First, best wishes for 2019; here's to another year of great music in Newton Abbot.
Some of you may be aware that our Vice President, John Turpin, died peacefully last week at the grand age of 96. His funeral will be at 3 pm on Thursday 17th January at the St Paul's Chapel, Exeter crematorium.
John was Chairman for 18 years until 2002, and Vice-chair for 8 years prior to that. He was made Vice President in 2002, a post he held till his recent death. He was always interested to be kept up to date with news of the society.
NADSA's year opens with an afternoon concert on Sunday 20th January at the Courtenay Centre when our friends the Fitzwilliam Quartet return, this time with pianist Anna Tilbrook. Founded in 1968 the Fitzwilliam is one of the longest-established quartets in the world, and they still have one of their founding players. One of the few leading British quartets to regularly perform on both period and modern instruments, their versatility and musicianship has been shown to advantage in premiering contemporary works as well as performing Baroque opera. Their recordings of the Bruckner quintets has been received with critical acclaim, as were the Haydn quartets; future projects include CDs of works by Schubert and Shostakovich. Find out more and listen to extracts from their recordings at www.fitzwilliamquartet.com At Newton Abbot, they will perform two of Glazunov's Noveletten and Suk's Meditation on the St. Wenceslas Chorale before being joined by Anna Tilbrook for Mozart's 12th Piano Concerto and Elgar's A minor Quintet. Anna is not only a recitalist, having played at New York's Carnegie Hall at Pisa, Frankfurt and frequently on BBC Radio 3, but is also a talented accompanist, (most notably with James Gilchrist) and is much in demand as a repetiteur. www.annatilbrook.co.uk will tell you more about her. We are grateful to Veronica Chambers for her generous sponsorship of this concert. Take note: starts at 3 pm!
Tickets may be reserved at Fitzwilliam String Quartet with Anna Tilbrook Tickets for collection at the door, price £13.
The Torbay Singers are running a Choral Workshop under the direction of Tina Guthrie on Saturday 26th January at Exeter School. The topic will be Bach's St John Passion and will be an all-day event. See www.torbaysingers.com/index.php to register.
On the same day at the Cathedral Assistant Director of Music Timothy Parsons will perform Messaien's organ cycle 'La Nativité'. Starting at 7pm admission is free, with a retiring collection. www.exeter-cathedral.org.uk Also at the Cathedral, on Friday 15th February there is a Candlelight Concert of seasonal music when the nave will be lit by beautiful candles for the return of this popular choral celebration. Book via www.exeter-cathedral.org.uk
Plymouth Guildhall hosts the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra on Thursday 7th February where, at 7.30 Michael Seal conducts violinist Ning Feng in the Brahms Concerto. The programme also includes Mendelssohn's overture 'The Hebrides' and Dvořák's 8th Symphony. www.bsolive.com for more detail and to book.
Then on Sunday afternoon February 3rd, Devon Baroque are once again at Dartington Great Hall; this time with 'Buzzing Baroque' music from B to Z featuring wind instruments. J S Bach is represented by his 1st Brandenburg Concerto, then via Hasse, Purcell and Rameau to Zelinka. For ticket information and to learn more about the orchestra, visit www.devonbaroque.co.uk
That's all for now; happy listening.
JR