— THIS EVENT IS NOW IN THE PAST AND WAS A GREAT SUCCESS —
GREAT MUSIC YOU MAY NOT KNOW is a new Concert Series which focuses on a single piece of music which is spectacularly good, yet largely unknown. And we surround it with better known works.
All we ask is that you listen at least to the new piece a good few times before you come along, because in so doing, you will enjoy the performance so much more.
We start with a wonderful piece by UK composer
Andrew Downes - his Concerto for Treble Recorder and Strings.
Written for internationally acclaimed recorder player, James Risdon, this is the UK Premiere of this remarkable music and James is with us for this performance.
Andrew Downes
Andrew Downes (20 August 1950 – 2 January 2023) was a British classical composer. Andrew was born in Handsworth, Birmingham and attended St. John's College, Cambridge, on a scholarship, receiving his master's degree in composition. In 1974 he studied with Herbert Howells at the Royal College of Music. Andrew was head of the School of Composition and Creative Studies at Birmingham Conservatoire from 1992 until 2005, when he retired due to ill health.
For more information about Andrew, please visit www.andrewdownes.com
James Risdon
James has had an almost lifelong fascination with the recorder. His formal studies were with the late Alan Davis and subsequently with Rebecca Miles. He gained his LRSM with distinction in 2011 and in the same year was placed runner-up in the international competition for blind musicians at the Jan Dale Conservatoire in Prague.
James is a founder member of the British Paraorchestra, directed by Charles Hazlewood with whom he performed at the closing of the 2012 Paralympic Games with Coldplay. James has a passion for creating recital programmes to introduce the recorder to new audiences. He has performed at King’s Place and St. Martin-in-the-Fields and The Handel House Museum in London, as well as countless festivals, churches and other venues across the UK and beyond. In 2015, he made his debut appearance at the Wigmore Hall with theorbo player Matthew Wadsworth in a concert celebrating the Elizabeth Eagle-Bott memorial fund which supported James’s studies.
For more information about James, please visit https://www.jamesrisdon.co.uk/
Anthony Bradbury
Anthony Bradbury was born in Worcestershire, England, and attended King Edward VI College, Stourbridge, where he played clarinet, piano and percussion with numerous orchestras, ensembles and wind bands. He continued his education at Brasenose College, Oxford University, where he graduated with an MA in Music. Whilst at Oxford, Anthony was awarded a scholarship to conduct the Brasenose chapel choir.
Anthony worked with the Birmingham Festival Choral Society which, having been founded in 1843, is the longest established chorus still active in Birmingham. He has also appeared as a guest conductor with a number of organisations, including the Sinfonia of Birmingham, the Birmingham Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Central England Camerata.
For more information about Anthony, please visit http://www.anthonybradbury.com
The Central England Camerata
The Central England Camerata was founded by freelance violinist Anna Downes in 2013 and has become one of the most sought after chamber orchestras in the central region of the UK and now works regularly with Hereford Cathedral Chamber Choir, Ledbury Choral Society, Derby Choral Union, Warwick and Kenilworth Choral Society, Birmingham Festival Choral Society, the Choirs of Southwell Minster and Cantores Chamber Choir.
For more information, please visit https://www.centralenglandcamerata.com/