Events coming soon

• Thursday 22 August 2024 at 3.00PM

  English guitar concert at Presteigne Festival

  Morning Star

  St. Michael's Church, Discoed, Wales

  Box office: Presteigne Festival, Tel: 01544 267800

  The world premiere of Michael Berkeley's 'Morning Star' for guitar is performed by Paul Galbraith, alongside works by Dowland, Sally Beamish, Lennox Berkeley and Benjamin Britten. Note the festival bus departs Presieigne at 2.20pm.
  
  Michael Berkeley writes: "I began sketching this 7- to 8-minute piece in 2022 having come across a recording of Julian Bream premiering my 'Sonata in One Movement' at the 1982 Edinburgh Festival. I had spent some time with Julian, as had my father, Lennox, learning about how to write for what Julian called ‘The Old Box’. Several of the ideas in the Sonata and in Craig Ogden’s subsequent recording of Lennox’s and my guitar music (Chandos) struck me as being starting points for a new piece, for example, the melodic intervals and the use of repeated notes which is such a hallmark of the Spanish repertoire. I sent a draft to the guitarist Paul Galbraith who I have long admired and he suggested minor changes to a couple of bars.
  
  The Morning Star becomes visible just before sunrise and is thus a harbinger of dawn and daylight. The music starts with a mere glimmer before the repeated notes assert themselves. I particularly like to contrast the natural voice of the strings with their ability to take on a more metallic, edgy sound. The singing quality of the instrument comes to the fore in a middle section that is marked subito calmo, dolce e cantabile. This melody returns before the star ascends into the stratosphere and disappears."

Past events

• Monday 01 July 2024 at 1.00PM

  Celebrating Australian Music at St. Michael's

  Notes on the Loss of a Friend performed by Madeleine Mitchell (violin)

  St. Michael at the Northgate, Cornmarket St, Oxford, OX1 3EY

  A focus on Australian music with a lunch-hour recital by violinist Madeleine Mitchell and Wendy Hiscocks. Includes a solo violin performance of Michael Berkeley's 'Notes on the Loss of a Friend: In Memoriam Nicholas Snowman OBE'. This event connects to Wendy Hiscocks’s visit to Chethams as composer-in-residence where she will explore not only her own music but the wider vista of Australian and other compositions.

• Wednesday 14 February 2024 at 1.00PM

  Lunchtime Recital with Madeleine Mitchell

  Notes on the Loss of a Friend performed by Madeleine Mitchell (violin)

  The Pound Arts Centre, Pound Pill, Corsham, SN13 9HX

  Violinist, speaker and perfomer Madeleine Mitchell, “one of the UK’s liveliest musical forces” (The Times), introduces a recital of solo violin works. The programme includes 'Notes on the loss of a friend: In Memoriam Nicholas Snowman’ by Michael Berkeley, some classic Bach and hauntingly beautiful short pieces written for her. These appear on her latest album for Naxos, Violin Conversations (“full of riches, beautifully played” - The Observer). Also expect poetry - something special for Valentine’s Day.