Samir Selects

Friday 15 September

Our autumn classical music season starts with Isata Kanneh-Mason from the famous musical family  who returns to St George’s after her sold out recital in 2021.  She will present a wonderfully mixed programme, including the bold and complex Easter Sonata, written by Fanny Mendelssohn in 1828 but then lost for 150 years.  When rediscovered, it was originally attributed to her brother Felix Mendelssohn and only correctly attributed in 2010.  This recording dates back to 1972 with pianist Eric Hiedsieck, and I have chosen the sprightly Scherzo movement.

Thursday 21 September (Lunchtime Concert)

I’m delighted with what we have achieved with our lunchtime concerts.  We work with prestigious partners such as Young Concert Artists Trust, Royal Overseas League and BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists to bring to Bristol some of the very best emerging talent in classical music and audiences have flocked to hear them.  I was proud to be invited to join a specialist jury at the Gold Medal final of the Royal Overseas League earlier this summer at the Wigmore Hall, so can speak with first-hand experience of the sheer talent and commitment needed to succeed as a young performer.  Please do come and give these wonderful artists your support.

Percussionist James Larter launches our new season of lunchtime concerts.  Here is a setting for marimba of the famous Astor Piazzolla Libertango.  I love the different musical colours brought out by this unusual instrument.

Friday 13 October

It was my great pleasure to interview this amazing young artist (you can read this in our latest brochure, which you will receive through the post very shortly!), and I was immediately struck by her personal warmth and her commitment to making classical music available to all. I had seen Leia play at the South Bank Centre in London when she was barely a teenager, she was already a very mature and accomplished player and I am really looking forward to hearing how her style has developed – she certainly has a great future ahead of her.

Leia loves Saint-Saens, and I have chosen this recording of his Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso which is technically very challenging but remains playful and engaging.

Thursday 2 November (Lunchtime Concert)

Another lunchtime artist, this time BBC New Generation Artist, soprano Joanna Wallroth in a wide-ranging recital which will be recorded by Radio 3 for later broadcast. This beautiful, gentle Wiegenlied (Cradle Song) by Richard Strauss has his hallmark lush, long melodic lines.

Saturday 4 November 

We are pleased to welcome Southbank Sinfonia, made of up the world’s finest graduate musicians, to St George’s for the first time.  They will be performing with the Fitzhardinge Consort, my own choir, in an eclectic programme featuring many well-loved favourites including Allegri’s Miserere and Elgar’s Engima Variations.   It’s a great programme for those new to classical music who want to discover more.  I’ve chosen two tracks based on the Elgar, the first is the Intermezzo Dorabella, no 10 of the variations, dedicated to his friend Dora Penny, whose stutter is gently referenced by the woodwind, and then a surprising version of the most famous variation – Nimrod – arranged for voices to the words Lux Aeterna (Light Eternal).

Friday 24 November 

I am so excited to welcome back Alina Ibragimova and Cedric Tiberghien after their stunning début at St George’s in 2022 when they performed in the first ever BBC Prom in Bristol. Alina will be playing Paganini’s fiendishly difficult Caprices, and I know she will be not just technically brilliant but also really engaging. This is a review of her recording of the Caprices, I have chosen just one, no 21 in A Major, Amoroso – but you can listen to her playing all of them on Spotify ahead of her concert. I love how this particular caprice starts with long drawn-out passages, suitably ‘love-struck’ and ends with flighty runs up and down the instrument.

“Ibragimova imbues each caprice with its own unique musical personality and expressive narrative, with the result that all those thousands of notes emerge with an emotional rather than merely technical imperative…” 5-star review in BBC Music Magazine

Saturday 25 November 

Now for something completely different.  The fantastic Renewal Choir are coming back to St George’s for their annual concert.  In the run-up to Christmas, what could be better known and loved than Handel’s Messiah, but this performance has a delicious twist.  Renewal Choir will be bringing their infectious gospel energy to Quincy Jones’ Soulful Celebration, a brilliant reworking of Handel’s masterpiece, set against the backdrop of the 75th anniversary of Windrush.

I’ve chosen this track from Soulful Celebration, which most listeners will recognise as the opening aria for the tenor soloist – Ev’ry Valley Shall be Exalted but with a spirited treatment by Jones.