Celebrating new commissions and unlikely connections and bringing world-class musicians into the heart of the community, Music@Malling returns with an enriched programme for audiences in the Kent community and beyond, exploring six centuries of music.
An eclectic programme spans the Renaissance through to the music of our time and runs from 20th-28th September 2024, Music@Malling presents an innovative programme of concerts and outreach held in historic venues in an area of outstanding natural beauty and fascinating heritage.
Featured contemporary composers include Deborah Pritchard, Brian Elias, Gavin Bryars, John Woolrich, Sir George Benjamin, Stephen McNeff and Alec Roth who will introduce their works and place them into their musical context.
Highlights include:
An exploration of Schoenberg through the prism of nineteenth century Romanticism with concerts by Chamber Domaine and Mark Padmore CBE; The Smith Quartet and Fidelio Trio. Be Aware – an installation of seven friezes based on the Seven Deadly Sins by renowned artist, Ana Maria Pacheco with a new work by composer John Woolrich in the Old Chapel at Ightham Mote supported by the Marchus Trust.
Fretwork makes a welcome return performing consorts by Lawes, Gibbons and Purcell and contemporary works by John Woolrich and Sir George Benjamin’s groundbreaking On Silence (1989) – the first new work to be written for viols since the seventeenth century – featuring celebrated mezzo-soprano, Susan Bickley.
Alessandro Fisher and Sholto Kynoch perform Schubert’s Die Schöne Müllerin in the Drawing Room of Ightham Mote on an 1830 Stodart – the house was owned by a descendant of Wilhelm Müller whose poetry Schubert set in 1823. Kynoch brings an outstanding group of singers to Music@Malling – Schubert and Co for a Schubertiad – exploring his rarely heard part songs.
The Marian Consort performs new works by Deborah Pritchard and John Woolrich alongside music by Purcell, Tompkins and Blow. The concert includes a side-by-side project with local secondary schools culminating in a performance of Purcell – Remember Not.
Two primary schools are involved in an outreach project creating and performing new music inspired by Ana Maria Pacheco’s The Garden of Earthly Delights.
James Pearson – Artistic Director of Ronnie Scott’s – commemorates the centenary of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue in a programme that links jazz with twentieth-century modernism!
World premieres include new works by Gavin Bryars for the Smith Quartet and Elsa Torp and Deborah Pritchard – Heart of Light for Solo Violin inspired by the Marc Chagall windows of All Saints’ Church, Tudeley – one of Music@Malling’s stunning venues.
Thomas Kemp (Artistic Director): ‘I am delighted that Music@Malling returns with such a vibrant and interesting programme bringing outstanding musicians into the heart of the community. I am also glad (and relieved) that we are able to continue our outreach work in the local community, particularly focusing on nurseries, primary and secondary schools in local areas of urban and rural deprivation. All our lunch-time concerts will have whole class groups attending from these schools as part of an ongoing programme of workshops and concerts engaging people who would not otherwise have access to fabulous live music, creative opportunities and the many benefits these bring. Having grown up in West Malling, it gives me great pleasure to ensure that people have access to these kinds of activities that strengthen communities and increase well-being.
Audience Member, Bach + (April 2024): ‘You have given me so much understanding with the amazing work you do. You have opened this whole world of joy for me and you’re very welcome to quote me on that.’