Please find below the 2018 Festival programme.

1 FESTIVAL OPENING

Thursday 21 June 2018, 8pm

Anthony Marwood, Huw Watkins, Mark Steinberg, Richard Lester, Dénes Várjon, Navarra String Quartet, Hsin-Yun Huang, Edvard Pogossian

• Schubert Rondo in B minor for violin and piano, D.895 ‘Rondeau Brillant’
• Schumann Piano Trio in G minor, Op.110
• Brahms String Sextet in G major, Op.36

Festival Directors Richard Lester and Anthony Marwood are joined by this year’s internationally renowned guest artists to take the audience on a sumptuous journey through the 19th Century. The evening concludes with Brahms’ Sextet No. 2, written for Agathe von Siebold following the end of her relationship with the composer, as the young Brahms finds a maturing style to bid her farewell.

‘Here I have freed myself from my last love’ – Brahms

VENUE: Church of St Peter & St Paul, Peasmarsh

2 YOUNG COMPOSERS!

Friday 22 June 2018, 1pm

Members of the Navarra String Quartet with participants from our education workshops. Led by Sam Glazer.

We are delighted to welcome Sam Glazer back to Peasmarsh, this year as both the composer of a new work for Sunday’s concert and the inspiring leader of this interactive concert programme, presenting compositions by participants in education workshops at Peasmarsh and Beckley schools. The Navarra String Quartet have been working with the children to bring their compositions to life and will in turn perform some of their quartet repertoire to the students.

Limited space is available for members of the public to attend; tickets are free but please reserve your place. 

Education work at the Peasmarsh Chamber Music Festival is generously funded by the Rudi Martinus van Dijk Foundation and by Little Cheyne Court Wind Farm Ltd., which is operated by Innogy Renewables UK Limited. Sussex and Kent Community Foundations co-ordinate the grant scheme.

VENUE: Church of St Peter & St Paul, Peasmarsh

3 ORCHESTRAL CONCERT – THE PHILOSOPHER’S TONE

Friday 22 June 2018, 8pm

Anthony Marwood, Richard Lester (soloists), Douglas Boyd (conductor), Britten Sinfonia

• Haydn Symphony No. 22 in E flat major ‘The Philosopher’
• Boccherini Cello Concerto in D Major, G.483
• Bernstein Serenade (after Plato’s ‘Symposium’) for solo violin and orchestra

Following last year’s spectacular concert, it is with anticipation that we welcome back Britten Sinfonia, this time under the baton of acclaimed conductor Douglas Boyd. Gaining its nickname post completion, and likely not from the composer, the presence of Haydn’s philosopher is palpable. Juxtaposed is Peasmarsh’s contribution to the 2018 Bernstein centenary; his depiction of the great thinkers presenting their statements on love – the fantastically scored Serenade for strings, solo violin, harp and (a great many!) percussion. Boccherini – a wizard on the instrument himself – wrote twelve virtuosic concerti for the cello. Here we hear No. 10, with Richard Lester as soloist.

‘…one of the world’s most celebrated and pioneering ensembles.’ – Britten Sinfonia

VENUE: St Mary’s Church, Rye

PCMF Pre-Concert Dining 2018

2 courses £20.00, 3 courses £25.00

4 MORNING CONCERT – DEATH AND THE MAIDEN

Saturday 23 June 2018, 11.30am

Richard Lester, Dénes Várjon, Navarra String Quartet

• Chopin Cello Sonata in G minor, Op.65
• Schubert String Quartet in D minor, D.810 ‘Death and the Maiden’

Join us in the beautiful church in Peasmarsh to celebrate the short lives of two giants of 19th Century chamber music. With performances of works composed just before their untimely deaths, prepare for an emotional journey as Chopin’s lyrical cello Sonata makes way for Schubert’s depiction of his struggle with mortality – Death and the Maiden – passed over at the time, but now considered a masterpiece of the chamber repertoire.

VENUE: Church of St Peter & St Paul, Peasmarsh

5 EARLY EVENING CONCERT

Saturday 23 June 2018, 6:30pm

Anthony Marwood, Hsin-Yun Huang, Richard Lester, Mark Steinberg, Huw Watkins, Edvard Pogossian

• Beethoven String Trio in C minor, Op.9 No.3
• Hindemith Violin Sonata in E flat major, Op.11 No.1
• Elgar Quintet in A minor for piano and string quartet, Op.84

This evening’s programme looks back one hundred years to the final year of the First World War, with Elgar’s lush writing coexisting in war torn Europe with Hindemith’s developmental style, as the Romantic era draws to a close. Beethoven’s dramatic String Trio for over a century earlier begins the journey to Romanticism.

VENUE: Church of St Peter & St Paul, Peasmarsh

6 LATE NIGHT CONCERT – FANTASIAS AND CAPRICES

Saturday 23 June 2018, 9.45pm

Anthony Marwood, Mark Steinberg, Hsin-Yun Huang, Edvard Pogossian, Richard Lester

• Sciarrino Sei Capricci
• Purcell Fantasias

Salvatore Sciarrino, perhaps Italy’s finest living composer, wrote 6 caprices for violin inspired by Paganini. Performed by Anthony Marwood, Sciarrino’s evocative and ethereal soundscape is interspersed with some of Henry Purcell’s magical and enigmatic fantasias for 3, 4 and 5 parts. The result is a fascinating, intimate and meditative listening experience.

VENUE: Church of St Peter & St Paul, Peasmarsh

7 SUNDAY MORNING CONCERT

Sunday 24 June 2018, 11:30am

Navarra String Quartet, Hsin-Yun Huang, Anthony Marwood, Richard Lester, Mark Steinberg

• Mozart String Quintet in D Major, K.593
• Glazer Festival Commission – world premiere

Originating in 16th century Italy, the popular and subversive street-theatre form Commedia dell’arte depicts a cast of characters from cunning servants to enchanted lovers. Inspiring artists and composers through the ages, we are delighted to present the world premiere of a new suite of Commedia-inspired songs for young people and string quartet, composed by Sam Glazer and paired today with Mozart’s sublime quintet.

VENUE: Church of St Peter & St Paul, Peasmarsh

8 SUNDAY AFTERNOON CONCERT – GUEST SPOTLIGHT

Sunday 24 June 2018, 4.30pm

Huw Watkins, Hsin-Yun Huang, Edvard Pogossian, Mark Steinberg, Dénes Várjon

• Watkins Fantasy for viola and piano
• Schubert Arpeggione Sonata in A minor, D.821 for cello and piano
• Schumann Violin Sonata in D minor Op.121

A very special afternoon awaits as our guest artists take to the stage for a concert filled with glorious music and technical prowess. From Schumann’s passionate violin Sonata to Watkins’ Fantasy for viola and piano, this rich and varied programme will delight. Excited by the arrival of the Arpeggione – something like a six stringed bowed guitar – Schubert set about composing his Sonata for arpeggione and piano. Sadly, beset with practical issues, as little as 10 years later the instrument was no longer in use. Luckily for us, the work is still played in transcription for viola or cello, with young American cellist, Edvard Pogossian responsible for the fireworks in this afternoon’s concert.

VENUE: Church of St Peter & St Paul, Peasmarsh

9 FINALE

Sunday 24 June 2018, 7pm 

Huw Watkins, Mark Steinberg, Hsin-Yun Huang, Richard Lester, Anthony Marwood, Magnus Johnston, Rebecca Jones, Brian O’Kane, Edvard Pogossian, Dénes Várjon

• Weber Piano Quartet in B flat major, J76 Op.18
• Schulhoff String Sextet
• Beethoven Piano Trio in B flat major, Op.97 ‘Archduke Trio’

Our 20th anniversary festival concludes with works from three composers who pushed boundaries and challenged convention. Crucial in dismissing the restraints of the Classical form, Beethoven and Weber produced works full of originality and Romantic virtuosity. Premiered by the composer himself, Beethoven’s colossal Archduke Trio is no exception; poignantly one of the last pieces Beethoven ever performed in public. In a life punctuated by two world wars, Schulhoff saw music as a tool for revolution. Encouraged and taught by Dvořák and Debussy, Schulhoff collected inspiration anywhere he could find it, pioneering the use of Jazz rhythms and influences from the avant-garde in his compositions. His remarkable sextet is full of dark beauty and intensity.

VENUE: Church of St Peter & St Paul, Peasmarsh