performingartsincornwall

Friday 7th February 2020 Truro Catholic Church Cello Voices. Liz Brazier - widely regarded as the mother of cellists  in Cornwall  as Barbara Degener, the ensemble leader , called her at the close of this concert, has for some years run a cello weekend in the new year where cellists of all ages and abilities meet to work  and play together.   (she is actually the mother of Ben Hoagley one of the other performers - and celebrated a significant birthday today) Cornwall Cello Voices is a group of  eight of the rather more accomplished performers who have given concerts at the end of the weekend.   The sound of 8 cellos playing together in harmony is thrilling as recordings by the cellist of the Berlin Philharmonic in the 90s attest.  And this concert was certainly extremely well delivered with ensemble and balance between a frequent myriad of parts well judged. The cello's sonorous register makes it a favourite with many but the comparative lower register of the parts and th

Blog on Freiburg Baroque Orchestra Concert and the commodious Concert House The @FreiburgBaroque   orchestra gave a concert devoted to the music of Pergolesi.   A musician at the Neapolitan court of the Colonna family whose   command of appealing and creative approach to sacred choral music and poised   counterpoint gave him a meteoric rise before an early death cut off a    In their programme two of his best know works the Stabat Mater with its lovely suspensions, and the comic intermezzo La Serva Padrona, were preceded by a sinfonia and a violin concerto played with great beauty by Goltz and his band . The Freiburg Baroque Orchestra is an interesting musical phenomenon in German Late 20 TH century baroque   performance history . Founded by a group of students at the local conservatoire in the 1980s it was a pioneer in Germany in grasping the tectonic changes occurring in performance practice in the early music movement with regard to baroque and early cl

SAINT- SAENS SENSATION Last night (Saturday 8th February 2020) Danielle Jones, the Cornish cellist gave a thrilling account of the Saint Saens cello concerto in a family packed concert at the church of King Charles the Martyr in Falmouth.      The Saint-Saens 1st cello concerto was the last piece in a concert of French music presented by the Truro Sinfonia conducted  by Patrick Bailey and was undoubtedly the highlight of an entertaining evening for all the family.      And, indeed,  all the family had turned out in droves to support of the players - for the Sinfonia is a community orchestra who rehearse at Devoran Village Hall weekly for the big night, and this was the chance for family and friends to catch up with progress:  your correspondent observed  babies were being rocked in prams and arms at the the back on the church (appropriately to Ravel's  Pavane pour un Infant) or jigged a bit more vigorously to  Bizet's L'Arlesienne Suite, and young people crouched in t

Another night when I am disappointed by the small audience for great jazz music in Penzance.  A few years ago i suffered the same ignominy as a promoter with Brass Jaw in the bar at the Acorn.  So apologies to this wonderful band that is Malija Malija  takes it name from the first two letters of each of the trio who compose it Mark Lockheart plays soprano and tenor sax,  Liam Noble on piano and Jasper Hoiby, the Danish bassist.   Jasper's band Phronesis has been nominated for a MOJO and for a Parliamentary Jazz Award,  Liam Noble plays with Christine Toibin on the Tapestry tour and also Loose Tubes,  Mark Lockheart  This is the pattern for creative musicians now,  there is a core group of professionals who work in different bands, allowing different lineups  There is a relaxedness in their playing which comes from confidence, the fact that they are mid-tour and so fully keyed to the content of their new release - and not yet jaded by the familiarity of the works really com

07 July 2019 The Penzance Literary Festival celebrates its 10th birthday this year.  Famous and  local author, Patrick Gale, has been one of the Festival's strong supporters and instigators and he was hosting an "in conversation"  with Damien Barr - a literature promoter turned novelist who "Salon" in London will soon be the subject of BBC TV coverage.   Barr had also been a previous visitor to the Festival and the rather wonderful Acorn Theatre.   The Theatre was both packed and looking great with a vaulted roof,  large hanguing papier mache' demons in the vaults and dramatic stage and excellent technical presentation and the stage door left open to allow a cool breeze to soften the heat of the July sunshine awy.   Also Waterstones the  booksellers were supporting the Festival by providing the bookselling and signing service - thanks to the Truro management for offering a great selection of new books. Damien Barr was promoting a new novel You will be S

A concert was given in the Art Gallery of Tremenheere Sculpture Park  in November 2018 as a fund-raising event for the Cornish Charity Bringing Freedom Conductor  Russell Blacker Soloists Katherine Davies (Clarinet,  Bassoon and Flute) Rebecca Sampson  (Flute) Martin White  violin Jenny Rapson violin Philip Gurney viola Tim Smithies  cello Alex Long  double bass William Box (horn) Iain Vosper (horn) Nick Wetherall (oboe) Programme  Bach        Orchestral Suite no 2 Mahon     Concerto for Clarinet No.2 in F Major Purcell    ,     incidental music   (Z 570) [a]   for a revival in the summer of 1695 of  Abdelazar  or   The Moor's Revenge    a 1676 play by   Aphra Behn , an adaptation of the c. 1600   tragedy   Lust's Dominion . Ouverture Rondeau Air Air Minuet Air Jig Hornpipe Air James Hook     Clarinet Concerto

On Friday we celebrated the life of Jennet Campbell in Gerrans Church with a tribute led by Emma Campbell her daughter, and readings by daughter Sally and friends.  Local poet and county councillor Bert Biscoe gave the eulogy. Jennet Campbell was a critical influence on the development of many musicians in Cornwall, either directly or indirectly - through her own teaching or through the work of the  Radford Trust and the instrument provision scheme they have provided for many children coming to music for the first time. She received and MBE and was created a bard in the Kernow Gorsedd for her contribution to music in Cornwall.  She was the niece of musicians Maisie and Evelyn Radford, the two sisters who had settled St Anthony in Roseland and founded Falmouth Opera Group in the 1930s.  She inherited their studio and Coastguards in the village and it was from this Cornish centre of operations that her remarkable contribution to music at parish level (formation of St Anthony's Pl