THE LEAMINGTON Music Festival Weekend will be marking a couple of milestones later this month.
The festival, which runs from April 29 to May 3, will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Martinu String Quartet and the 30th anniversary of the Guarneri Piano Trio, another leading Czech ensemble.
The programme will predominantly be made up of Czech music, with the Martinu Piano Trio joining the Martinu String Quartet and the Guarneri Piano Trio to give over half the concerts.
The London Haydn Quartet, Ensemble 360, the organist Nicholas Morris, baritone Simon Wallfisch, pianist Simon Callaghan and cellist Gemma Rosefield are the British musicians contributing to the other concerts, most of which will take place at the Assembly Hall of the Pump Rooms.
With works by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and Mendelssohn integrated with Czech music, it is Dvorak, Janacek and Martinu who dominate the programming.
The final day will be given over to music associated with Terezin, the ghetto in which Jewish artists and intellectuals were held before being sent to their deaths at Auschwitz and other camps. A remarkable arts scene was created in what had been built as a garrison town and the Nazis used it to hoodwink the Red Cross about their treatment of Jews.
An exhibition by the Leamington Music Artist in Residence, Jane Williams, A Musical Journey in Paint – a ten year retrospective of her work on musicians who have appeared for Leamington Music – can be seen at the Pump Rooms during the festival,
Visit www.leamingtonmusic.org for tickets and further details.
