We open our 25/26 Season with a spellbinding programme inspired by fairytales and folklore from faraway lands.
The first half features Stravinsky’s The Fairy’s Kiss - a ballet inspired by Hans Christian Anderson’s The Ice-Maiden and an homage to Tchaikovsky. In the second half, we journey north to Scandinavia: first to join Sibelius by a log fire in his tranquil lakeside home, before stepping out into vast, dramatic landscapes where mythical creatures come to life…
Programme
Franz Waxman - 7 Scenes from Childhood: IV. Bedtime Story: The Fairy Princess
Nicolai Medtner, arr. Jascha Heifetz - Fairy Tale, op. 20 no. 1
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, arr. Mischa Elman - 6 Romances, op. 6, TH 93: no. 6: None but the Lonely Heart
Igor Stravinsky, arr. Stravinsky/Samuel Dushkin - Divertimento from The Fairy’s Kiss
~~~ Interval ~~~
Jean Sibelius - 5 Pieces op. 81
Edvard Grieg - Sonata for piano and violin, no.3 in c minor, op. 45
~ Huw Watkins (piano) & Sijie Chen (violin) ~
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 6:15pm for drinks and nibbles. The music will begin at 7pm
Duration: approx. 2 hrs (including an interval)
Huw Watkins MBE
Huw Watkins is notable for his equal renown as a pianist and composer. Andrew Clark of the Financial Times describes him as "one of the most rounded composer-musicians in the UK." As a pianist, Watkins has performed with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, and the London Sinfonietta, as well as giving recitals at venues such as Wigmore Hall, the Smithsonian, and the Library of Congress. Watkins' ability to step into and enhance any musical endeavour is widely appreciated; The Telegraph described him aptly as an "unfailingly dependable and musical pianist who seems to be everywhere”.
Watkins’ chorus and orchestra work The Moon premiered at the 2019 Proms in London, and his Dawning was performed in early 2020 by the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. Watkins has written numerous chamber works, including string quartets for the Carducci and Calidore quartets, and a piano quintet for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Watkins has a large catalogue of vocal works including a pair of song cycles, Remember (2014) and Echo (2017), for soprano Ruby Hughes; the latter was co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall. He has recorded for several prominent classical music labels, often performing his own works; notably Mendelssohn's cello and piano works with his brother Paul Watkins (Chandos) and a disc dedicated to his work entitled In My Craft or Sullen Art (NMC).
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.