Hatfield House
Chamber Music
Festival
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Hatfield House Music Festival
About the Festival
President: The Marquess of Salisbury
Patron: HRH The Duchess of Kent
Artistic Director: Guy Johnston
The Hatfield House Music Festival is a long weekend of concerts, curated by Artistic Director Guy Johnston, which takes place annually in September/October at Hatfield House in Hertfordshire. The setting, musicians and audiences make this a warm, friendly festival with exceptionally high artistic standards. Now approaching its 13th year, the Festival has grown into a very successful and much-anticipated event by both locals and also by those who make a special journey to attend the Festival.
Over the past 12 years the Festival has welcomed performers such as the Navarra Quartet, pianists Tom Poster, Kathryn Stott and Melvyn Tan, Nicholas Daniel oboe, Alison Balsom trumpet, Sheku Kanneh-Mason cello, Lucy Crowe soprano, Rachel Podger baroque violin, James Gilchrist tenor, The Sixteen, the Aurora Orchestra and VOCES8, all to perform in the beautiful surroundings of Hatfield House.
The Festival has a very strong education strand which runs alongside the main event and is committed to commissioning new works. Previous new commissions at the Festival include works by Charlotte Bray Perseus for cello and piano (2015 and at least 3 subsequent performances), Mark Simpson (Oboe Quartet 2019, co-commissioned by Wigmore Hall and Leicester International Music Festival) In 2017 HHCMF dedicated the whole Festival theme of Creation to works by contemporary composers Sally Beamish, Alec Roth, Thomas Adès, Joseph Phibbs, Donald Grant and others. In 2021 as part of our 10th anniversary celebrations the Festival commissioned two pieces, one for cello and piano by Joseph Phibbs and one solo cello piece by Matthew Kaner.
For full programme information see: https://hatfieldhousemusicfestival.org.uk/2024-festival/programme/
Guy Johnston
Projects
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2017#tecchler300
My cello was made in Rome in 1714 by David Tecchler. 300 years on, I decided to mark this special anniversary by commissioning 3 new works as gifts for the cello and to take the cello back home all these years later.
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Jane Cowan Remembered, Royal Academy of Music 26/2/17
Jane Cowan Remembered, Royal Academy of Music 26/2/17
I’ve come to know Jane through the stories I’ve heard. My Uncle use to go to the cello centre here in London and I was fortunate enough to study with a number of her students including Nicholas Jones, who is sorry not to be here today, Steven Doane, David Waterman and Steven Isserlis. All of them are sitting on my shoulders here at the Academy where I have the honour of teaching a vibrant class of cellists – Joel was playing in the ensemble just now – and I like to think that Jane’s influence continues to live on from the wisdom I have picked up along the way through these extraordinary people. If they are anything to go by, Jane clearly must have been a one off! I was having dinner with Steve and David the other night and we were considering the order of events for today. The stories of Jane were out in all their glory – Steve talks of Jane as a kind of saviour to him during a crossroads in his latter student years and David remembers one of his first experiences in Scotland when Jane apparently shrieked, “Fake!” and “Boring!” at him. If anything sounded unnatural, there were consequences! But these stories, and there are many more that we can look forward to hearing in a moment, also helped me to make sense of some experiences during Steven’s classes at IMS Prussia Cove. As a young aspiring cellist keen to make an impression on my childhood idol, I would often take criticism deeply personally particularly in front of peers who would be watching. “Why do you do that?” “What does it say in the score?” “Vibrato should not be automatic!” “Relax!” and one of the biggest insults of all, and similar to Jane’s outbursts, “Cellist!” In fact, it was not necessarily an attack on me, but rather more about a desire to serve the music first. It was about getting beyond ones instrument in search of the essence of the music and not just about playing the cello. All of these formative experiences studying with Jane’s protégés makes me realise what an impact she had on all their lives and that her influence continues to shine through them and all those for whom her passion, uniqueness and, dare I say it, eccentricities have rubbed off on. Steve, today is an inspired idea and as always the London Cello Society and the Royal Academy have been so enthusiastic in their willingness to make such an event happen. Bringing everyone together in this way to reminisce and share these moments with all of us makes it a particularly special occasion, and so without further ado I’d like to invite our panel of past students to the stage to share their memories of Jane with us.
Contact
Ikon Arts Management
Nicola Semple
2-6 Baches Street
London
N1 6DN
Nicky Thomas Media consultancy
Nicky Thomas
101 Bell Street
London NW1 6TL
Japan Representation
Aspen Incorporated
Tomoko Kitamura
20-16 Nishi-Azabu
2 chome Minato-ku
Tokyo 106-0031
Japan