18th March 2023 at 7:30pm
Connaught Brass QuintetAaron Akugbo -trumpet, Harry Plant – trumpet, Robyn Blair – horn, Chris Brewster – trombone, Aled Meredith-Barrett - tuba
We end our season in some style and fanfare as the Connaught Brass Quintet perform for us. Connaught are a “thrilling young ensemble at the start of what is sure to be a major international career”.
Programme:
Programme:
| Prelude - Rheinlaender from Norwegian Dances | Mogens Andresen |
| Suite from Pulcinella 2.0 | Giovanni Battista Pergolesi arr. Verhelst |
| Romance (Op.22, mvt 2) |
Clara Schumann arr. Blair |
| Carmen Suite | Bizet arr. Foster |
| Wendepunkt |
Bo Nilsson |
| Song Suite | Lili Boulanger arr. Foster |
| Adoration | Florence B. Price arr. Blair |
| Folk Song Suite | Trad. arr. Every |
Connaught Brass has the ambition to explore and share the broadest range of musical repertoire with as wide an audience as possible, bringing brass chamber music to the forefront of today’s musical world.
Connaught’s Amersham concert takes us on a tour of Europe and then to the capital of Arkansas, USA. Connaught Brass play masterful pieces ranging from the Italian Pergolesi with his Baroque ‘Pulcinella Suite 2.0’ to African-American Florence Price with her spiritual ‘Adoration’ written in 1951. They also perform original works written for the contemporary brass quintet by Mogens Andresen and Bo Nilsson. The concert is to be rounded off by a traditional Folk Song Suite, arranged by Sam Every.
Connaught Brass are quickly making a name for themselves as a fresh talent in the chamber music world. Having already made their debut at the Lucerne Festival and London’s Wigmore Hall, the ensemble’s ability to manipulate and unify sound earned them 1st Prize in the Inaugural Philip Jones International Brass Ensemble Competition (2019) and the Royal Overseas League Mixed Ensemble Competition (2022). Vibrant, spirited and bold, Connaught Brass place emphasis on their friendship with one another to showcase their individual musical personalities within a unique collective sound.
Prior to their Philip Jones Competition win, the group won the Worshipful Company of Musicians Brass Ensemble Prize in 2018, and travelled to France shortly after to participate in the music festival Ferrandou Musique. They returned to the same festival in 2019 and 2021. More recently, the quintet have become Artists of the Tillett Trust, City Music Foundation and Kirckman Concert Society, and attended the prestigious Britten Pears Chamber Music Residency in March 2022.
Recent notable engagements include a tour of Switzerland in 2021, recitals at Societá Filarmonica Trento (Italy), St Martin-in-the-Fields, St George’s Bristol, The Great Birmingham Brass Fest, where they performed a new commission alongside Onyx Brass, St James’ Piccadilly, Investec International Music Festival and Lake District Summer Music Festival, as well as performing live on BBC Radio 3’s In Tune programme. Their ever-growing repertoire spans 500 years, from renaissance to contemporary works, across a large range of genres. The ensemble also take great pride in undertaking and building their outreach work, including that supported by the Worshipful Company of Musicians and Cavatina Trust.
Sponsored by The Tillet Trust as part of its DEBUT programme
TICKETS ARE FOR SALE HERE
