Newsletter #65  December 2021

The next concert will be held on 5 December at 11 am at the Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts (ACCA) at the University of Sussex. It will be given by the Brahms Horn Trio comprising:

Ben Goldscheider  horn
Benjamin Baker  violin
Huw Watkins  piano/composer

It’s an unusual combination and worth thinking about for a moment. Ben Goldscheider won the Young Musician of the Year Brass Final in 2016 and has been revising our expectations of how the horn can sound ever since. He played Schubert’s ‘Auf dem Strom’ in a stunning performance at the 2021 Oxford Leider Festival which this writer will never forget. Benjamin Baker won the Young Concert Artists International Auditions in New York in the same year. Stretto magazine calls him ‘one of the world’s top violinists’. And Huw Watkins is one of Britain’s foremost composers. How often do you get to hear a composer of this quality playing his or her own work? His ‘Lament’ lasts only 6 minutes but it’s a work of delicious lyricism and raw passion.

The programme:
Mozart   Horn Quintet in E flat K407 (arranged by Ben Goldscheider)
Huw Watkins   ‘Coruscation and Reflection’ for violin and piano (1999)
Huw Watkins   ‘Lament’ for horn and piano (2020)
Brahms   Horn Trio in E flat major Op.40

Audience members are encouraged to wear masks or other face coverings throughout the event (unless exempt or when eating or drinking, of course) and to keep their distance from others not in their party.

We regret that we will not be serving sherry or fruit juice to members during the interval. It is just not compatible with masking and distancing.

Tickets are available from the Brighton Dome box office (01273 709709) or online at https://brightondome.org for £18.50 (concessions £16).  A half-season ticket for the three concerts in 2022 is £49.50 (concessions £42). Tickets for individual concerts are available from ACCA on the day.

Tickets for those aged 8 to 25 are free under the Cavatina Scheme. These free tickets can only be booked by visiting one of the box offices in person. The Brighton Dome box office can issue them 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 must show proof of age, e.g. a passport. Under 14s must be accompanied to the concert by a paying adult.

 MEMBERSHIP

If you have renewed your membership of Strings Attached for the period 1 August 2021 to 31 July 2022, or have just joined, and haven’t yet collected your membership card, you will be able to do so from the Members’ Desk in the foyer on the morning of the concert.

If you haven’t yet renewed your membership now is the time to do so. No subscription was required for the 2020/21 season, although many members chose to renew voluntarily and some made generous donations. And indeed, although there was no formal concert season, work continued behind the scenes and we were able to offer three live-streamed concerts.

Membership forms can be completed at www.stringsattachedmusic.org.uk/friends/ .  For Gift Aid purposes please complete one form per person. Strings Attached is hugely grateful to Strings Attached member David Botibol for his work on the creation of this online form.
Payment can be made by cheque or by bank transfer. Please use bank transfer if you can. It is much more convenient for us. Use your surname as the reference. If paying by cheque there may be a delay before the cheque is paid in.

We very much hope you will choose to renew your membership and support our work – and that you will encourage like-minded people to join us as well.

SOCIAL MEDIA EXPERTISE

We need to engage with younger generations through Social Media but we need help. If you are able to assist us with this please make yourself known to a committee member at the Members’ Desk or email memckean@me.com.

OTHER CHAMBER MUSIC EVENTS

These are listed on our website. Choose https://www.stringsattachedmusic.org.uk and click on Calendar.
Especially interesting in the next few days are:

2 December  Chichester Chamber Concerts. Le Consort plays baroque masters.

4 December  Lewes Chamber Music Festival Christmas Concert: string trios and quartets at St John Sub Castro.

5 December  (at 3 pm) Seaford Music Society. The Bach Players play works by baroque composers though not by Bach.

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