
The Times
Tickets £20 & £15
Under 26 £5
Thursday 22 March 2018 at 7.30 pm
At Pittville Pump Room, Cheltenham
Joo Yeon Sir and
Irina Andrievsky
Schnittke - Suite in Old Style for violin and piano
Schumann - Sonata no.2 in D minor op.121
Bartók - Rhapsody No. 1 for Violin and Piano Sz. 87
Vladigerov - Bulgarian Rhapsody for Violin and Piano
‘Vardar’
A welcome return by this exciting duo, Korean-born British violinist Joo Yeon Sir and her regular partner Irina Andrievsky, who made such an impression when they played for us in 2016. Joo Yeon Sir was winner of the prestigious The Arts Club Karl Jenkins Classical Music Award 2014 and the Royal College of Music's President's Award.
“Exuberant... feline and seductive, rattling off the fiendish cadenza with bravura and oodles of personality.”
The Strad
Tickets £20 & £15
Under 26 £5
Wednesday 18 April 2018
At Pittville Pump Room, Cheltenham
Doric String Quartet
Thomas Adès - The Four Quarters op.28
Haydn - String Quartet in G major op.33 no.5
Beethoven - String Quartet no.13 in B flat major op.130
The Doric String Quartet has firmly established itself as one of the leading British string quartets of its generation, receiving enthusiastic responses from audiences and critics across the globe. They have won prizes at the 2008 Osaka International Chamber Music Competition in Japan, the Premio Paolo Borciani International String Quartet Competition in Italy and the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in Germany..
“Subtle yet responsive readings of Haydn, Bartók and Schubert show why this ensemble has been so durable.”
Financial Times
