THE ANNUAL Leamington Music Festival bank holiday weekend of May marks two anniversaries.
There will be 11 concerts in the Royal Pump Rooms in two in nearby All Saints Church, from Thursday April 27 to Monday May 1.
The festival programme celebrates the 150th anniversary of the Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninov and the 80th of Leamington-born composer Robin Holloway, which will be in October.
This year’s festival brings musicians well known to Leamington audiences, along with some new faces, from as far afield as Australia, Belarus, Canada, the Czech Republic, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Russia and Slovenia.
The festival is launched by the Leonore Piano Trio on Thursday, while the British clarinettist Michael Collins is joined by five musical friends on Friday.
The festival is again hiring a Fazioli piano for the nine pianists performing in the Pump Rooms. There is a late evening concert on Friday by Viv McLean and a four-hands recital by husband-and-wife duo Roman Kosyakov and Tanya Avchinnikova on Saturday afternoon. Russian pianist Andrey Gugnin also returns Saturday evening to play Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition and other Russian works.
The Greenwich Piano Trio which gives a lunchtime concert on Monday will be in Leamington for the first time, although its violinist Lana Trotovšek from Slovenia gave a concert last year which was one of the festival highlights. Canadian cellist Heather Tuach is a member of the Fitzwilliam Quartet and played in Leamington in December. The pianist Simon Callaghan has also performed in the festival some years ago.
The Festival has a Coffee Concert on Saturday with cellist Gemma Rosefield accompanied by Tim Horton and on Sunday the lunchtime concert is given by Alessandro Fisher, winner of the 2016 Kathleen Ferrier Prize and later a BBC New Generation Artist, making his debut in the area.
All Saints Church will host for the second year running the Sinfonia of Birmingham under its conductor Michaael Seal, who is an associate conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. On Saturday the Sinfonia is joined by British-Australian saxophonist Amy Dickson to play the Concerto by Glazunov and the concert ends with Rachmaninov’s Symphony No 2.
The annual bank holiday organ recital on Monday is given by Martin Baker, who has chosen a wide-ranging programme that will end with his Improvisation on themes by Rachmaninov, which is a new departure for the festival, calling on skills that have landed him a number of prizes.
The Sacconi String Quartet, which opened the 2022 festival, close this year and is joined by the horn player Ben Goldscheider, playing in Leamington for the first time.
Tickets for all Leamington Music concerts are available on www.leamingtonmusic.org, by calling 01926 334418 or in person at the Pump Rooms or the Court House in Warwick.
