Corporate Hospitality Event at Highgate House
Last Wednesday, Julia (cellist) and I were engaged to play for a Corporate party in Highgate House near Creaton in Northamptonshire. Although we have performed there many times for weddings, this was the first time we’d been booked for an evening event at this venue. The clients had planned quite an intimate gathering of around [...]
Invitation to the Dance - Concert in Haddenham
Well it’s been a very busy couple of weeks as our first concert in Haddenham (near Aylesbury and Thame) is approaching fast. The concert will be on very similar lines to our other ‘popular classics’ recitals, with most of the music performed being well known classical pieces, presented in a light and informal way - [...]
Travellers Tales at St Mary’s
On Saturday evening (after performing at a wedding in Hertfordshire during the afternoon), we gave our first concert in the 13th century Church of St Mary the Virgin, in Eaton Bray - Bedfordshire. The church had previously hosted a jazz event and has a choral concert planned for later in the year, but it was [...]
Adjudicating a string prize….
Yesterday, I did something that was completely new to me - I was asked to adjudicate a string competition at my old school. I remember vividly entering this same competition myself over 20 years ago and playing the ‘Praeludium’ from Bach’s E major Partita - and I think I won a book token!
Interestingly, I started [...]
Music on Mondays - St Michael at the North Gate
On Monday we were very happy to return once more to the lovely church of St Michael at the North Gate in Oxford to perform a short recital as part of the ‘Music on Mondays’ series which takes place every Monday lunchtime. Musicians perform without charge but are able to nominate a good cause or [...]
Coming Out of the Silence
I have recently been learning the Beethoven violin concerto from memory for a performance last Saturday with a local orchestra, and the whole process has been full of insights and rewards at every step. Like few other works of this kind for the violin, the Beethoven is a true journey which organically develops from the opening, magical [...]