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Two Violas: Past, Present, and Beyond
Doors: 12.30pmConcert: 1pmDuration: approx. 1 hour (no interval) Adults (includes a post concert complimentary drink) Immerse yourself in the wonderfully rich and varied sound world of music for two violas, an ensemble with a tradition reaching back centuries.
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Programme
1Duo
2Canon
3Machines
4Prelude and Canon
5Three Duets
6Sonata in F minor, K466 (arr. John Alexander)
7Lament and Caprice
8Allegro non troppo
9Peter Mallinson and Matthias Wiesner
10Peter Mallinson and Matthias Wiesner are members of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and have been giving concerts of music for two violas since 2013, performing regularly both around the UK and in Europe.
11They first played duos together as part of an outreach project in South Korea while on tour with the BBCSO and since then have been drawn into its innovative, exciting, and far-more-extensive-than-you-might-think repertoire. Not simply exploring the music for two unaccompanied violas, they also perform repertoire for two violas and piano, two violas and cello, and other combinations where the two-viola sound is to the fore.
12Realising that information about this repertoire for viola duo is not easy to follow up, they have recorded (and written detailed liner notes for) a series of CDs on the Meridian Records label. Music for Two Violas and A Tale of Two Violas explore the history of the repertoire with a focus on music that two of the great pioneers of the instrument - England's Lionel Tertis and Russia's Vadim Borisovsky - either influenced, inspired, or wrote themselves. Two Violas Now looks at where this tradition is today, and Two Violas: Regeneration showcases works which (in myriad ways) have been given a new lease of life. Their fifth instalment, Two Violas: Old and New explores the constant intertwining of the past and present.
13Not content with leaving the repertoire as it stands, Peter and Matthias work closely with contemporary composers and arrangers. One such collaboration with Simon Rowland-Jones led to the completion of Frank Bridge's duo, Caprice; a work written and performed by Bridge and Tertis in 1912 but then lost except for some sketches. Peter and Matthias “re-premiered” it in 2018.
14They have also commissioned a number of original compositions and arrangements by composers including John Alexander, Peter Aviss, Derek Bourgeois, Iain Farrington, Detlev Glanert, John Hawkins, Aleksey Igudesman, Peter Letanka, Deborah Pritchard, Simon Rowland-Jones, Edwin Roxburgh, Michelle Taylor-Cohen, Peter Walton, and Raymond Yiu.
15Despite being a medium which has inspired composers for over three hundred years, the repertoire for two violas is still relatively underexplored, and it is expanding all the time. Do join us on our journey!
16Saturday
1720 March 2027
18Doors: 12.30pm
19Concert: 1pm
20Duration: approx. 50 min (no interval)
21Tickets: £10 Adults (includes a post concert complimentary drink)
22TICKETS available SOON