The first of Winchelsea Arts new-season concerts is this Saturday, June 29, in St Thomas Church at 7:30pm when the extraordinary Phacelia Ensemble will be performing.
The five strings and piano grouping was founded by Elizabeth Streichart, its artistic director, to perform her transcriptions of piano concertos “in miniature”. Unsatisfied with the sound created by the second piano accompaniment in the concerto examination at the Royal Academy of Music, she discovered transcriptions of Chopin’s second piano concerto and decided to do her own which included the double bass.
With members of the London Philharmonic and ENO’s orchestra she founded the Phacelia Ensemble to perform her transcriptions, always careful to include in any recitals larger scale works of chamber music to illustrate the relationship between the two genres. On Saturday, therefore, there will be her transcription of Chopin’s Second Piano Concerto, Three Pieces for String Quartet by Stravinsky and Dvorak’s Piano Quintet No 2.
When I heard the Phacelia Ensemble last year, I was determined such an accomplished and innovative group of players should be included in the Winchelsea Arts Programme. They will not disappoint with their performance on Saturday evening. It will be a perfect recital for a warm (at last!) summer’s evening.
Tickets are available on line at the Winchelsea Arts website or in person at Winchelsea Farm Kitchen and don’t forget if you haven’t already subscribed to the fifth season of concerts, now is the time to do it. It represents very good value.
Image Credits: Winchelsea Arts .