Latest News From Keswick MUSIC SOCIETY​

2023-24 Season – Our 6th and final concert of the Season Concert,  at Theatre by the Lake on June 12th 7.30pm – Songs of Summer Love – A Wild Arts Opera Evening, with music selected and arranged by Orlando Jopling and story and direction by James Hurley.

A truly operatic extravaganza:  Leonora and her long-term partner, Taddeo, are throwing a party. But when Isabella arrives with Leonora’s secret former lover (the charismatic Lindoro) in tow, relationships are strained to the limit. Follow and feel for the two couples through their simmering complications, desperate tensions, parties, jealousies, longings for love, compromising revelations, mistaken identities, and final acceptance of reality, accompanied by a wonderful selection of the most romantic operatic arias. Perfect for a Summer Evening.

2023-24 Season – 5th Concert  St. John’s Church April 13th 7.30pm. The Pirasti Piano Trio with an intriguing programme: music by Rebecca Clarke (1886-1979) Trio, Paul Schoenfield (b.1947) Café Music and Johannes Brahms Piano Trio No 1.

2023-24 Season – 4th Concert   Charlotte Spruitt, violin, and Angus Webster, piano, St. John’s Church Saturday February 24th.    With sonatas by Mozart, César Franck, Beethoven and Debussy this was a big concert, with beautiful, sensitive and dramatic interpretations by these brilliant young musicians. See the review on our review page.  

2023-24 Season – 3rd concert    Dame Imogen Cooper, piano St. John’s Church Saturday January 13th 2024

Imogen Cooper’s concert was attended by one of the largest audiences of recent years, and she lived magnificently up to all expectations as one of the most distinguished and cherished pianists of our time.  Her programme with music by Schubert, Bach, Thomas Adès and Beethoven took us on a fascinating musical journey and it was a joy to hear the Society’s piano at its best in the acoustics of St. John’s. See our reviews page.

 The 2nd concert of our mini Autumn/Winter season, given by Lara Melda, piano, was an absorbing and thrilling evening (see The Concert Reviews Page), and we look forward to hearing Imogen Cooper in the New Year. In February our soon to-be-announced Spring/Summer season of 3 concerts will begin, ending with a glorious evening of opera at The Theatre. Our 2024-25 new format season of subscription concerts will also be announced along with our offering to Members.

On October 28th The Alkyona String Quartet opened our 2023-24 season with a really inspiring concert of Purcell, Haydn, Britten and two new works by Dobrinka Tabakova and Jessie Montgomery.  The audience loved it! See the review page for a review of this concert. The next concert in this series will be given on November 25th by the brilliant young pianist Lara Melda with a programme of Beethoven, Liszt, Brahms and Chopin.

We will have to wait until after Christmas  – January 13th – to hear Imogen Cooper with Schubert, Bach, Thomas Ades and Beethoven.

Good news! The 2023-24 season will begin on Saturday October 28th at St. John’s Church Keswick.

Before the concert at 6pm we will hold the AGM for 2022-23 to which all Members are warmly invited.  

The Alkyona String Quartet’s concert will include music by Haydn, Purcell and Britten. Our Steinway piano will be heard again on Saturday November 25th in a concert of Beethoven, Liszt, Brahms and Chopin to be given by the young and brilliant Lara Melda. And again, after Christmas on January 13th we are incredibly pleased to announce that the distinguished and internationally renowned pianist Imogen Cooper will give a concert of music including Schubert, Bach, Thomas Ades and Beethoven.  

For details of tickets and membership of the Society, see Membership page.

The 3 last concerts of the 2022-2023 season were at Theatre by the Lake on March 14th – Bella Tromba – 5 trombones, May 9th, the Brompton String Quartet and June 6th, PIVA the Renaissance Collective in their programme Measure for Measure – see the review page for more details.

As last year, our attempts to have all our concerts at one venue and on convenient days of the week, in spite of all efforts, have not been totally successful. We have not given up, but are preparing our Autumn programme, which as last year will be held at St. John’s Church Keswick, where the Music Society’s Steinway piano still lives.

The planned dates for 2023-2024 are:

1. October 28 The Alkyona String Quartet

And then we are thrilled to present two amazing pianists:

1. November 25 Lara Melda (programme TBA)
2. January 13 Imogen Cooper (programme TBA)

In February we will transfer to Theatre by the Lake, where our provisional dates are:

1. February 15 TBA
2. February 28 TBA
3. March 20 TBA
4. TBA
5. TBA
6. June 12 TBA