Welcome to our twenty second newsletter – designed to keep you informed about our activities, as well as other local chamber music events.
2017/18 COFFEE CONCERT SEASON STARTS
The first concert will be given by the Fournier Trio on 29 October at 11 am in the Attenborough Centre:
- Mendelssohn Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor opus 49
- Turina Piano Trio No. 2 in B minor opus 76
- Beethoven Piano Trio No. 7 in B flat major opus 97 “The Archduke”
Quite a few people in the audience will know the Mendelssohn and the Beethoven, but not the trio by Joachin Turina. It was written in 1933 when Turina was established as a composer in Madrid and was already credited, with his friend Manuel de Falla, with the revival of Spanish classical music. Opinion is divided over how successful that revival was, but at the very least it’s an excellent choice in this programme. The Mendelssohn and the Beethoven are major works; there’s really no place for a third great piece in the same programme.
The choice of the Fournier Trio is continuing Andrew Comben’s extraordinary ability to bring us young chamber groups before they become famous. In fact he’s only just made it before the Fournier become famous. They were formed in 2009, trained at the Royal Academy of Music and have already won prizes and acclaim around the world. Their mix of backgrounds is interesting; the pianist is Taiwanese British, the violinist Korean and the cellist Chinese Australian. I look forward to asking them where Pierre Fournier, the great French cellist, fits in to the mix, if indeed they are named after him.
A WARNING. Because the stage at ACCA is being used the night before our concert, the Fournier Trio will play on the floor of the auditorium. Chairs will be arranged around them, reminiscent of the set-up at the Corn Exchange, but there will also be plenty of seats in the usual raked bleachers.
PRACTICALITIES
The Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts (ACCA), formerly the Gardner Centre, is at the University of Sussex at Falmer. The move to ACCA, as you will no doubt recall, is temporary, during the extensive refurbishment of the Brighton Dome Corn Exchange.
There is free parking at the nearby Sports Centre as well as elsewhere on campus. There are excellent public transport links:
- by train from Brighton or Lewes, or
- by bus: No. 25 from Hove and Brighton, No. 23 from Brighton Marina or Nos 28 and 29 from Brighton, or, coming the other way, from Tunbridge Wells via Uckfield and Lewes.
To find the Attenborough Centre once you reach the University consult the map on www.attenboroughcentre.com (click on “Visit us”).
Disabled Access: Do not be put off by the barrier to ACCA. Drive up to it, press the buzzer, and explain to the staff member who answers that you need to drive up to the main entrance with a passenger who is unable to walk there. Occasionally it might be possible for a disabled driver to park immediately outside the Centre. You can ask the staff member about this but, because emergency vehicles must have access to the turning circle, it might not be possible.
Tickets prices for the coffee concerts have again been held at £18.50 (concessions £16). A season ticket for the whole season (six concerts) is £99 (concessions £84). A half-season ticket (either the three concerts in 2017 or the three in 2018) is £49.50 (concessions £42).
Tickets for all concerts are available from the Brighton Dome Box Office (01273 709709) or www.brightondome.org .
Tickets for those aged 8 – 25 are free as part of the Cavatina Scheme. The rules for this have changed. They can only be booked by visiting the box office in person. The Brighton Dome box office can issue these tickets in advance; the ACCA box office will be open on the morning of the concert. Either the young person should be present at the time of booking, or the person booking for him or her must show proof of age, e.g. a passport. Under 14s must be accompanied to the concert by a paying adult.
MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL
If you haven’t renewed your membership for 2017/18, you can do so by downloading a membership form from www.stringsattachedmusic.org.uk/friends/ . Alternatively, you can renew at the next concert. If you aren’t sure whether or not you have renewed, email membership@stringsattachedmusic.org.uk .
OTHER CHAMBER MUSIC EVENTS
Brighton Early Music Festival, affectionately known as BREMF, one of the glories of the Brighton musical year, runs from 27 October to 12 November. Booking is open on www.bremf.org.uk .
The chamber music series of concerts run by the Nicholas Yonge Society in Lewes opens on 27 October with the Magnard Ensemble (a wind quintet) playing Haydn and Bach but also Servansky, Gershwin (Porgy and Bess Suite) Ligetti and Patterson. In fact, the whole NYS concert series sounds fascinating with enough Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Haydn, Schubert and Brahms to satisfy the most conservative tastes and enough Bartok, Shostakovich, Sandstrom and Kelly-Marie Murphy to please the most adventurous. Tickets are available on www.nyslewes.org.uk or on the door. Book for all 5 concerts and save £25.
The Seaford Music Society has an ambitious programme of music, which begins on 22 October at 3.00pm with a string sextet – The London Mozart Players Chamber Ensemble. They will play Mozart, Tchaikovsky, and, above all for this writer, Schoenberg’s Transfigured Night, with spoken introduction. Written in 1899, the poem and the music convey the feeling that classical music, and indeed European civilisation, was quivering on the brink of massive change. Details are on www.seafordmusicsociety.com .
Details of concerts at Brighton churches (St Nicholas’, St Luke’s, and the Chapel Royal) and those organised by other music societies in Steyning and Chichester can all be accessed via the Strings Attached chamber music calendar. Go to www.stringsattachedmusic.org.uk and choose ‘calendar’ from the menu.
Finally, two pieces by Strings Attached committee member Guy Richardson will be performed soon.
- A choral work for 3 folk singers and an 8 voice choir, based on a Sussex folk song ‘The Lark in the Morning’ will be performed on 21 October at 7.30pm in the Old Chapel, Alfriston and again on 11 November at 7.30pm at Bridge Cottage, Uckfield.
- ‘Notterno’ for bass clarinet, cello and percussion will be performed by Riot Ensemble on 28 October at 5.00pm in St Nicholas Church Brighton.
Details of these concerts can be found on www.newmusicbrighton.co.uk .