QPAC

Join Ensemble Q on a guided journey around Britain through the eyes of the much-loved composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, exploring lesser-known masterpieces by some of the heroes of British music and sandwiched between the beauty of English folksong.

This is no ‘normal’ chamber music recital though, there is running on stage, clinking of beer mugs, sounds of sea shanties and honouring the dead. This is a quirky, fascinating ride, a segue journey between each piece that creates a seamless experience through the backstreets of London.

The New York Times wrote of Thomas Adès: "His music is arrestingly original… The theatrical element is written into the piece: a pianist, a cellist and a violinist, seated on stage, fend off the attempts of a wandering clarinettist to join them… All the efforts are repelled, until the work’s wistful yet quizzical ending… He has an engaging voice and audacious imagination."

Benjamin Britten’s brilliant Sinfonietta was his first published work, written for 5 winds and 5 strings at the age of 18 while he was studying at the Royal College of Music. The program also features the Phantasy Piano Quartet by Frank Bridge, String Quartet no 3 by Elizabeth Maconchy and Three Shanties for Wind Quintet by Malcolm Arnold.