Peasmarsh Festival 2024

2024 Guest Artists

Guest artists are invited to perform in the Peasmarsh Chamber Music Festival by Festival Co-directors, Anthony Marwood and Richard Lester, collaborating in different ensembles across the long weekend of concerts.

Alasdair Beatson

Scottish pianist Alasdair Beatson works prolifically as soloist and chamber musician, adept on modern and historical instruments, and renowned as both performer and pedagogue. Notable performances in 2024 include multiple appearances at Wigmore Hall, in concert with Steven Isserlis, Viktoria Mullova and Alexi Kenney, as member of the Nash Ensemble, and in festivals including Bath Mozartfest, Ernen, Lewes, Megaron Spring Festival, Peasmarsh, Resonances, West Cork and Yellowbarn.

Alasdair is renowned as a sincere musician and intrepid programmer. He champions a wide repertoire with particular areas of interest: Beethoven, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Schubert and Schumann; the solo and chamber music of Gabriel Fauré, Bartók and Janáçek; concertos of Bach, Bartók, Britten, Fauré, Hindemith, Messiaen and Mozart; and contemporary works, including the piano quintet of Thomas Adès, George Benjamin’s Shadowlines and Harrison Birtwistle’s Harrison’s Clocks.

Recent recordings include a solo piano recital Aus Wien on Pentatone, featuring music of Schumann, Schoenberg, Ravel, Korngold and Schubert, and Schubert works for violin and fortepiano with Viktoria Mullova on Signum. These join an acclaimed discography of solo and chamber recordings on BIS, Champs Hill, Chandos, Claves, Evil Penguin, Onyx, Pentatone and SOMM labels.

Alasdair teaches solo piano at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, and regularly mentors for the London-based Chamber Studio. From 2012 to 2018 Alasdair was founder and artistic director of Musique à Marsac, and since 2019 is artistic director of the chamber music festival at Musikdorf Ernen in Switzerland.

Pablo Hernán Benedí

Pablo Hernán Benedí was born in Madrid, Spain, in 1991. He studied at the Padre Antonio Soler Conservatory in San Lorenzo de El Escorial with Fernando Rius and Polina Kotliarskaya, before coming to London in 2009 to study at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with David Takeno and András Keller.

Since 2010, Pablo has been a member of the Chiaroscuro Quartet, formed by Alina Ibragimova, Emilie Hornlund and Claire Thirion. The quartet has given recitals in venues such as Vienna Konzerthaus, Berlin Konzerthaus, Carnegie Hall, Vancouver recital series, Concertgebouw Amsterdam and the Wigmore Hall. They have collaborated with Kristian Bezuidenhout, Nicola Bladeyrou, Christian Poltera, Trevor Pinnock, Malcom Bilson and Christophe Coin. They have received numerous awards and reviews for their recordings.

Pablo is also a founding member of the Trio Isimsiz, a piano trio formed at the Guildhall School. Winners of numerous competitions such as Trondheim, MMSF Philharmonia and Haydn Vienna, they have played at the Mecklenburg-Vorpomen Festival and have been residents of the Aldeburgh Centre where they return to the festival for the third time this year.

As a soloist, Pablo has performed with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Concerto Budapest, Royal Northern Sinfonia, London Chamber Players, Balthasar Neumann Orchestra and with the English Chamber Orchestra among others.

Pablo also enjoys a career as a concertmaster and since November 2020 he has been the concertmaster of Balthasar Neumann orchestra. He has also collaborated with orchestras as guest leader including Swedish Radio Orchestra, Concerto Budapest, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Orquesta Sinfónica de las Baleares among others, and as section leader in the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique and Arcangelo.

Pablo plays on a J.B. Vuillaume from 1851, as well as an Andrea Amati from 1570 kindly on loan from Jumpstart Jr. Foundation.

Chaeyoung Park

​Chaeyoung Park has been praised as a passionate pianist who “does not play a single note without thought or feeling.” (New York Concert Review). Embracing a broad range of the classical music literature, her programs feature works ranging from the early French Baroque by Rameau to Beethoven sonatas, to new music by living composers including South Korean classical composer, Unsuk Chin. Through Park’s various roles as a recitalist, chamber musician, and concerto soloist, she has performed at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, Bravo! Vail Music Festival, Tongyeong International Music Festival, Ravinia’s Bennett Gordon Hall, Symphony Center’s Orchestra Hall, as well as live-streamed concerts presented by the Gilmore Rising Stars series, the Carlsen Center, and the Lied Center of Kansas virtual series during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As winner of the 2019 Hilton Head International Piano Competition, Park is the first female Korean pianist to receive First Place in the history of the competition. She subsequently presented her solo recital debut at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall and performed Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 with the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra under the baton of John Morris Russell. Her debut album on the Steinway label (to be released in soon), highlights diverse aspects of her artistry and her commitment to sharing hidden gems of the piano repertoire. It features the complete set of Musica Ricercata by Ligeti, as well as the more traditional, beloved masterpiece, Piano Sonata No. 3 by Brahms.

Eivind Ringstad

The Norwegian violist Eivind Ringstad (b. 1994) is today featured as one of the most prominent violists of his generation. He made his breakthrough after winning the Eurovision young musicians 2012 and has since performed at major festivals and concert venues around the world.

He had his debut with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Eivind Aadland in 2013. This collaboration amounted to a debut CD for Lawo classics in 2017, featuring Walton viola concerto and Sinding suite transcribed/arranged for viola and orchestra.

In 2016, Eivind was awarded the Borletti-Buitoni fellowship award. At the same time, he was appointed to the prestigious talent scheme BBC New Generation Artists 2016-2018.

Through the scheme, Eivind made his recital debut in Wigmore Hall in 2017 as well as the Edinburgh festival 2018 alongside German pianist and regular recital partner David Meier.

Eivind has been invited and re-invited to basically all the BBC orchestras in the UK. Further he has performed with orchestras such as Copenhagen Philharmonic, Trondheim symphony orchestra, Kristiansand symphony orchestra, Dala sinfoniettan, London sinfonietta, Bergen Philharmonic, Vienna radio orchestra, Norwegian radio orchestra, The Norwegian chamber orchestra, Polish chamber orchestra. This season will see his debut with Lahti Symphy and Kuopio Symphony orchestras in Finland.

Barbican Quartet

Amarins Wierdsma and Kate Maloney, violin, Christoph Slenczka, viola and Yoanna Prodanova, cello

“Finely structured and virtuosically balanced […] the Barbicans brought to Beethoven’s op. 59. 2 the intensity and instinctiveness that the slow movement needs, while giving the other movements joy, frenzy and punch. Justifiably thunderous applause.”
— Harald Eggebrecht, Süddeutsche Zeitung (on the finale of the Ard International String Quartet Competition)

Praised for their unique sound and character, the Barbican Quartet is an original voice on the chamber music scene. They captivate audiences with powerful performances and impressive ensemble playing, constantly celebrating their individual strengths in order to unite, decipher and communicate the great string quartet repertoire, as well as music from today.

In 2022, the quartet won the First Prize at the 71st ARD International String Quartet Competition, also being awarded the special prize for Best Interpretation of the commissioned work by Dobrinka Tabakova, the Genuin Classics prize, the GEWA prize and the Henle Urtext prize. They were also First Prize first prize winners at the 2019 Joseph Joachim International Chamber Music Competition, and have also received awards from the Hattori Foundation, the Royal Philharmonic Society and the Musicians Company UK.

Amarins Wierdsma, violin

Born in Utrecht in 1991 to a musical family. After starting at age two with the Suzuki Method, Amarins studied with Coosje Wijzenbeek at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague and with Vera Beths at the Conservatory of Amsterdam. In 2013 she moved to London to study with David Takeno at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama completing her Masters, Artist Diploma and Fellowship with distinction.

During her studies Amarins won numerous awards including the RPS Emily Anderson Prize, 3rd Prize at the 2013 Dutch National Violin Competition Oskar Back, the Young Music Talent of the Year Prize in the Netherlands (2007), 1st Prize at the Davina van Wely (2005), Iordens Viooldagen (2004) and Princess Christina Competitions. She has participated in Open Chamber Music and masterclasses at IMS Prussia Cove, the International Holland Music Sessions, Kronberg Academy, the East Neuk Festival and Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute. In 2017 Amarins was selected to perform at the Wigmore Hall during the finals of the Young Classical Artists Trust and together with her duo partner Edward Liddall she was a finalist in the 2019 Parkhouse Award at Wigmore Hall.

A committed chamber musician, Amarins is the first violinist of the Barbican Quartet. Formed in 2014 at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, the Quartet has appeared at numerous halls including more notably the Wigmore Hall in London, Het Muziekgebouw aan’t IJ in Amsterdam and Casa da Musica in Porto.

Kate Maloney, violin

“Masterful performance, vulnerable music making”.

Recognised for bold and inspired performances, delivered with flawless technique and a vivid colour palette, Canadian violinist Kate Norine Maloney is truly an original in the field of classical music. She is dedicated to exploring repertoire that is rarely performed while promoting diversity and inclusivity.

Through the creation of immersive concert experiences, Kate seeks to engage listeners through her choice of repertoire, collaboration with multi-disciplinary artists, or through direct audience interaction.

Kate is a sought-after chamber musician and soloist. In March 2022 performed Florence Price’s Violin Concerto No. 2 with the Nairobi Symphony Orchestra to celebrate International Women’s Day.

Currently studying with Professor Christoph Poppen and Lena Neudauer at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München in Germany, she is also a founding member of the trio Ignis.

Christoph Slenczka, viola

​Christoph was born in Germany. He started to learn the violin in the age of 5. At 17 he picked up the viola and one year later started to study at the Mozarteum in Salzburg with Thomas Riebl. He then moved on, doing his postgraduate training at the Guilhall School in London with David Takeno.

Further musical influences came from musicians such as Reinhard Goebel, Rainer Schmidt, Alasdair Tait, Krzysztof Chorzelski and Andras Keller.

Alongside his work with the Barbican Quartet, Christoph enjoys playing chamber music at festivals around Europe and regularly performs with chamber orchestras such as the Kammerakademie Potsdam and Camerata Salzburg.

Yoanna Prodanova, cello

​Cellist Yoanna Prodanova performs internationally as a soloist and chamber musician. Her most recent performances include Elgar Concerto with the Amati Orchestra and Haydn C Major with the Doric Quartet and the RAM Chamber Orchestra. She has received awards from Making Music UK, Tunnell Trust and Sylva Gelber Foundation, and has been invited to chamber music festivals such as IMS Open Chamber Music in Prussia Cove, Siete Lagos Festival in Argentina and Rencontres de Violoncelle de Bélaye in France. Yoanna’s debut CD on the Linn Records label was released in 2020 and includes music by Fauré, Janacek and Chopin.

Born in 1992, Yoanna began her studies in her native Varna, and subsequently attended the Conservatoire de Montréal, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and lastly the Royal Academy of Music, where she completed their prestigious advanced diploma as a bicentenary scholar. Her teachers include Denis Brott, Louise Hopkins, Rebecca Gilliver, Richard Lester and Hannah Roberts.

Yoanna plays on a Giuseppe Gagliano cello generously on loan from the Canimex Group.

Britten Sinfonia

Britten Sinfonia is a different kind of orchestra. It is defined not by the traditional figurehead of a principal conductor, but by the dynamic and democratic meeting of its outstanding individual players and the broad range of their collaborators – from Steve Reich, Thomas Adès and Alison Balsom to Pagrav Dance Company and Anoushka Shankar.

Rooted in the East of England, where it is the only professional orchestra working throughout the region, Britten Sinfonia also has a national and international reputation as one of today’s finest ensembles. It is renowned for its adventurous programming and stunningly high-quality performances, and equally for its record of commissioning new music, nurturing new composing talent, and inspiring schoolchildren, hospital patients and communities across the East of England.

Britten Sinfonia is an Associate Ensemble at London’s Barbican, Resident Orchestra at Saffron Hall and is resident in Norwich. It also performs regularly at London’s Wigmore Hall and appears at UK festivals including Aldeburgh, Brighton, Norfolk & Norwich and the BBC Proms. Its prolific discography features many award-winning recordings.

Its 2023-24 season includes Handel’s Messiah with the BBC Singers and performances with soprano Elizabeth Watts, saxophonist Jess Gillam, harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani, cellist Guy Johnston, tenor Nicky Spence, horn player Ben Goldscheider, The Marian Consort and New York City Ballet.

2024 Programme

1) Festival Opening

Thursday 27 June, 8pm

Anthony Marwood, Richard Lester, Alasdair Beatson, Pablo Hernán Benedí, Chaeyoung Park, Eivind Ringstad, Barbican Quartet

• Mozart Piano Quartet: after Quintet for piano and wind instruments, K.452
• Berg String Quartet, Op. 3
• Beethoven Violin Sonata in A major, Op. 47 ‘Kreutzer’

Venue: Church of St Peter & St Paul, Peasmarsh

The 2024 Festival opens with some well-loved classics of the chamber repertoire, including Beethoven’s emotional and volatile Kreutzer Sonata (originally dedicated to the violinist George Bridgetower and premiered in infamous circumstances), and Mozart’s Quintet K452, best known as his quintet for piano and winds but first published (10 years after its premiere) in an arrangement for the more conventional line up of piano with string trio. Completing the programme is Berg’s early masterpiece for string quartet – one of his only forays into the chamber music genre.

2) Young Composers / Barbican Quartet and Sam Glazer

Friday 28 June, 12.30pm 

We are thrilled that students from Peasmarsh, Beckley, Winchelsea, Icklesham and Rye primary schools will again join us for this stellar showcase of their compositions, performed alongside the award-winning Barbican Quartet. The Quartet will also perform selected movements from the String Quartet canon, introducing our youngest audience members to this fantastic music.

This concert is FREE but tickets must be pre-booked as capacity is limited.

Venue: St Mary’s Church, Rye

3) Orchestral Concert

Friday 28 June, 8pm

Anthony Marwood, Richard Lester, Peter Facer and Sarah Burnett (soloists)
Britten Sinfonia

• Haydn: Sinfonia Concertante in Bb major
• Fauré: Élégie for cello and orchestra, O 24
• Dvořák: Romance for violin and orchestra in F minor, Op. 11
• Beethoven: Symphony No. 1 in C major, Op. 21

Venue: St Mary’s Church, Rye

We are delighted to welcome back Britten Sinfonia for a concert which traces the journey of orchestral music from Haydn’s salon to the heights of the late nineteenth century. Haydn’s Sinfonia Concertante was composed and premiered in London in 1792 where it was hailed as “profound, airy, affecting, and original”. Fauré’s Élégie, originally written for solo cello and piano, and Dvořák’s Romance for violin and orchestra are both eloquent and gorgeous arias for these instruments. Coming full circle, the concert finishes with Beethoven’s first symphony, which strongly shows the influence of his teacher Haydn on the young composer.

4) Americana

Saturday 29 June, 11.30am

Anthony Marwood, Richard Lester, Alasdair Beatson, Pablo Hernán Benedí, Kate Maloney, Chaeyoung Park, Yoanna Prodanova, Eivind Ringstad, Christoph Slenczka

• Dvořák: String Quartet No. 12 in F major, Op. 96 ‘American’
• Barber: Cello Sonata, Op. 6
• Florence Price: Quintet for Piano and Strings No.2 in A minor

Venue: Church of St Peter & St Paul, Peasmarsh

American music is the focus for this morning concert, with Dvořák’s famous American Quartet paired with less well-known works by US composers Samuel Barber and Florence Price. The programme is rounded off with a beguiling piano quintet by the brilliant African American composer Florence Price, whose work is regaining deserved prominence after several decades out of the spotlight.

5) Early Evening Concert

Saturday 29 June, 6pm

Anthony Marwood, Richard Lester, Alasdair Beatson, Pablo Hernán Benedí, Chaeyoung Park, Eivind Ringstad, Barbican Quartet

• Schubert: Fantasia in F minor for piano four hands, D.940
• Schumann: String Quartet in A major, Op. 41 No. 3
• Weinberg: Piano Quintet, Op. 18

Venue: Church of St Peter & St Paul, Peasmarsh

For this concert we perform fantastical works by Schubert and Schumann, with the intense and remarkable quintet by Weinberg. Schubert wrote his Fantasia for piano four hands (two players at one piano) in the last year of his life and dedicated it to his pupil Caroline Esterházy. Schumann’s string quartet Op. 41 No. 3 (one of only three that Schumann wrote, in quick succession) was also given a dedication – this time to Mendelssohn whom the younger composer had met in 1835. Polish Jewish composer Mieczysław Weinberg escaped from his homeland to the Soviet Union in 1939, where he studied at the Minsk Conservatory and later moved to Moscow and became friends with Shostakovich. His Piano Quintet, composed in 1944, is the work of a composer whose independent creative voice is revered by violinist Gidon Kremer as one of the most valuable of the 20th century.

6) An Unbroken Chain

Saturday 29 June, 9.30pm

Anthony Marwood, Richard Lester, Alasdair Beatson, Chaeyoung Park, Barbican Quartet

• Music by Byrd and Tallis for string quartet
• Webern Variations for piano, Op. 27
• Gabrielli Ricercar for solo cello
• Silvestrov Hommage à JSB for violin and piano
• JS Bach Chaconne, from the Partita No. 2 in D minor, BWV 1004

Venue: Church of St Peter & St Paul, Peasmarsh

A meditative presentation of magical miniature gems, from 16th century music by English composers William Byrd and Thomas Tallis through to Valentin Silvestrov’s Hommage à JSB (Johann Sebastian Bach) which was written in 2009. Anton Webern’s 6-minute piece Variations is his only published work for solo piano and is known for its atmospheric effect. The works will be performed without a break.

7) Coffee Concert

Sunday 30 June, 11.30am 

Alasdair Beatson, Eivind Ringstad, Barbican Quartet

• Fauré Theme and Variations for solo piano, Op. 73
• Hindemith Sonata for solo viola, Op. 25 No. 1
• Ravel String Quartet in F major

Venue: Church of St Peter & St Paul, Peasmarsh

For Sunday morning we have a trio of works from the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, starting with Fauré’s Theme and Variations for solo piano which was premiered in London in 1896. Fauré’s pupil Ravel wrote only one string quartet, in 1903, and it has become a much-loved staple of the repertoire. These pieces are juxtaposed by Paul Hindemith’s 1922 Sonata for solo viola which demonstrates the rich texture and sonority of the viola as a solo instrument.

8) Decoding An Enigma

Sunday 30 June, 4.30pm

Richard Lester, Pablo Hernán Benedí, Eivind Ringstad and Amarins Wierdsma, with musicologist Richard Wigmore 

• Fauré: String Quartet in E minor, Op. 121.

Venue: Church of St Peter & St Paul, Peasmarsh

This was Fauré’s only string quartet, written shortly before his death in 1924, the composer having previously expressed trepidation about the “difficulty” of writing for these forces. We present this beautiful but elusive work in full, preceded by an illuminating introduction given by our distinguished guest speaker.

9) Finale

Sunday 30 June, 7pm

Anthony Marwood, Richard Lester, Alasdair Beatson, Pablo Hernán Benedí, Chaeyoung Park, Eivind Ringstad, Barbican Quartet

• Ligeti Five Pieces for piano four hands
• Beethoven String Quartet in F major Op. 59 No. 1 ‘Razumovsky’
• Schumann Piano Quintet in E flat major Op. 44

Venue: Church of St Peter & St Paul, Peasmarsh

Bringing the 2024 festive to a rousing and energetic close are works by Ligeti, Beethoven and [Robert] Schumann. Ligeti’s Five Pieces for piano four hands is suffused with Hungarian timbre and rhythm, whilst Beethoven’s first ‘Razumovsky’ quartet famously closes with an allegro titled ‘Thème Russe’ in honour of the work’s commissioner Prince Razumovsky. Schumann’s towering piano quintet is dedicated to his wife Clara, who was supposed to perform in the premiere but fell ill and was replaced at the last minute by Mendelssohn who pronounced the piano part ‘fiendish’.