Programme

The programme is almost complete now for next January's Festival. Details can be found here. This, the ninth festival, will be based around music from Vienna, starting with Mozart and including lots of works by Beethoven, Schubert, Weber, Zemlinsky, Strauss, Webern and Berg. It will include such masterpieces as Beethoven's String Quartet Op 130 and The Archduke Trio, Schubert's Trout Quintet, Berg's Lyric Suite and Strauss' Metamorphosen.

Move to Treowen

Treowen Manor

After 8 Festivals, and much consideration, the decision has been taken to move from St Briavels Castle to Treowen Manor, a few miles away near Monmouth. Treowen Manor has been a family home from the very start and in the 17th century, a catholic and royalist one - the priest's hole on the first landing bears evidence to the dangers of its recusant past. The present owners, the Wheelock family, lived and farmed here until 1993. Despite the imposing architecture, Treowen's halls and galleries have rung to the boisterous sounds of playing children over the centuries. But be reminded Treowen is an utterly unspoilt architectural masterpiece. It is a robust and beautiful example of another age. The facilities are comfortable and the rooms magnificent and it will provide a wonderful new home for the musicians during the Festival.

Thanks to the size of its rooms it also presents the opportunity of actually putting on events within its walls. Yhis year, for the first time and hosted by Richard Wigmore, we will be holding a day of musical exploration of some of Beethoven's finest chamber works. Details of this, along with details of all our concerts in January, can be found by following the links below.

September Series

St Briavels Church

On the 7th, 8th and 9th September, violinists Florence Cooke and Matthew Truscott, violist Tom Dunn, cellists Sarah McMahon and Aoife Nic Athlaoich and pianist and festival director Daniel Tong, came down to the Wye Valley for Wye Valley Chamber Music's second September Series. They gave three wonderful concerts in St Briavels, Hellens Manor and Dore Abbey, with a wide variety of music and ending with a memorable performance of Schubert's great String Quintet.

The September Series provides the opportunity to try out new venues in the area sometimes with a view to using them either in the January Festival or at other associated concerts. In 2006 we discovered the lovely barn at Hellens Manor, and this year we were very fortunate in being able to put on our opening concert of the series in picturesque Dore Abbey.

Elgar in Hereford Group

In January 2007 we were approached by David Parkes, from the Elgar in Hereford Group, (who were responsible for commissioning, paying for, and installing the new statue of Elgar in the precincts of Hereford Cathedral), about putting on a concert in collaboration with them. On October 6th this concert happened in Holy Trinity Church in Hereford. Five musicians, including Festival director Daniel Tong, played a massive programme which, among smaller works by Elgar, included two monumental piano quintets, by Elgar and Schumann. We were very pleased to be able to do this concert and one of the results, as with the September Series (see below) has been that we have discovered an excellent new venue, Holy Trinity Church, which we will be using as a larger replacement for the Bishop's Palace in Hereford. We very much hope to be able to continue this fruitful collaboration with the Elgar in Hereford Group in the coming years.