Dear Friends,

The year 2009 celebrates many significant musical anniversaries. This happily gives our chamber music festival the opportunity to pay tribute to celebrated composers such as Handel, Haydn, Mendelssohn and Martinu. Although none of these composers really needs an anniversary in order to be performed, nonetheless, this is a wonderful chance to broaden our horizons in performing and listening to their music, to look over their shoulders, as it were, and delve deeper into their creative processes. Each programme will include works by at least one of these composers with the first concert serving as a sort of visiting card from each of them.

True to our tradition, we have another theme running along in counterpoint which this year will turn the spotlight on great composers who could be classed as maverick not directly in the mainstream, but who created wonderful chamber music masterpieces: Franck, Messiaen, Faure, Enesco, Falla, Roslavetz, Bruckner, Taneyev, Reger, Spohr, Schulhoff, Respighi and many others. We are honoured to present yet another commission by the legendary Elliot Carter, and premieres of works by the Russian composer, Vladimir Tarnopolsky and Israeli Roy Zu-Aretz both of whom explore new instrumentations and genres; Cliff Colnot and the students of the Arts and Science Academy return with chamber music arrangements of Falla and Mendelssohn.

These wide-ranging chamber music works will be performed by an equally diverse array of superb musicians, new visitors and old, who, together with you, our unique audience, make this festival such a special and wonderful event.

Elena Bashkirova
Artistic Director

New!
Elena Bashkirova and Friends. A brand new DVD containing selected concerts from the 2008 festival