Our next concert is Nantwen Ensemble—Saturday March 8th 7:30pm 2025 at St. Michael & All Angels, Cwmdu, NP8 1RW.
More information here and via our newsletter (subscribe above).
You can download an A4 PDF poster or set of flyers of this concert to print out.
Hay Music: Connect Four
Saturday, March 15th 7:00 PM–9:00 PM St Mary’s Church, Hay-on-Wye, HR3 5EB.
Doors open 6.30pm. Refreshments.
Nigel Clayton and Imma Setiadi: Connect Four
Image: Connect Four
A magic combination of four hands on one keyboard, this extraordinary piano duo brings us a monumental arrangement of Holst’s The Planets in the first half with a delightful selection of pieces after the interval. We welcome Imma for the first time but Nigel is not a stranger to Hay Music and we look forward to his return.
Tickets and full details at haymusic.org.
Nantwen Ensemble
Saturday, 8th March 7:30 pm 2025, St. Michael & All Angels, Cwmdu.
Image: Nantwen Ensemble
Our next concert is a performance by the Pembrokeshire-based Nantwen Ensemble. This versatile quintet, described as “a breath of fresh air” in the Western Telegraph, brings old and new to Cwmdu, including music by Schubert, Caroline Shaw, a very special commission by Welsh composer John Metcalf and a short work by Ólafur Arnalds.
The Nantwen Ensemble was founded by cellist Daniel Davies, who studied at the Royal College of Music with one of the finest cellists of his generation, Leonid Gorokhov. Daniel brings together an exceptional group of players - Lisa Obert & Lily Whitehurst (violins), Patricia Reinoso (viola) and fellow cellist, Nicola Thomas. They promise “to share their love and enthusiasm for chamber music without being stuffy.”
The ensemble will perform Schubert’s String Quintet in C Major, D. 956, his last and arguably most popular chamber work. It is often referred to as the Cello Quintet because it is scored for a classic quartet plus an extra cello – perfect for the Nantwen line-up.
They also perform Plan & Elevation by American composer, Caroline Shaw, a commission to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Dumbarton Oaks, an historic estate in Washington DC, perhaps best known for its association with Stravinsky. Plan & Elevation combines Shaw’s two great loves, music and drawing, resulting in a five-movement ‘musical drawing’ of the grounds – The Ellipse, The Cutting Gardens, The Herbaceous Border, The Orangery and The Beech Tree.
Daniel Davies is known for championing the work of Welsh composers whenever he can and John Metcalf’s String Quintet, Songs without Words, was commissioned by Nantwen in 2023. The work is inspired by three things: Strata Florida Abbey, the former Cistercian abbey near Tregaron; a Welsh hymn; and the simple prayer, Hallelujah. Daniel says it’s a work they love to play and describes the piece as “extraordinary” and “very special to us.”
And finally, an absolute must-hear is Verses, by the Icelandic composer Ólafur Arnalds. Verses is the introductory piece from his award-winning 2015 album, The Chopin Project. He takes the right-hand motif of Chopin’s Piano Sonata No 3 (Largo) and arranges it for a string quartet. It’s breathtakingly beautiful - have a sneak peek here:
Ear worms—Tabea Debus and Toby Carr
Caroline Jones has invited an internationally acclaimed recorder player, Tabea Debus, to give a recital on Saturday 22nd February at 6.00pm, Clarence Hall, Crickhowell.
Image: Ear worms: Tabea Debus and Toby Carr
Tabea will be accompanied on lute by another outstanding musician, Toby Carr, who is a Professor at Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London. To reserve your ticket simply email mirjam.morat@gmail.com. Tickets are £10.00 for adults and children have free entry.
As a soloist and chamber musician Tabea regularly appears with La Serenissima and The English Concert, and joined the recorder quartet Palisander in 2023. She is a regular guest on the BBC Radio 3’s In Tune and Early Music Show, and has released seven solo discs to date.
Awards include the CAG/Richard S. Weinert Award for Innovation in Classical Music, the soloist prize at the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, 1st prize at the Society of Recorder Players/Moeck International Solo Recorder Competition in London, as well as at the Johann Heinrich Schmelzer and Hülsta Woodwinds International Competitions.
Toby Carr has performed with most of the principal period instrument ensembles in the UK and beyond, as well as with many symphony orchestras, opera companies and ballet companies. Highlights have included touring over a dozen shows around the country with English Touring Opera from 2016 – 2023, joining the orchestra of the Royal Opera House for Handel’s Jepthah in 2023, and performing at the BBC Proms 2022 with La Nuova Musica.
Tabea and Toby performed to a sell-out audience at the 2024 Gower Festival.
Our last concert of 2024
In October we had a fabulous concert from composer, vocalist and violinist Claire Victoria Roberts with string players Treske Quartet and Swansea-based keyboardist and jazz band leader Dave Cottle.
Claire Victoria Roberts is a composer, vocalist and violinist–blurring the boundaries of jazz, contemporary and singer-songwriter genres. https://www.clairevictoriaroberts.com/
Treske Quartet–Oli Baily & Mollie Wrafter (violins), Abigail Hammett (viola), Robert Wheatley (cello)–is an emerging ensemble based in Manchester, UK. https://www.treskequartet.com/
Dave Cottle formed the Dave Cottle Band in 1985. Swansea’s Lord Mayor Awarded Dave for his services to music in the City at a Gala dinner in the Brangwyn Hall, Swansea November 2018. https://www.davecottlemusic.com
See our 2025 calendar for next year’s events.
Very enjoyable RWCMD concert from The Bute Wind Quintet
On Saturday 11th May, graduates of the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama The Bute Wind Quintet gave us a fabulous concert on an evening with balmy weather.
The performers were introduced and we also updated the audience with a salutary description of the state of music funding in Wales; for example the Welsh National Opera and their orchestra who have had funding by both Arts Council in England and Wales significantly cut.
Even closer to home and relevant in particular to this evening’s activity has been a recent threat to “Young RWCMD” whose Young Acting and Young Music activities provide the opportunity for promising new performers to develop their individual talents. A reminder that “As music lovers we cannot afford to be complacent”.
There is a petition about the RWCMD threat.
Also one for the Welsh National Opera.
The night’s programme gave us an insight into the range of the Quintet, including a soaringly lyrical Milhaud La cheminée du roi René, Celia McDowall’s Subject to the Weather—commissioned for the Presteigne Festival in 2010 and evoking the countryside and birdsong. After the interval works included cinema composer Nino Rota’s theme for Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet and Szervánszky’s Wind Quintet. The evening concluded with Brazilian composer Júlio Medaglia’s Tango from suite Belle Epoque en Sud-America.
Our Artist/Maker in residence Rebecca ‘Becky’ Way displayed a stunning collection of work.
A great evening which highlighted how lucky we are to have RWCMD’s graduates and students on our doorstep.
The Bute Wind Quintet are playing at Gŵyl Beaumaris Festival on 25th May details, and Fishguard Festival of Music/Gŵyl Gerdd on 22nd July details.
IWD Hero Isata Kanneh-Mason
For International Women’s Day, here are a couple of snippets to celebrate the work of pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason.
"…in great demand internationally as a soloist and chamber musician. She offers eclectic and interesting repertoire with recital programmes encompassing music from Haydn and Mozart via Fanny Mendelssohn and Clara Schumann, Chopin and Brahms to Gershwin and beyond."
—Kanneh-Mason website.
Firstly a YouTube video of a performance of Clara Schumann’s Scherzo No.2 in C Minor. (Note: YouTube may include adverts for everyone’s benefit 🤦🏽.)
Clara Schumann’s Scherzo No.2 in C Minor
And then an episode of BBC Radio’s “Add to Playlist” programme with Isata Kanneh-Mason as a guest.
Add to Playlist with Isata Kanneh-Mason
BBC announces new classical music programming
The BBC has announced updated schedules for Radio 3 and a new TV series about Mozart. Highlights include the return of Clemency Burton-Hill, and a weekday afternoon programme Classical Live presented by Elizabeth Alker, Tom McKinney, Linton Stephens and Fiona Talkington.
Karl Jenkins birthday
Happy 80th Birthday, Sir Karl Jenkins! Born and raised in Penclawdd, Gower.
Image: St David Awards 2017, CC BY 3.0
His initial musical instruction was from his father, who was the local schoolteacher, chapel organist and choirmaster. Initially a jazz and jazz-rock musician, he played with legendary Canterbury Sound band Soft Machine.
He’s had a prodigious choral classical output, including Cantata Memoria: For the children, a response to the 1966 Aberfan disaster.
Currently BBC Radio3 Composer of the Week.
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