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The Grand Hotel in Eastbourne is the majestic setting for a summer Kirker Music Festival. This year we welcome an exceptional combination of musicians, starting with soprano Elizabeth Watts in an all-Mozart programme, followed by concerts with the Mithras Piano Trio, who will be joined by violist, composer and Kirker Director of Music, Simon Rowland-Jones in a performance of Brahms’s monumental ‘Piano Quartet in A Major’. Each concert is followed by a private dinner in in the hotel’s exquisitely decorated Compton Room, and during the day guests will be able to enjoy the hotel’s facilities including gardens, outdoor swimming pool and spa, explore the Eastbourne seafront and charming old town, as well as join our excursions to Charleston Farmhouse and the Towner Gallery.
In addition to the three private concerts, which are held in the ballroom at The Grand Hotel, there will be two included excursions. The first is to the nearby Charleston Farmhouse, meeting place for the Bloomsbury Group in the early 20th century, where we will have a guided tour of the wonderful interiors of this unique house-museum. The second will be a special behind-the-scenes visit to Eastbourne’s acclaimed Towner Gallery, a former private collection which now comprises an exceptional variety of artworks with Sussex connections.
...when you travel with Kirker
Located on the promenade with magnificent views of the English Channel, the 'White Palace' was once a popular destination for Victorians seeking the health benefits of the bracing sea air. Famous former guests include Winston Churchill and Claude Debussy, who corrected the score of his masterpiece, La mer, while in residence.
One of the best loved British singers of recent generations, Elizabeth Watts comes from Norfolk and was a chorister at Norwich Cathedral and then went to the Royal College of Music where she quickly made a name for herself. She won the Song Prize at the 2006 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition and in the same year was awarded the Kathleen Ferrier Award.
She went on to establish her career as an opera singer and was equally at home on the recital platform and at the world’s leading concert halls. Highlights this season include roles at Garsington Opera, concert performances with LPO, at the Bach Mozart Festival, in Lausanne and at Wigmore Hall. She will appear at the 2024 Aldeburgh Festival in Snape. Elizabeth has an extensive discography including a performance of A German Requiem by Brahms, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Music Director of The Metropolitan Opera in New York.
Ionel Manciu, violin, Leo Popplewell, cello, Dominic Degavino, piano.
Taking their name from a Persian deity eternally engaged in a battle against evil powers, the Mithras Trio met while all three were students at The Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2017. Within the space of two years they took First Prize at the prestigious Trondheim International Chamber Music Competition and First Prize at The Royal Over-Seas Chamber Music Competition in London. They are now coming to the end of two years’ stint as BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists.
Highlights of their 2023 concert engagements include concerts at Milton Court in the City of London, Bridgewater Hall, the Risør Chamber Music Festival in Norway and at the Cheltenham and Lake District Music Festivals. They will return to the North Norfolk Music Festival in 2024.
"Performer, editor, composer and teacher, Simon Rowland-Jones has always led a very busy, all-embracing musical life. He was founder violist of the Chilingirian Quartet, in which he played for a total of ten years, and subsequently performed with many other leading chamber groups.
His solo CDs, on the Meridian and Etcetera labels, include the first-ever complete version of the Bach Cello Suites on viola. Peters Edition published his viola transcription of the suites shortly after the recording was made and he then went on to make a new critical/performing edition of the Haydn String Quartets. His many works include pieces for viola, four string quartets, a string trio, a piano quartet, songs and ‘A Turn Outside’, a musical adaptation of a play by Stevie Smith commissioned by Dame Josephine Barstow. He teaches viola and chamber music at the Royal College of Music and is co-director of the North Norfolk Music Festival."
barry.cheeseman@kirkerholidays.com
Barry Cheeseman has been the Manager of the Kirker Cultural Tours & Music Holidays programme for over 10 years.
Barry has been an opera lover for more than 40 years and has seen and heard every major singer during this period. He loves the challenges of organising complex arts events and working closely with the musicians. Out of the office, Barry manages to fit in time to organise his own Chamber Music Festival in North Norfolk where he lives
We shall open with Elizabeth Watts performing an all-Mozart programme of concert and opera arias from Exultate Jubilate, Le nozze di Figaro, Idomeneo, Cosi fan tutte, Mitridate, Re di Ponto, and La clemenza di Tito.
The Mithras Trio will play a typically stimulating and adventurous programme of piano trios together with solo performances and a number of sonatas for piano, violin and cello. They will be joined by Simon Rowland-Jones in a performance of Brahms’s monumental and virtuoso Piano Quartet in A Major.
Soprano
One of the best loved British singers of recent generations, Elizabeth Watts comes from Norfolk and was a chorister at Norwich Cathedral and then went to the Royal College of Music where she quickly made a name for herself. She won the Song Prize at the 2006 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition and in the same year was awarded the Kathleen Ferrier Award.
She went on to establish her career as an opera singer and was equally at home on the recital platform and at the world’s leading concert halls. Highlights this season include roles at Garsington Opera, concert performances with LPO, at the Bach Mozart Festival, in Lausanne and at Wigmore Hall. She will appear at the 2024 Aldeburgh Festival in Snape. Elizabeth has an extensive discography including a performance of A German Requiem by Brahms, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Music Director of The Metropolitan Opera in New York.
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