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

Tickets: £25 (under 25s £12.50). Weekend Saver: £110

‘Bringing light into darkness’.

Robert Schumann was troubled by mental illness throughout his life and had serious periods of depression. He wrote: “To send light into the darkness of men's hearts - such is the duty of the artist” so it is fitting that his Piano Quintet is one of the most joyous pieces of chamber music ever written, well illustrating the ‘healing power of music’. The Mozart and Beethoven Quartets are both the composers’ first, presaging much for their respective musical futures and containing levels of joy that we expect to be the perfect start to our Festival.  

Programme

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: String Quartet K80

Ludwig van Beethoven: String Quartet Op. 18 No. 1

Robert Schumann: Piano Quintet

The Fitzwilliam Quartet was founded in 1968 by four Cambridge undergraduates and the group quickly achieved international recognition as a result of the members’ personal friendships with Dmitri Shostakovich and subsequent championing of his string quartets following his death. He entrusted the quartet with the Western premières of the last three, and before long it had become the first quartet outside of the Soviet Union to perform and record all fifteen. These discs, which gained many international awards, secured for the quartet a worldwide concert schedule and a long-term recording contract with Decca. While the Fitzwilliam Quartet’s pre-eminence in the interpretation of these works has persisted, the authority gained has also been put to the service of a diverse list of other composers from the late 17th century to the present day. It has been working with Hay Music and its Festival for many years.

The Quartet has experienced a seismic change over the past year. It has embraced Francis Kefford on viola following the retirement from the ensemble of legendary founding-member, Alan George. After an incredible 56 years with the quartet, Alan leaves behind a cherished legacy. While Alan’s contribution will be sorely missed, the transition provides the quartet with an exciting opportunity to revise and reimagine its music-making. By continuing to add new music and fresh creativity to its core repertoire, the quartet is honouring the spirit of its foundations.

Simon Callaghan performs internationally as a soloist and chamber musician, in parallel with a highly successful career as a recording artist. A favourite performer at the internationally-renowned Husum Festival of Piano Rarities in Germany, Callaghan’s recent sell-out concert was praised by VAN Magazine as a “cleverly curated recital full of discoveries” and by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung as “technically brilliant”. He has developed a wide following and appears on a regular basis in the UK’s major concert halls and on tours to Asia, North America and Europe.

Callaghan’s broad repertoire encompasses the standard works of the 19th and 20th centuries and increasingly concentrates on much that is little known, examples including Bernhard Scholz, Josef Rheinberger and Carl Reinecke. A cornerstone of his work is his commitment to British music, and he has begun a series on Lyrita, recording world premieres of British concertos with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. He has also made first recordings of the complete piano music by Rebecca Clarke, George Dyson and William Busch and recorded four albums for Hyperion’s celebrated The Romantic Piano Concerto series. His first disc for Hyperion, with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Martyn Brabbins, formed part of his PhD at the Royal Northern College of Music and was praised by BBC Radio 3’s Andrew McGregor: “I have nothing but praise for the performances... impressive pianism”.