VOGLER QUARTET

Thursday 21st October 2010 at 8pm
Cheltenham Pump Room
£10 / £15

Artist's Website: voglerquartet

• Stravinsky - Concertino
• Beethoven - Quartet in C sharp minor op.131
• Bach - The Art of Fugue (extracts)
• Bartok - Quartet no.4

Our season opens with a thrilling programme played by the renowned German quartet who are marking their 25th anniversary - and with the same players throughout. “The Vogler Quartet belongs in the highest category of contemporary string quartets. They play with a wonderful expressive ease and warmth and possess the unteachable knack of being able to communicate everything they do directly and unaffectedly.’”The Guardian

BELINDA WILLIAMS (mezzo soprano) and JAMES BAILLIEU (piano)

Wednesday 8th December at 8pm
Cheltenham Pump Room
£10/ £15

Artist's Website: Belinda Williams

• Mahler - Lieder eines Fahrenden Gesellen
• Quilter - Three Shakespeare songs op.6
• Tippett - Songs for Ariel
• Bush - Three Elizabethan songs

Belinda Williams is a 2010 winner of the Young Artists Platform run by the Tillett Trust, who have an excellent 30 year record of supporting highly promising artists at the start of their professional careers. James Baillieu is winning many prizes and also has a very bright future. Their programme includes a Mahler masterwork and an intriguing selection of 20th century English songs to texts by Shakespeare

NASH ENSEMBLE

Monday 24th January at 8pm
Cheltenham Pump Room
£12 / £17

Artist's Website: Nash Ensemble

• Beethoven - Piano trio in C minor op.1 no.3
• Ravel - Sonata for violin and cello
• Debussy - Sonata in D minor for cello and piano
• Mendelssohn - Piano trio no.1 in D minor op.49

The Nash Ensemble has a remarkable reputation for the sensitivity and musicality of their playing. This concert is sure to be a musical feast. “this national treasure of an ensemble” The Times

DANISH QUARTET

Monday 21st February at 8pm
Cheltenham Pump Room
£10 / £15

Artist's Website: Danish Quartet

• Nielsen - Quartet in G minor op.13
• Thomas - Adès‘Arcadiana’
• Beethoven - Quartet in E flat Major op.127

Winners of the 2009 London International String Quartet competition, the Danish Quartet’s international standing is rising steadily. Who better to play one of Nielsen’s too rarely heard quartets. "They bring a freshness and energy plus a level of sheer accomplishment that I don’t ever remember hearing in these works." Gramophone

LONDON CONCHORD ENSEMBLE

Monday 14th March at 8pm
Cheltenham Pump Room
£10 / £15

Artist's Website: London Conchord Ensemble

• Mozart - Quintet for piano and wind in E flat K.452
• Poulenc - Sonata for flute and piano
• Bridge - Divertimenti for wind quartet
• Beethoven - Quintet for piano and wind in E flat op.16

This ensemble of internationally recognised young artists drawn from leading British orchestras offers a programme of fascinating contrasts in style. “The ensemble clicks perfectly, the playing seemingly effortless and a regard for precision never stifling the musicians’ natural feeling for life and breath.” BBC Music Magazine

HEATH QUARTET

Tuesday 29th March at 8pm
Cheltenham Pump Room
£10 / £15

Artist's Website: Heath Quartet

• Haydn - Quartet in D op.71 no.2
• Britten - Quartet no.1 in D op.25
• Dvorak - Quartet in E flat op.51

The Heath Quartet is one of the most exciting young quartets around today and are rapidly becoming much more widely known. “The Heath Quartet displayed a rare musicality .. A keen interpretative insight combined with refined playing, this is one of the most interesting young quartets I have heard in recent years.” The Strad Magazine

STEVEN OSBORNE (piano)

Thursday 7th April at 8pm
Cheltenham Pump Room
£12 / £17

Artist's Website: Steven Osborne

• Schubert

  - Sonata in C minor D.958

  - Sonata in A major D.959

  - Sonata in B flat D.960

The striking range and beauty of Schubert’s last three sonatas and Steve Osborne’s highly sensitive and intelligent pianism promise to be a most memorable climax to the season. “You could have heard a pin drop. Steven Osborne’s power over the hall was absolute…the atmosphere was spellbound. ” Daily Telegraph

PIANO CIRCUS

Friday 11 November 2010 at 8pm
Holy Apostles' Church, London Road


Artist's Website: Piana Circus

• Tüür - Transmission
• Reich - Six Pianos
• Plowman - Hall of Mirrors
• Lang - Face So Pale
• Harry - Digging Deeper
• Cage - The Beatles 1962-1970
• MacLeod - Ellipsis
• Fitkin - Totti

There are not many works written for six pianos which have not been commissioned by this extraordinary ensemble over the past 20 years. This concert features some of them, alongside the mesmeric beauty of Steve Reich's Six Pianos, the work that brought the group together. Uniquely collaborative in their approach, this will be a memorable musical and visual experience.

TANGO SIEMPRE

Thursday 2 December 2010 at 8pm
St Andrew’s Church Montpellier


Artist's Website: Tango Siempre

• Tangos by Piazzolla, Troilo, Pugliese, Taylor and Stephen

It takes four to tango: this evening’s concert is a survey of traditional and contemporary tango. In the capable hands of the UK’s leading experts in the field, you will experience some of the drama and colour of South America’s most famous export without leaving Gloucestershire.

SYMBIOSIS

Friday 14 January 2010 at 8pm
St Andrew’s Church, Montpellier


Artist's Website:

• Johnson - Trio
• Varese - Density 21.5 for solo flute
• Patterson - Conversations for clarinet and piano
• Hough - Trio
• Villa Lobos - Choros no 2
• Prokofiev - Sonata for flute and piano
• Bimbi - Lluna

All former students of the Royal Northern College of Music, this adventurous trio explores the varied musical combinations of flute, clarinets and piano. This concert features the premiere of pianist Adam Johnson's brand new piece for the group.

FIDELIO TRIO

Saturday 5 February at 8pm
Prince Michael Hall, Dean Close School


Artist's Website: Fidelio Trio

• Cutler - Archie
• Bedford - Chiaroscuro
• Reeves - Starlight Squid
• Molitor - after the strangely monumental
• Woolrich - Toward the Black Sky
• Weir - Piano Trio Two

This concert lives up to its title: "The British Piano Trio - Right Now". Expect this critically-acclaimed Irish threesome to make sense of this bold programme, which ranges from Claudia Molitor's abstraction to Judith Weir's folk-influenced lyricism.

MATTHEW BARLEY

Thursday 17th March 2011 at 8pm
St Andrew's Church, Montpellier


Artist's Website: matthewbarley

• Improvisation... on an Indian Theme
• Bryars - Laude Dolce
• O’Connor - Appalachian Waltz
• Bach - Suite no 3 in C
• Improvisation... on a theme from the audience
• Britten - Suite no 3 op 87
• Metcalfe - Constant Filter

I wish more people would think about music the way Matthew Barley does.” (The Times). Come and hear for yourself: there will certainly be no hiding as Matthew takes to the stage on his own. He contrasts established classics with improvisation, a passion of his.