Ealing Autumn Festival 2012
Delius and Dickens - Oct 12th-27th
After a Romance with Russia in 2010 and a Genius of Hungary in 2011, the third Ealing Autumn Festival Delius and Dickens celebrates two anniversaries originating in the UK: the 150th anniversary of the birth of composer Delius and the 200th anniversary of the birth of writer Charles Dickens.
With an international flavour, yet still firmly rooted in its local community, the Festival will be presenting a fascinating mix of music, literature, visual art, film and family friendly events as a means of exploring their life, work, inspiration and legacy.
Julian Lloyd Webber (cello) heads a line-up of outstanding musicians including the music of Delius in their programmes: Pam Chowhan (piano), Maté Racz (violin), the Bridge Quartet, Anando Mukerjee (tenor) with Pavel Timofejevsky (piano), Margaret Morrell (soprano), Alan Brett (cello) and Gillian Spragg (piano). The West London Sinfonia will be conducted by Philip Hesketh with piano soloist Viv McLean in Delius’s PIano Concerto.
Delius emerges as a very cosmopolitan “Englishman”: with family roots in Germany, he was heavily influenced by Afro-American music as well as Asian culture yet he also visited Hanwell (part of the Borough of Ealing). Three heritage projects: From Florida to the first Cuckoo, Jewels in the Crown and Delius in Hanwell will bring a new and unique exhibition to the Festival.
Both Delius and Dickens are represented on film, including Ken Russell’s classic Delius biopic Song of Summer and a new compilation of archive performances The Ultimate Delius Concert. For Dickens, the headline film screening will be Ealing Studios’ Nicholas Nickleby, shown at Ealing Studios: a very, very rare opportunity to see an Ealing Studios film at the place it was made.
Otherwise, look out for Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities and a contemporary take on Hard Times (Grace Quansah with WAPPY). Come to the open mic session My Favourite Dickens and don’t miss the Crazy Victorian Hat-Making on the last day!
INDIVIDUAL EVENTS
Julian Lloyd Webber cello with Pam Chowhan piano
Friday October 12th 8pm
Victoria Hall, Ealing Town Hall
Celebrity Recital
Described by Strad magazine as “the doyen of British cellists” and widely regarded as one of the finest musicians of his generation, Julian Lloyd Webber enjoys one of the most creative and successful careers in classical music today. He is a vice-president of the Delius Society.
His many recordings have received worldwide acclaim. His Brit-award winning Elgar Concerto conducted by Yehudi Menuhin was chosen as the finest ever version by BBC Music Magazine and his coupling of Britten’s Cello Symphony and Walton’s Concerto was described by Gramophone magazine as being beyond any rival.
Born in India, Pam Chowhan studied at Cambridge and the Royal Northern College of Music and has performed/recorded in an astonishingly diverse range of style and genre. She is a highly successful arranger, currently working on string arrangements for an album of classical Indian mandolin, and is Head of Planning in the Artistic Programming Department at the Royal Festival Hall.
October 4, 2012
Programme Bach: Adagio in G
Bridge: Scherzetto
Britten: Scherzo Pizzicato from Sonata in C Op 65
Faure: Élégie
Saint Saëns: The Swan
Delius: Sonata (1915)
—
William Lloyd Webber: In the Half Light
Rachmaninov: Sonata Op. 19
Tickets: £25, £15, £12 (concessions).
Mate Racz (Violin) & The Bridge Quartet
Sat 13 St Mellitus Church, 1 Church Road, Hanwell, W7 3BA
2.00pm Afternoon Concert
Maté Racz (violin) stunned Festival audiences last year with his full-blooded performances of Bartók and Monti’s Czardas in the authentic style of his native Hungary. However, with characteristic versatility and as though to the manner born, he has taken to the Delius sonata for this year’s Festival with equal commitment and insight, promising an outstanding performance.
Gillian Spragg (piano), having won the Gold Medal at the Guildhall School of Music, was greeted by The Times as “an interesting performer” who plays with “phrasing relaxed yet fully motivated, tone, large and warm”. An eclectic career as performer, publisher, teacher and composer took her to Africa in the 1990s. She is artistic director of this Festival.
The Bridge Quartet
Colin Twigg & Catherine Schofield (violins)
Michael Schofield (viola)
Lucy Wilding (cello)
The Bridge Quartet have long been acclaimed as ambassadors for British music internationally and, like Julian Lloyd Webber, have a reputation second to none for their performances and recordings of Delius. Their research on the Delius 1888 Quartet Movements resulted in premieres at the 1999 Jacksonville Festival in Florida and at the Wigmore Hall. We welcome them to the Festival and look forward to hearing a rare performance of the quartet by Norman O’Neill. O’Neill was born in Kensington and was a friend of Delius.
2.00pm
Maté Racz (violin) with Gillian Spragg (piano)
Delius: Violin Sonata in B
A short selection of Hungarian favourites for violin.
The sonata was composed in 1892, the year Delius visited Hanwell.
3.00pm
The Bridge Quartet
Norman O’Neill: String Quartet in A minor
Delius: String Quartet (1916)
Grainger: Molly on the Shore
This concert is generously supported by the Delius Trust.
The day’s events are a collaboration between Hanwell Community Forum and the Ealing Autumn Festival.
St Mellitus Church is very generously giving the venue and providing refreshments.
Also on this day at Eakub:
9.45am Delius in Hanwell 1892 guided walk
12-6.00pm Delius Exhibition (St Mellitus Church)
4.30pm Song of Summer (St Mellitus Church) Ken Russell's biopic of Delius
7.30pm West London Sinfonia (St Barnabas Church) orchestral concert
London St Barnabas Church, Pitshanger Lane, Ealing, London, W5 1QG
West London Sinfonia
Sat 13th Oct, 7.30pm
Philip Hesketh (conductor) Viv Mclean (piano)
The West London Sinfonia, under the baton of their conductor, Philip Hesketh, is an orchestra of quite outstanding calibre. Voskresenije, the Festival's resident Russian chamber choir in 2010, rose to their feet to applaud the orchestra's playing of Borodin and Stravinsky. Philip Hesketh is widely known in many European venues for the musical insight and authority he brings to opera and ballet, as well as orchestral works.
Viv McLean is a fine pianist internationally acclaimed by Le Monde for his "extraordinary originality, superb simplicity". He will play Delius's Piano Concerto which, with its dazzling pianism and vibrant emotion, is a precursor of the concertos of Rachmaninov.
This event is brought to the Ealing Autumn Festival by the West London Sinfonia and is generously supported by the Delius Trust.
Programme:
Delius: In a Summer Garden
Delius: Piano Concerto
Walton: Symphony No1
Anando Mukerjee (Tenor), Gillian Spragg (Piano) & Alan Brett (Cello, Speaker)
London Ealing Town Hall, New Broadway, W5 2BY
Sun 14th Oct, 3pm
£25, £15, (£10 concessions)
Pavel Timofejevsky (piano accompanist)
Anando Mukerjee, "India's finest tenor" (The Statesman), is rapidly building a well-deserved international career. Protege of the legendary Nicolai Gedda, he has a genuine lirico-spinto Italianate voice that delights with both power and charm. He is equally at home in the opera house and on the concert platform. Outstanding pianist, Pavel Timofejevsky, is his regular accompanist. His programme: ARYA celebrates the rich inspiration Western composers, including Delius, have found in Asian culture.
Gillian Spragg (piano), having won the Gold Medal at the Guildhall School of Music, was greeted by The Times as "an interesting performer" who plays with "phrasing relaxed yet fully motivated, tone, large and warm". An eclectic career as performer, publisher, teacher and composer took her to Africa in the 1990s. She is artistic director of this Festival. Her programme: .... to 1934 features Holst, Delius and Elgar, all of whom died in 1934.
Alan Brett (cello, speaker) has dedicated his life to exploring wide-ranging interests as cellist and composer in variety of countries. A number of leading composers such as James Dillon and Howard Skempton have written works for him. His programme of words and music on Liszt at last year's Festival was fascinating and very warmly received. He will present a similarly personal view of Delius in his illustrated talk: A Cosmopolitan "Englishman".
ARYA: songs for tenor and piano
A Scarlatti: Già il sole dal Gange
Caldara: Selve amiche
Caccini: Amarilli
A Scarlatti: Violette
Holst: Hymns of the Rig Veda
Delius: Sakuntala
Delius: 2 Indian Love Songs
Bridge: 2 Tagore Songs
Alfano: Liriche Tagoriane
Meyerbeer: O paradis (L'Africane)
.... to 1934: solo piano music
Holst 1874-1934:
Toccata (1924)
2 Northumbrian Folk Tunes
2 Pieces for PIano: Nocturne and Jig
Delius 1862-1934:
3 Preludes
Dance for Harpsichord
5 Pieces: Mazurka and Waltz for a little girl, Waltz, Lullaby (with Anando Mukerjee) and Toccata
Elgar 1857-1934:
2 Piano Pieces: In Smyrna and Skizze
3 Piano Pieces Op10: Mazurka, Sérénade Mauresque and Gavotte
A Cosmopolitan "Englishman": with a few words and very generous musical illustrations, Alan Brett explores how the Englishness of the "first cuckoo in spring" belies Delius's truly multi-national background.
There will be two intervals at approximately 4pm and 5.30pm.
These events are generously supported by the Delius Trust.
Also on that day at Ealing Town Hall:
12.30pm: Delius Exhibition
12.30 for 1.00pm: Delius Society Lunch
1.00pm: Discovering Delius film screening
7.30pm: The Ultimate Delius Concert archive performances on film
Nicholas Nickleby (1947) – Classic Film Screening
Ealing Studios, Ealing Green, London, W5 5EP.
19th October 2012 6.30pm Tour of Ealing Studios 7.30pm Film All ages
This is an extremely rare opportunity to visit the historic Ealing Studios for a short tour and then to see a classic film made at the Studios in 1947, the adaptation of Dickens' novel, Nicholas Nickleby.
Directed by Cavalcanti, it catches the dark mood of deprivation and hardship that Dickens exposed to prick readers’ conscience. Derek Bond, Cedric Hardwicke, Sally Ann Howes, Bernard Miles, Cyril Fletcher, Patricia Hayes and Sybil Thorndike are among a cast of consummate actors.
Meeting place for the tour will be announced on : www.ealingautumnfestival.co.uk
Tickets for the tour of Ealing Studios are £10 for all-comers with no concessions.
Tickets for the film are £7 and £6 (concessions). Film tickets include £1 temporary membership of Classic Cinema Club which will be refunded at the door on presentation of proof of membership.
This event is generously hosted by Met Film at Ealing Studios and supported by Classic Cinema Club
Advertorial
October 4, 2012
Related links
|
