Saturday 30th May 2015
Katherine Gowers. Violin
Simone van der Giessen. Viola
Philip Higham. Cello
Chi-chi Nwanoku. Double Bass
Simon Lane. Piano

This is one of four different concerts being given around the country in celebration of the 21st anniversary of the Ralph Vaughan Williams Society.

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Vaughan Williams. Six Studies in English Folk Song for Cello & Piano
Vaughan Williams. Romance for Viola and Piano
Vaughan Williams.Piano Quintet in C Minor
Schubert. Piano Quintet in A major D.667 ‘The Trout’

Katherine Gowers began playing the violin aged 3, being taught with the Suzuki method. Aged 16, she entered the Menuhin School and it was whilst studying with the legendary David Takeno that she knew she wanted to play the violin professionally. She has performed piano quartets with Alfred Brendel and the Bach Double Violin Concerto with Nigel Kennedy and the English Chamber Orchestra, At a recent Cheltenham Festival, she
shared the platform with Stephen Isserlis playing Schumann.

Simone Lane was born in Amsterdam and originally learnt the violin.
Entering the Royal Northern College of Music, she decided to take up the viola.graduating with First Class Honours and followed this by winning the Cecil Aronowitz Prize for Viola. She was a founder of the Navarra Quartet and alongside her chamber music career has performed with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Britten Sinfonia and Ensemble 360.

Philip Higham is considered by many to be the most outstanding cellist of his generation. He was described by The Strad as’ having all the qualities of a world class artist’. Awarded countless prizes including the First Prize at the 2008 Leipzig Bach Competition, the only British cellist to do so, he has performed all over the world, having recently returned from a tour in Australia. ‘A regular’ at WCC, he has just recorded the Bach Cello Suites for Delphian Records. WCC is proud to have sponsored the recording of the Sixth Suite. The recording is due out 2015..

Chi-chi Nwanoku is half the size of her double bass, yet has gained a reputation as one of the finest exponents of her instrument today.The eldest of five children, born to Nigerian and Irish parents, she began learning the piano on a borrowed instrument and then took up athletics and trained as a 100 metre sprinter! A knee injury, aged 18, ended that career and she decided to learn the double bass. Studying at the Royal Academy of Music, she soon found herself in great demand and in 2001 was awarded the MBE for services to Music. She is currently Principal Double Bass and founder member of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

Pre concert Talk 6.30pm

Hugh Cobbe, OBE, will give an illustrated pre concert talk on the Vaughan Williams works being performed at this concert. Hugh was Head of Music Collections at the British Library from 1985 until 2001. He edited the Letters of Ralph Vaughan Williams 1895 – 1958, published by OUP and was awarded a CBE.