A happy and enthusiastic audience of members of Keswick Music Society and friends gathered at St. John’s Church Keswick on Saturday evening for their first live post-Covid concert. Ever since lockdown in 2020 brought an end to that concert season, various attempts to arrange concerts had been made, only to be overtaken by spikes of infection and updates in regulations. So, at last, in the beautiful surroundings and wonderful acoustics of St. John’s, the young and dynamic Elmore String Quartet were listened to in spellbound silence as they played a big and intriguing programme – an early, romantic and heartfelt short piece by Webern, the Quartet which was the last work of Benjamin Britten and one of Beethoven’s late and great quartets. Their playing was quite outstanding in its subtlety, expressiveness, and the sensitive interplay of the instruments. The audience loved it; it was clear that the exciting reputation that the Quartet has established since they met at the Royal Northern School of Music in 2017 is well justified. Unsurprisingly in spite of Covid they are in high demand around the country.
Keswick Music Society and their members very much appreciate St. John’s as a new venue: the Theatre, their normal home, is not yet open to outside productions and their Steinway piano has been moved from there to the Church in readiness for a new season starting in 2022.