Lewes Chamber Music Festival 2016

Friday 17 June to Sunday 19 June 2016

Beatrice Philips, Artistic Director

The Lewes Chamber Music Festival is celebrating its fifth year by drawing in to Lewes its largest number of leading chamber musicians to date – twenty string, woodwind and vocal performers will appear in eight concerts over three days.

The Festival has already secured a strong reputation amongst musicians and audiences alike, with the Daily Telegraph in 2015 calling it:  'a small but high-class festival bringing fine performers to interesting old venues'.

Beatrice Philips, the Festival's Artistic Director said: 'We have already become known for delivering exciting performances by some of the UK’s leading musicians, giving audiences here the chance to discover new and less well-known works, alongside much-loved chamber pieces, all set within intimate venues around Lewes.'

This year’s programme sets chamber music from Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven and Schubert, and later composers such as Ravel and Faure, alongside more unusual works by composers such as Bartók, Berg and Schoenberg, as well as showcasing pieces by less well-known but intriguing composers such as Cécile Chaminade, Gabriel Pierné and Henri Dutilleux. It is this kind of innovative and exciting programming which gives the Lewes Festival its edge and excitement for audiences.

Alina Ibragimova

As is always the case, the Festival has attracted leading talent, including this year the exceptional violinist Alina Ibragimova, only 30 and yet already awarded an MBE for services to music in 2016.  A soloist at the Proms in 2015, Alina has also been the recipient of numerous awards including the Royal Philharmonic Society Young Artist Award 2010 and the Classical BRIT Young Performer of the Year Award 2009.  An outstanding chamber music performer as well as a soloist, her trio performance in Lewes on Saturday – before a Wigmore Hall performance of the same programme the following day - will be one of the Festival highlights.

As well as some familiar faces, the Festival welcomes nine musicians who will be performing here for the first time. This includes a range of woodwind performers, allowing works such as the Dohnáyni Piano Sextet and the Schubert Octet to be enjoyed by appreciative Lewes audiences.

The Eusebius Quartet which formed in 2014 will also be in residence at the Festival, bringing this exciting group of young musicians to Lewes again following their sold-out Christmas concert performance in St John sub Castro, Lewes.

The concerts this year will be focussed on the two largest venues in Lewes - St John Sub Castro and All Saints Centre, to cope with the expected demand from audiences. The concerts also make the most of these beautiful spaces – with the newly refurbished St Johns especially providing a superb venue for chamber music, with its new flexible seating layout and excellent acoustics.

Signalling its importance on the musical stage, the Lewes Chamber Music Festival has once again attracted the support of the Cavatina Chamber Music Trust, which helps young people attend world-class chamber music. Their support makes tickets to the concerts completely free for those under 26 years old.

The Festival’s Artistic Director, Beatrice Philips, said: 

'I am proud that our Festival continues to offer audiences the rare opportunity to hear both much-loved and also more unusual music performed at such a high level outside the big venues in the UK. The intimate festival atmosphere makes it an unmissable weekend of concerts for music-lovers.

This year, I have been inspired by Bartok and by Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht to create this exciting mix of pieces. The opportunity of bringing woodwind to the chamber festival also adds a great new dimension to the programming.

I am also thrilled to be welcoming performers such as Alina who will continue our fine tradition of drawing in exceptional talent to Lewes.

All in all a fantastic line-up with amazing music - and tickets for under 26 year-olds are free of charge thanks to our support from the Cavatina trust.'

Tickets cost just £14-£16, with an all-concert pass at just £100, and can be bought online here. You can also email box-office@leweschambermusicfestival.com, tel: 01273 479865 or buy in person from Lewes Travel. 

Festival Musicians:

Violin: Katharine Gowers, Venetia Jollands, Beatrice Philips, Tim Crawford, Hélène Maréchaux, Alina Ibragimova
Viola: James Boyd, Lilli Maijala, Hannah Strijbos
Cello: Robin Michael, Pierre Doumenge, Hannah Sloane, Jonathan Cohen
Double Bass: Adam Wynter
Piano: Alasdair Beatson, Bengt Forsberg, Olga Jegunova
Clarinet: Matt Hunt 

Horn: Martin Owen 

Bassoon: Peter Whelan 
Tenor: Ben Johnson

The Eusebius Quartet: Venetia Jollands, Beatrice Philips, Hannah Strijbos & Hannah Sloane.

Visit here for full programme details, venues and times.

(Source: Lewes Chamber Music Festival)