Lewes Chamber Music Festival promises "today’s most exciting chamber musicians and soloists"

By Phil Hewitt
Published 20th May 2024, 07:05 BST
Beatrice Philips, Tim Crawford (contributed pic)Beatrice Philips, Tim Crawford (contributed pic)
Beatrice Philips, Tim Crawford (contributed pic)
The 13th Lewes Chamber Music Festival will offer three days of events and concerts in the intimate settings of St John sub Castro church, St Michael’s Church and the Depot Cinema in Lewes, running from Thursday, June 6-Saturday, June 8.

Festival manager Beth Hopkins said: “The 2024 Festival sees 18 of today’s most exciting chamber musicians and soloists come to Lewes to explore the musical ties between Europe and America through celebrating the 150th birthdays of Arnold Schoenberg and Charles Ives. “Now renowned for its adventurous and diverse programming, this year’s festival is no exception with artistic director Beatrice Philips putting together a feast of repertoire spanning more than a century from Vienna to America. Central to the festival weekend there will be an extended festival gala concert on the Friday 7 at 6pm featuring a performance of the rarely-heard chamber arrangement of Mahler’s 4th Symphony for 12 musicians.

"There will also be a premiere of a chamber arrangement of scenes from Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier by locally-born opera director Guido Martin-Brandis featuring rising star soprano Hilary Cronin.

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“The Festival also features a late-night concert serving local Breaky-Bottom wine; a coffee concert with home-made cakes and locally provided coffee; and a lunchtime concert as part of the schools’ scheme when classes from five local primary schools are invited along with their teachers to attend a concert especially curated for the occasion.

"The festival welcomes back actor Samuel West, last seen in LCMF in 2013, to perform the spoken part of Schoenberg’s Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte for Piano Quintet and actor in the Festival Finale concert.”

Artists taking part in this year’s festival are: Beatrice Philips – artistic director, violin; Maria Włoszczowska, Tim Crawford, Katharine Gowers, Sofia Kolupov – violin; Edgar Francis, Adam Newman, Alinka Rowe – viola; Hannah Sloane, Tim Posner, Charlotte Kaslin – cello; Philip Nelson – double bass; Alasdair Beatson, Alphonse Cemin – piano; Matt Hunt – clarinet; Amy Harman – bassoon; Claire Wickes – flute; Rosalie Watson – oboe; Annemarie Federle – horn; Hilary Cronin – soprano; and Samuel West – actor.