Accomplished soloists and chamber musicians Tim Posner (one of Classic FM’s Rising Stars of 2024) and Joseph Havlat (winner of the Royal Overseas League Music Competition) take us on a musical journey from Budapest to Paris, highlighting two undeservedly neglected ‘cello sonatas of the Romantic period. They pair these impassioned, virtuosic sonatas with works by the composers’ friends and fellow country(wo)men Liszt and Chaminade.
Programme
Franz Liszt - La Lugubre Gondola, S.134
Ernst von Dohnányi - ‘Cello Sonata in Bb minor, op.8
~~~ Interval ~~~
Selection of pieces by Cécile Chaminade, arr. Joseph Havlat
Camille Saint-Saëns - ‘Cello Sonata no.2 in F major, op.123
~ Tim Posner (‘cello) & Joseph Havlat (piano) ~
An extraordinary space, the St. Pancras Clock Tower is a 10m high bell-chamber (with no bells!) located within the spire of St. Pancras Chambers, with spectacular views over the local Kings Cross area, the City of London and beyond. It was designed by George Gilbert Scott and completed in 1876.
Tickets: £45 including drinks (tickets are strictly limited and must be booked in advance)
Vermeer Season Pass available
You are warmly invited to arrive from 6:30pm for drinks and nibbles. The music will begin at 7pm
Duration: approx. 1 hr 45 mins (including an interval)
Tim Posner
Praised by Charlotte Gardner (Gramaphone Magazine) for ‘tremendous tonal beauty across his cello’s range, making it sing with hugely attractive mellow, melancholic passion’ and by Geoff Brown (The Times) for ‘technical excellence hand in hand with open emotion’, Tim Posner was the winner of the Thierry Scherz Prize at Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad 2023. He was also the first British cellist to have been awarded a prize at the International Karl Davidov Competition. Born in 1995, Tim has performed as soloist with orchestras including the NDR Radiophilharmonie, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the London Mozart Players with conductors such as Andrew Manze.
Tim recently made his debut concerto CD with the Bern Symphony Orchestra, recording works by Bloch, Bruch and Dohnanyi, which has received much critical acclaim. Michel Stockhem (Clic Musique) wrote ‘This new version could establish itself as a modern reference’ and Graham Rickson (The Arts Desk) described him as ‘magnificent throughout’. It was selected by The Strad as part of its ‘The Strad Recommends’ reviews and he has recently been made the ‘One to Watch’ feature in Gramaphone Magazine, as well as a Rising Star by both BBC Music Magazine and Classic FM.
Other recent highlights include recordings of chamber music by Boccherini with Steven Isserlis, of Cipriani Potter’s Concertante with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Peteris Vasks’ Plainscapes with Candida Thompson and The Netherlands Chamber Choir.
As a chamber musician, Tim plays in various ensembles and in 2010 founded The Teyber Trio with violinist, Tim Crawford and violist, Timothy Ridout, with whom he continues to perform internationally. He has performed at chamber music festivals including the Classiche Forme, Hindsgavl, IMS Prussia Cove (Open Chamber Music), Molyvos International Music Festival, Kronberg Chamber Music Connects the World, Musikdorf Ernen and Cheltenham festivals. As a chamber musician he has collaborated with musicians such as Steven Isserlis, Sir Andras Schiff, Gidon Kremer, Lars Vogt, Emmanuel Pahud and Beatrice Rana and as a guest in ‘Wigmore Soloists’.
Tim is principal cellist of Amsterdam Sinfonietta.
Born in 1995, he began playing the cello at the age of eight, studying with his mother, Julia Desbruslais and subsequently with Robert Max. He then studied in the 'Solo Class' of Prof. Leonid Gorokhov at the Hochschule für Musik in Hanover. He draws great inspiration from masterclasses with Steven Isserlis at Prussia Cove.
Joseph Havlat
Joseph Havlat is a pianist and composer from Hobart, Australia, based in London. Working as a soloist and chamber musician for music very new, very old and some things in between, he has performed in major concert venues around the UK, Europe, America, Japan and Australia.
Joseph is a leading interpreter of new music, having collaborated with such composers as Hans Abrahamsen, John Adams, Thomas Adès, Gerald Barry, Brett Dean, Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Michael Finnissy and Thomas Larcher. As a chamber musician he has performed with William Bennett, James Ehnes, Steven Isserlis, Katalin Károlyi and Jack Liebeck, alongside regular duo partners Lotte Betts-Dean and Charlotte Saluste-Bridoux. He is also a member of the LSO percussion ensemble with whom he has released a CD on the LSO Live label, featuring the premiere recording of John Adams’ two-piano work ‘Roll Over Beethoven’.
As a composer his music often explores the sounds of the natural world, imbued with the harsher shapes of human modernity. He has written music spanning from solo voice to large ensemble, including for Ensemble x.y, of which he was a founding member. Current work includes music for viola and piano commissioned by Sally Beamish, and a mixed ensemble piece for the Australian Festival of Chamber Music.
Joseph studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London under Prof. Joanna MacGregor from 2012-18, where he received his BMus and MMus with distinction, including awards for exceptional merit in studentship and the highest recital mark for a postgraduate pianist. He has been a Young Artist of St. John’s Smith Square, the Oxford Lieder Festival and Kirckman Concert Society, and was a first prize winner of the Royal Overseas League Music Competition.
Recent highlights include playing Adès’ In Seven Days with the LSO under the baton of the composer, as well as the premiere of his Növények at Wigmore Hall. In late 2021 he appeared with the BBC Philharmonic giving the premiere of Robert Laidlow’s piano concerto Warp, broadcast on BBC Radio 3, and in 2023 he made his solo recital debuts at King’s Place and Wigmore Hall in London, where he is appearing five times in the 2023-24 season.
Joseph has been featured on several recent CD releases in the past few years: Finnissy vocal works on Divine Art Metier (with Lotte Betts-Dean and Marsyas Trio), Lisa Ilean’s Weather a Rare Blue and Rebecca Saunders’ murmurs for NMC (with Explore Ensemble), and two solo CDs, one featuring Czech and Hungarian folk music, and the other the premiere recording of Isabella Gellis’ The Dissolute Society Comprised of All Sorts. He has begun a fruitful collaboration with Delphian Records, with whom two chamber CDs are currently in post-production and two further planned during 2024, one with Lotte Betts-Dean and one with violist and composer Sally Beamish.
Joseph teaches piano at the Royal Academy of Music. He likes ferns.