Piano Network UK event, 12th November

About a year ago I was invited to join the Facebook group Piano Network UK. The group is for pianists, teachers, composers, promoters, tuners, journalists: anyone with a specific interest in the UK piano scene. A very friendly bunch, as shown by the 'launch event' held in London last Thursday, 12th November.

The event was initially booked months ago and in the meantime my diary has become very full - such that 3 hours each way to London and back became valuable downtime! I had also booked an audience ticket rather than performer - it would have been great to perform, but a good decision in the end as I had (still have!) no brain space to prepare anything at the moment.

The meetup was held in 1901 Arts Club which is a really small, intimate venue just next to Waterloo station - along one of those curious super-narrow London streets. The ground floor was our performance space for the evening; upstairs there is a cozy bar and lounge.

Once we got started, the vibe was very much a piano group atmosphere. No pre-announced programme; Network founder/organiser Andrew called up performers, who each announced their piece; fellow organiser Lorraine was documenter-in-chief (photos and set list) Very relaxed and friendly with a generous interval/drinking time.

The repertoire choice was fabulous! A good few 'own composition' pieces (by way of explanation, 3 of the performers are/have been affiliated to The Piano Cloud, an online grouping for creative pianists) and a great selection of more traditional repertoire, as follows below. All of the own-composition pieces were superb, really atmospheric. The performances of pieces by Ireland, Scott, and Mayerl in particular captured my attention; definite ones to investigate for further listening.

Setlist:

Andrew - Departures (own composition)
Nikolas Sideris - The King and the Dragon/The Deaf Girl's Music Box/The Cook and The Duke from "Fairyland in Treble" by Nikolas Sideris
Anne - John Ireland The Island Spell
Peter - Chaminade Concert Etude Pathetique
Claire - Cyril Scott Lotus Land
Ed - Hope (own composition)
Jane - Shostakovich Preludes op.34 nos. 3 & 19
Liz and Mark - Rachmaninov Vocalise
Luke - own improvisation
Marie - Billy Mayerl Railroad Rhythm
Martin - Nocturne (own composition)
Zheer - Ludovico Einaudi Divinere

Great listening, and I had a fantastic time chatting to friends old and new! Just about made the train back home....

Angela Hewitt Week, 14th-20th May 2012

I just received information from a friend about Angela Hewitt Week in Ottawa, 14th-20th May as declared by Mayor Jim Watson. Ms Hewitt is performing with Chamber Players of Canada on Friday 18th May; there will also be An Afternoon With Angela Hewitt on 20th May at the National Arts Centre hosted by the Canadian Friends of the Trasimeno Music Festival .

Mini update

I have finally sorted out my site links to reflect some new/renewed interests and my current location. We have something of a National Arts Centre bonanza shortly: I had already booked to see Angela Hewitt on 16th Feb but found a good ticket offer on LivingSocial.com to see Radu Lupu this coming Wednesday, 26th. In addition to all that, New Yorker music critic Alex Ross (his recent book, Listen To This , is excellent, as well as his previous tome, The Rest Is Noise ) is giving a talk there on 13th February. This is all followed in March by a complete about turn to the Bronson Centre to see Finnish band Apocalyptica . They have been somewhere on my radar for a while but I was spurred on to book tickets after a bout of nostalgia. M and I were regular visitors to Wolverhampton UK to see various bands at Civic Hall/Wulfrun Hall; a few months ago a mutual friend posted on that there Facebook thing about seeing said Apocalyptica at Wulfrun Hall. Nostalgia for the venue and renewed intere...

Light, shade and sunshine - Chiaroscuro String Quartet and Gesualdo Six

Another new year, another hectic start! However I have found some time for concerts. The January edition of Skipton Music featured trailblazers Chiaroscuro String Quartet . The quartet perform with gut strings but that doesn't mean they're old fashioned! They generally perform standing up and certainly there is a lot of movement and vibrancy in their performances. The programme was: BEETHOVEN String Quartet in D major Op.18, No. 3 MENDELSSOHN String Quartet in E flat major, Op. 12 SCHUBERT String Quartet No.14 in D minor, D810 I have a love/hate relationship with the Schubert 'Death and the Maiden' quartet (much like the Brahms piano quintet) and I have to say I wasn't expecting to enjoy it... but in fact this was the best performance of the evening. There's another review on the Skipton Music page here . Just as spring seems to be coming (judging by the bright blue sky outside my window), I h...

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