St Mary’s Church, Hay-on-Wye, HR3 5EB. Doors open 6.30pm. Bar.

A welcome return to Hay Music of the Tippett Quartet in their 25th Anniversary year.

Tickets: £20 (under 25s - £10)

Please note:  we are offering a limited number of free tickets to those under 25 years of age, as well as our usual half price under 25s tickets.  Free tickets will only be available on a first-come-first served basis.

John Mills Lydia Lowndes-Northcott Jeremy Isaac Bozidar Vukotic

Programme

Ralph Vaughan Williams: String Quartet No. 1

Michael Tippett: String Quartet No. 5

Franz Schubert: Death and the Maiden Quartet

“It’s difficult to imagine finer performances than those delivered by the Tippett Quartet.  Immaculate tonal blend and technical precision”.  BBC Music Magazine

The Tippett Quartet performs at Wigmore Hall, BBC Proms, Kings Place, Purcell Room, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Bridgewater Hall and broadcast on BBC Radio 3. They have toured Europe, Canada and Mexico. Their broad and diverse repertoire highlights the Tippett Quartet’s unique versatility. They have an impressive catalogue of recordings, most recently being awarded Gramophone Record of the Month for their recording of Gorécki Quartets for Naxos.

The Quartet pursues a keen interest in educational work with both schools and universities. It was Ensemble in Residence at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge University for 2012-13 and from 2015 they have been resident at Royal Holloway University, London.

The Tippett Quartet worked on a ground-breaking reimagining of Beethoven’s Op. 135 with composer/soundscape artist Matthew Herbert and has also given numerous world and UK premieres including newly discovered works by Tchaikovsky and Holst, as well as new works by John Adams, Freya Waley-Cohen, Howard Goodall and Alissa Firsova. They have also worked with Peter Maxwell-Davies for a performance of his 9th Quartet at the South Bank, with Anthony Payne on his Quartet No.1 for a live BBC broadcast from Spitalfields Festival and Hugh Wood on his String Quartet No. 3 at the Presteigne Festival. They have had the great pleasure of collaborating with inspirational soloists such as Kathryn Stott, Craig Ogden, Stephanie Gonley, Lawrence Power, Melvin Tan, Nick Van Bloss, Julian Bliss, Ashley Wass, Lynn Arnold, Emma Abbate, Mary Dullea and James Atkinson - and many other individuals and institutions too numerous to mention.

St Mary’s Church, Hay-on-Wye, HR3 5EB.

Hereford Chamber Choir performs its critically acclaimed 'Dymock Poets Re-imagined'. This innovative concert focuses on seven contemporary composers and their choral settings of works by the Dymock Poets.

Tickets: £15. Please see below for booking details.

Booking in person:  at the Hay Festival Box Office. During the run up to the Festival, the Box Office is located in The Drill Hall, 25 Lion Street, Hay-on-Wye, HR3 5AD. Normal Box Office opening hours are 9.30am–5.00pm, Monday to Friday.  From Wednesday, 22 May the Box Office moves to the Festival Site on Brecon Road, Hay-on-Wye HR3 5PJ.  Tickets booked in person are exempt from the £3.50 booking fee.

Booking by telephone:  01497 822629 - Monday - Friday, 9.30am - 5.00pm. Booking fee applies.

Box office for non-members of Hay Festival opens 1200, Friday, 15 March.

For all other information about the 2024 Hay Festival go to https://www.hayfestival.com

Programme

Each setting is preceeded by a reading of the relevant poem.

​Liz Dilnot-Johnson:  Rain (poem by Edward Thomas)

Susannah Self:  The Guest (poem by John Drinkwater)

Kerensa Briggs:  Tree at my Window (poems by Wilfred Wilson Gibson)

Simon Perbody:  I  The Tree;  II  Girl’s Song (poems by Wilfred Wilson Gibson) 

Fraz Ireland:  Another Road

Esther Kay:  Two Sea Pictures (poems by Wilfred Wilson Gibson)

Arush Panwalkar:  All last night (poem by Lascelles Abercrombie)

Eoin Jenkins:  Song (poem by Rupert Brooke)

Robert Peate:  I  Interval; II  Will you come? (poems by Edward Thomas)

Founded in 1983, Hereford Chamber Choir consists of 25 mixed voices. Under its Music Director Simon Harper, the choir has gained a reputation for performing exciting programmes of choral music from the Medieval era to newly commissioned works.  

​The choir gives approximately six concerts a year in venues across Herefordshire. In the summer of 2023 the choir performed its critically acclaimed 'Dymock Poets Re-imagined' concert at the Ledbury Poetry Festival, nine newly-commissioned works based on the texts of the Dymock poets.  Other recent events have included a come-and-sing Mendelssohn’s Elijah in celebration of the Choir’s 40th anniversary, a performance of Maurice Duruflé's Requiem at the All Souls' Service at Hereford Cathedral and a concert of music and readings for Advent. 2024 promises to be an extraordinary year for the choir:  in addition to its choral workshop in February and singing various concerts and evensongs across Herefordshire, the choir is set to perform its 'Dymock Poets Re-imagined' concert once again on a world-famous stage: the Hay Festival 2024.

St Mary’s Church, Hay-on-Wye, HR3 5EB.

Clare Hammond makes a welcome return to Hay Music in this special Hay Festival recital.

Tickets: £18. Please see below for booking details.

Booking in person:  at the Hay Festival Box Office. During the run up to the Festival, the Box Office is located in The Drill Hall, 25 Lion Street, Hay-on-Wye, HR3 5AD. Normal Box Office opening hours are 9.30am–5.00pm, Monday to Friday.  From Wednesday, 22 May the Box Office moves to the Festival Site on Brecon Road, Hay-on-Wye HR3 5PJ.  Tickets booked in person are exempt from the £3.50 booking fee.

Booking by telephone:  01497 822629 - Monday - Friday, 9.30am - 5.00pm. Booking fee applies.

Box office for non-members of Hay Festival opens 1200, Friday, 15 March.

For all other information about the 2024 Hay Festival go to https://www.hayfestival.com

Programme

Clara Schumann: Three Romances Op. 21

Ludwig van Beethoven: Sonata No. 14 in C sharp minor, Op. 27 No. 2 ‘Moonlight’

Samy Moussa: Al’assaut des jardins

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Sonata in D major, K. 311

Cécile Chaminade:  ‘Impromptu’ Étude de Concert, Op. 35 No. 5 and Étude Romantique, Op. 132

Acclaimed as a “pianist of extraordinary gifts” (Gramophone) and “immense power” (The Times), Clare Hammond is recognised for the virtuosity and authority of her performances. In 2016, she won the Royal Philharmonic Society's 'Young Artist Award' in recognition of outstanding achievement. Recent concerto highlights include Grace Williams’ Sinfonia Concertante with Jac van Steen and BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Grieg Piano Concerto with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Rachmaninoff, Moussa and Carwithen with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and BBC Concert Orchestra, the world premiere of a new concerto by Piers Hellawell with the Ulster Orchestra, Panufnik with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra. On the recital stage she has played recently at the Aldeburgh Festival, Wigmore Hall, Lammermuir Festival, Festival Baroque de Pontoise in France, Palazzetto Bru Zane in Venice (broadcast on RAI 3), Husum Festival in Germany, and in Denmark and Norway with Henning Kraggerud. She also gave sold out performances of Ghosts and Whispers for piano and film with composer John Woolrich and animators the Quay Brothers at Fundación Juan March and to the Barbican, and continues her collaboration with actor and writer Tama Matheson.

Clare has recorded six discs for BIS, most recently releasing an album of Etudes by visionary French composer Hélène de Montgeroult in November 2022, launched in a special concert at London’s National Gallery and featured extensively on BBC Radio 3’s Composer of the Week and Essential Classics. The disc was selected as Editor’s Choice in Gramophone. Reviewers noted the historical importance of the etudes and the ideal match with Hammond’s virtuosic and lyrical abilities. She previously recorded a disc of disc of 20th- and 21st-century variations which received extensive critical approval, and a disc of Etudes by Unsuk Chin, Nicolai Kapustin, Sergei Lyapunov and Karol Szymanowski which won her an Opus d'Or from Opus HD Magazine and 5 diapasons from Diapason.

Contemporary music is at the core of Clare’s work and she has given over 50 world premieres. She has performed to over 13,900 schoolchildren since 2017, and runs an ongoing series of recitals at prisons.

St Mary’s Church, Hay-on-Wye, HR3 5EB

A “virtuosic” (Sunday Times) piano trio with a very wide ranging repertoire.

Tickets: £18. Please see below for booking details.

Darragh Morgan Mary Dullea Tim Gill

Booking in person:  at the Hay Festival Box Office. During the run up to the Festival, the Box Office is located in The Drill Hall, 25 Lion Street, Hay-on-Wye, HR3 5AD. Normal Box Office opening hours are 9.30am–5.00pm, Monday to Friday.  From Wednesday, 22 May the Box Office moves to the Festival Site on Brecon Road, Hay-on-Wye HR3 5PJ.  Tickets booked in person are exempt from the £3.50 booking fee.

Booking by telephone:  01497 822629 - Monday - Friday, 9.30am - 5.00pm. Booking fee applies.

Box office for non-members of Hay Festival opens 1200, Friday, 15 March.

For all other information about the 2024 Hay Festival go to https://www.hayfestival.com

Programme

Judith Weir:  Piano Trio Two

Franz Schubert:  Piano Trio No 2 in E-flat major

The Fidelio Trio broadcasts regularly on BBC Radio 3, RTÉ Lyric FM, WQXR and has been featured on a Sky Arts documentary.  Since their debut at London’s Southbank Centre, they have regularly appeared at the Wigmore Hall and Kings Place, at festivals including Spitalfields, Cheltenham, St. Magnus and Huddersfield. In Ireland they regularly perform at National Concert Hall, Dublin, Kilkenny Festival and Belfast Festival as well as Shanghai Oriental Arts Centre, Beijing Modern Music Festival, Hong Kong Chamber Music Society, Singapore, Bangkok, Porto, Paris, Venice, Florence, Johannesburg, Harare, New York City, Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Boston. Their 2023/24 season includes performances at Dark Music Days Iceland, an extensive USA tour including National Sawdust New York and Andy Warhol Museum Pittsburgh, Les Jardins Musicaux Neuchâtel and Hay Festival.

Their extensive discography includes a Gramophone Magazine Editor’s Choice and Critics’ Choice 2022 of Chamber Music by E J Moeran, a composer with whom they are closely associated and the release of premiere recordings on Mode Records of music by Gerald Barry. Forthcoming in 2024 is a portrait CD of Xiaogang Ye. Other significant releases include two French albums of Ravel and Saint-Saëns, Fauré, Chausson and Satie; Philip Glass Head On & Pendulum on Orange Mountain; Korngold and Schoenberg (Verklärte Nacht arr. Steuermann) for Naxos; the complete Michael Nyman Piano Trios for MN Records; multiple releases on NMC, Delphian Records including portrait CDs for composers such as Luke Bedford, Piers Hellawell and Michael Zev Gordon. Their previous release of French Piano Trios for Resonus was also a Gramophone Magazine Editor’s Choice.

The Castle, Hay-on-Wye, HR3 5DG. Doors open 7.00pm. Bar.

A warm welcome back to A4 Brass who gave us such a memorable concert in 2022.

Tickets: tba

Jamie Smith Chris Robertson Mike Cavanagh Jonathan Bates

Programme

Richard Strauss (arr. Bates): Overture - Die Fledermaus

Béla Bartók (arr. Robertson): Six Romanian Folk Dances

John Rutter (arr. Bates): A Gaelic Blessing

Matthew Sergeant: Luder’s Dreams of a Castle

Edward Elgar (arr. Bates): Salut d’Amour

Gavin Higgins: Two Courtley Dances and a Rave

Callum Au: Crown and Spectre

Oliver Waespi: South Uist Variations

Joseph Kosma (arr. Bates): Autumn Leaves

Percy Grainger (arr. Robertson): Shepherd’s Hey

Kentaro Sato (arr. Bates): Mae-e

Bramwell Tovey: Street Songs

A4 Brass Quartet is comprised of principal players from some of the UK’s top brass bands, including Black Dyke, Brighouse and Rastrick and Foden’s. Formed in 2013 at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM), A4 Brass Quartet has gone on to become a multi-award-winning chamber ensemble and to establish itself at the forefront of British brass chamber music.

The Quartet has a unique blend of instruments, with a cornet, tenor horn, baritone and euphonium creating an exclusive sound that stands out from the standard brass quartet.  With this unusual instrumentation, members of A4 Brass have actively developed their repertoire, commissioning new music, composing and arranging music themselves.

The Quartet has performed widely throughout the UK appearing at major venues and festivals including Wigmore Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Bridgewater Hall, Cadogan Hall, Purcell Room, St Margaret’s Church, Westminster Abbey (for Park Lane Group), Battersea Arts Centre (RPS Awards 2019), St Martin-in-the-Fields and St James’ Piccadilly (for ROSL), Lake District Summer Music, Northern Aldborough, Wimbledon International and King’s Lynn Festivals.  Overseas engagements include a residency at the Lieksa Brass Week (Finland), Ceresio Estate Festival (Switzerland), Sibelius Academy (Finland) and two appearances at the Trakai Fanfare Week (Lithuania).

In June 2018 the Quartet completed the prestigious International Artist Diploma (IAD) in Chamber Music at the RNCM as John Fewkes scholars and in September of that year they were selected to become City Music Foundation Artists.  The following month they were the first brass ensemble to win the Royal Philharmonic Society Henderson Chamber Ensemble Award.  They regularly work with Live Music Now and Music in Hospitals and Care and are committed to expanding and diversifying their work.  Furthermore, in December 2020 A4 Brass Quartet became the first ensemble to be awarded Associate Membership of the Royal Northern College of Music (ARNCM) in recognition of the Quartet’s success in the music profession.

The Castle, Hay-on-Wye, HR3 5DG. Doors open 7.00pm. Bar.

A huge welcome back to our good friends in Ensemble Bash.

Tickets: tba

Chris Brannick   Catherine Ring   Richard Benjafield   Stephen Hiscock

Programme

Steve Reich arr. Benjafield:  Typing Music

Tom Johnson:  Narayana’s Cows

Nick Hayes:  Shining Through

Simon Limbrick:  Tunnel

Carlos Lopez-Real:  New piece - World premiere

Ensemble Bash:  Ghanaian Drumming Music

Since the formation of Ensemble Bash in the UK in 1992, the quartet has made a reputation as one of the world’s most innovative and groundbreaking chamber ensembles. Using the music of West Africa as both core repertoire and a guiding spiritual influence, they mix contemporary classical, jazz and music theatre into unforgettable performances.

Since the beginning, Ensemble Bash has been dedicated to commissioning new repertoire for percussion ensemble, and has developed special relationships with composers including Graham Fitkin, Stephen Montague, Nick Hayes, Howard Skempton and Stewart Copeland. Ensemble Bash has also premiered work by Tan Dun, Keith Tippett, David Bedford, Nitin Sawhney, Orphy Robinson, Michael Daugherty, John Woolrich, Anne Dudley and Steve Reich.

The group has toured the UK and Europe extensively, including numerous appearances at the Southbank Centre and BBC Proms and further afield, Ensemble Bash has performed throughout Ghana, at the Melbourne and Sydney International Festivals and in Hong Kong to mark the handover of the colony to the Chinese in 1997.

The ensemble has spent several periods of study in Ghana, learning African drumming and percussion rhythms and techniques and has collaborated with many famous names including Joanna Macgregor, Chick Corea, Django Bates, Nana Vasconcelos, Evelyn Glennie, The Hilliard Ensemble, Kathryn Tickell, The National Dance Company of Ghana and The Pan African Orchestra.  With many recordings to their name Ensemble Bash is also renowned for its workshops and family concerts, and pioneering education work has included extensive residencies for Dartington International Summer School, SPNM's Sound Inventors, Spitalfields Festival and the Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne, Australia. Recent masterclasses have included the Royal College of Music (2019), Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama (2020) plus their ongoing project as Artists-in-Residence at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.​

The Globe at Hay, HR3 5BG. Doors open 10.30am. Coffee bar.

A rare opportunity to try your hands at drumming with masters of the art!

Tickets: tba

Brazil takes centre stage in this interactive, high-energy workshop. Everyone gets to play and join a band playing samba music. No previous experience is needed and the workshop culminates in a short performance to which everyone is welcome!

Since the formation of Ensemble Bash in the UK in 1992, the quartet has made a reputation as one of the world’s most innovative and groundbreaking chamber ensembles. Using the music of West Africa as both core repertoire and a guiding spiritual influence, they mix contemporary classical, jazz and music theatre into unforgettable performances.

Since the beginning, Ensemble Bash has been dedicated to commissioning new repertoire for percussion ensemble, and has developed special relationships with composers including Graham Fitkin, Stephen Montague, Nick Hayes, Howard Skempton and Stewart Copeland. Ensemble Bash has also premiered work by Tan Dun, Keith Tippett, David Bedford, Nitin Sawhney, Orphy Robinson, Michael Daugherty, John Woolrich, Anne Dudley and Steve Reich.

The group has toured the UK and Europe extensively, including numerous appearances at the Southbank Centre and BBC Proms and further afield, Ensemble Bash has performed throughout Ghana, at the Melbourne and Sydney International Festivals and in Hong Kong to mark the handover of the colony to the Chinese in 1997.

The ensemble has spent several periods of study in Ghana, learning African drumming and percussion rhythms and techniques and has collaborated with many famous names including Joanna Macgregor, Chick Corea, Django Bates, Nana Vasconcelos, Evelyn Glennie, The Hilliard Ensemble, Kathryn Tickell, The National Dance Company of Ghana and The Pan African Orchestra.  With many recordings to their name Ensemble Bash is also renowned for its workshops and family concerts, and pioneering education work has included extensive residencies for Dartington International Summer School, SPNM's Sound Inventors, Spitalfields Festival and the Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne, Australia. Recent masterclasses have included the Royal College of Music (2019), Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama (2020) plus their ongoing project as Artists-in-Residence at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

The Castle, Hay-on-Wye, HR3 5DG. Doors open 7.00pm. Bar.

Schubert’s C Major String Quintet takes centre stage in the company of Eastern European traditional music, ZRI style.

Tickets: tba

Jon Banks Ben Harlan Max Baillie Iris Pissaride Matthew Sharp

Programme

Franz Schubert:  String Quintet in C major, Op. 163, D956:  1. Allegro ma non troppo

Ukrainian trad.:  Frelekhs

Hungarian trad.:  Cristinel

Romanian trad.:  Hora din Budesti

Franz Schubert:  String Quintet - Allegro ma non troppo continued

Mishka Ziganoff/Ukranian trad:  Dus Zekele mit Koilen

Naftule Brandwein/Ukranian trad.:  Terkishe Yale V’Yove Tantz

Franz Schubert:  String Quintet:  2. Adagio

Belf/Moldavian trad.:  Bolgarski Zhok

Franz Schubert:  String Quintet:  Adagio continued

Franz Schubert:  String Quintet:  3. Scherzo

Hungarian trad.:  Sarba de la Furculesti

Franz Schubert:  Der Leiermann

Franz Schubert:  String Quintet: Scherzo continued

Carpathian trad.: Wedding improvisation:  Doina

Joe Moscowitz/Ukranian trad.:  Sadigurer Chusid

Franz Schubert:  String Quintet:  4. Allegretto

Abe Schwartz/Romanian trad.:  Unser Tairele

Naftule Brandwein/Ukranian trad.:   Oi Tate, S’is Gut

Franz Schubert:  String Quintet:  Allegretto concluded

The quintet takes its name from the Red Hedgehog Tavern in Vienna, Zum Roten Igel, where folk, including Schubert and Brahms, would go and hear the Gypsies play. Beginning with their radical re-scoring of the Brahms Clarinet Quintet to include accordion and santouri (dulcimer), ZRI has developed equally captivating programmes which re-imagine Schubert’s great C major quintet, adventure with Charlie Chaplin, and waltz with Schoenberg. The group has performed at major festivals across the UK and abroad and has made critically-acclaimed discs of both the Schubert and Brahms Quintets. Their latest album ‘Cellar Sessions’ is released by First Hand Records.

With musical bonds and friendships stretching back into early childhood, ZRI formed under the direction of clarinettist Ben Harlan. Following launch concerts in 2011 ZRI has toured the UK extensively with its unique versions of both the Brahms and Schubert quintets, releasing its debut disc in 2014. Alongside other major festivals, ZRI has performed at Henley, York, Guildford International, Swaledale and Kings Place. In addition to their Brahms and Schubert programmes ZRI has its Cellar Sessions, a fiery selection of classical and Gypsy favourites as might have been heard at the eponymous Red Hedgehog Tavern. ZRI also tours its own live score to Charlie Chaplin’s early classic ‘The Adventurer’, and made its debut performance of Janáček’s Kreutzer Sonata on Swiss National Radio last Summer. 

St Mary’s Church, Hay-on-Wye, HR3 5EB. Doors open 6.30pm. Bar.

We are always thrilled when Jayson plays for Hay Music and following his most enthusiastically received recital in January 2023 we know we have another treat in store.

Tickets: tba

Programme

Ludwig van Beethoven:  Piano Sonata No. 21 in C-major, Op. 53 - ‘Waldstein’

György Ligeti:  Études Book 1

Frédéric Chopin:  Nocturne in D-flat, Op. 27 No. 2

Gabriel Fauré:  Nocturne No. 6 in D-flat, Op. 63

Frédéric Chopin:  Études from Op. 25:  6 and 8 - 12

Described as a ‘story-teller’ (Gramophone) and ‘the ideal romantic’ (Limelight), Australian‑British pianist Jayson Gillham is internationally admired for his compelling performances and warm, communicative style

In recital, Gillham has appeared at some of the world’s most prestigious venues including the Wigmore Hall, Kings Place, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Birmingham Town Hall, Saffron Hall, Royal Nottingham Concert Hall and the Barbican in the UK, the Auditorium du Louvre in Paris, Montreal’s Pollack Hall, the Steinway Hall in New York and the major Australian recital venues including Sydney’s City Recital Hall and Melbourne Recital Centre.

Jayson’s recent concerto highlights include performances with the London Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, the Hallé, English Chamber Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Nashville Symphony, Wuhan Philharmonic, Johannesburg Philharmonic and all of the Australian and New Zealand orchestras.  Conductors include the late Sir Jeffrey Tate, Sir Mark Elder, Asher Fisch, Johannes Fritzsch, Ludovic Morlot, Eivind Aadland, Michał Dworzynski, Arvo Volmer, Dmitri Matvienko, Christian Kluxen, Alexander Shelley, Nicholas Carter, Jessica Cottis, Dane Lam, Benjamin Northey, Joshua Weilerstein, Giordano Bellincampi and Giancarlo Guerrero.

Recording for ABC Classic since 2015, Gillham’s discography includes Medtner’s neglected first piano concerto paired with Rachmaninoff’s second, which was selected as Editor’s Choice by Presto Classical.  His 2019 solo album ‘Romantic Bach’ is a selection of original works and virtuoso piano transcriptions. Gramophone Magazine’s Jeremy Nicholas concludes: ‘There is not a single bar in the 19 tracks that doesn’t sound lovely. He is a storyteller… Many of these performances must bear comparison with famous recordings of the past by the likes of Rachmaninoff, Myra Hess and Dinu Lipatti. Gillham comes up trumps every time.’

St Mary’s Chrch, Hay-on-Wye, HR3 5EB. Doors open 6.30pm. Bar.

Two fresh new faces in Hay with remarkable credentials. They bring a brand new work by Welsh composer Edward-Rhys Harry.

Tickets: tba

Programme

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart:  Duo in G (originally for violin and viola)

Maurice Ravel:  Duo for cello and violin

Edward-Rhys Harry:  New work

Reinhold Glière:  Selection of duos

Béla Bartók:  Selection of violin duos, arranged for violin and cello

Erwinn Schulhoff:  Duo for violin and cello

Born in France, violinist Charlotte Saluste-Bridoux is the 2021 grand prize winner of Young Classical Artists Trust and Concert Guild International Competition. Recent highlights include appearances at Wigmore Hall, a BBC Prom with the dynamic 12 Ensemble (a string collective of world class chamber musicians), and a performance of the Franck Piano Quintet at the Gstaadt Festival with Alina Ibragimova, Lawrence Power, Sol Gabetta and Bertrand Chamayou. Her debut album for Champs Hill records of music for solo violin is due for release later this year.

An avid chamber musician, Charlotte has taken part in Open Chamber Music at IMS Prussia Cove, the Santander Encuentro Festival, East Neuk Festival, the Musethica Festivals in Zaragoza and Berlin, the Evian Festival in France and Stift Festival in Holland

She is leader of the prize-winning Quatuor Confluence who are currently young artist in residence at the Fondation Singer-Polignac in Paris. The Quartet studies with Mathieu Herzog (founder member of the Quatuor Ébène).

Charlotte enjoys playing a wide variety of repertoire, including more rarely heard solo concertos by Panufnik, Vasks and Joachim, the latter which she has performed, alongside Bernstein’s Serenade, with the Budapest Concerto Orchestra conducted by András Keller.

Charlotte is currently playing on a Giovanni Battista Guadagnini, kindly loaned to her by the Swiss foundation Boubo-Music.

Born in Wales, cellist Ben Tarlton studied with Sharon McKinley and Alexander Baillie before attending the Yehudi Menuhin School to study with Thomas Carroll. He completed his Bachelors and Masters at The Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Louise Hopkins, supported by Help Musicians UK and The Countess of Munster Trust. In 2016, Ben was selected as a Fellow to participate in the Piatigorsky Cello Festival in Los Angeles and in November that year performed as a soloist for The LSO’s Donatella Flick Conducting Competition Semi-Finalists with the Guildhall Symphony Orchestra.

Whilst a student, he was a finalist in the Guildhall Gold Medal concerto competition, a Concordia Foundation Artist, a Park Lane Group Artist, recipient of The Suggia Gift by Help Musicians UK and The David Goldman Award from The Worshipful Company of Musicians, as well as receiving their prestigious Silver Medal Award in 2020, nominated by the Guildhall School.

Ben recently performed in a world premiere of a cello and choir work by Christian Henking with the Basler Madrigalisten in Schwarzenburg, Switzerland. In 2020, he gave the UK Premier of Anders Hillborg’s work Duo for Cello and Piano in a BBC Radio 3 Total Immersion Concert in Milton Court Concert Hall, about which The Guardian commented ‘playing with extraordinary precision and insight.’ Other concert highlights include Recitals at Wigmore Hall, St James’s Church Piccadilly, St Martin-in-the-Fields and Concerto performances at Cadogan Hall, St John’s Smith Square, West Road Concert Hall and Dora Stoutzker Hall.

In January 2022, Ben performed in Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time in The Barbican Hall, which was broadcasted on BBC Radio 3 and reviewed by The Guardian as ‘sensationally played’. He was one of six cellists invited to perform at Temple Music Foundation, where they presented the six Bach Cello Suites to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Paul Tortelier’s famous recording at Temple Church. Ben performed the 2nd Cello Suite in D minor.

As a soloist and chamber musician, Ben has performed in many venues and Festivals in the UK and abroad and is Festival Director of the Llantwit Major Chamber Music Festival and was awarded the '2022 Master's Award' from the Livery Company of Wales, contributing to the Festival's educational work. He is a cello teacher at The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, regularly performs chamber music concerts across Wales for Sinfonia Cymru and was invited to be guest Course Director for the Pro Corda 2022 Cello Course in Suffolk.

He currently plays a William Forster cello generously loaned to him by The Royal Society of Musicians of Great Britain.

St Mary’s Church, Hay-on-Wye, HR3 5EB. Doors open 6.30pm. Bar.

New to Hay Music this year, a University Choir with a highly regarded reputation.

Tickets: tba

A Programme of Christmas Music to be announced.

The Choir of King’s College London is one of the leading university choirs in England, and has existed since its founding by William Henry Monk in the middle of the 19th century. The Choir today consists of some thirty Choral Scholars reading a variety of subjects. The Choir’s principal role at King’s is to provide music for Chapel worship, with weekly Eucharist and Evensong services offered during term, as well as various other services. Services from the College Chapel are regularly broadcast on BBC Radio. The Choir also frequently sings for worship outside the university, including at Westminster Abbey and St. Paul’s Cathedral.

In addition, the Choir gives many concert performances. Recent festival appearances in England include the Barnes Music Festival, London Handel Festival, Oundle International Festival, St Albans International Organ Festival, Spitalfields Festival and the Christmas and Holy Week Festivals at St. John’s Smith Square. In 2017 the Choir joined forces with Britten Sinfonia to give the UK premiere of Samuel Barber’s The Lovers (Chamber Version) at Kings Place, the performance described in The Times as ‘sung beautifully, the voices judiciously blended’. The Choir tours widely, with destinations including Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Nigeria and the USA. In 2017 it served as Choir-In-Residence for the northeast convention of American Guild of Organists and Royal Canadian College of Organists in Montreal.

The Choir has made many recordings, and enjoys an ongoing relationship with Delphian Records. Recent recordings include the German Requiem of Johannes Brahms in its 1872 English-language setting, praised as ‘utterly uplifting’ (Norman Lebrecht, La Scena Musicale), ‘an intimate, highly charged performance’ (Stephen Pritchard, The Observer), and the Masses for Double Choir by Kenneth Leighton and Frank Martin, described as ‘a performance of astonishing intensity and musicality’ (Marc Rochester, Gramophone), and ‘a colourful performance . . . Joseph Fort’s superbly drilled Choir of King’s College London singing with shedloads of oomph’ (Graham Rickson, theartsdesk.com). More recent releases include Gustav Holst’s The Cloud Messenger, in a new chamber version by Joseph Fort.

Following some twenty years under the leadership of David Trendell, the Choir has been directed by Dr Joseph Fort since 2015.