Detailed Programmes and Performers’ Biographies

5 July: Adam Chillingworth (organ)

The opening recital on Friday 5 July was to have been given by Colin Walsh, but Colin has injured his knee, and we are delighted to welcome Adam Chillingworth, the Organ Scholar at Lincoln Cathedral, to play instead.

Adam developed his love of the organ whilst a chorister at St John’s College, Cambridge, and has enjoyed acclaim in both recitals and competitions. Since completing his studies at Norwich School, he has been Organ Scholar at Lincoln Cathedral, where he regularly accompanied and conducts the choirs in concerts and services. Having a particular love of early music, Adam takes a great interest in historical performance both as an organist and a harpsichordist, studying with Carole Cerasi. He regularly performs professionally as a continuo player with leading musicians from orchestras including the AAM, OAE, and English Baroque Soloists.

While at school, Adam was a student at the Junior Royal Academy of Music, where he studied the organ with Anne Marsden Thomas MBE and Dr Frederick Stocken, as well as studying the piano, continuo, and conducting. In the summer of 2022, Adam passed the examination for Associateship of the Royal College of Organists, winning six prizes including the coveted Limpus Prize for the highest marks in the practical exam and the Samuel Baker Prize for gaining the highest mark for the whole ARCO exam. He currently studies the organ with Colin Walsh.

Programme:

Mendelssohn Sonata No. 3 in A major Op.65

i. Con moto maestoso ii. Andante tranquillo

Vierne Lied from Pièces en style libre Op.32/2

Nadia Boulanger Petit canon from Trois improvisations

Iain Farrington Bluesday

Brewer Meditation on the name of Bach

Bach Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor BWV 582

12 July: Lisa Taylor (piano)

Lisa is an accomplished pianist and organist, having studied the piano at the Royal Academy of Music and the organ at the Birmingham Conservatoire.  She was Director of Music at St James’s Church from 2011 to 2015, having for many years prior to that sung in the church choir and Louth Chamber Choir, also acting as occasional accompanist for the Chamber Choir. Subsequently she was an Assistant Organist at St Botolph’s, Boston.  She has been involved with the Louth Male Voice Choir as accompanist and supporting conductor. These days she is occupied managing her family farm in the Wolds, but she plays the piano as a volunteer at Gunby Hall and the organ at Grainthorpe and Louth Methodist Church when called upon.

Programme:

Les Barricades Mystérieuses                          Francois Couperin (1668-1733)

Ellis Island                                                                   Meredith Monk (b.1942)

The Heart asks Pleasure First, from ‘The Piano’        Michael Nyman (b.1944)

Prelude & Fugue in F minor, Book 2 of the Well Tempered Clavier   J S Bach (1685-1750)

Prelude & Fugue in D major, Opus 87 No 5      Dimitri Shostakovich (1906-75)

Prelude & Fugue from Le Tombeau de Couperin    Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)

Prelude in E flat major, Opus 23 No 6          Serge Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)

Romance in G flat                                                       York Bowen (1884-1961)

Excursion No 3                                       Richard Rodney Bennett (1936-2012)

19 July: Rosemary Field (organ)

Rosemary Field studied at the RoyalCollege of Music under Nicholas Danby. As a student she won the RCM prizes for harmony and for organ-playing, and was later awarded the Tournemire Medal (for Improvisation) at the St Albans Festival in the 80s. Choosing to go into church music was an early decision and she has spent the last 40 years in this vocation alongside that of teaching, writing and supporting parishes and individuals in their work. Appointments held have included the Sub-Organist posts of Birmingham and Portsmouth Cathedrals, Diocesan Music Development Officer for Lincoln (2008 – 12) and a period of 15 years at St. Stephen’s Westminster. Rosemary become deputy Director of the Royal School of Church Music in late 2012, then requested a transfer to the teaching team late in 2019 – just before the pandemic changed everything. She is now Sunday Organist at Worksop Priory, has returned to Lincolnshire to live in her own house, and is rebuilding a portfolio based here.

Programme to follow.

26 July: Clare Laughton (cello) and Robert Poyser (piano)

Celebrating 100 years of a fine instrument.

Pink Panther                                                       Mancini (1924-1994)

                                                                             arr. Marani

Supplication ‘From Jewish Life’                         Bloch (1880-1959)

Londonderry Air                                                Traditional

Elegy                                                                    Fauré (1845-1924)

Cantabile Sostenuto from Sonata in G minor Bantock (1868-1946)

Rhapsody in Blue                                               Gershwin (1898-1937)

arr. Dokshitser

Humoresque                                                       Squire (1871-1963)

Clare Laughton Bmus (Hons), originally from Louth in Lincolnshire, studied Music at the University of Hull which is where she met her accompanist. Shortly after graduating, Clare moved to York and became heavily involved in medieval music and began working at Bootham School, where she taught for 14 years. Clare now teaches at Hymers College, Queen Ethelburga’s, Ashville College and Ackworth School.

Clare has played with the English National Orchestra, recorded with Shed 7, toured Switzerland with Grammy nominated Gungor and has worked for many years with the ELO Experience, touring UK theatres and festivals. Work is now usually based closer to home playing in chamber ensembles and orchestras, appearing regularly with the Ebor Quartet, Scarborough Symphony Orchestra and at Hull Arena for Love Actually and a Meatloaf tribute.

Clare spends her free time chasing after her 4-year-old twin girls, rescue dog ‘Chum’ and restoring old instruments.

Robert Poyser Bmus FTCL ARCO has been Director of Music at Beverley Minster since March 2009. He combines his busy role at the Minster with teaching piano and organ, performing and accompanying. Since arriving at the Minster, Robert has founded a Girls choir which is now a regular and integral part of the musical life of the Minster and more recently, a Junior choir

Robert was born in Gloucester where he was a chorister at the Cathedral and also Organ Scholar under David Briggs. He graduated in 2000 with a first class degree from the University of Hull, where he held the University Organ Scholarship and studied with John Scott Whiteley.  After leaving Hull, Robert held the post of Organ Scholar at York Minster, also teaching at the Minster School before moving to be Assistant Director of Music at Chelmsford Cathedral in 2003. In 2008, Robert became acting Director of Music at Chelmsford and then moved in the summer to take up the post of Director of Music at St Mary’s, Portsea, in Portsmouth before moving to Beverley.

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Today’s recital is based on the year 1924 as this was the year my beautiful cello was made, here in Louth, as was I, although somewhat later!

Here is a little about the maker taken from Louth history around us Vol.II  by Dr Richard Gurnham, my old history teacher!

Although a man of humble origins and relatively little formal education, Herbert Tyson was a gifted musician as well as a wonderfully skilled craftsman, who could turn his hand to almost anything that could be made of wood. He played viola but also conducted, and in 1937 organized a concert which he conducted, and was broadcast by the BBC, in which every stringed instrument of the orchestra – 28 altogether – was made by himself. The instruments he made are now highly valued and still played, including a hundred year old cello now in the posesison of Louth-born professional cellist Clare Laughton (Herriott).

2 August: Malcolm Pentelow (organ)

Programme:

Janacek:   Fanfare from  “Sinfonietta”   arr Dom  Andrew Moore

Mendelssohn:     Sonata No. 5  in D .

Saint Saens:       Rhapsodie No. 3 sur des Cantiques Bretons 

J S Bach:      Fantasia and Fugue in C minor (BWV 537)

Volker Brautigam:     Nun Freut Euch, from 3 Jazz Inspired “Reworkings”

Sverre Eftestol:       Seven Allegorical Pictures on  “Kling No Klokka”

9 August: Naomi Sullivan (saxophone) and Jane O’Farrell (piano)

Naomi Sullivan studied at Chetham’s School of Music, the Royal College of Music and Northwestern University.   She has a varied career with a focus on chamber music, contemporary music and music education. She has been part of several chamber recording projects: with Syzygy (a quartet she co-founded in 2009) and Flotilla – lead by Kyle Horch. She joined the Laefer Quartet in 2020 ahead of their 2023 album, Strata. 

As an orchestral musician, Naomi has worked for UK orchestras including Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Aurora Orchestra, Chineke and the Orchestra of the Swan. In September 2007 she started teaching at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and has been Head of Saxophone since 2008. Naomi also teaches at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.  Naomi has given masterclasses across the UK, in South Africa, Andorra, Norway and USA. With the support of the Erasmus Exchange programme, she has collaborated with the Royal Conservatoires of Antwerp, Brussels, Ferrara, Fermo, Pesaro, Lucerne, Amsterdam and Vienna.

Jane O’Farrell studied at the Royal College of Music with Kendall Taylor and Bernard Roberts.  She performs as a soloist,  as accompanist with  both singers and instrumentalists,  works with two choirs and has been musical director for several theatrical productions.   Whilst being a board member of the Lincolnshire International Chamber Music Festival Jane introduced many young people to live classical music through taking professional performers into schools to give workshops.  Jane also teaches piano and takes great pleasure in encouraging love of music in her students, giving them opportunities for performance wherever possible.

Programme

Guy de Lioncourt: 3 Gregorian Melodies 

J.S Bach: 4th Sonata for flute 

Jay Cappernauld: Déjà Vu 

Robert Schumann: Impromptu 

Robert Schumann: Nussbaum and Mondnatch from ‘Myrthen’

Christoph Enzel: So This is What Happened

Takemitsu Yoshimatsu: Sing Bird from Fuzzy Bird Sonata

Darius Milhaud: Brasileira from ‘Scaramouche’

16 August: Edward Wellman (organ)

Ed Wellman was a chorister in Lincoln Cathedral choir, and was inspired by the musicianship of Philip Marshall and Roger Bryan. He went on to study organ and piano at the Huddersfield Polytechnic School of Music, serving as Organ Scholar at Bradford Cathedral. He then held Assistant Organist positions at Chester and Chelmsford Cathedrals, before training to teach, spending nine years as Head of Music at Brentwood County High School, in Essex. Ed returned to Lincolnshire in 2012, qualified as a radio journalist, and then joined the staff at the University of Lincoln as an associate lecturer in music, and radio production. He is now Programme Leader for the BA Music course at Lincoln. Ed is also Director of Lincoln’s LCR FM, and Associate Musical Director of Lincoln Choral Society.

Programme

Tuba Tune – C S Lang 

‘Prelude’ & ‘Reverie’ from Four Short Pieces – William H Harris 

Fantasia in G major BWV 572 – J S Bach 

Five Short Pieces – Percy Whitlock

Andante Cantabile (Symphonie IV) – Charles-Marie Widor 

Carillon (from 24 Pieces en style libre) – Louis Vierne 

23 August: Ruth Lee (harp)

Ruth Lee is a composer and harpist based in Lincolnshire and Sheffield.  Interested in mythology, nature and anthropology, she explores primarily acoustic and electro-acoustic sound-worlds, ranging from traditional western notation to graphic scores based on photography and in-situ sketches.  Frequently driven by narratives, sometimes found and at other times self-created, she has been described as a ‘musical story-teller’ with ‘her own inner voice’ (Sioned Williams, UKHA Review). Ruth currently enjoys creating work for solo and chamber groups, as well as collaborating with artists in other mediums to create multi-disciplinary works.  She is a graduate of the University of York (First-Class BA Hons. Music 2019) where she was awarded The Wilfrid Mellers Prize for Music and a Concerto Award, performing Deborah Henson-Conant’s ‘Soñando en Español’.

Winner of the Sioned Williams Harp Prize at the United Kingdom Harp Competition, the Iain Macleòid Young Composer Award at the Edinburgh International Harp Festival and the Wales International Harp Festival Competition for Composition, her work has been recognised at many of the leading festivals across the UK. At the World Harp Congress in July 2022, she presented a solo programme featuring her own compositions, and she is very grateful for the support of the United Kingdom Harp Association who selected her as an Emerging Artist of 2020-21. Ruth regularly performs as a soloist with Live Music Now, as well as performing for corporate and private events across the UK. Alongside her performance schedule, she maintains a private teaching studio, and creates courses for musicians of all ages and abilities on her online teaching studio which can be watched on-demand.

Programme

Tylwyth Teg – Ruth Lee
Music of the Angels – Ruth Lee
Suite Galactique – Caroline Lizotte
Dyr – Ruth Lee
The Beatles…

30 August: George Elson (baritone) and Jane O’Farrell (piano)

Hailing from Trusthorpe, George enjoyed singing throughout his childhood, and began having voice lessons in secondary school where he took part in many productions. Alongside musical theatre, German Lieder and English Song are among the repertoire he enjoys the most. George is a second year SVSO student studying under Quentin Hayes and was a soloist in RNCM’s production of Bernstein Mass last year. He was also selected to be part of an octet performing at a celebration of the Coronation of King Charles III in Bergen, Norway. In his spare time, he enjoys playing clarinet as well as composing and analysing music, with a particular interest in jazz harmony.

Programme

Crucifixus (Puccini, from Messa di Gloria)

Bois Épais (Lully)

Plaisir d’amour (Martini)

Vaga Luna (Bellini)

Vado ben spesso (Bononcini)

‘Das Thal’ and ‘Der Einsame’ (Strauss, op. 51)

The Sea (MacDowell)

Linden Lea (Vaughan Williams)

Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal (Quilter)

The Ash Grove

O Waly, Waly

The Foggy, Foggy Dew