We are delighted to welcome Richard Egarr to join Sijie Chen for a rare performance of the complete Schubert Sonatinas with a period fortepiano, exploring performance practices of the time to experience these works with fresh eyes. The three Sonatinas (titled ‘Sonatas’ in Schubert’s autograph but changed by the publishers due to their modest length) were written in 1816, in a period when keyboard instruments were changing rapidly on their journey from harpsichords to modern-day pianos. The Sonatinas are intimate and perfectly crafted, moving seamlessly between lyrical and dramatic, tender and bittersweet - a reflection of Schubert’s approach to lieder writing.
Programme
Franz Schubert - Sonatina no.1 in D major, D384
Franz Schubert - Sonatina no.2 in a minor, D385
~~~ Interval ~~~
Franz Schubert - Sonatina no.1 in g minor, D408
~ Richard Egarr (fortepiano) & Sijie Chen (violin) ~
Join us in the wood-panelled Music Room at Burgh House - a Grade-1 listed 1704 house, museum and art gallery in the heart of Hampstead.
Tickets: £28/£38 (Under 30s £15)
Vermeer Season Pass available
Please note 3pm start time. Doors open 2.30
Duration: approx. 1 hr 45 mins (including a short interval)
Richard Egarr
Richard Egarr brings a joyful sense of adventure and a keen, enquiring mind to all his music-making - whether conducting, directing from the keyboard, giving recitals, playing chamber-music, and indeed talking about music at every opportunity.
Egarr joined Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Chorale as Music Director in August 2020, having been Music Director of the Academy of Ancient Music for 15 years. He is also Principal Guest of the Residentie Orkest and Artistic Partner of the St Paul Chamber and was Associate Artist with the Scottish Chamber 2011-2017.
Egarr straddles the worlds of historically-informed and modern symphonic performance and has conducted many leading symphony orchestras, notably the London Symphony, Royal Concertgebouw and Philadelphia orchestras. In 23/24 season his guest conducting includes Haydn’s Creation with the Gothenburg Symphony, Schumann 2 with the City of Birmingham Symphony, Bach B minor Mass with the Scottish Chamber, also Handel’s Messiah and a CD of French repertoire with the Orquesta Sinfonica Castilla y Leon. He conducts repertoire ranging from Gabrieli to Schubert 9 to Tippett and Ives with St Paul Chamber, and Bach’s St Matthew Passion and Beethoven 9 with the Residentie Orkest. With Philharmonia Baroque plans include Schumann’s Requiem and works by Errollyn Wallen and Tarik O’Regan alongside the core baroque repertoire.
As half of Duo Pleyel, Egarr regularly plays four-hands repertoire with his wife Alexandra Nepomnyashchaya; they have released 3 acclaimed albums on Linn – Mozart/JC Bach, Dussek and Schubert - with a Beethoven disc due for release in 2023. Egarr regularly gives solo harpsichord recitals at the Wigmore Hall and Carnegie Hall; his extensive discography on Harmonia Mundi includes solo keyboard works by Bach, Handel, Mozart and Couperin, and latterly discs for Linn Records of Byrd and Sweelinck.
Egarr’s long list of recordings with the Academy of Ancient Music includes several award-winning Handel discs (2007 Gramophone Award, 2009 MIDEM and Edison awards) and both JS Bach’s Passions. His world premiere recording on AAM Records of Dussek’s Messe Solemnelle won the Gramophone Best Choral Recording 2021. Early in his tenure at the AAM Egarr established the Choir of the Academy of Ancient Music; operas and particularly Handel’s oratorios lie at the heart of his repertoire. He made his Glyndebourne debut in 2007, and with AAM conducted cycles of Monteverdi and Purcell at the Barbican and Mozart operas at the Barbican and the Grange Festival.
Egarr trained as a choirboy at York Minster, at Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester, and as organ scholar at Clare College Cambridge. His studies with Gustav and Marie Leonhardt further inspired his work in the field of historical performance. He taught for many years at the Amsterdam Conservatoire and was Visiting Professor at the Juilliard School for over 10 years.
Sijie ‘Susie’ Chen
Chinese-born British violinist Sijie Chen moved to the UK when she was five years old. While studying in the UK, US and Germany, she was a string finalist in the BBC Young Musician of the Year Competition. She now enjoys a varied career performing on modern and period violins.
As a chamber musician, 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 Wild Arts Ensemble, and is the Artistic Director of Vermeer Chamber Concerts.
Sijie is the co-leader of the London Mozart Players. She tours with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields and is a member of the Academy of Ancient Music. She also guests with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Aurora Orchestra, United Strings of Europe, and on period instruments with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the English Concert, La Nuova Musica.