17-25 July: The Cleo Piano Trio will be visiting to work on their repertoire - one of their tutors will be joining them for part of their stay. Their programme will include Beethoven, Ravel and Lily Boulanger.
Concert: Wednesday 24 July.
11-18 August: Saxophonist Huw Wiggin will be working on saxophone duos with with violinist Sara Övinge. He hopes to be recording these duos on CD later in the month.
Concert: 15 August (to be confirmed)
27-31 August: Pianist Juliette Sabbah and tenor Fabian Hyon will be joining us for a few days to work on a new programme of French songs and lieder.
Concert: Friday 30 August.
Weekend 21/22 September: Pianist Joanna Goodale will return to give a concert having had to cancel last year because of illness. Actual day of concert to be confirmed shortly.
13-21 October: Graeme Danby will once again be leading a group of young singers - this year they will perform not a whole opera but opera excerpts. They will be giving a song recital and two performances of opera excerpts performed in cabaret style.
Concerts: Song recital Thursday 17 October. Opera cabaret style 18 and 19 October
2023 Residencies
Olivia Warburton and Johan Banoin
Our first visitors to Brel this year were soprano Olivia Warburton and pianist Johan Banoin. They had visited us in 2019 and this time they worked on material for a new series of recitals scheduled for the autumn including both English and French songs. They stayed with us from 16-22 May with a concert on Sunday 21 May.
Brel, Roquecor, Sunday 21 May 2023
Olivia Warburton (soprano), Johan Barnoin (piano)
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Josef Haydn (from 12 English canzonettas):
The Wanderer
Fidelity
She never told her Love
Hugo Wolf (Goethe Lieder)
Kennst du das Land?
Claude Debussy:
Nuit d’étoiles
Book 1 of Fêtes Galantes:
En sourdine
Fantoches
Clair de lune
Emmanuel Chabrier
L'île heureuse
Villanelle des petits canards
Gustav Mahler (Rückert Lieder)
Ich atmet’ einen linden Duft
Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder
Liebst du um Schönheit
Um Mitternacht
Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen
Edward Elgar
Pleading
Frank Bridge
Come to me in my Dreams
Love went a riding
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Brel Song Academy
Once again, Amanda Roocroft, soprano and Joseph Middleton, piano, led a week long course for young singers and accompanists. They were with us for the first week of July. Their stay included a masterclass and a concert on 6 July.
Brel, Roquecor, Thursday 6 July 2023
Amanda Roocroft - soprano, Joseph Middleton - piano
Ruth Murphy, Katherine Gregory, Felicitas Wrede - soprano
Mia Serracino-Inglott - mezzo soprano
Deirūnas Jasiulionis - tenor
Charles Cunliffe - baritone
Abhisri Chaudhuri, Daniel Peter Silcock, André Bertoncini - piano
Felicitas Wrede and Abhisri Chaudhuri
Zur Rosenzeit - Edvard Grieg /Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Die Schwan - Edvard Grieg /Henrik Ibsen
Adoration - Frank Bridge /John Keats
Ruth Murphy and André Bertoncini
Hôtel - Poulenc/Apollinaire
Chanson triste - Duparc/Jean Lahor
L’invitation au voyage - Duparc/Baudelaire
Mia Serracino-Inglott and Daniel Silcock
Ständchen - Brahms/Kugler
V tak mnohém srdci mrvto jest - Dvorak/Moravsky
Del cabello más sutil - Obradors/Trad.
Deirūnas Jasiulionis and André Bertoncini
Auf dem grünen Balkon - Hugo Wolf/Anon
Let beauty awake - Vaughan Williams/R. L. Stevenson
Du bist wie eine Blüme - R. Schumann/ Heine
Katherine Gregory and Abhisri Chaudhuri
Die Nacht - Strauss/Gilm
Do not Sing to me, my Beauty - Rachmaninov/Pushkin
Spring Waters - Rachmaninov/Tiotchev
Charles Cunliffe and Daniel Silcock
Auf dem Kirchhofe - Brahms/von Liliencron
La vie antérieure - Duparc/Baudelaire
Who is Silvia? - Finzi/Shakespeare
Vivo Piano Trio
Later in July we welcomed the Vivo Trio which includes two musicians who have already visited Brel - pianist Maksim Stsura and violinist Michael Foyle - who play together as the Foyle Stsura Duo. They were joined on this visit by cellist Rafael Lang and worked on a programme including Schubert and Beethoven Trios which they played in Austria later in the summer.
Their visit included an outing to the local Marche Gourmand where we enjoyed aperitifs and snacks - including a massive candy floss which caught Rafael’s eye!
Vivo Piano Trio
Brel, Roquecor, Tuesday 18 July 2023
Michael Foyle (violin), Raphael Lang (violoncello), Maksim Štšura (piano)
Franz Schubert
Piano Trio No 1 in B Flat Major, D898
Allegro Moderato
Andante un poco mosso
Scherzo - Allegro
Rondo - Allegro vivace
Ludwig van Beethoven
Piano Trio in D Major, Op 70 No 1 (“Ghost”)
Allegro vivace e con brio
Largo assai ed espressivo
Presto
Saxophones at Brel August 2023
In August saxophonist Huw Wiggin visited Brel with Spanish saxophonist Jose Banuls and they spend the week coaching a young saxophone quartet - the Astral Quartet from London’s Royal College of Music. It was a boiling hot week and Huw and Jose worked the young players hard but they wanted to improve their performance as they were planning to enter some competitions later in the year. The pool provided somewhere to cool down and another visit to the Marche Gourmand gave an opportunity to meet some of the concertgoers ahead of the concert. More than 100 people came to their concert on 15 August despite the heat.
Brel, Roquecor, Tuesday 15 August 2023
Astral Saxophone Quartet - Leopoldo Mugnai (sop), Oliver Lee (alt),
Annabella Chenevix Trench (ten), Ethan Townsend (bari).
Huw Wiggin (sop), José Bañuls (ten)
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Jean Philippe Rameau - Le Rappel des Oiseaux *
Ferling - Trois duos Concertants pour deux Hautbois - No 2. Poco Adagio *
Wilhelm Friedemann Bach - Six Duos - No. 1 Allegro*
Gabriel Pierné - Introduction et variations due une ronde populaire **
Alfred Desenclos - Quatuor pour saxophones **
I Allegro non troppo - II Calmo
Jean Rivier - Grave et Presto **
J.S Bach - Concerto Italien **
I Allegro - II Andante - III Presto
Francesco Geminiani (trans. Joe Harper) - Concerto Grosso in D Minor - La Follia ***
Edvard Grieg - Aus Holbergs Zeit - IV Air ***
Will Gregory - Hoe Down ***
* Huw Wiggin and José Bañuls ** Astral Quartet
*** Huw Wiggin, José Bañuls, and the Astral Saxophone Quartet
Mikeleiz -Zucchi Duo
The Mikeleiz-Zucchi Duo visited us in August. Spanish accordion player Inigo Mikeleiz- Berrade and Canadian saxophonist David Zucchi play a huge range of music and their programme ranged from baroque to tango. The audience loved the wide range of different sounds that the two instruments could produce together.
Brel, Roquecor, Saturday 26 August 2023
Iñigo Mikeleiz-Berrade (accordion), David Zucchi (soprano saxophone)
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Sidney Bechet (1897-1959), arr. Parisien/Peirani - Egyptian Fantasy
Johann Sebastian Bach (attributed) (1685-1750) - Flute Sonata in G Minor, BWV 1020
I Allegro - II Adagio - III Allegro
Chick Corea (1941-2021) - Selections from Children’s Songs
Enrique Granados (1867-1916) - Andaluza from 12 Danzas españolas
George Gershwin (1898-1937) - Selections from Songbook (arr. MZ Duo)
I Fascinating Rhythm - II Oh, Lady Be Good! - III I Got Rhythm
Michael Praetorius (1571-1621) - Selections from Terpsichore
I Passameze - II Galliard - III Ballet anglois - IV Bransle de village
Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992) - Histoire du Tango
I Bordel 1900 - II Cafe 1930 - III Nightclub 1960 - IV Concert d’aujourd’hui
Opera at Brel
For the third year in a row we had a pocket opera at Brel. This year s team of young singers with producer Graham Danby (who also sang the lead role) and pianist and conductor Stephen Higgins as director gave us two performance of Don Pasquale by Donizetti.
The team gave a recital of songs - “Songs of the Countryside’ on the Thursday evening with opera performance on Friday and Saturday.
Fae Evelyn Asher, Alice Johnston (sopranos), Magnus Walker (tenor), Thomas Asher,(baritone), Graeme Danby, (bass), Stephen Higgins (piano)
Rogers & Hammerstein
It’s A Grand Night For Singing
Ivor Gurney
Under the Greenwood Tree
Sleep
Spring
Robert Schumann
Mondnacht
Gilbert & Sullivan
The Sun Whose Rays
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Silent Noon
The Watermill
The Sky Above the Roof
Mozart
Sul’Aria (Figaro)
Soave sia il vento (Cosi)
Flanders & Swann
The Armadillo
The Sloth
Tom Lehrer
Poisoning Pigeons in the Park
Ivor Novello
We’ll Gather Lilacs
Opera at Brel: Brel, Roquecor, Friday 22 and Saturday 23 September 2023
Fae Evelyn Asher, Alice Johnston (sopranos), Magnus Walker (tenor), Thomas Asher,(baritone), Graeme Danby, (bass)
Stephen Higgins (piano and musical director)
Don Pasquale Acts 1 and 2
Interval
Don Pasquale Act 3
Cast
Don Pasquale - Graeme Danby
Norina - Fae Evelyn Asher
Ernesto - Magnus Walker
Malatesta - Tom Asher
Notary - Alice Johnston