International Festival of Chamber Music
17 – 20 February 2011

Festival ‘Fringe’

Music and Poetry evening
in association with the Seamus Heaney Centre, Queen’s University

THURSDAY 10 FEBRUARY 2011
Cube Studio, Crescent Arts Centre, 7.30 pm

Local poets Benjamin Maier, Maureen Boyle and Erin Halliday read from their own work, and works that have inspired them. Musical performances from local young musicians Laura McGrogan (cello) and Charles Reilly (oboe).

Giselle Allen (soprano)
Stuart Wild (piano)

THURSDAY 17 FEBRUARY 2011
Great Hall, QUB, 8.00pm

Duparc Chanson Triste, La Vie Anterrieure
Debussy Ariettes Oubliées
Schoenberg 4 Lieder, op. 2
Berg Selection from 7 Early Songs
Prokofiev 5 Poems of Anna Akhmatova, op. 27
Copland Selected songs
Selection of traditional Irish Songs

“ a performance of terrific emotional and vocal reach”
The Independent

Showcase Recital

FRIDAY 18 FEBRUARY 2011
Harty Room, QUB Music Building, 1.10 pm

Presented in association with Queen’s University School of Music and Sonic Arts, featuring final-year and postgraduate performers.

Imogen Cooper (piano)

FRIDAY 18 FEBRUARY 2011
Great Hall, QUB, 8.00pm

Haydn Sonata in E flat major Hob. XVI/52
Beethoven Sonata in D minor op. 31/2 (Tempest)
Brahms Theme and Variations from String Sextet op. 18
Schumann Fantasiestucke op.12

“ She is an outstanding artist, one of the finest pianists now playing. Go, listen, and wonder how many better pianists there are alive in this country, or anywhere.” Daily Telegraph

Coffee Concert: City of Belfast School of Music String
Orchestra and Elaine Agnew

SATURDAY 19 FEBRUARY 2011
St Thomas’ Parish Church, Eglantine Avenue, 11.00am

The culmination of a project involving local composer Elaine Agnew with 70 young string players from the CBSM. This short concert included pieces from the ensemble’s own repertoire, plus a new piece specially written for them by Elaine.

Vivaldi Gloria
Ungar Ashokan Farewell
Vivaldi The Four Seasons: Winter Spring
Agnew Take Off

Razumovsky Ensemble

SATURDAY 19 FEBRUARY 2011
Great Hall, QUB, 1.30pm

Schoenberg Verklärte Nacht, op. 4
Ravel Sonata for violin and cello
Brahms String Sextet op. 18

“ …they open a world of music-making fabulously rich in tone colours, ensemble precision, and lyrical sweep of a kind rarely met this side of paradise.” The Times

Nicola Benedetti (violin)
Alexei Grynyuk (piano)

SATURDAY 19 FEBRUARY 2011
Great Hall, QUB, 8.00pm

Straus Violin Sonata in E flat, op. 18
Brahms Violin Sonata no 1 in G, op. 78
Schumann Violin Sonata no 1 in A minor,op.105
Please note the change of programme from Schumann’s Sonata no 2 to Sonata no 1

“ it was thrilling to hear and watch Nicola Benedetti in a truly risk-taking performance that lived so much in the body and fused the sinews of the violin and the nerve-system of the player” The Times

Belfast Piano Trio

SUNDAY 20 FEBRUARY 2011
Harty Room, QUB

Ireland Piano Trio no. 3 in E
Stanford Piano Trio no. 3 in G minor, op. 73

“ It is clear from the opening bars…that the Belfast Piano Trio already play as a musical entity, unified in basic technical accomplishment and cohesive in interpretative overview.” Belfast Telegraph

Pre-concert talk

SUNDAY 20 FEBRUARY 2011
Great Hall, QUB, 2.30pm

Elaine Agnew introduces her new string quartet.

Škampa String Quartet

SUNDAY 20 FEBRUARY 2011
Great Hall, QUB, 3.00pm

Janacek String Quartet no. 2
Elaine Agnew New work (BMS commission)
Dvorak String Quartet in G major, op. 10

“ Blistering might be the overall description of how the Škampas played. Every nuance, every colour – from warm, soothing tone to terrifying rasping sul ponticello, with the widest of dynamic range, was delivered with white-hot energy.” The Independent

The four celebrity concerts were broadcast on BBC Radio 3’s Lunchtime Concert from Tuesday 8 to Friday 11 March 2011