Welcome to our twenty fifth newsletter – designed to keep you informed about our activities, as well as other local chamber music events.
2017/18 COFFEE CONCERT SEASON CONTINUES
The concert on 17 December featured the Zemlinsky Quartet. For reviews of the concert see https://www.stringsattachedmusic.org.uk under ‘Latest Posts’.
The next concert will be given by Amy Harman (bassoon), Adam Walker (flute) and James Baillieu (piano) on 28 January at 11 am in the Attenborough Centre.
- Martinu: Piano Trio in F, transcribed for piano, flute and bassoon
- Fanny Mendelssohn: Piano Trio in D minor, transcribed for piano. flute, and bassoon, opus 11
- Donizetti: Trio for piano, flute and bassoon in F Major
- Dutilleux: Sarabande et cortège for bassoon and piano
- Beethoven: Trio for piano, flute and bassoon in G major WoO 37
Amy Harman played for us in November 2016, with a different pianist and with oboe instead of flute. My initial reservations then about the combination were swept away by the virtuosity and musicianship of the players, as well as by the discovery of music that I hadn’t been aware of. Tom Poster was the pianist then. James Baillieu is another wonderful player and I approach this concert with nothing but excitement.
For those who like to prepare for a concert, programme notes are available on https://www.stringsattachedmusic.org.uk under ‘Next Concert’.
ADDITIONAL CONCERT
We can now confirm that there will be an additional concert on Sunday 29 April at 11 am, also at the Attenborough Centre. The concert has been sponsored by a generous friend of Strings Attached. The performers and programme, together with ticket information, will be announced later.
MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL
If you haven’t renewed your membership for 2017/18 it is not too late to do so! Download a membership form from www.stringsattachedmusic.org.uk/friends/ or renew at the next concert. If you aren’t sure whether or not you have renewed, email membership@stringsattachedmusic.org.uk . By renewing you will not only have access to events like meet-the-artists but also be entitled to a free sherry or fruit juice during the interval of each concert. Above all you will be helping to ensure the future of the coffee concerts.
In the last Newsletter we apologised for the fact that the sherry and fruit juice ran out before everyone had had a glass. We promised to sort this out. So it is with huge embarrassment that we have to admit that it happened again at the December concert! The problem, at least with the sherry, seems to be the large and elegant glasses supplied by the Attenborough Centre, which hold more than the usual sherry glassful. So at the next concert you will find rather smaller glasses with the result that there should be enough sherry to go round.
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 recall, is temporary during the extensive refurbishment of the Brighton Dome Corn Exchange.
There is free parking at the Sports Centre close to the Attenborough Centre and at other car parks on the campus nearby. There are also 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.
Help with transport A happy tradition is established whereby Strings Attached members offer lifts to others who would otherwise have difficulty with transport. If a lift has not already been arranged for you and you would either like a lift, or would like to offer one, please email the secretary Margaret Polmear on m.polmear@btinternet.com It will only be possible to find a lift for you if there happens to be someone in your area who is offering one.
Tickets prices for the coffee concerts have again been held at £18.50 (concessions £16). A half-season ticket (available for the three concerts 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 or from the Attenborough Centre on the day. In the days before the November concert the Brighton Dome website was showing the concert as sold out, when it wasn’t. Colleagues at Brighton Dome are busy sorting this out but, if in future the website shows a coffee concert as sold out, it would be worth phoning the Box Office to check.
Tickets for those aged 8 – 25 are free as part of the Cavatina Scheme. They can only be booked by visiting the box office in person. The Brighton Dome box office can issue 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.
OTHER CHAMBER MUSIC EVENTS
The chamber music series of concerts run by the Nicholas Yonge Society in Lewes continues on 26 January with the Escher Quartet playing an all Russian programme: Borodin, Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich. The Shostakovich is Quartet No. 9; a great work that’s not often performed in the UK. Tickets are available on www.nyslewes.org.uk or on the door.
The Seaford Music Society continues its programme with a concert on 11 February by Bartosz Glowacki on accordion. He was Polish Young Musician of the Year in 2009. This concert is likely to be unlike any other on offer in 2018! The programme has not yet been announced. When available, details will be posted on www.seafordmusicsociety.com .
Details of concerts at Brighton churches (St Luke’s, the Unitarian Church and the Chapel Royal) and those organised by other music societies in Steyning, Eastbourne 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.