Festival 2012 - 12th, 13th and 14th June

This year we will be recognising the British composer, John Ireland who died 50 years ago on
12th June 1962.

Please be advised that the 2012 Festival will be a week later than usual owing to the altered
Spring Bank Holiday for HM Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations.

TICKETS:-
You may pay for tickets online through our secure Paypal checkout by clicking the
'purchase tickets' button following each of the performances detailed below or you can
download a booking form and send it in the post.

Tuesday 12th June 2012
Alissa Firsova, piano & Jessica Hayes, cello

Alissa and Jessica will play music by John Ireland and Rachmaninov.
Their concert will also feature the World Premiere of 'De Profundis' by Elena Firsova!

Alissa Firsova, piano

Born into a family of composers, Alissa Firsova is a British-Russian pianist, composer and conductor. She completed her piano and composition studies at the Purcell School followed by the Royal Academy of Music where she is currently on the Postgraduate Conducting course under Colin Metters.
She has appeared as a soloist in major halls and festivals throughout the UK and worldwide and recently gave both her Wigmore Hall and Proms debuts. As a keen chamber musician, Alissa has enjoyed working with distinguished artists such as Stephen Kovacevich, Stephen Isserlis and the Dante Quartet. After winning the BBC/Guardian/Proms Young Composer Competition at the age of 14, Alissa received numerous commissions, recently culminating in a commission for the 2010 Proms festival to do a transcription for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra's Bach Day, which was conducted by Andrew Litton and broadcast live on BBC 2.

Visit Alissa's website...

Jessica Hayes, cello

Jessica Hayes started learning the cello at the age of 4 under the Suzuki method. She is currently on the professional development course at the Royal Northern College of music playing in the Halle Orchestra to receive her International Artists Diploma. Last year she received her first class Masters degree at the Royal Academy of Music studying with Josephine Knight having received a first class degree for her undergraduate programme. During her time at the Academy she has also studied for a term in Paris Conservatoire Superior International with Xavier Phillips and Roland Pideux.

Visit Jessica's website...

Wednesday 13th June 2012
Lesley Jane Rogers, soprano & Jennie-Helen Moston, piano

'A Celebration of our Glorious English Heritage'
Music and songs by Elgar, Holst, Howells and others including 'Mother and Child' by John Ireland with words by Christina Rosetti.

Lesley Jane Rogers, soprano

Lesley-Jane Rogers is heralded as one of the most versatile soloists of today, and is renowned for her captivating and evocative performances. An established concert soloist, she specialises in oratorio, "vocal concertos", solo cantatas, recitals and contemporary music, and has a vast repertoire of several hundred works. She studied singing and piano at the Royal Academy of Music where she won several prizes, and in 2003 was made an 'Associate' in recognition of her eminence in the profession. She has worked with many leading conductors and orchestras, and her discography numbers several new-music releases for the specialist label Metier, various English composer CDs for the Campion/Cameo label, as well as discs for Toccata Classics, Hyperion, Collins Classics and ASV. She has also released two CDs, one of Schubert Lieder and one of English Song on the Penchant label with the pianist Christopher Ross.

Visit Lesley Jane's website...

Jennie-Helen Moston, piano

Born in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, she studied piano from an early age at the renowned Chetham's School of Music in Manchester and later received an MA from the University of Cambridge, having read music at St John's College. She completed her studies in 2006 with Distinction at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London on the Professional Accompanist Course. Her teachers have included Murray McLachlan, Ronan O'Hora and Charles Owen.

She has given concerts internationally, including in Boston, San Francisco and New York to give solo recitals for the Johnian Society USA, and is a regular performer at UK festivals and concert halls, including the Swansea Festival, the Wooburn Festival, the Windsor Festival, the Langholm Festival (Scotland), St James' Church, Piccadilly, the Fairfield Halls, St David's Hall (Cardiff), Peel Hall (Salford), the Austrian Cultural Forum, London, and the opening concert of the Fohnsdorf Festival in Austria that was broadcast on ORF (Austrian television).

A winner of several prizes and awards, including the Cunard-Carpathia Memorial Award for Piano Accompaniment (2006) and the Cunard Prize at the English song competition (2006 and 2007) at the GSMD; and the Accompanist's Prize at the Association of English Singers and Speakers in London (2006), she was also the recipient of a generous bursary from the Countess of Munster Musical Trust in 2005. She was a semi-finalist with Lukas Kargl in the 2007 Hugo Wolf Academy International Competition for the Art of Liedduo, Stuttgart, and performed at St John's, Smith Square for the Young Songmakers' Almanac 2007, directed by Graham Johnson.

Visit Jennie-Helen's website...

Thursday, 14th
Mark Bebbington, Piano

A recital including music by Chopin, Debussy, Liszt and John Ireland.

Mark Bebbington, Piano

The critical plaudits which have greeted Mark Bebbington's performances and recordings have singled him out as a British pianist of the rarest refinement and maturity. Increasingly recognised as a champion of British music, Mark has recorded extensively for SOMM "New Horizons" label to unanimous critical acclaim.

His most recent CDs, four British Piano Concertos with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and a premiere recording of Arnold Bax's Piano Concertino coupled with John Ireland's Piano Concerto and Legend – were released in 2011 and have met with rapturous acclaim. In May, 2011 Mark recorded three major premieres with the Ulster Orchestra – Piano Concertos 1 and 2 by William Mathias and the Fantasia (1904) by Vaughan Williams – due for release in October 2011.

In addition to concerto recordings for SOMM label, Mark continues his John Ireland and Frank Bridge solo piano series; five consecutive discs have each earned him 5***** in BBC Music Magazine and International Piano summed up his achievement in August 2010:-

"Bebbington's revivals of British piano music are second to none; he could well be dubbed the concert pianists' Richard Hickox. Bebbington has almost single-handedly demonstrated that 20th-century British piano scores have an exciting role to play in the concert hall and recording studio."

Visit Mark's website...