PrettyInScarlett

This year I finally made time to go to the It's All About Piano festival at the Institut Français in London. Now 4 years old, the festival seems to be ever stronger than when I attended in 2013 - and also more affordable: all my events were £5 per ticket. This year, the festival introduced a 'Come and Play' event for pianists of grade 6 or above - selected pianists to play, presented by Erica Worth of Pianist Magazine . I jumped at the challenge, applied, forgot all about it in the intervening few months, then received an invite! Very exciting - a second opportunity to play for a paying audience. I'd also bought tickets for concerts by Jonas Vitaud and Eliane Reyes .  Eliane Reyes in particular was amazing. Due to train times, I arrived at the 'Come and Play' event a little late but in time to hear half of Zala Kravos ' performance. Zala is 15, studies with Maria João Pires and is clearly a pro in the making. I heard her performances of Brahms...

Final concert of the season  - already! The Chamber Philharmonic Europe were in town to close the Skipton Music season with a varied programme - Nielsen, Borodin, Hummel, Schubert, Albinoni, Mozart. The group consisted of 8 performers (soloist Pawel Zuzanski also performed as first violin) plus trumpeter Kirill Gusarov.  An international bunch - at the end when the players were announced individually, the list of countries of origin included Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Kazakhstan.... For me, the concert was quite mixed. Some pieces were excellent - very high quality performances; others less so. Kirill Gusarov was superb - both his solo, and the orchestra, in Hummel's Concerto for Trumpet & Orchestra in E flat major , were really great; Kirill made the long phrases and trills of the trumpet sound so simple. Before that, a quartet from the Philharmonic performed Borodin's Nocturno from Quartett No. 2 in D major - a very well known piece but nonethe...

rock chamber... stage set for Red Priest In case you didn’t know… Red Priest are an early music group with a huge amount of style, virtuosity and ingenuity. Whilst I’d heard of the group, I didn’t know this until I saw them in Skipton, 9th February 2016. The group (Piers Adams, Angela East, Adam Summerhayes and David Wright) were in town to perform their show ‘Handel in the Wind’, based on their album of the same name. Whilst a good proportion of the performance was based around Suite from the Messiah (very cleverly arranged by cellist Angela East) – of the suite, I thought Siciliano Pedicuro the best – I actually preferred some of the other pieces. The final allegro from the Sonata in F major Op 2 No 4 was a real foot-tapping number.  I also enjoyed David Wright’s improvisation around Prelude in B flat for harpsichord , leading into Largo and Passacaglia in G minor – a lovely cello and violin spotlight, followed by a sprightly Passacaglia featuring the violin-as-drum;...

Many moons ago, we saw bright young things Kitty, Daisy & Lewis touring their debut album at Clwb Ifor Bach and were suitably impressed with their r'n'b/blues/swing/rock/you name it mix.  Moving forward 8 years and the recorded output of the band (definitely still bright and young!) has strengthened - I strongly recommend listening to latest album The Third - a lot more original writing and plenty of sass. The opportunity to hear them live again was a definite yes. Not to mention a good excuse for a weekend trip to Sheffield.  Dosed up on Remo's coffee and with a pit stop at The Devonshire Cat , we arrived at The Plug to see support band Kiziah and The Kings from Doncaster. We'd not researched the band before, but they are a pretty funky mix of soul/rock/reggae with a very confident manner; and a pretty good front singer with Kiziah. An enjoyable set - their sounds are available (and definitely worth a listen) at Bandcamp , Soundcloud etc.  Tan Tan an...

In between unpacking and seasonal preparation, I found time in December to join Skipton Ukulele Club   - great fun! Including joining in their Christmas charity gigs on 19th December. Piano practice became somewhat less enthused.... Whilst I don't do New Years Resolutions per se, I took the turning of a new year to revisit performing and practicing. On 2nd January, I attended the first Players for Pleasure group meeting of the year in central Leeds. Players for Pleasure is like a piano group but for all instruments. As well as piano, we heard pieces for flute, clarinet, alto sax, guitar, cello, tin whistle (as well as combinations/duets/quartets). Everyone was really friendly and I look forward to going again - maybe even bringing along my ukulele!! On Wednesday 6th January, I headed to London for the latest instalment of the Piano-Yoga Club. I have been using the Piano-Yoga exercise book for a few years now, but hadn't been to any events as yet. The Piano-Yoga Club...

Not quite 2 weeks into Skipton life and time for my first concert courtesy of Skipton Music . I recognised Yuanfan Yang from his Leeds International Piano Competition entry - definitely a 'one to watch' name! Arriving at Skipton Town Hall , I found that the main hall was pretty full. Definitely more people than a typical Darlington Piano Society concert. The hall has quite a high stage so there aren't really any bad seats.  In his brief speech to the crowd, Yuanfan referenced his previous concert here, 10 years ago!?! Yuanfan spoke with a good degree of confidence and humour. The concert programme was as follows: Liszt, La Vallée d'Obermann from Années de Pélerinage Y. Yang, Ode to the Atlantic Schumann, Carnaval Op. 9 Schubert, Klavierstücke - No. 1 in E flat from Drei Klavierstücke D. 946 P. Cashian, Landscape (1995) Prokofiev, Sonata No. 7 in B flat, Op. 83 I particularly enjoyed the inclusion of a self-penned work and a recent compos...

The Red House - Old Shire Hall Still on a roll after my Thursday trip to London, M and I continued the farewell-to-Durham party with Lumiere on Friday.  I obtained tickets for the Friday evening ticketed slot - remembering the post-ticketing queues from 2013's edition - and M and I met a few friends to explore. There were still more larger installations - still not quite as completely random/otherworldly as some of Québec Lumière 2012 - but a very high quality of work. We headed first to Old Elvet for the The Red House and Dreamers .  The Red House in particular was very well done. Heading onto the peninsula, we went to see the Cathedral installations. The World Machine , this year's exterior sound/light installation, was fantastic; a visual explanation of the birth of cosmology. Once we had queued into the Cathedral (this section - not enough thought into the organisation) we were treated to Complex Meshes ; this interactive display on the vault ceiling referred to...