We are delighted that violinist Sophie Rosa and pianist Ian Buckle will bring our season to a close with a programme full of sunshine, including Vaughan Williams’ evergreen The Lark Ascending, Rebecca Clarke’s Midsummer Moon and concluding with Beethoven’s fresh and fizzing Spring Sonata
5:00pm Pre-concert Early Bird meal at La Casa Mia (not included in the ticket)
Why not make an evening of it and book your pre-concert dinner at La Casa Mia who are kindly helping to sponsor the concert series
Programme
6:30pm Doors open
7:00: Spotlight Concert
Music performed by talented young people from Sandbach
7:30 Intermission
Art Exhibition by Sandbach Art Club, Refreshments
8:00 Main Concert
Vaughan Williams – The Lark Ascending
Sophie Rosa enjoys a varied career as a soloist, director and chamber musician. She has performed across the UK as a recitalist in venues including the Royal Festival Hall, Purcell Room, Wigmore Hall, Kings Place and Bridgewater Hall and has appeared as soloist with orchestras including the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and Manchester Camerata. Sophie has broadcast live for BBC Radio 3 and has released CDs on Rubicon Classics, EM Records and Champs Hill labels.
Sophie performs regularly with pianist Ian Buckle. Their CD of sonatas by Montgeroult, Viotti, Weber and Mendelssohn includes the world premiere recording of Hélène de Montgeroult’s Sonata in A minor and was selected as Classical Album of the Week by The Guardian. Other recordings include a digital EP, ‘Dream Valley’ – an assortment of English miniatures and most recently, ‘Closing Statements’ which includes the world premiere recording of Robert Schumann’s Phantasie in C Major, Op 131 for violin and piano arranged by the composer himself.
Sophie is Leader of Sinfonia Viva and appears as guest leader with orchestras throughout the UK. She is a member of Pixels Ensemble, a versatile group of chamber music players exploring a wide range of music from the classical period to the present day. Recent solo highlights include performing the complete J.S. Bach Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin at the Lake District Summer Music Festival and appearing as director and soloist with the Northern Chamber Orchestra for performances of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and Piazzolla’s Four Seasons of Buenos Aires.
Sophie has previously held teaching positions at Chetham’s School of Music and the Junior Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester. She plays on a Joseph Gagliano violin dated 1795 and a Claude Fonclause bow made available through the generous support of the Stradivari Trust.
‘finely judged detail, expansiveness and lots of heart’ The Guardian, 2021
Ian Buckle maintains a varied freelance career as solo pianist, chamber musician, orchestral pianist and teacher. He is the artistic director of Pixels Ensemble, which he formed in 2016 www.pixelsensemble.org
He enjoys longstanding associations with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and the John Wilson Orchestra, appearing as soloist on numerous occasions; and has played concertos with the Royal Philharmonic, Opera North and Sinfonia Viva. He has been the pianist in Ensemble 10/10 since its inception and regularly plays orchestral piano in the BBC Philharmonic. He frequently collaborates with poets and readers, most recently Andrew Motion, Roger McGough and Deryn Rees-Jones; in recitals of piano music and poetry: Shropshire and Other Lads, a celebration of A. E. Housman; Anthem for Doomed Youth, a commemoration of World War One; and Philip Larkin’s England.
Recordings include transcriptions for cello and piano with Jonathan Aasgaard; and sonatas by Montgeroult, Viotti, Weber and Mendelssohn with violinist Sophie Rosa, recently released on Rubicon Classics. His performance of Gershwin’s New York Rhapsody live at the Royal Albert Hall features on Warner Classics’ The Best of the John Wilson Orchestra, and he and duo-partner Richard Casey are soloists in Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals with the RLPO and Vasily Petrenko.
Ian teaches at the University of Liverpool, is an examiner with ABRSM and is an artistic director of Stapleford Granary Arts Centre in Cambridge www.staplefordgranary.org.uk