Sholto Kynoch, local tenor Daniel Norman, the English String Orchestra and the Bochmann Trio are just some of the artists lined up for the new Lenthall Concerts series in Burford, which opens next Wednesday with a suitably gala-style occasion to mark its 100th concert.
The series was founded in 1992 by professional violinist Michael Bochmann, a former pupil at Burford School, and named after William Lenthall, a 17th-century Speaker of the House of Commons and owner of Burford Priory. “The Community College were really keen for us to do a concert series,” Michael tells me. “So we put it together, and ever since then we’ve put on six concerts a year. And now we’re having our 100th!”
The first concert will see Michael directing the English String Orchestra in a programme of music from the British Isles and Europe, including Grainger’s Londonderry Air, Minuet from Ireland’s A Downland Suite, Warlock’s Capriol Suite, Dvorak’s Slavonic Dance in E minor and Bartok’s Rumanian Folk Dances.
The season continues on November 3 with German string ensemble Klanglust, while the Amael Piano Trio from Slovenia make their Lenthall debut on December 1.
In a bid to encourage young talent, the first concert of the New Year sees the Royal College of Music String Orchestra join pupils from Oundle School to play Shostakovich’s Chamber Symphony in C minor and Vaughan Williams’ Variations on a theme of Thomas Tallis.
Oxford Lieder Festival favourites Sholto Kynoch and Dan Norman join the Gallitzin String Quartet (February 9) for a programme that includes Vaughan Williams’s powerfully evocative On Wenlock Edge, Haydn’s Quartet in B flat (the ‘Sunrise’) and Beethoven’s Quartet in E minor (the ‘Razumovsky’).
The Bochmann Trio and pianist Paul Turner bring the season to a close on March 16 with a programme of Mozart, Sibelius and Dvorak.
Concerts take place at Burford School and Community College. For full details, visit www.lenthallconcerts.org.uk
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