- Mountain Music
-
Date Posted: Wed, 31 Jan 2024
Our friends at Grimsby Concert Society have asked us to help spread the word about a series of small-scale music courses taking place this year in Wales in collaboration with Manchester based charity: The Olympias Foundation.
For more information, see: www.mountain-music.co.uk/
- SCUNTHORPE CONCERT SOCIETY 2024-2025 SEASON
-
Date Posted: Fri, 24 May 2024
Attachment: 
For more information, see: www.scunthorpe-concert-society.co.uk/
- GRIMSBY CONCERT SOCIETY 2024-2025 SEASON
-
Date Posted: Fri, 24 May 2024
Attachment: 
For more information, see: www.grimsbyconcertsociety.org/
- MUSICLINK DIARY JULY 2024
-
Date Posted: Sun, 30 Jun 2024
Attachment:
- MUSICLINK DIARY AUGUST 2024
-
Date Posted: Wed, 24 Jul 2024
Attachment:
- LANGTON CHURCH CONCERT 31/08/24
-
Date Posted: Wed, 24 Jul 2024
Saturday 31 August 2024 – 6:30pm
Steven Devine (fortepiano)
and
Kate Semmens (soprano)
PROGRAMME
Songs to the fortepiano – early classical masterpieces
L. van Beethoven – Adelaide
W.A. Mozart – An Chloe, Als Luise die Briefe, Abendempfindung an Laura
W.A. Mozart – Piano Sonata in A minor K310 (1778)
J. Haydn – Trost unglücklicher Liebe, Abschiedslied
+++++ Interval +++++
L. van Beethoven – Piano Sonata Op 2 No 1 (1795)
J. Haydn – Arianna a Naxos HobXXVIlb:2 (c 1789)
***************************
After the concert canapés and refreshments will be served in the candlelit church.
*****************************************************
Suggested donations – £25 (£28 if paid on the door)
Payment by BACS available (and preferred) or by cheque in favour of “Langton with Sutterby Parochial Church Council” c/o Langton Cottage, Langton, Spilsby, PE23 4PU.
Email: webmaster@langton-by-spilsby.org.uk
Tel: 01790 753649; 01790 753561; 07809 619401
**************************
In 1791, the year that Mozart died, the young Beethoven travelled to Vienna where he began studying composition with Joseph Haydn. His song ‘Adelaide‘ was composed around 1795 and is likely to have been strongly influenced by Haydn’s song O Tuneful Voice. Beethoven was already familiar with Vienna having made an earlier attempt to study with Mozart in 1785.
This concert also presents music by Mozart. Normally associated with the orchestrally-accompanied Concert aria, these three vocal masterpieces for voice and piano take familiar themes of love and betrayal and create micro-dramas on an intimate scale. His A minor piano sonata, too, takes on the “storm-and-stress” of emotions in much the same way as Haydn’s mid-period symphonies which were renowned throughout Europe.
At the heart of the programme is a copy of a Viennese fortepiano built by Mattheas Heilmann in 1785, exactly the kind of instrument that Mozart, Beethoven and Haydn would have known, bringing the listener into an intimate sound world perfect for these chamber masterpieces.
Kate Semmens was passionate about music from an early age and found her best expression through singing. As a teenager she was soloist in youth choirs, performing solos in venues such as the Albert Hall, the Queen Elizabeth Hall, as well as featuring on Songs of Praise.
Kate went on to develop her technique with teachers including Marjorie Thomas, Jessica Cash and Richard Smart and got heard and subsequently booked by John Elliot Gardiner when he heard her at a masterclass. Kate consequently has sung for many of the English consorts and ensembles including Monteverdi Choir, Gabrieli Consort, Brabant Ensemble, Dunedin Consort, Eric Whitacre Singers, and with these has been involved in recordings and performances across the world. She was a soloist with Andrew Parrott and the Taverner Choir in their recording of the Western Wind Mass which won a Gramophone award in 2017. She toured with them across Russia with a 2- to a part St John Passion in 2019.
Kate loves performing opera and has performed roles ranging from Mrs P in Michael Nyman’s The Man who mistook his wife for a hat to Ottavia in Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea. She has just completed a season playing Lisetta in Haydn’s opera La Vera Costanza for New Chamber Opera.
Kate has a background in voice and articulation and has developed a reputation as a coach and troubleshooter in workshops and masterclasses. She has worked with Nancy Argenta at the Victoria Baroque Oratorio Summer School as well as directing masterclasses at Baroque Week and vocal workshops at Dartington International Summer School and has just returned from teaching and performing at the new Music Summer School and Festival in Norwich.
Kate has worked with a range of fabulous musicians in chamber contexts and particularly loves the intimacy of the duo partnership. With Steven Devine she has explored a wide range of periods of music, performing each programme using historically appropriate keyboards, from the music of the courts of Henry VIII to women composers of the 20th century. They are particularly known for bringing English Song of the 17th and 18th centuries to foreign audiences and have performed at festivals across Europe.
During Covid Kate and Steven combatted the lack of work by producing a series of satirical videos. Unusually for them, this used an electronic keyboard..
Steven Devine is the Conductor, Music Director and the Principal keyboard player with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment He is also the principal keyboard player for The Gonzaga Band, The Mozartists and performs regularly with many other groups around Europe. He has recorded over thirty discs with other artists and ensembles and made many solo recordings. Among critical acclaim Gramophone magazine described his recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations (Chandos Records) as “among the best”. The complete harpsichord works of Rameau (Resonus) received five-star reviews from BBC Music Magazine and Steven’s recording of Bach’s Italian Concerto was voted Classic FM’s Connoisseur’s choice. His most recent release for Resonus is Bach’s Harpsichord Concertos with the OAE and he is currently in the middle of recording the complete harpsichord works of Johann Ludwig Krebs, Bach’s favourite student.
Steven is Early Keyboard Consultant to the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and Royal Welsh Colleges and teaches harpsichord, fortepiano and Performance Practice at the Royal Academy in London.**************************
Note that the Langton Concerts have become increasingly well known and it is very advisable to book early to avoid disappointment as there are normally few, if any, spaces available on the door on the day of the concerts themselves.
**************************
