British Harpsichord Society Events
 | TUESDAY 10 AUGUST at 6.30 p.m. Hila Katz Vita Contemplativa Byrd, Picchi, Frescobaldi, Bach, Handel & harpsichord pieces by the performer. Hila Katz arrived in the UK to specialise in early keyboard performance. Her passion for the music of J. S. Bach played on period instruments led her from the piano to the harpsichord and clavichord; her interest in composition led her to create original music inspired by the French and German Baroque and the English Renaissance, as well as extemporising on a repertoire ranging from the Renaissance to the Early Classical period. The Renaissance philosophic term "Vita Contemplativa", chosen as a title for the recital, depicts a life of inspiration, vision and inquisitiveness led from within. Hila studied the harpsichord with Miri Singer and holds a Master's degree in Harpsichord Performance from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She continued her postgraduate studies at Trinity College of Music, where she specialised in the Late Renaissance/Early Baroque, studying with James Johnstone. During her studies, Hila's sensitive playing and in-depth interpretations were acknowledged in the Ella Kidney Early Music competition, leading to an invitation to perform as a soloist at the 2009 International Early Music Festival in Greenwich. Past performances include participation in the international Scarlatti Marathon in 2006 and in various chamber and orchestral projects led by Rachel Podger, Pavlo Besnoziuk, Christian Curnyn and Philip Thorby, in addition to filling the position of church organist at St. Paul's Church, Bow Common for several years. Recently Hila has been performing with various London-based groups and pursuing a career as a soloist, moving between Israel and Europe. Hila is also currently working on her own compositions, which will be included in her solo CD to be released in the beginning of 2011. Handel House, 25 Brook Street, London W1K 4HB Tickets: £9 / £7.50 Information: http://www.handelhouse.org Tel: 0207 399 1953 You are invited to join us for refreshments at a local hostelry after the recital. Everyone is most welcome! |
 | TUESDAY 14TH. SEPTEMBER at 6.30p.m. BRITISH HARPSICHORD SOCIETY RECITAL Michael Tsalka 'From Byrd to Bartok’ Byrd, Poglietti, Rameau, J. S. Bach-Marcello, D. G. Tuerk and Bartok. Concert pianist and early keyboard performer Michael Tsalka has won numerous prizes, awards and fellowships in Rome, Bayreuth, Bonn, Paris, Genoa, Calabria, Sardinia, Tel-Aviv, Chicago, Minneapolis, Berlin, Mexico City, and Philadelphia. A versatile musician, he performs solo and chamber music repertoire from the Early Baroque to the Contemporary on modern piano, harpsichord, fortepiano, clavichord and positive organ. Dr. Tsalka performs throughout Europe, the U.S.A., Canada, Israel, Asia, and Latin America. Recent Engagements include the Chicago Radio, the Händelhaus in Halle, Bellas Artes Theater in Mexico City, the Schubert Club in St. Paul, the Early Keyboard Series in Buenos Aires, Edinburgh University, the Trinity Series in New York, the Hong Kong Radio, the SEHKS/MHKS Conclave in Philadelphia, Confidencen Hall in Stockholm, and the Forbidden City Hall in Beijing. Currently, Tsalka is professor of keyboards and chamber music at the Escuela Superior de Musica, National Center for the Arts in Mexico City. A committed educator, he often presents master-classes and lectures around the world. Two of his CD’s were recently released by the Swedish label, Ljud & Bild. In these, he performs on a Steinway from 1912 and a Lindholm Clavichord from 1808. Prof. Tsalka is also recording D. G. Türk’s 48 keyboard sonatas for NAXOS, and making a critical edition of these works for Artaria Editions in New Zealand. He often judges at important competitions, such as the Angelica Morales Piano Competition, Mexico City, and the Swedish Duo Competition in Stockholm. Handel House, 25 Brook Street, London W1K 4HB Tickets: £9 / £7.50 Information: http://www.handelhouse.org Tel: 0207 399 1953 You are invited to join us for refreshments at a local hostelry after the recital. Everyone is most welcome! |
| Concerts this autumn: TUESDAY 12TH. OCTOBER at 6.30 p.m. BRITISH HARPSICHORD SOCIETY RECITAL Ronan Khalil Andreas Bach Buch: An anthology of North German keyboard music J.S Bach, G.Bohm, J.C.F Fischer, M.Marais SATURDAY 30TH. OCTOBER at 2.00 pm. BRITISH HARPSICHORD SOCIETY WEEKEND EVENT ‘New Music - New Blood’ Up and coming harpsichordists perform solo and chamber works hot off the score by a new generation of composers. Presented by Jane Chapman with composer in residence Duncan MacCleod. TUESDAY 9TH. NOVEMBER at 6.30 p.m. BRITISH HARPSICHORD SOCIETY RECITAL Tom Foster 'Hop, Skip and a Jump' Thomas Morley, Johann Sebastian Bach and Luigi Cherubini TUESDAY 14TH. DECEMBER at 6.30 p.m. BRITISH HARPSICHORD SOCIETY RECITAL Nathaniel Mander ‘Stylus Fantasticus’ Frescobaldi, Buxtehude and Bach |
| Recent Concerts |
 | TUESDAY 12TH JANUARY at 6.30p.m. Martin Haywood 'Virginalists and contemporaries' Bull, Dowland, Roberday, Chambonnieres, Frescobaldi and Sweelinck Martin studied at the RNCM first with David Jones, obtaining a Postgraduate Diploma in Piano Accompaniment. During this postgraduate year, he met harpsichordist Sharon Gould, and began to study with her regularly, later winning a scholarship to study with her full time at the RNCM. He successfully obtained a PGDip in Harpsichord, also winning the Robert Ellis Memorial Prize for his final recital. He was subsequently awarded the Leverhulme Junior Fellowship for a further year’s study. He was also awarded bursaries to study with Colin Tilney at the Dartington International Summer School in 2007 and 2008.Before commencing postgraduate studies at the RNCM, he studied at the University of Sheffield with Yolande Wrigley and Peter Hill, and obtained his BMus degree. He has been a busy continuo player and accompanist for some years, appearing regularly in concerts and recitals; he also plays with the Manchester Camerata and RNCM Baroque orchestras and ensembles. Handel House Museum, 25 Brook Street, W1K 4HB To book, phone 020 7495 1685. |
 | TUESDAY 9TH FEBRUARY at 6.30 p.m. Robert Woolley 'Pavana Lachrymae' Sweelinck, including his transcription of Dowland's great pavan, Bach and Handel. Robert Woolley is well known as a harpsichord and organ soloist, and chamber musician: his acclaimed solo recordings include discs of harpsichord, organ and fortepiano works by Tallis, Gibbons, Byrd, Frescobaldi, Purcell, Weckmann, Bohm, Handel, Bach, Scarlatti and Seixas for EMI, Virgin, Archiv, Hyperion, and Chandos, including discs of the Partitas by J.S.Bach for Chandos, and he is currently recording the complete keyboard works of Jan Pieterzsoon Sweelinck. Handel House Museum, 25 Brook Street, W1K 4HB To book, phone 020 7495 1685. |
 | SATURDAY 13TH FEBRUARY at 2.00 pm. William Byrd afternoon led by Michael Maxwell Steer with Hila Katz, Asako Ogawa, Anna Tetsuya Handel House Museum,25 Brook Street, W1K 4HB To book, phone 020 7495 1685. |
 | TUESDAY 9TH. MARCH at 6.30 p.m. BRITISH HARPSICHORD SOCIETY RECITAL Gerald Gifford 'Fitzwilliam Handeliana' Handelian Thomas Chilcot and a newly discovered archive in the Founder's Collection at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge Gerald Gifford pursues an international career as an organ and harpsichord recitalist and recording artist, with more than 60 CDs to his credit. As well as fulfilling numerous engagements in the United Kingdom, he has also recently played in Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the USA. He was a member of the Professorial staff of the Royal College of Music, London, for thirty years (teaching organ and harpsichord and also holding the appointment of Head of Postgraduate Academic Studies), and was also Fellow and Director of Studies in Music at Wolfson College, Cambridge for part of that time. He is Honorary Keeper of Music at The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, and a Visiting Lecturer in Performance Practice in the Music Faculty at Cambridge University. For further information, please visit http://www.geraldgifford.com Handel House Museum,25 Brook Street, W1K 4HB To book, phone 020 7495 1685. |
 | TUESDAY 13TH. APRIL at 6.30 p.m. BRITISH HARPSICHORD SOCIETY RECITAL Claire Williams 'Bach and his sons' WF Bach, CPE Bach, JC Bach and from the 'Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach'. Handel House Museum,25 Brook Street, W1K 4HB To book, phone 020 7399 1953. |
 | TUESDAY 11th MAY at 6.30p.m. Andreas Skouras 'A la manière de Couperin' A programme of Francois Couperin, Richard Strauss, William Bolcom & Johann Sebastian Bach. Born in 1972 in Salonica, Greece, Andreas Skouras studied piano with Prof. Franz Massinger and harpsichord with Prof. Lars Ulrik Mortensen and Prof. Ketil Haugsand at the Munich University of Music and Performing Arts. Concert appearances, CD, radio and television productions as pianist and harpsichordist with orchestra or solo regularly lead him throughout Europe as well as to the U.S., where he has performed in the New York’s Carnegie Recital Hall. He has performed together with the English Chamber Orchestra, the ASKO Ensemble, the Münchner Kammerorchester, the Nürnberger Symphoniker and the Georgian Chamber Orchestra Ingolstadt and conductors like Peter Eötvös, Lucas Vis, Ralph Gothoni, Constantinos Carydis, Markus Poschner, Christoph Poppen and Jac van Steen. In Janury 2008 he had his very successful debut in the Great Concertgebouw Hall in Amsterdam in Elliott Carter's Double Concerto under Peter Eötvös. After that he was invited by the Ensemble Intercontemporain to perform the same piece in Paris with Susanna Mällki. Skouras’ repertory includes the complete Well-Tempered Clavier and the Art of Fugue by J. S. Bach, the complete Mozart and Haydn Sonatas, as well as works by composers of the romantic era. In 2007 he performed the complete piano work by J. Brahms cyclically in Munich and Leipzig. In 2008 he has performed a circle called “The Golden Era of the Piano”. Naturally Skouras puts a special focus on works by Greek composers. So he is one of the few harpsichordists worldwide who plays “Khoai” by Iannis Xenakis, one of the most difficult pieces for this instrument. Skouras prefers to perform compositions that have never or rarely been played before. He gained wide acclaim of auditors and specialists when he rediscovered Richard Strauss’ Suite for harpsichord solo from the opera “Capriccio”. Andreas Skouras teaches harpsichord at the University of Music in Munich and he frequently holds piano master classes at the Academy of Music in Tbilisi, Georgia. Among others he was awarded the music scholarship of the City of Munich, the scholarship of the Brahms House Baden- Baden and the Bavarian Arts Prize. Handel House, 25 Brook Street, London W1K 4HB Tickets: £9 / £7.50 Information: http://www.handelhouse.org Tel: 0207 399 1953 |
 | TUESDAY 8th JUNE at 6.30p.m. Carole Cerasi Charlotte Mattax has had to withdraw from her planned performance on this date owing to family circumstances but we are delighted to announce that Carole Cerasi has kindly agreed to step in and will play Bach French Suites. The distinguished harpsichordist Carole Cerasi is Professor of harpsichord at the Yehudi Menuhin School and of fortepiano and harpsichord at the Guildhall School of Music and the Royal Academy of Music. Her performances have included concert work throughout Europe, including acclaimed recitals at the Wigmore Hall, Harrogate, Warwick, Brno, Dieppe, Tallinn and Ludwigsburg festivals and the Musikinstrumenten-Museum in Berlin and and the opening concert at the 2003 Lausanne Bach Festival. Her first solo CD, the complete works of Elisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre received unanimous praise from the press and won the prestigious Baroque Instrumental Gramophone Award; discs of sonatas by C.P.E. Bach and works by Thomas Tomkins were received to great critical acclaim, including the Diapason d'Or de l'Année. Her next CD, J.S. Bach and the Möller Manuscript, was released in 2002, winning a further Diapason d'Or de l'Année and coming second in the Gramophone Baroque Instrumental Awards. Handel House, 25 Brook Street, London W1K 4HB Tickets: £9 / £7.50 Information: http://www.handelhouse.org Tel: 0207 399 1953 |
 | TUESDAY 13 JULY at 6.30 p.m. David Chung François Couperin, CPE Bach, JS Bach David Chung was educated at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, reading music and French, and Cambridge University, where he completed his doctoral dissertation on 17th-century French keyboard music. He also holds the Concert Recital Diploma (Premier Prix) from the London Guildhall School of Music and Drama. His recordings range across French harpsichord music and stylus phantasticus works by Bach and his contemporaries. He is currently Associate Professor of Music at Hong Kong Baptist University. Handel House, 25 Brook Street, London W1K 4HB Tickets: £9 / £7.50 Information: http://www.handelhouse.org Tel: 0207 399 1953 |
