Rathbones Spring Concert Series returns to RAMM
The Rathbones Spring Concert Series returns to Exeter’s Royal Albert Memorial Museum on 22 March 2017 with a recital by the former Royal Harpist to HRH Prince Charles, Catrin Finch.
Now in its fourth year, the charity concerts, in aid of the RAMM Development Trust, offer music lovers the chance to enjoy first-class musicians playing in the intimacy of the museum’s art gallery.
Award-winning musicians Emily Sun, violin, and Sam Armstrong, piano, perform on 19 April followed by the rising stars in the Alauda String Quartet on 16 May.
Sponsored by Rathbones, the series brings the best new and established musicians to Exeter. Surrounded by Exeter’s Fine Art, the recitals offer a rare opportunity to experience music in a modern environment that is reminiscent of the palatial chambers for which much of the music was written.
The Concerts
Catrin Finch, Harp
Wednesday 22 March
This year’s series opens with a recital by the former Royal Harpist to HRH Prince Charles, reviving this ancient tradition of a royal harpist that had last been held in 1873. Since her first solo recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations for Deutsche Grammophon, she has recorded with artists including Bryn Terfel, James Galway and Julian Lloyd Webber. Catrin has appeared as a soloist with many of the world’s top orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Pops, the Philharmonia, the Academy of St Martin-in- the-Fields and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
Programme
• Bach: Prelude fromViolin Partita No. 3.
• Debussy: La Fille aux cheveux de Lin.
• Salzedo: Variations on an ancient theme.
• Alvars: Introduction, Cadenza and Rondo.
• Rota: Sarabande and Toccata.
• Trad Welsh: Airs.
• Piazzola: Libertango.
• Godefroid: Carnaval de Venice
Emily Sun, Violin, with Sam Armstrong, Piano
Wednesday 19 April
Emily Sun has won all available prizes at the Royal College of Music including the Violin Competition 2012 and Concerto Competition 2015. She is a prize-winner in many international competitions including Brahms International Violin Competition Austria, and Rodolfo Lipizer International Violin Competition Italy. She has won all major Australian violin competitions and, in February 2016, she was selected for the Tillett Trust’s Young Artists’ Platform scheme and won the Strings Final of the Royal Overseas League Music Competition UK.
Sam Armstrong has performed across Europe, Asia and North America as recitalist, Chamber musician and orchestral soloist. He has appeared at some of the world’s most important concert halls including the Royal Festival and Wigmore Halls in London, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and the Carnegie Hall in New York.
• Schubert: Grand Duo for violin and piano.
• Wieniawski: Gounod Fantasy on Faust Op.20.
• Debussy: Sonata in G minor.
• Grieg: Sonata C minor.
Alauda String Quartet
Tuesday 16 May
The Alauda Quartet was formed at the Royal Academy of Music in London in 2011. In 2013 the Quartet was awarded a Junior Fellowship in Chamber Music from the Royal Academy of Music and it was selected as Park Lane Group artists for 2015, giving debut recitals at the Purcell Room as well as St. Martin-in-the-fields. They have also been selected by Making Music for 2016. Recent tours have taken them the Italy, Spain, Germany and China.
Programme
• Mozart: Quartet in B flat K.458 “Hunt”.
• Haydn: Quartet in C Op.74 No.1.
• Mendelssohn: Quartet in F minor Op.80.
Workshops for aspiring musicians
Visiting musicians are also running workshops for aspiring musicians: Emily Sun for violinists and the Alauda Quartet for violinists and cellists. For Grade 5 musicians and above, tickets £10.
