Thirteenth Season
CONCERT Programme 2008/9
Unless otherwise advertised, all concerts start at 7:30pm in the Deeside Theatre, Aboyne.

13th September 2008, The Dallas Bequest Concert
Aberdeen Sinfonietta
Click HERE to visit the website of Aberdeen Sinfonietta

25th October 2008
Murray McLachlan, piano

Murray McLachlan is one of Britains leading classical pianists. As a concert artist he has received outstanding critical acclaim for intelligent and sensitive interpretations and superb technical ability. His prolific discography has received long-standing international recognition and includes over thirty commercial recordings, including the complete sonatas of Beethoven and Prokofiev and many rarities.

Murray’s repertoire includes over 40 concertos and he has appeared as soloist with most of the leading UK orchestras. He is Head of keyboard at Chetham’s school of Music and tutor at the Royal Northern College of Musc in Manchester, as well as Artistic Director of the Chetham’s International Summer school and festival for Pianists, an event which attracts outstanding musicians annually from all over the world.

Murray is a long-standing friend of the Strathdee Music Club and we are proud to welcome him back for this recital.

Haydn: Sonata no.52
Beethoven: Sonata no.32 Op.111
Chopin: Scherzo no.2
Chopin: Four Ballades

Click HERE to visit Murray McLachlan's own website and hear samples of his music.

8th November 2008, The s·o·u·n·d Festival Concert
The Alba String Quartet

The Alba String Quartet was formed by students of the RSAMD in Summer 2003 and it is now rapidly making a name for itself as one of the most exciting young quartets around. The Albas have performed throughout the UK, including a week-long residency at St Andrew's University, and concerts at the 2006 St Magnus Festival in Orkney. They have recorded for the BBC and broadcast a New Year concert on local Hungarian television.

The Albas are the current recipients of the Enterprise Music Scotland two-year scholarship.

The programme will include the world premiere of a new quartet by the Irish composer David Fennessy.

Britten: Three Divertimenti for String Quartet
Shostakovitch: String Quartet no.7 in F sharp minor, op.108
David Fennessy: String Quartet - new commission
Ravel: String Quartet in F major

This concert is held in conjunction with 's·o·u·n·d', Aberdeenshire's Festival of Contemporary Music.

Click HERE to learn more about the Alba String Quartet and HERE for the s·o·u·n·d Festival homepage.

12th December 2008, The Strathdee Christmas Concert
Travelling by Tuba, music for wind instruments and piano

Travelling by Tuba – Chris Cranham, tuba and Stewart Death, piano – is one of the UK’s busiest and most successful classical music duos. Formed seventeen years ago, they now perform in excess of 200 concerts a year, playing venues such as the Barbican Centre, St. David’s Hall and the Bridgewater Hall. They have recorded three CDs, releasing their third album on the Polyphonic label in 2006.

Although the tuba is of course prominent in all their concerts, this is not just a tuba recital. Playing an innumerable array of wind and brass instruments, Travelling by Tuba present a concert spanning over fifteen thousand years of music.

Beginning with the simplicity of the first natural instruments – the Pacific conch shell, the Viking horn and the Australian didjeridoo – they trace the history of the tuba. The cornett, the sackbutt, the serpent and the ophicleide all feature in a fascinating display of musical virtuosity, punctuated by humorous anecdotes and informative chat, to give an unforgettable evening with something for everyone.

Click HERE to learn more about Travelling by Tuba and to hear some soundclips.

This concert is kindly sponsored by James Jones & Sons Ltd, suppliers of British Timber
For further information, click here

28th February 2009
Allan Neave and Robert Irvine, music for guitar and cello

Outstanding cellist Robert Irvine, well known for creating an immediate rapport with his audiences through his lively and informal introductions, comes together in this duo with guitarist Allan Neave, one of the foremost classical guitarists of his generation. Two musicians of remarkable sensitivity and authority delight audiences with a diverse repertoire ranging from the stately baroque to the fiery passion of Spain and the Americas and beyond.

(Programme details to be announced)

Click HERE to learn more about the Neave and Irvine duo.

Saturday 28th March 2009
Sharona Joshua, fortepiano

Israeli-born pianist Sharona Joshua is now based permanently in London where she appears regularly as a soloist, chamber musician and continuo player on concert platform and radio and gives several performances each season at the South Bank Centre and the Wigmore Hall.
She has performed as soloist at major festivals all over the UK as well as abroad and has also given numerous masterclasses in England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales.

'CPE Bach and all that followed.....'

Intense lyricism, dare-devil virtuosity, shocking harmonization, wild chromaticism, passion, eloquence, emotion, drama and subtlety, are all hallmarks of CPE Bach's kaleidoscopic, often outrageous and bizarre masterworks.
This concert offers concert-goers the opportunity to closely examine CPE Bach's indisputable influence on the music of his successors, Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven; to discover how he helped shape and bring about the Classical era as we know it today. The programme will be performed on a copy of a Schantz fortepiano from 1795

CPE Bach: Fantasy in E flat (H.277), Wq.58/6
WA Mozart: Adagio in B minor K.540
CPE Bach: Rondo no.2 in C minor (H.283), Wq 59/4
J Haydn: Sonata no.58 in C Hob.XVI/48
CPE Bach: Sonata no.VI in F minor Wq.63/6
WA Mozart: Fantasy in C minor K.475
L van Beethoven: Sonata 'Pathetique' in C minor Op.13

Click HERE to visit Sharona Joshua's website and to hear some music samples.

25th April 2009
fourtune, light music for woodwind and piano

The irrepressible rhythm of ‘Jumping Bean’, the gentle lilt of ‘Berceuse’ or ‘Siciliano’, the misty images of ‘Clair de Lune’, ’Little Serenade’ or ‘Dream Waltz’, the journeys and encounters found in ‘Beachcomber’ and ‘A Quiet Stroll', and a ‘March’ through the Trossachs with Dr Finlay - the world of light music is indeed a magical place!

The wonderful melodies and images found in these and many other pieces are brought to life by a brand-new ensemble dedicated to live performances of light music of all kinds. Fourtune was born of an enthusiasm for this kind of music by the members of the group, shared by a vast number of music lovers in the UK and well beyond.

The members of fourtune - Rachel Holt, flute, Karen Slack, clarinet, Laurence Perkins, bassoon and John Gough, piano - are all well-known performers who work with the country’s leading orchestras, and are featured regularly as soloists and ensemble players on BBC, Classic FM and on commercially-released CDs.

Click HERE to visit the fourtune website and hear some sound clips of the group.