A rousing finish to the Hornsea Music Society season

Hornsea Music Society finished off the 2017/18 concert season with the return of the New International Chamber Ensemble (NICE). NICE is a flexible collective of musicians from diverse backgrounds, which emerged as an initiative of professional musicians in Hull and East Yorkshire. Their flexibility allows them to select the music they want to play for each engagement, and then organise which of them will take part. Their last visit to Hornsea in November 2016 gave us an all woodwind programme, but since then some string players have joined the group. The framework for the evening was provided by the Mozart string quintet, Eine kleine Nachtmusik, which is the source of several favourite tunes. Conveniently, it has four movements, so one movement was played at the beginning and end of each half of the concert. In contrast to this well known work, the programme included two world premières, and a piece which was recorded for the first time during this concert. The first Première was a medley from Sandy Clark’s new opera The Siren, a work which will be performed in full in Hull in July this year, so that is something to watch out for. The flute quintet by Eugène Walckiers has been performed before, but not recorded. It is intriguing that this piece was dedicated to a double bass player, rather than a flautist. The second première was a work by Ondřej Kyas from the Czech Republic. Ancient Ambient explored the range of tones at the lower end of the flute. This went well with the Pohádka by Leoš Janáček, a duet for cello and piano, written around the time of the composer’s daughter’s death during a tour of Russia. The contemplative mood continued with a trio for violin, cello and piano by Rachmaninov. The evening was nicely rounded off with a lively rendition of the final movement of the Mozart. Hornsea Music Society aims to keep ticket prices affordable, while continuing to put on high quality concerts, so it is important to stage fund raising events outside the season. The proceeds of three events will go towards the costs of the 2018/19 concert season, and all concerts start at 7.30 at the United Reformed Church, Hornsea. The first date for your diary is Saturday 21st April, when Hornsea Choir give their annual concert for the Society. They have been hard at work on some new repertoire, including The Lion King. Tickets are £5, accompanied children free. On Saturday 26th May there will be a concert by winners in November’s East Coast Musician of the Year competition, which is held annually in Bridlington Spa. This competition is aimed at people from East, North, and West Yorkshire, and the cities of Hull, York and Leeds, so a wealth of talent is involved. Tickets are £10, accompanied children free. The final fundraising event is on 16th June, with a concert from Simeon Wood, who plays a wide range of music from classical to Bollywood, on over 20 instruments. This promises to be a hugely entertaining evening. The proceeds of this event will be shared between the Hornsea Music Society and the United Reformed Church. Tickets are £10, accompanied children free. From April Issue: Hornsea Music Society is looking forward to welcoming the New International Chamber Ensemble (NICE) back for the final concert of the season. The Society’s chairman, Roberta Loades says “When NICE came to play for us 18 months ago, we had a wonderful evening. There was such a nice atmosphere, and we heard some unusual lively music.” NICE is a flexible collective of musicians from diverse backgrounds, which emerged as an initiative of professional musicians in Hull and East Yorkshire. They aim to promote old and new music, filling a gap in the local music scene and giving the players an opportunity to play something a little different. Rather than being a small group of regular players who pick repertoire for a certain combination of instruments, NICE select the music they want to play for each engagement, and then organise which of them will take part. This method has several advantages, including being able to tailor the programme to suit the occasion and giving them a much broader range of music to choose from than most groups. It also means that they are not dependant on individual schedules, which is an advantage for such a talented group. For example, oboist as Hana Drabkove is currently touring Austria with the Brno City Theatre Orchestra from the Czech Republic. Since their last visit to Hornsea in November 2016, NICE have added some string players. They will be joining in to play works by Mozart, Saint Saens, Rachmaninov, and Janacek, amongst others. The concert is on Saturday 24th March, starting at 7.30 pm. Tickets are £10 each and are available from The Town House in Newbegin, Hornsea, or the Tourist Information Centre in Beverley. Accompanied children are admitted free of charge. The next date for your diary is Saturday 21st April, when Hornsea Choir will give a fund raising concert for the Society at the United Reformed Church, starting at 7.30 pm. The Society aims to keep ticket prices affordable, while continuing to put on high quality concerts, so it is important to stage fund raising events like this. The proceeds will go towards the costs of the 2018/19 concert season.

Andrew Powis returns to Hornsea (Feb 2018)

The Hornsea Music Society is approaching the end of its 2017/18 season now. The next concert welcomes back Andrew Powis. Andrew is a graduate of Bangor University where he was awarded the Eric Morris Memorial prize for outstanding performance upon graduation. As part of the opera group at Bangor and York Opera among others, Andrew has sung the roles of Don Curzio (Le Nozze di Figaro, Mozart), Nemorino (L’elisir D’amore, Donizetti), Tamino (Die Zauberflöte, Mozart), Alfred (Die Fledermaus, Strauss), Fenton (in an abridged version of Falstaff, Verdi) and Mendel in Eric Zeisl’s opera, Hiob. More recently, he has been an integral part of Anne Williams-King’s North Wales Opera Studio where he has performed scenes from a wide range of operas. Andrew has been invited to perform in many concerts as a soloist, including Britten’s Saint Nicolas, Handel’s Messiah, Orff’s Carmina Burana, and Rossini’s Petite Messe Solenelle, as well as Mozart’s Requiem at Morley College in London. Andrew was part of the prestigious Glyndebourne Academy 2015 and is currently studying a postgraduate course in Vocal Performance at Royal Conservatoire of Scotland under the tutelage of Iain Paton. Future engagements include realising the role of Ricardo in Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera, a concert of operatic scenes at the Llangollen International Eisteddfod with NWOS and a residency with Opera Bamba in Glasgow. Andrew says he is proud and excited to be returning to perform for Hornsea Music Society. Catherine Strachan was born in Aberdeen. She studied modern and baroque cello at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and the University of York. She has performed with several period instrument ensembles, such as La Serenissima, Yorkshire Baroque Soloists and Ludus Baroque, and worked as a freelance cellist with various groups around the UK. Catherine teaches cello and violin (and occasionally viola and double bass) in York, and is also a tutor at the Saturday Music School of Leeds College of Music. Andrew will be accompanied by Frank James, who is no stranger to audiences in Hornsea. A visit from him always makes for an interesting programme. The concert is on Saturday 24th February, starting at 7.30pm. Tickets are £10 each, and are available from The Town House in Newbegin, Hornsea, or the Tourist Information Centre in Beverley. Accompanied children are admitted free of charge. The final concert of the season sees the return of another popular act, the New International Chamber Ensemble (NICE) on Saturday 24th March.

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