E-Newsletter 7: Elizabeth Watts (soprano) Tel: 0114 222 0468 Email: [email protected] Web: www.sheffield.ac.uk/concerts Find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/tuosconcerts Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/tuosconcerts Please visit our website www.sheffield.ac.uk/concerts to purchase tickets, listen to music and watch videos related to forthcoming performances. Concerts for the week beginning Monday 14 November: • Free Lunchtime Concert: George Morton (trumpet). Simon Stewart (tuba), Monday 14 November, Firth Hall. • Rush-Hour Concert: Sheffield University Big Band, Monday 14 November, Firth Hall. • Elizabeth Watts (soprano), Tuesday 15 November, Firth Hall. • Sheffield University Wind Orchestra, Sunday 20 November, Firth Hall. Concerts for the week beginning Monday 21 November: • Rush-Hour Concert: Athalia Ensemble, Monday 21 November, Firth Hall. • Black History ICONS: Dante Quartet, Tuesday 22 November, Firth Hall. • Free Lunchtime Concert: David Bramall (flute), Hannah Lewin (oboe), Thursday 24 November, Firth Hall. • The Other Side Exhibition: Piano Trio, Friday 25 November, Millennium Gallery. Monday 14 November, 13:10, Firth Hall Free Lunchtime Concert: Gary O’Shea (piano) All concerts are at 13:10 (doors open at 12:45) at Firth Hall (Firth Court). These concerts are designed to be an alternative, informal way to spend part of a lunch hour and members of the audience may arrive and leave between musical items. Admission: Free and tickets are not required Duration: 45 minutes Monday 14 November, 17:30, Firth Hall Rush-Hour Concert: Sheffield University Big Band Beat the traffic, avoid the public transport rush and unwind before going home after a hard day’s work. These informal concerts provide great affordable music for all people, including those with busy lifestyles who cannot make our evening and lunchtime concerts. All tickets are just £2.50, and only available to purchase on the door, and not in advance from the box offices. Admission: £2.50 Duration: 45 minutes Tuesday 15 November, 19:30, Firth Hall Elizabeth Watts (soprano) Tickets: £8.50, £6 (concessions/staff), £3 (students, under 26s, unwaged) Duration: 90 minutes + 20 minute interval A. Scarlatti: Con voce festiva (from 7 Arie con Tromba Sola) Caldo sangue (from Sedecia) Lo non son (from La Statira) Son gelosa e sono amante (from Tigrane) Ergiti, amor (from Scipione nella Spagne) Qui, dove al germogliar... Torbido, irato (from Erminia) Toccata prima e toccata quarta Handel: O sleep (from Semele) Lascia ch’io pianga (from Rinaldo) La mia costanza (from Ezio) Ombre opache (from Correa nel seno amato) Susurrando il venticello (from Tigrane) Figlio, tiranno! (from Griselda) Suite in G Minor Elizabeth Watts (soprano) With a voice described by International Record Review as "one of the most beautiful Britain has produced in a generation" University of Sheffield Alumnus Elizabeth Watts has established herself as "one of the brightest new talents" (The Independent). Elizabeth gained international attention at the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition, winning the Rosenblatt Recital Song Prize. Her creativity has recently been recognised with her becoming an Artist in Residence at the Southbank Centre. A former BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist, Elizabeth’s operatic work has included work for Santa Fe Opera, Welsh National Opera, Royal Opera House and English National Opera. Elizabeth has given recitals at the UK's leading venues, including Wigmore Hall, Bridgewater Hall, and the Aldeburgh and Cheltenham Festivals. Laurence Cummings (harpsichord) Laurence Cummings is one of Britain's most exciting and versatile exponents of historical performance both as a conductor and a harpsichord player. He regularly conducts the country’s leading orchestras including the English Concert and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, both in the UK and on tour. Sunday 20 November, 19:30, Firth Hall Sheffield University Wind Orchestra Tickets: £8.50, £6 (concessions/staff), £3 (students, under 26s, unwaged) Duration: 90 minutes + 20 minute interval Ralph Vaughan Williams: Toccata Marziale Nigel Hess: Global Variations Christopher Turnbull: African Dances for Clarinet & Wind Orchestra Wouter Lenaerts: Logos Michael Ball: Intrada Lee Horne: New Piece Barnes Chance: Variations on a Korean Folk Song Nigel Clarke: Samurai Samuel Jones (clarinet) Anthony Houghton, Gareth Widdowson, George Morton (conductors) Monday 21 November, 17:30, Firth Hall Rush-Hour Concert: Athalia Ensemble Beat the traffic, avoid the public transport rush and unwind before going home after a hard day’s work. These informal concerts provide great affordable music for all people, including those with busy lifestyles who cannot make our evening and lunchtime concerts. All tickets are just £2.50, and only available to purchase on the door, and not in advance from the box offices. Admission: £2.50 Duration: 45 minutes Athalia Ensemble was founded February 2010 by Andrew Butterfield (tenor), and borrows the name of the great Handel’s oratorio. The main emphasis of the ensemble is centred round the Baroque era and performs fresh interpretations of classic pieces by the likes of Handel, Bach, Pachelbel and many more, embracing not only instrumental music but vocal music also. Handel: Trio Sonata for 2 Violins and Continuo in G minor, HWV 393 Bach: Brandenburg Concerto no. 5 in D major, 2nd Movement Bach: Double Violin Concerto in D minor, 2nd Movement Highlights from Handel's Giulio Cesare in Egitto HWV 17 Tuesday 22 November, 19:30, Firth Hall Black History ICONS – Dante Quartet Tickets: £8.50, £6 (concessions/staff), £3 (students, under 26s, unwaged) Duration: 90 minutes + 20 minute interval (Part of series of events dedicated to Black History Month) Coleridge-Taylor: Piano Quintet in G minor, Op 1 Coleridge-Taylor: Deep River, Op 59, No 10 Dvorak: String Quartet in F major, Op 96 (American) Beethoven: Violin Sonata in A, Op 47 (Kreutzer) Stravinsky: Three Pieces Krysia Osostowicz (violin) Giles Francis (violin) Judith Busbridge (viola) Bernard Gregor-Smith (cello) Simon Crawford-Phillips (piano) Samuel Coleridge-Taylor rose above the constrictions of class and race to become one of the most acclaimed composers of his time. Seeing it his mission in life to help establish the dignity of black men, he was greatly influenced by black American musicians and literary figures. Dvorak’s “American” Quartet is one of a number of works inspired by Black and Native American traditions and mythologies, making use of pentatonic melodies, themes similar to Negro spirituals and syncopated rhythms. Beethoven’s Kreutzer Sonata was dedicated to the violinist George Bridgewater, one of the few black men to have broken into European art circles at the time. Stravinsky’s Three Pieces are rhythmically vivacious and melodically eccentric, the second of these is a musical portrait of the famous black music hall comedian “Little Tich.” Winner of the prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society Award for best chamber ensemble in 2007, the Dante Quartet is known for its imaginative programming and the emotional intensity of its performances. The group was founded in 1995 at the International Musicians Seminar at Prussia Cove, Cornwall, and chose the name of Dante to reflect the idea of a great and challenging journey. The Dante Quartet plays at major concert halls, music societies and festivals throughout the UK, broadcasts regularly on BBC Radio 3 and has also performed in France, Germany, Holland, Spain, Switzerland, Poland and Finland. “Playing of spellbinding atmosphere” BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE Thursday 24 November, 13:10, Firth Hall Free Lunchtime Concert: David Bramall (flute), Hannah Lewin (oboe) All concerts are at 13:10 (doors open at 12:45) at Firth Hall (Firth Court). These concerts are designed to be an alternative, informal way to spend part of a lunch hour and members of the audience may arrive and leave between musical items. Admission: Free and tickets are not required Duration: 45 minutes Honegger: Danse de la chèvre, for solo flute Lennox Berkeley: Sonata for flute and piano Op. 97 Bryan Kelly: Sonatina for flute and piano Hannah Lewin: For David Howard Hanson: Serenade Saint Saens: Sonata for Oboe and Piano Poulenc: Sonata for Oboe and Piano Friday 25 November, 13:00, Millennium Gallery Music in the Galleries: The Other Side Exhibition – Piano Trio Following the success of the concerts last season we are teaming up with Museums Sheffield again to offer a series of Gallery Concerts. Undergraduate music students from the University of Sheffield Department of Music will perform with different families of instruments, occupying a different gallery space each week. Graves Gallery (above the Central Library) Surrey Street Sheffield S1 1XZ Millennium Gallery Arundel Gate Sheffield S1 2PP Admission: Free and tickets are not required Duration: 50 minutes Lift access to the galleries is available. Limited seating available on request. All concerts start at 13:00 .