Royal College of Music (RCM) takes centre stage at London’s prestigious Wigmore Hall
Monday 22 April 2024
A series of three concerts at the prestigious Wigmore Hall will feature RCM musicians.
At the heart of the annual Royal College of Music String Showcase on 28 April is Schoenberg’s early masterpiece Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night), in a programme that celebrates the talents of RCM string students. The piece is framed by Joseph Jongen’s Concert a cinq and Light Perpetuum by RCM alumna Laura Snowden, and the programme also features two 20th century composers with Penderecki’s virtuosic and lyrical Duo concertante for violin and double bass, and Shostakovich’s early work, Two Pieces for String Octet.
Pianist Alexander Ullman, the 2016/17 recipient of the Benjamin Britten Piano Fellowship, performs a lunchtime recital on 1 May pairing Beethoven’s penultimate sonata, no 31, with Chopin’s popular Études op 25. Described as ‘breathtaking’ by The Sunday Times, Alexander has built an exciting career as a soloist since graduating from the College, impressing audiences and critics worldwide with his deep understanding of the scores he interprets.
The Wigmore Hall series of concerts finishes with students from the Vocal & Opera Faculty who perform music by three RCM alumni: Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Joseph Horovitz and Helen Grime. The concert on 5 May includes Nourmahal’s Song, a work by Coleridge-Taylor that was discovered in the RCM library in 2022, here receiving its premiere performance outside of the RCM, alongside Helen Grimes’ ode to motherhood Bright Travellers. This is contrasted by two of Horovitz’ wittiest pieces: Foie-gras and Malicious madrigal.
Also featuring on Wigmore Hall’s stage the same week, three singers from the Royal College of Music (Madeline Boreham, Richard Decker and Charlotte Jane Kennedy) compete in the semi-final of the prestigious Kathleen Ferrier Awards Competition on 24 April. All accompanists in the competition are RCM pianists (Frasier Hickland, Francesca Lauri and Firoze Madon) who will compete for the Help Musicians Accompanist’s Prize. The final takes place on 26 April
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