The November lunchtime concert in November at Cranleigh Arts, with Phil Hopkins on classical harmonica
and Lindsay Bridgewater piano accompaniment, was the best attended ever, in spite of torrential rain in Cranleigh; a triumph of musical versatility (Phil also played xylophone and bongo) and an imaginative programme (with music from West Side Story and pieces by Handel and John Barry). We welcomed the rapt attention of a class from Park Mead school.
Listening to the audience and the Cranleigh public, Cranleigh Arts has decided to offer more top international quality professional music during daylight hours in the winter. We hear and understand the difficulties for older people to get out at night.
The full concert by Romanian pianist George Todica on Friday 9 December will now start at 1500 and finish before 1700. George is not only a star of piano, but also now of stage, since he has been appearing in London with David Tennant in the West End hit play “Good”. George, not surprisingly, plays the concert pianist! For his Cranleigh concert he is playing Scarlatti, Mozart, Robert Schumann, Chopin and Enescu.
He comments on his choice of music “I want to present a varied bouquet of musical works that beautifully complement each other. The Scarlatti sonatas at the start of each half are carefully and purposefully picked so that they seamlessly blend into the next work. The Mozart and Schumann works are a great combination, they’re both fantastic story telling works, with Mozart being more operatic in nature and Schumann more akin to German Lied. Chopin’s Barcarolle is one of his most effervescent love stories for the piano that makes gorgeous use of the piano’s bell-like sonorities and this sonority of bells is at the very centre of Enescu’s jubilant Piano Suite No. 2.”
On 13 December at 1300 three Fellows of The Philharmonia Orchestra will play a complete contrast by a brass ensemble of trumpet, tenor trombone and piano. This is not a brass band; it is a beautiful and subtle combination of instruments giving a smooth, velvety sound that we are sure you will love. Cranleigh Arts has partnered with The Philharmonia for eight years, and we are delighted that we can choose the best of young international talent who have risen to the top through multiple auditions and competition.
The Philharmonia Fellows will play the marvellous Fandango for Trumpet, Trombone and Piano, as well as the Gordon Jacob Trombone Concerto, and short pieces by the celebrated modern Scottish composer James MacMillan. Something different; a real treat for the Cranleigh audience.
For full details of both concerts go to www.cranleigharts.org or telephone the box office on 01483 278000 or visit in person Tuesday to Saturday and enjoy a fine cup of tea or coffee.
