REVIEWS
7th November 2024: Trio Gaspard
by Peter Andrews
Masterly Performance by Trio Gaspard at Chichester Chamber Concerts
One of the joys of attending a Chichester Chamber Concert is to hear familiar music by recognised composers played by World-leading players in the delightful setting of the Chichester Assembly Room. Another is to be introduced to previously unheard works by largely unknown composers. Sometimes the two go together. This was certainly the case on Thursday [7th November] when the visiting ensemble, Trio Gaspard, brought to Chichester a heavily Hungarian-influenced programme alongside some delightful Haydn.
3rd October 2024: Ensemble 360
by Kevin Maynard
This was a concert of classical chamber music. It wasn’t a rave. Pity. The temptation to leap out of your seat and start wildly dancing was, at least in two of the three pieces played, well-nigh irresistible. If Ensemble 360 had intended to set this joint a’jumping, then on the night in question it was definitely a case of Job Done.
21st March 2024: English Chamber Orchestra Ensemble String Octet with Ofer Falk solo violin/director
by Peter Andrews
The 2023-2024 series of Chichester Chamber Concerts at the Assembly Room, Chichester was brought to a glorious conclusion on Thursday [21st March] with a scintillating display of string playing by an ensemble drawn from the English Chamber Orchestra (ECO), one of the world’s leading chamber orchestras. On this occasion the ensemble was led by violinist and soloist Ofer Falk.
7th December 2023: Sitkovetsky Trio
by Peter Andrews
Anyone going to a concert by the Sitkovetsky Trio can expect a performance of verve, energy and total commitment coupled with gentle sensitivity. Such was the case last Thursday evening when a large audience braved a wet and windy evening to attend the fitting venue of the Assembly Rooms in Chichester for the latest concert in the Chichester Chamber Concerts season.
Wednesday 19th April 2023: The Arp/Franz Duo
by Bob Connell
A splendid Duo makes it to Champs Hill at last!
The Arp/Frantz Duo had a hard time of it getting to Champs Hill. Their scheduled appearance in 2021 was cancelled owing to Covid and the they were unable to come in 2022 for family reasons. But patience crowns all and suddenly, the two were there in front of us with a superb programme, the eager audience enraptured in the art-filled music room. The relaxed approach of the pair belied a fearsome technique and highly intelligent programming.
Thursday 23rd March 2023: Arcadia Quartet with Katya Apekisheva
by Peter Andrews
Triumphant conclusion to Chichester Chamber Concerts season
A hail of “Bravo”s greeted the conclusion of Brahms’ magnificent Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34 at the Chichester Assembly Room on Thursday evening bringing the current season of Chichester Chamber Concerts to a triumphant conclusion. The performers prompting this favourable reception were the renowned Arcadia Quartet (Ana Török – violin, Rasvan Dumitru – violin, Traian Boals -viola and Zsolt Török – cello) with the outstanding internationally acclaimed pianist Katya Apekisheva.
Thursday 23rd February 2023: Armida String Quartet
by Bob Connell
On Thursday 23 February 2023, the young but highly experienced Armida String Quartet gripped and transported its audience with the third string quartets of Schumann and Brahms, flanking the UK premiere of the Second String Quartet by the Serbian composer Marko Nikodijevic. Named after an opera by Haydn, the German Armida Quartet showed a remarkable tightness and precision while interpreting the subtle emotional style and the stretching of form in the Schumann and Brahms, and were entirely at home in Nikodijevic’s sternly modern work.
Thursday 10th March 2022: Chiaroscuro Quartet with Matthew Hunt, Chris Rawley, Alec Frank-Gemmill and Juliane Bruckmann
by Peter Andrews
Spectacular Finale to CCC Season
The regular season of Chichester Chamber Concerts concluded in spectacular fashion on Thursday [10th March] with the return of the renowned Chiaroscuro Quartet. The Chiaroscuro had performed at CCC in February to great acclaim, but this time they brought with them an additional four distinguished musicians, Matthew Hunt (clarinet), Chris Rawley (bassoon), Alec Frank-Gemmill (horn) and Juliane Bruckmann (double bass). The programme consisted of just two works, but what outstanding works they were!
Thursday 10th March 2022: Chiaroscuro Quartet with Matthew Hunt, Chris Rawley, Alec Frank-Gemmill and Juliane Bruckmann
by Peter Andrews
Spectacular Finale to CCC Season
The regular season of Chichester Chamber Concerts concluded in spectacular fashion on Thursday [10th March] with the return of the renowned Chiaroscuro Quartet. The Chiaroscuro had performed at CCC in February to great acclaim, but this time they brought with them an additional four distinguished musicians, Matthew Hunt (clarinet), Chris Rawley (bassoon), Alec Frank-Gemmill (horn) and Juliane Bruckmann (double bass). The programme consisted of just two works, but what outstanding works they were!
Thursday 23rd January 2020: Van Kuijk quartet
by Raymond Greenlees
The young French quartet Van Kuijk gave a most enjoyable concert in the Assembly Room, Chichester on 23 January to a packed audience. It was a well-balanced programme including Mozart’s Divertimento K128, Beethoven’s Op.59 No.3, and Schumann’s Op.41.No.3
5th December 2019: Rowland/Kudritskaya Duo
by Chris Darwin
Before a note of this imaginative 'Parisian' programme had been played, we knew from those soulful open strings as Daniel Rowland tuned up that we had on stage a violin that loved to be played and a player that loved to play it. And how! Rowland's passion for the music shone through every one of the evening's very different works. From the poignant sorrow of Mozart's E-minor sonata following his mother's death, to the wild virtuosity of Stravinsky, this was no mere display, but a powerful communication of the heart of the music.
by Amelie of the Prebendal School Chichester
On Thursday 5th December, several people from my school, including myself, had the lucky opportunity to go and watch a wonderful Chamber Concert at the Assembly Room in Chichester.
7th November 2019: Busch Trio
by Peter Andrews
The popular and highly talented Busch Trio made a welcome return to Chichester on Thursday 7th November when they played before a large audience in the Assembly Room for Chichester Chamber Concerts.
3rd October 2019: The Esme Quartet
by Raymond Greenlees
This Quartet of young women from South Korea, who all studied at the Cologne Hochschule, gave an exhilarating concert of string quartets by Beethoven, Bridge, and Schubert to a packed Assembly Room.
28th February 2019: The Heath Quartet
by Raymond Greenlees
It says a lot about the healthy state of quartet playing in this country, that when the German quartet “Vision” had to cancel their engagement to play in the Assembly Room at short notice, a replacement was found in the excellent Heath Quartet based in the UK.
8th November 2018: Merlin Ensemble
by Peter Andrews
Exquisite Musicianship from Visiting Austrian Ensemble.
22nd February 2018: Arcadia Quartet
by Peter Andrews
Outstanding string quartet brings a varied and exciting programme to Chichester.
6th December 2017: Daniel Lebhardt
by Chris Darwin
From the opening chord of Beethoven's 'Tempest' Sonata, it was clear we were in the hands of a magician. When Anton Schindler asked Beethoven for guidance in playing this sonata, the alleged answer was "read Shakespeare's Tempest". Whether you take this riposte seriously or not, the young Hungarian pianist Daniel Lebhardt transported us Prospero-like to a magic "isle full of noises, sounds, and sweet airs that give delight".
9th November 2017: Trio Con Brio Copenhagen
by Peter Andrews
The Chichester Chamber Concert presentation on Thursday 9h November was held in the Chapel of the Ascension at Chichester University and featured the Trio Con Brio Copenhagen. The trio is composed of two sisters, Soo-Jin Hong (violin) and Soo-Kyung (cello) and Soo-Kyung’s husband Jens Elvekjaer (piano). The close relationship of the players was reflected in their playing with keen attention to detail and precise ensemble throughout. Eye contact between the two sisters was constant.
5th October 2017: Akilone Quartet
by Raymond Greenlees
This young French quartet opened their concert with an immaculate performance of Beethoven’s early quartet Opus 18 No. 6. This is a difficult work which poses problems of syncopation and balance, but begins with a jocular first movement of answering phrases, and they caught the atmosphere successfully, as well as negotiating the complex rhythmic patterns of the later Scherzo.
16th March 2017: Kungsbacka Piano Trio
by Peter Andrews
When an ensemble as renowned and applauded as the Kungsbacka Piano Trio arrives in town it is reasonable to anticipate an evening of high quality and enjoyable music–making. This was certainly the experience of the audience at the Chichester Chamber Concerts recital in the Assembly Room last Thursday evening. Moreover, the Trio came with an enthralling programme which admirably suited their considerable talents. Each half of the programme contained one of the major works of the piano trio repertoire preceded by a shorter work of much greater rarity.
16th February 2017: SPIRITATO! Sound the Trumpet!
by David Tinsley
What a treat to have an octet at CCC with two trumpets in full flow, evoking the atmosphere of the seventeenth century court. Spiritato! certainly lived up to their name and gave the responsive audience much to enjoy.
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26th January 2017: SIGNUM QUARTET
by Raymond Greenlees
The Signum Quartet played works by Haydn, Bruno Mantovani and Beethoven.
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1st December 2016: NOTOS PIANO QUARTET
by Raymond Greenlees
A packed house heard the Notos Piano Quartet give a shining performance of a reconstructed Mozart fragment, an early masterpiece by Walton, and the magnificent Brahms Opus 26.
27th October 2016: ALEXEI GRYNYUK, piano
by Chris Darwin
It is every concert organiser’s nightmare: on the morning of the concert, the phone rings and the artist apologises that he is too ill to perform that evening. Aargh!! Fortunately for Anna Hill, the organiser of Chichester’s wonderful Chamber Concert series, Alexei Grynyuk, the pianist who was to have played with the indisposed cellist Leonard Elschenbroich, offered to perform a solo piano recital instead of the planned cello–piano duo programme.
6th October 2016: VAN KUIJK QUARTET
by Peter Andrews
The first concert in the 2016 ⁄ 17 Season of the Chichester Chamber Concerts took place on Thursday 6th October in the Assembly Room. It was an auspicious start. The performers were the youthful Van Kuijk Quartet and the programme included the two best–loved, and most performed, French String Quartets, those of Maurice Ravel and Claude Debussy.
17th March 2016: BRODSKY STRING QUARTET
by David Tinsley
If anyone is any doubt that live music is far better than recorded sound, tonight’s performance by the Brodsky proved the point. The clarity and perfection of their interpretation of the Shostakovich String Quartet No. 2 in A Op. 68 was not just an ear opener for those familiar with this complex work but an ideal introduction for those new to this composer.
18th February 2016: BUSCH TRIO
by Peter Andrews
The Chichester Chamber Concert on Thursday 18th February provided a wonderful opportunity to hear two major works for piano trio. Both the Schubert Piano Trio in E flat D929 and the Mendelssohn Piano trio No. 1 in D minor Op.49 are exuberant and powerful works and the performers in the Assembly Room were the highly accomplished London–based Busch Piano Trio.
21st January 2016: ROSANNA TER–BERG and FRIENDS
by Raymond Greenlees
This interesting combination of instruments performed at the City’s Assembly Room to a full house in a largely Franco–Belgian programme. Flautist Rosanna Ter–Berg , and harpist Olivia Jageurs provided the nucleus of the ensemble, with the addition of a string trio in many of the works.
3rd December 2015: LA SERENISSIMA
by Raymond Greenlees
Although the title of this excellent baroque group is normally associated with Venice, we were spared Vivaldi and instead given the fascinating story of other Italian violinist⁄composers who at one time or another had met Handel or played his music.
5th November 2015: DAVID OWEN NORRIS (piano), AMANDA PITT (soprano), LOUISE WILLIAMS (viola)
by David Tinsley
From the start we knew we were in for a treat. Rarely featured as a solo instrument, Louise Williams demonstrated the full range of sounds possible from a fine instrument, beautifully played. The Rebecca Clarke Viola Sonata gave Louise every opportunity to display her virtuoso technique. A lively and melodic first movement was followed by a more complex display of the composer’s ingenuity. The final movement was a glorious outpouring of sound from two players in perfect sympathy with each other and with the composer’s wishes.
19th February 2015: KATYA APEKISHEVA Piano Recital
by David Tinsley
Katya Apekisheva has an outstanding talent which impressed and delighted the Chichester Chamber Concerts’ audience. Unnecessarily looking to the gods for inspiration when her skills were deep in her DNA, Katya demonstrated a range of musical understanding and interpretation through a wide range of pieces which culminated in a spectacular interpretation of the popular Chopin Scherzo which seemed to confirm that the gods wanted to lift her up to heaven.
8th January 2015: BRENTANO QUARTET
by Raymond Greenlees
This long–established string quartet based in New York gave a spell–binding performance of works by Mozart, Bartok and Schubert in Christ Church, Chichester. Their refined and immaculate playing illuminated all three works but particularly Bartok’s 3rd string quartet in which their accurate corporate intonation made sense of the composer’s daring discords.
4th December 2014: HANNAH MARCINOWICZ and the MAGGINI STRING TRIO
by David Tinsley
What an evening of contrasts!
Quartet No. 2 by Crussell is a delightful and playful piece which suits admirably this seldom heard combination of instruments. Hanna Marcinowicz was impressive as a virtuoso clarinettist, secure in all registers. The clarity and precision of her playing blended well with the expert string accompaniment and produced a lively and exciting rondo finale.
6th November 2014: SMETANA PIANO TRIO
by Peter Andrews
The second of the Chichester Chamber Concerts in the 2014–15 Season was given on Thursday 6th November in the Assembly Room by the highly accomplished Smetana Piano Trio. Despite their programme consisting of three trios all in a minor key, this proved to be a joyous and most enjoyable occasion.
2nd October 2014: LONDON CONCERTANTE
by Chris Darwin
First up in the 2014–15 season on Thursday October 2nd was the London Concertante, a flexible group fronted by cellist Chris Grist, which has metamorphosed from a chamber group to an opera orchestra and back again and whose eclectic and often novel repertoire extends from the baroque to the contemporary. For their Chichester concert the group fielded seven players: two violins, two violas, cello, clarinet and horn. Each of the four works they performed was for a different combination.