Wednesday 5th October 2011 - Barbirolli String Quartet

The Barbirolli Quartet, like so many, have their origins in the RNCM, and have local ties – they are the Quartet in residence at Salford University. They bring together a wealth of experience, its founding members each having performed widely in their native countries of Canada, Wales and Australia before coming to England to continue their studies. Formed in 2003 at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, the quartet has since undertaken a Chamber Music Fellowship at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and a Leverhulme Chamber Music Fellowship at the Royal Academy of Music in London The Times has described them as “forthright, full-blooded musicians, afraid of nothing” and The Strad hailed their “superbly realised performance” and “precision of ensemble at formidable rates of energy”.They are a very busy quartet with a reputation that has spread on both a national and international level with performances just this June and July in such varied locations as the Aldeburgh Festival, Mananan International Festival of Music and the Arts, Isle of Man, Chichester Festivities, Festival d'Aix-en-Provence and the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition. They are playing quartets by Haydn, Bliss and Beethoven.

Wednesday 7th December 2011 - Alexandra Dariescu, Piano

We welcome a young pianist, Alexandra Dariescu, who has greatly impressed concert-goers in this area recently having appeared at the Ribble Valley Piano Festival in each of the last two years. Born in Romania in 1985, Alexandra Dariescu studied in Iasi, Romania, Pocklington School in York and the Royal Northern College of Music. In 2008 she was selected for representation by the Young Concert Artists Trust and was a BBC Music Magazine RISING STAR. She was a resident at the Verbier Festival Academy in Switzerland in 2010 and was awarded the prestigious CUBS prize. Recent winner of the Guildhall Wigmore Recital Prize, Alexandra gave a full evening recital at the Wigmore Hall in March of this year. Alexandra has been awarded the Romanian Ambassador’s Award for excellence in music and outstanding contribution to promoting Romania’s image in the UK. Michael Church, wrote recently in International Piano Magazine, “A Wigmore appearance was 25-year-old Alexandra Dariescu’s reward for winning the Guildhall Recital Prize, and she bravely went off-piste with Bartok’s Suite op 14 and a complex Dutilleux rarity. Schumann’s Abegg Variations and the Liszt-Wagner “Liebestod” allowed her to demonstrate her tender and vivid approach to the keyboard.” She is to play a wide ranging programme for us including Beethoven, Schumann, Liszt, Chopin, Ravel and Debussy.

Wednesday 8th February 2012 - Ensemble 360, Piano Quintet

We have a bumper concert from Ensemble 360 on the 8th February 2012, with two piano quintets. It is time we had some Hummel, who is often overlooked in concert programmes, and this quintet is a very pleasing and tuneful work. Schubert’s Trout Quintet is always a great treat. They are also playing an engaging and unusual duo by Rossini for cello and double bass. Ensemble 360 appears regularly on BBC Radio 3 and at some of the largest festivals and venues in England including the Wigmore Hall, the National Centre for Early Music, Bath International Festival, Buxton Festival, Leamington Music Festival and Manchester Chamber Concert Series. It tours nationally every year with Music in the Round, and it has established its own concert series in Barnsley and Doncaster. Ensemble 360 was formed in 2005 when eleven musicians of international standing came together to take up residency in Sheffield with Music in the Round, establishing a versatile group comprising five string players, five wind players and a pianist. As often as possible they present concerts ‘in the round’, a performance style which is characteristic of its home venue, the Crucible Studio in Sheffield. As part of its aim to provide quality chamber music concerts at affordable prices, and provide accessibility to all members of the community, Ensemble 360 has performed in concerts around the UK and on BBC Radio 3, engages in work with local Sheffield schools, is affiliated to the Department of Music at Sheffield University where the players engage in chamber music coaching, and it even performs regularly in a local Sheffield pub.

Wednesday 18th April 2012 - Erringden Ensemble

The season ends on 18th April with a concert by the Erringden String Trio. The moving spirit is Helen Thatcher, an old friend well remembered as the cellist of the Sorrell Quartet. The players for this trio concert are Bradley Creswick, violin, David Aspin, viola and Helen Thatcher, cello. This is a slight change from the details in the leaflet. We have not had a string trio for many years and they are playing from the cream of the repertoire – Beethoven, Mozart and Schubert. Created by renowned local cellist Helen Thatcher, The Erringden Ensemble boasts some of the most experienced chamber musicians in the country. The three playing tonight have made numerous recordings and performed all over the world. Helen is joined by the brilliant viola player David Aspin, who is a member of contemporary music group Psappha, and also Principal Violist of the Orchestra of Opera North. Bradley Creswick has a long association with Northern Sinfonia going back to 1984 when he was first appointed leader. In 1987 Bradley moved to London to lead the Philharmonia, still maintaining his relationship with the Sinfonia, making guest appearances, notably as soloist with them in the 1989 BBC Proms playing the Lark Ascending. The London years continued as leader of the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House before taking the opportunity, in 1994, to return to the Sinfonia and the Northeast for a second time. Working at The Sage Gateshead now provides the chance to play with an even greater variety of musicians, such as James Crabb and Bruce Molsky.

Concerts are all held at the

Millgate Arts Centre Delph

7.30pm

Saddleworth Chamber Concerts Society gratefully acknowledges support from
Saddleworth Parish Council