24 January 2027 @ 3:30 pm - 5:30 pm
£25.00
Artists:Â Buck Brass (brass quartet) – Katie Lodge (trumpet), Timothy Ellis (french horn), Frances Leith (french horn) and Richard Buck (trombone)
Concert Sponsor:Â Sylvia Edge
Programme Includes
- Imogen Holst – Leiston Suite
- Joseph Haydn – Trio in A major, Hob. XI:5
- Francis Poulenc – Sonata for Horn, Trumpet and Trombone
- Interval
- Florence Price – Adoration
- Steven Verhelst – Be Be Three
- Traditional (arr. Richard Buck) – Amazing Grace
About the Concert
The new year brings a change of colour to nadsa as Buck Brass, one of the United Kingdom’s foremost brass chamber ensembles, arrives on Sunday 24 January. Known for its thoughtful programming and technical precision, the group ranges across four centuries in a single afternoon, bringing Haydn and an English suite by Imogen Holst as well as the irreverent wit of Poulenc, the warmth of Florence Price and a much-loved hymn in the ensemble’s own arrangement. It is a vivid showcase for the brilliance and variety of brass chamber music.
Four Centuries in Brass
The programme opens with Imogen Holst’s Leiston Suite, written in 1967 for a Suffolk school brass group while she was working alongside Benjamin Britten at Aldeburgh. Its short movements draw on Renaissance and English folk-dance idioms. Haydn’s Trio in A major follows: one of the many trios he composed for the music-loving Prince Nikolaus Esterházy, heard here in brass guise. The first half closes with a cornerstone of the repertoire, Poulenc’s Sonata for Horn, Trumpet and Trombone of 1922, by turns brilliant, lyrical and mischievous.
After the interval comes Florence Price’s Adoration: a tender, song-like piece from 1951 by the pioneering American composer, originally written for organ. A contemporary work by the Belgian composer Steven Verhelst, a leading voice in today’s brass writing, leads to a heartfelt close – the traditional hymn Amazing Grace in an arrangement by the ensemble’s own Richard Buck.
About the Ensemble
Buck Brass is among the United Kingdom’s leading brass chamber ensembles. It was founded in 2013 by graduates of the Royal Academy of Music and is celebrated for its thoughtful programming, technical precision and contribution to the brass repertoire. Dedicated to broadening the scope of brass chamber music, the ensemble champions both original compositions and transcriptions, and has expanded the repertoire further by commissioning new works. Its imaginative, wide-ranging programmes have established it as a distinctive presence on the British chamber-music scene.
Why You Shouldn’t Miss This
Brass chamber music is one of the great pleasures of the concert hall, full of brilliance, intimacy and surprise. Buck Brass presents it with flair and imagination. Whether you are a seasoned concertgoer or discovering this repertoire for the first time, this is an afternoon of warmth and virtuosity to brighten the depths of winter.