Join us for a Fundraising Concert in support of our 25/26 Season
Vermeer Chamber Concerts presents intimate, specially curated concerts in beautiful and inspiring spaces. As a newly registered charity (no. 1214101), we need your support to bring our third season of concerts to life!
Whether you wish to contribute to the upcoming season, become a Vermeer Friend, renew your membership or support a specific programme or artist, it’s your generosity that makes these concerts possible.
We are deeply grateful for the continued support of all our existing Friends and donors.
Programme
Johannes Brahms - Scherzo from the ‘FAE’ Sonata for violin and piano
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Sonata for piano and violin in G major, K. 301
Bill Thorp - A selection of duos for two violins
Frédéric Chopin - Waltzes, op. 64, nos. 2 & 1 (‘Minute’)
Felix Mendelssohn - Piano Trio in D minor, op. 49
~ Sijie Chen (violin), Sam Haywood (piano), Hugh Mackay (‘cello) & Bill Thorp (violin & arranger) ~
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). Please note that this special fundraising concert falls outside our Season Pass.
We gratefully welcome a suggested donation of £50 - or any amount you can contribute - in support of our upcoming Season. Alternatively we invite you to consider joining the Vermeer Friends or Vermeer Circle. More information can be found on our Support Us page.
To avoid processing fees, it’s possible to make a direct bank transfer — please get in touch via our Contact Form for details, or e-mail us at vermeerchamberconcerts@gmail.com.
You are warmly invited to arrive from 6:15pm for drinks and nibbles. The music will begin at 7:00pm
Duration: approx. 1 hr 15 mins, followed by drinks
Sam Haywood
British pianist Sam Haywood has performed in many of the world’s major concert halls including Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Philharmonie de Paris, the Wigmore Hall and Vienna’s Konzerthaus. He also appears regularly on BBC Radio 3. The New York Times hailed his “Passionate flair and sparkling clarity” and the Washington Post his “dazzling, evocative playing.”
Sam embraces a wide spectrum of the piano repertoire and is equally at home as soloist and chamber musician. He recently returned from a duo tour of China with violinist Joshua Bell and has performed on many occasions with cellist Steven Isserlis. Private audiences have included the late Princess Diana, the then Vice-Presidents Biden and Xi, Hillary Clinton, HRHs The Duke and Duchess of Kent and David Attenborough.
He has released two solo albums for Hyperion Records, and several further recordings for Sony, Deux- Elles and Toccata Classics. Passionate about early instruments, he made a Chopin disc on the composer’s own Pleyel piano to celebrate his bicentenary.
Sam is also the Artistic Director and co-founder of the Solent Music Festival, set in the beautiful sailing town of Lymington.
Hugh Mackay
Scottish cellist Hugh Mackay is a chamber music scholar at the Landesstiftung Villa Musica and has performed internationally at venues such as the Wigmore Hall, the Elbphilharmonie, and the Dortmund Konzerthaus. Hugh is a winner of the Suggia Gift and a Dortmund Mozart Gesellschaft scholarship and was a semi-finalist in the 2024 International Bach Competition. He is a member of Ensemble Jackalope, who are Young Artists at Britten Pears Arts this season. Hugh has performed at festivals such as the West Wycombe Chamber Music Festival with Lawrence Power, NUME Festival, and Mendelssohn on Mull with the Doric String Quartet. He has performed as guest principal cellist with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the Royal Northern Sinfonia.
Bill Thorp
Bill Thorp is a trustee of Vermeer Chamber Concerts. He started arranging music while still at school, as a member of a folk group in which he played string bass. More experience followed with a college based acoustic folk-rock bank, playing violin, viola and piano, which went on to work professionally for two years. Later, in a varied career which included performing with string quartets at some of London’s pizza restaurants, he was prompted to arrange music especially for that grouping and situation. Nowadays his playing career ranges from appearing on Renaissance, Baroque and Classical Violin with most of London’s period instrument groups, to odd recording sessions on country and western fiddle in various popular styles - his greatest claim to fame being featured on a number one hit in Slovenia… 40 years on, they are still touring the band!
Sijie ‘Susie’ Chen
Chinese-born British violinist Sijie 'Susie' Chen moved to the UK when she was five years old. While studying in the UK, USA and Germany, she was a string finalist in the BBC Young Musician of the Year Competition. She now enjoys performing internationally as a chamber musician and chamber orchestra principal.
Most at home in chamber music, Sijie has collaborated with artists including Nicola Benedetti, Roderick Williams, Alina Ibragimova and many other wonderful musicians and friends; at the Edinburgh International Festival, Prussia Cove Open Chamber Music, Roman River Festival and other festivals worldwide. She leads the Bloomsbury Players and is the Founder and Artistic Director of Vermeer Chamber Concerts.
Sijie is the co-leader of the London Mozart Players. She guests with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Aurora Orchestra, and on period instruments with the Academy of Ancient Music, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and La Nuova Musica.