Programme of events
Please note that bookings will attract an additional booking fee of £1.30.
Sunday 19 January
Ticket: £10
Location: Northern Rock Foundation Hall
Ticket: £10
Location: Sage 2
With Timothy Ridout and Sarah-Jane Bradley featuring music by Bach, Brahms and the Beatles.
Ticket: £25 for players
Audience free entry
Location: Barbour Room West
Ticket: £10
Location: Northern Rock Foundation Hall
Ticket: £10
Location: Sage 2
Ticket: Free
Where: Barbour Room West
The Glasshouse Centre for Advanced Training (CAT) is a high-level music training programme for young people with exceptional potential and passion for music.
Three students who have recently moved on from CAT to study at conservatoires return for a masterclass with Garth Knox, while the current crop of CAT violists enjoy a class with Sarah-Jane Bradley. Violinists from the CAT get to try their hand at viola with Louise Lansdown and discover why it might be another useful skill to have.
Time: 16.30
Where: Barbour Room East
Ticket: Free
This includes a performance of J.S Bach Adagio and Fuga in C Major (arr. Ireland) for four violas
Emma Farnsworth, Celeste Meisel, Estelle Gonzalez and Emily O’Dell violas
Come to the Barbour Room East at 4:30pm to hear viola students from the Royal Northern College of Music perform on fine instruments and bows made by makers exhibiting during the week, with a focus on the antique collection. The session will begin with a performance of the Adagio followed by each student playing the same passage individually on each instrument with some discussion hosted by Mark Jennings. The session will end with a performance of the Fuga.
J.S Bach Suite for solo cello BWV 1007 in G major (arr. viola)
Caroline Shaw “In Manus Tuas” for solo viola
J.S Bach Partita for solo violin BWV 1004 in D minor (arr. viola)
Ticket: £20
Location: Sage 2
Monday 20 January
Ticket: £10
Location: Northern Rock Foundation Hall
Ticket: £10
Location: Sage 2
Q & A with Garth Knox and Timothy Ridout with a few mini musical surprises thrown in!
Ticket: £25 (price includes “Unsung Hero of the Viola”)
Location: Barbour Room West
The music for viola by York Bowen with Sarah-Jane Bradley.
Ticket: £25 (price includes "My Viola and I")
Location: Barbour Room West
Time: 13:00
Where: Barbour Room East
Ticket: Free
Timothy Ridout performs on instruments and bows from the exhibition
Come to the Barbour Room East at 1pm to hear renowned British violist Timothy Ridout play on fine instruments and bows made by makers from the exhibition hosted by Alan Beavitt.
Ticket: £10
Location: Northern Rock Foundation Hall
Ticket: £10
Location: Sage 2
Where: Barbour Room West
Ticket: £10
360° Festival challenged composition students from University of Durham and Newcastle University to create new works for solo viola. Here, we explore their musical ideas under the expertise of composer and violist Garth Knox and listen to the selected compositions performed in full by RNCM violists.
Ticket: Free
Where: Northern Rock Foundation Hall
Tully Potter was born in Edinburgh in 1942 but spent his formative years in South Africa. He is interested in performance practice as revealed in historic recordings and has written for many international musical journals, notably The Strad. For 11 years he edited the quarterly magazine Classic Record Collector. His two-volume biography of Adolf Busch was published in 2010 and he is preparing a book on the great quartet ensembles. Tully has been a supporter and committee member of the Tertis Competition since it was founded. We are honoured to have him with us as the competition begins its new life in the Glasshouse. Tully’s depth of knowledge, humour and insights on Lionel Tertis are not to be missed.
Asdis Valdimarsdottir and Thomas Riebl perform music by Telemann, Bach and Garth Knox. Thomas Riebl will be playing a 5-string tenor viola!
Ticket: £20
Location: Sage 2
Tuesday 21 January
Ticket: £10
Location: Northern Rock Foundation Hall
Ticket: £10
Location: Sage 2
Technical tips! It's your chance to ask the experts.
Ticket: £10
Location: Barbour Room West
Time: 12.00
Ticket: Free
Where: Barbour Room East
Come to the Barbour Room East at 12.00pm to hear veteran guru violist Nobuko Imai play on fine instruments and bows made by makers in the exhibition. This will be a blind tasting where audience members will be invited to make notes and encouraged to share thoughts afterwards and will be hosted by Antoine Gourdon.
Ticket: £10
Location: Northern Rock Foundation Hall
Ticket: £10
Location: Sage 2
Ticket: £10
Location: Barbour Room West
Ticket: £10
Where: Barbour Room West
Circular bowing, microtones, glissandi – extended techniques such as these crop up regularly in contemporary music but may not feature heavily in our day to day practice yet! In this workshop, Garth Knox allows us to experiment with the more weird and wonderful sounds the viola can make, drawing on his own works, Viola Spaces and Marin Marais Variations.
Thomas Selditz, Lilli Maijala, Françoise Gneri (violas) and James Baillieu (piano) will perform music by Schumann, Lindberg, Korngold and Damström
Ticket: £20
Location: Sage 2
Wednesday 22 January
Ticket: £10
Location: Northern Rock Foundation Hall
Ticket: £10
Location: Sage 2
With Martin Outram
Ticket: £25
Location: Barbour Room West
Ticket: £10
Location: FMC-2
Time: 13:15
Where: Concourse
Ticket: Free
Klengel Hymnus for 12 violas (arr. Vidulich)
Bizet L’Arlesienne Suite (arr. Dennison)
Ticket: £10
Location: Northern Rock Foundation Hall
Ticket: £10
Location: Sage 2
Time: 16.00
Where: Barbour Room East
Ticket: Free
J.S. Bach Sonata no.2 in A minor BWV 1003 (arr. Ireland) for four violas Andante, Allegro
Rhiannon Collins, Sijia Zhou, Matthew Hayes, Lily Machin-Bradbury, Yujie Zhang, Lingyun Zhou, Hannah Killick, Hannah Borlase violas
Come to the Barbour Room East at 4pm to hear viola students from the Royal Northern College of Music perform on fine instruments and bows, specifically copies of famous instruments made by makers exhibiting during the week hosted by Chris Halstead. The session will begin with a performance of the Andante, individual passages on each viola and then a performance of the Allegro.
Location: Northern Rock Foundation Hall
Location: Northern Rock Foundation Hall
A. Rolla Duo Duo in F major
Isang Yun “Contemplation”
J.S Bach Selection of 2-part Inventions
F. Bridge “Lament”
M. Mozkowski Suite (arr for two violas and piano)
Ticket: £20
Location: Sage 2
Thursday 23 January
Ticket: £10
Location: Northern Rock Foundation Hall
Ticket: £10
Location: Sage 2
Time: 13:15
Where: Barbour Room West
Michael Jon Smith “Bitter-Suite”
Abi Hammett, Paula Bowes, Kirin Howat violas
Noah Max Lemonade in the Armenian Quarter (world premiere)
Yujie Zhang Viola Jessica Conway Mezzo Soprano
Come to Barbour Room West at 13:15 to explore lesser known and new pieces written for viola. In this session we will be focussing on work of Antoine Gourdon, Carlos Libreros Rios and John Francis Wright at “The Workshop” in Newark and hosted by Ludivine Brouillet. This programme includes a world premiere by Noah Max and a work by local composer Michael Jon Smith.
Time: 14.00
Where: Barbour Room West
Ticket: Free
Stop by the Barbour Room West at 2pm to hear competitors play highlights from the first two rounds of the Tertis and Aronowitz International Viola Competitions hosted by William John. In this session each competitor will perform individually followed by an open discussion about the instruments.
Ticket: Free
Where: Northern Rock Foundation Hall
Nicola Grunberg started piano lessons at the age of five and at 18 went to study at the Royal College of Music. She has pursued a career as soloist, accompanist and teacher, appearing at all major venues in London and travelling around Europe, the Far East and South Africa. She has worked as official accompanist at the Britten Pears School in Snape and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She taught at the Purcell School for many years. She was married to the distinguished violist Cecil Aronowitz with whom she had a busy duo, broadcasting frequently for the BBC and appearing at Music Societies and Festivals across the UK. They particularly enjoyed an association with Benjamin Britten, appearing many times at the Aldeburgh Festival at the composer’s invitation.
In 2014 Dr Louise Lansdown founded the triennial Cecil Aronowitz viola competition at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. Nicola has been involved from the outset, twice sitting on the jury alongside leading viola teachers of the day.
Ticket: Free to attend
Location: Northern Rock Foundation Hall
Ticket: Free to attend
Location: Northern Rock Foundation Hall
J.S Bach Suite no.6 BWV 1012
R. Ireland “Ode to a Caged Bird”
Arrangements for four violas from the unaccompanied works for violin by
J.S Bach by Robin Ireland
- Chaconne from Partita no.2 in D minor
- Adagio and Fugue from the Sonata no.3 in C major
- Prelude from Suite no.5 (originally for cello)
- Fugue from Sonata no.1 in G minor
(Robin Ireland, Ásdís Valdimarsdóttir with competitors from the Tertis and Aronowitz competitions)
Ticket: £20
Location: Sage 2
Friday 24 January
Ticket: Free to attend
Location: Sage 2, Barbour Room and rehearsal spaces on Lower Ground Floor
Time: 10.00
Where: Barbour Room East
Ticket: Free
J.S. Bach Partita no. 2 in D minor (arr. Ireland) Chaconne
Paula Bowes, Abi Hammett, Emily O’Dell, Yujie Zhang violas
Come to the Barbour Room East at 10am to hear viola students from the RNCM play on fine instruments and bows made by the luthiers in the exhibition hosted by William Castle.
Ticket: Free to attend
Location: Sage 2 and rehearsal spaces on Lower Ground Floor
Time: 15:15
Where: Barbour Room East
Ticket: Free
J.S. Bach Sonata no.2 in A minor BWV 1003 (arr. Ireland) for four violas Fuga
Lingyun Zhou, Daria Kurtii, Utor Wong, Rory Africa violas
Come to the Barbour Room East at 15:15 to hear viola students from the Royal Northern College of Music perform on fine instruments and bows from our modern collection at the Luthier Exhibition hosted by Kai-Thomas Roth. The session will begin with comments from makers and a performance of the Fuga from the A minor sonata.
Ticket: Free
Where: Barbour Room West
How do we fill our youth orchestra viola sections? Do we have enough viola players in our schools? Is it better to start our young people on viola or to convert from violin later down the line?
In this useful CPD session for string teachers and hub managers, we discuss questions like this and give tutors a chance to join in with some viola ensemble arrangements to refresh their alto clef and viola playing skills, plus share tips on teaching viola, instruments and repertoire. Bring a viola if you have one!
Arrive early and you can hear a short performance by our 360° Festival Schools String Orchestra 2.45pm-3pm.
Time: 18.00
Where: Barbour Room East
Ticket: Free
Instrument and Bow Tasting performance featuring RNCM viola students: Modern Violas
J.S Bach Partita no.3 in E major BWV 1006 (arr. Ireland) Prelude
Estelle Gonzalez, Matthew Hayes, Éadaoin Drumgoole, Steph Roberts violas
J.S Bach Sonata no.1in G minor BWV 1001(arr. Ireland) Fuga
Rhiannon Collins, Matthew Hayes, Sophie Combes, Kirin Howat violas
Come to the Barbour Room East at 6pm to hear viola students from the RNCM play on fine instruments and bows made by the luthiers in the exhibition hosted by William John.
Highlights from both competitions and some ensemble surprises!
Ticket: £20
Location: Sage 2
Saturday 25 January
Tigran Mansurian Havik
Komitas Vardapet Krunk
György Ligeti Sonata for Solo Viola
Julia Wolfe New Commission *
Luciano Berio Naturale
*Commissioned by Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, MÜPA and the European Concert Hall Organisation
Ticket: £18/£22.50
Location: Northern Rock Foundation Hall
Ticket: £30.00 / £20.00 / £10.00
Location: Sage 1
Ticket: £35.00 / £25.00 / £15.00
Location: Sage 1
Thanks to sponsor Wells Cathedral School
Performers
Aronowitz 2021
Lionel Tertis
