27 April – 1 May
Tanya Avchinnikova Martin Baker Michael Collins
Amy Dickson Alessandro Fisher Greenwich Piano Trio
Andrey Gugnin Tim Horton Roman Kosyakov
Sholto Kynoch
Leonore
Royal Pump Rooms | Leamington Spa www.leamingtonmusic.org
Piano Trio Viv McLean
Gemma Rosefield Sacconi String Quartet
Michael Seal Sinfonia of Birmingham principal sponsor
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Thanks The 2023 Leamington Music Festival is made possible by generous support from Hugh & Jane Beale, Peter Glanfield, Maurice Millward, Peter Robinson, Howard Skempton, Paul & Jane Watts, Maestro! Touring, and Presto Music.
The Advanced Musicians concert forms an important part of our Education Programme which operates in partnership with Warwickshire Music, and is partly funded by Arts Council England.
Leamington Town Council has supported the Festival with grant-aid.
The starting point for the Festival this year is Rachmaninov’s 150th anniversary – quite a contrast to last year’s RVW150. Other composers with Ukrainian and Russian roots are programmed and we also celebrate the Leamington-born composer Robin Holloway as he approaches 80. The line-up of musicians includes many old friends and some new faces, with connections to Australia, Belarus, Canada, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Russia and Slovenia.
It is beginning to look as if we are returning to our prepandemic heydays and we revive the idea of a Coffee Concert and have a first late night recital. We again include an orchestral concert in All Saints Church with the Sinfonia of Birmingham returning after its wellreceived first visit last year. As always, the Festival is a sociable celebration for music lovers, as we come together to enjoy the outstanding talents of musicians, both established and rising stars.
The Festival Extra return of the Martinů Quartet in midMay is eagerly awaited and, in June, we continue to enjoy our close ties to the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, with the Chamber Choir and Opera both appearing in Warwick. After a summer break, we start the 2023/24 Winter Season in early October with the usual Friday evening series of string quartets and Tuesday series of early music with a range of other groups coming to provide the variety of choice that underpins our thriving Education Programme.
Enjoy Leamington Music’s contribution to the musical scene in the heart of England!
Richard Phillips MBE Festival DirectorSergei Rachmaninov was born in Oneg, near Novgorod, on 20 March 1873. He died on 28 March 1943 in Beverly Hills and is buried in Kensico Cemetery, New York. Having studied piano and composition in St Petersburg and Moscow, he made his international concert debut in London in 1899. He left Russia after the October Revolution in 1917, never to return. He then lived at various times in Stockholm, Copenhagen, Paris, Sunar near Lucerne and was always on the move, touring. He gave his final concert in Knoxville, Tennessee in February 1943.
Robin Holloway was born in Leamington in 1943. He was a boy chorister at St Paul’s Cathedral and went up to King’s College, Cambridge to read music. He stayed on to become a lecturer in music and composition in 1975, and Thomas Adès and Judith Weir were among the students he tutored. Although he retired in 2011, he remains a prolific composer and his works with Opus numbers have now reached 143 and counting. He has been performed several times at the BBC Proms and his opera Clarissa was performed at English National Opera. Simon Rattle and Michael Tilson Thomas are among conductors who have championed his works, the latter with performances with the San Francisco Orchestra.
Sunday 30 April
3.30pm
Warwickshire Music
Advanced Musicians Concert
A platform to showcase the cream of Warwickshire Music’s students from across the county, performing works that complement the Festival’s programmes and themes.
Tickets: £4 students and children | £8 adults includes tea, squash and cake
Benjamin Nabarro violin
Gemma Rosefield cello
Tim Horton piano
Rachmaninov Trio élégiaque No 1 in G minor
Arensky Piano Trio No 1 in D minor Op 32
Tchaikovsky Piano Trio in A minor Op 50
‘In Memory of a Great Artist’
The Leonore Piano Trio has become one of the firm Festival favourites for our audience. Established in 2012, the Trio appears regularly at the Wigmore Hall and other major venues, and their recordings - as with the two Piano Trios by Arensky - are highly praised.
The 2023 Festival is launched with an early work of 1892 by Rachmaninov, and his other monumental Trio (of 1907) features in the lunchtime concert on Monday. Arensky’s First Piano Trio (1894) was dedicated to the celebrated Russian cellist Karl Davidoff, and Tchaikovsky’s Piano Trio (1881-2) was written in memory of his great mentor, Nikolai Rubinstein.
Generously supported by Peter Robinson in memory of Gillian
Tickets: £26 reserved centre | £16 unreserved sides
12 noon
Michael Collins clarinet
Steffan Morris cello
Michael McHale piano
Michael Collins has been delighting audiences in and around Leamington for many years and he comes with some of his many musical friends to contribute to the 2023 Festival with its various connections. Michael McHale is Michael Collins’s regular accompanist and Steffan Morris is the cellist in the Castalian String Quartet.
In the first of the six works programmed to celebrate Leamington-born composer Robin Holloway’s 80th birthday, Michael plays the Romanza & Scherzo that Robin was invited to write for Michael’s 60th birthday and which Michael premièred at the Wigmore Hall last year. Glinka wrote this Trio in 1832, four years before his opera A Life for the Tsar, after which, with Ruslan and Ludmila, found him described as the founder of Russian national music. The Trio by Brahms, like his Clarinet Quintet, was inspired by the playing of Richard Muhlfeld and is one of the masterpieces for this combination of instruments.
Michael Collins clarinet
Benjamin Nabarro violin
Akiko Ono violin
Rachel Roberts viola
Steffan Morris cello
Michael McHale piano
Stravinsky The Soldier’s Tale: Suite Robin Holloway Trio for Clarinet, Viola, and Piano Op 79
Bartók Contrasts
Prokofiev Overture on Hebrew Themes Op 34
Shostakovich Piano Quintet in G minor Op 57
Michael Collins is joined for the evening concert by three more friends - Benjamin Nabarro and Rachel Roberts who are regular visitors with Ensemble 360, plus the Japanese violinist Akiko Ono - and they bring a programme which is true Festival fare. It includes another work by Robin Holloway, premièred by Emma Johnson in Malvern in 1994. Stravinsky effectively left Russia before World War One and wrote The Soldier’s Tale in Switzerland. Bartók left Hungary in 1940 for America where he composed Contrasts for Benny Goodman. Prokofiev, who was born in Ukraine, spent fifteen years in the USA and France before returning to Russia in 1933. He suffered, like Shostakovich, from the ideological demands of Communism but wrote many great scores. Shostakovich was eventually allowed to travel out of the USSR and his reputation has grown over the last fifty years. His Piano Quintet written in 1940 is a powerful masterpiece.
9.50pm
Bach/Busoni Chorale Prelude
“Ich ruf zu Dir, Herr Jesu Christ” BWV639
Chopin Nocturne in E minor Op 72 No 1
Chopin Nocturne in F Op 15 No 1
Gershwin Three Preludes
Valentin Silvestrov Nocturne
Rachmaninov Prelude in G Op 32 No 5
Rachmaninov Prelude in G sharp minor Op 32 No 12
Grieg Notturno Op 54 No 4
Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue
Unwind at the end of the first full day of the Festival with a glass of wine in this relaxed late-night concert.
Since winning First Prize at the Maria Canals Competition in Barcelona, Viv has enjoyed an extremely varied career as soloist and chamber musician, performing with most major British orchestras and many leading chamber groups. Viv last appeared in our Festival back in 2018, and one of his many admirers - Howard Skempton - proposed his return with a programme like this for us to round off a truly Festival day. We are pleased to include music by Valentin Silvestrov, who was born in Kyiv but currently lives in Berlin.
supported by Howard Skempton
Tickets: £16 unreserved (includes a glass of wine)
Generously
Beethoven Variations on “Ein Mädchen
oder Weibchen” Op 66
Rachmaninov Vocalise Op 34 No 14
Rachmaninov Cello Sonata in G minor Op 19
Two of the Festival’s favourite musicians met as members of Ensemble 360 and, with Benjamin Nabarro, formed the Leonore Piano Trio which opens the Festival.
Gemma Rosefield and Tim Horton bring a gorgeous programme for a Coffee Concert on a Saturday morning starting with Beethoven’s witty and virtuosic variations on Papageno’s aria from The Magic Flute, which are followed by Rachmaninov’s haunting and beautiful Vocalise. His Cello Sonata, written in 1901 is surely the most romantic ever written for the instrument, and no Festival focusing on his works could be complete without it.
Tickets: £17.50 reserved centre | £12.50 unreserved sides includes coffee - available from 10.30am
Mozart Sonata for Piano duet in D K381
Schubert Ave Maria D839
Glière Douze Morceaux Op 48
Rachmaninov Six Morceaux Op 11
Siberian pianist Roman Kosyakov was a Leamington Music Prize winner in 2019, and stepped in at the last minute to save the day last year giving a stunning concert to close the Festival with Ukrainian pianist Sasha Grynyuk. This year he teams up with his Belarusian wife, Tanya Avchinnikova, for a delightful afternoon duo concert.
Opening with a piece that Mozart regularly included in his own programmes when touring with his sister, Nannerl, as child prodigies, we follow his charm with some of Schubert’s characteristic warmth. Glière was born in Kyiv, of German and Polish descent, and this is a rare opportunity to hear these delightful pieces written in 1909.
Rachmaninov’s Six Morceaux Op 11 are an absolute must for this Festival programme. Written in 1894, they are among the best compositions of his youthful period following his studies at the Moscow Conservatory.
Generously sponsored by Maestro! Touring
Tickets: £17.50 reserved centre | £12.50 unreserved sides includes tea and cake served afterwards
Tchaikovsky
Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition
Andrey Gugnin was introduced to the Festival in 2019 by the violinist Tasmin Little and they launched it with a memorable concert. Three days later, Andrey gave a lunchtime concert which ended with a performance of Pictures at an Exhibition, which prompted an immediate standing ovation. He was invited back to repeat this work the following year and the following two, but the pandemic and bureaucracy intervened. He returns this year with important examples of Russian music before repeating the Mussorgsky, which will again lead us to the Great Gate of Kyiv.
Andrey studied at the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory and soon after leaving began to win an impressive number of prizes in Vienna, Sydney, Zagreb and many others. Valery Gergiev invited him to appear with the London Philharmonic and Mariinsky Orchestras and he has performed in many of the world’s most important concert halls.
Tickets: £26 reserved centre | £16 unreserved sides
Rachmaninov A Dream, Twilight, Lilacs, I beg for Mercy, I am alone again, Night is sorrowful, The morning of life, and Pied Piper
Jonathan Dove Out of Winter
Donizetti Boléro, Berglied, Barcaruola, and Preghiera
di Capua & Tosti Neapolitan Songs
Alessandro Fisher - who won the Kathleen Ferrier Prize in 2016 and was a BBC New Generation Artist 2018-21 - sings in Leamington for the first time. He is accompanied by Sholto Kynoch, well known as Director of the Oxford Lieder Festival.
A selection from Rachmaninov’s extensive collection of songs, a song cycle by Jonathan Dove, who studied with Robin Holloway at Clare College, Cambridge where Alessandro was a Choral Scholar and whose Italian roots will shine through with recently discovered songs by Donizetti and finally a trip to Naples.
Jonathan Dove’s opera The Enchanted Pig will be given at The Dream Factory in Warwick on 25 June.
Tickets: £17.50 reserved centre | £12.50 unreserved sides
7.30pm
Sinfonia of Birmingham
Michael Seal conductor
Amy Dickson saxophone
Tchaikovsky Romeo & Juliet - Fantasy Overture
Glazunov Saxophone Concerto in E flat Op 109
Rachmaninov Symphony No 2 in E minor Op 27
The Sinfonia of Birmingham returns with Associate CBSO conductor Michael Seal, following a sell-out concert in last year’s Festival.
This is a mighty programme, taking full advantage of the opportunity of having a symphony orchestra. Tchaikovsky’s symphonic poem, completed in 1880, sets the scene for an evening of unabashed romanticism culminating in Rachmaninov’s glorious Second Symphony (1907).
In the midst of these two famous and much-loved works sits Glazunov’s beautiful Saxophone Concerto - his last completed work, and an absolute gem for the instrument. BritishAustralian saxophonist Amy Dickson comes to Leamington for the first time. Twice nominated for a Grammy™ award, Amy has been hailed by BBC Music Magazine as one of the world’s six best classical saxophonists ever.
Unreserved Tickets: £26 front nave | £16 rear nave
11am | All Saints Church, Leamington
Lemmens Fanfare in D
Byrd Fantasia in D minor
Robin Holloway Corale-prelude on ‘Alle Menschen müssen sterben’
JS Bach Alle Menschen müssen sterben BWV643
Reger Toccata and Fuge from Zwölf Stücke Op 59
Whitlock Allegretto, Folk tune and Scherzo from Five short pieces
Jongen Chant de mai Op 53 No 1
Jongen Toccata Op 104
Walton Orb and Sceptre
Martin Baker
Improvisation on themes
by Sergei RachmaninovMartin Baker is an Honorary Fellow of Downing College
Cambridge, a past President of the Royal College of Organists, and former Master of Music at Westminster Cathedral. He has forged a reputation as one of the foremost improvisers of his day, winning first prize in that category at the St Albans International Organ Festival in 1997 and international renown not only as an innovative recitalist but also in his equallyacclaimed role as a choral director.
Generously supported by the Friends of All Saints Music
12.30pm Greenwich Piano Trio
Lana Trotovšek violin
Heather Tuach cello
Simon Callaghan piano
Mozart Piano Trio in G K564
Rachmaninov Trio élégiaque No 2 in D minor Op 9
The award-winning Greenwich Piano Trio plays in the Festival for the first time, as we welcome back the Slovenian violinist Lana Trotovšek who thrilled our audience at a lunchtime concert last year, Heather Tuach, the Canadian cellist in the Fitzwilliam Quartet, and pianist Simon Callaghan who last played here in the 2016 Leamington Music Festival.
Opening with the last of Mozart’s six piano trios, completed in 1788, we follow with Rachmaninov’s monumental Trio written in 1893 and dedicated to Tchaikovsky who died in November that year. Earlier in the year, Rachmaninov’s opera Aleko was premièred at the Bolshoi Theatre and was warmly praised by Tchaikovsky. His death must have been a shock as only nine days before he had conducted the première of his sixth symphony in St Petersburg.
Tickets: £17.50 reserved centre | £12.50 unreserved sides
7pm
Ben Hancox and Hannah Dawson violins
Robin Ashwell viola
Cara Berridge cello with Ben Goldscheider horn
Robin Holloway First Partita Op 62 No 1
Mozart Horn Quintet in E flat K407
Robin Holloway Horn Quintet Op 135
Rachmaninov String Quartet No 1: Romance
Schubert String Quartet in D minor D810
‘Death and the Maiden’
The Sacconi Quartet returns for its third concert in Leamington for three years and Ben Goldscheider plays here for the first time. Since being a Concerto finalist in the 2016 BBC Young Musician competition, his national and international rise has been meteoric. Chosen by the Barbican for the ECHO Rising Stars, he has performed at the most prestigious venues on the continent and he made his BBC Proms debut last year with the CBSO.
The Festival draws to a climax with two works by Robin Holloway, the beautiful Romance from Rachmaninov’s only completed string quartet, some delightful Mozart and one of Schubert’s greatest chamber works.
Join us in the Conservatory after the concert for a celebratory glass of wine!
Tickets: £26 reserved centre | £16 unreserved sides
Generously supported by Paul & Jane WattsLeamington Music Artist in Residence www.janewilliamsartist.co.uk
a new direction with a familiar subject matter
an exhibition of recent paintings will be on display throughout the Festival
open one hour before performances
Cards made from Jane’s paintings only available at Leamington Music concerts for sale on the Friends Table
Proceeds from card sales help fund the Leamington Music Education Programme
7.30pm
Lubomír Havlák and Adéla Štajnochrová violins
Martin Stupka viola
Jitka Vlašánková cello
Beneš String Quartet No 2 in F Op 32
Martinů String Quartet No 5
Dvořák String Quartet No 14 in A flat Op 105
The Martinů Quartet will be performing for the thirtieth time in Leamington and Warwickshire since first coming to the Warwick & Leamington Festival in 1998 – by far the most times for any visiting quartet.
The Quartet comes with some new members and a recently re-discovered Czech composer, Josef Beneš, who lived 1795 to 1873. A distinguished violinist, he wrote two quartets towards the end of his life, the second in 1871.
Generously supported by Hugh & Jane Beale
Tickets: £26 reserved centre | £16 unreserved sides
This concert of Czech music played by Czech musicians serves as a bridge to the 2024 Leamington Music Festival which will run 2-6 May celebrating Czech music, with an emphasis on Dvořák and featuring the première of a commission from The Dvořák Society of a new work by Sylvie Bodorová.
Tuesday 13 June at 7.30pm
Julian Wilkins & Jeffrey Skidmore conductors
The Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir comes to St Mary’s to take part in the second Warwick Choral Festival, conducted by Julian Wilkins (CBSO Choruses) and Jeffrey Skidmore (Ex Cathedra).
This beautiful and uplifting programme brings together works by Arbeau, Britten, Debussy, Fauré, Finzi, Howells, Le Jeune, Lalande, de Lassus, Machaut, Messiaen, Monteverdi, Saint-Saëns and Whitacre for a true June evening’s delight.
Tickets: £20 unreserved centre | £15 unreserved sides (£1 students and children)
Sunday 25 June at 7pm The Dream Factory | Playbox Theatre Stratford Road | Warwick CV34 6LE
Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Summer Opera
Anthony Kraus conductor
Stuart Barker director
Following the big success last year of the Charpentier/ Offenbach double bill, this year we present an opera for children aged 8 to 80, based on Romanian and Norwegian folk stories that will amuse and delight. Jonathan Dove has composed numerous operas, with Flight performed at the Glyndebourne Festival. The Enchanted Pig was written for the Young Vic theatre and has been given acclaimed productions in the USA as well as the UK.
Tickets: £25 unreserved (£1 students and children)
