With the Austrian National Day taking place last Saturday, (October 26), Ensemble Cymru is delighted to announce that a Welsh tribute to Austrian composer Franz Schubert will be heard at some of Wales’ main concert halls during November.
Wales’s finest chamber music group, Ensemble Cymru will be performing works by one of the world’s greatest composers, Octet in F Major by Schubert and Octet by Welsh composer John Metcalf, in nine different concerts across the length and breadth of Wales next month. Both Octets will be performed by violin, viola, cello, double bass, clarinet, bass and French Horn in locations ranging from Holyhead, Bangor, Pwllheli, Llandudno, Colwyn Bay, Cilcain, Newport (Pembs.), to Brecon and Aberystwyth between November 2 and 17.
Looking forwards to the tour, Peryn Clement-Evans, Artistic Director of Ensemble Cymru, said,
“It is a privilege for Ensemble Cymru to travel once again across Wales and perform masterworks by one of the world’s most famous composers, Schubert, and one of Wales’ foremost contemporary composers today, John Metcalf. The group’s members are looking forward to returning to important artistic venues across Wales as well as visiting new venues, presenting delightful and lyrical melodies to the various audiences. We are extremely grateful to these centres for their co-operation and willingness to ensure that chamber music has a worthwhile stage in Wales today.”
He added,
“One of Schubert’s greatest achievements is his Octet for strings and wind in F major and the six movements within the work conveys melodic and lyrical flair and short occasional intervals of darkness reflecting the depression that Schubert suffered towards the end of his life. Like Schubert, John Metcalf is a master of lyrical melodies and compositions and the same melodic and lyrical flair can be heard in his Octet, which was specially commissioned by Ensemble Cymru.”
Bugeilio’r Gwenith Gwyn, (Shepherding the White Wheat) is a Welsh folk song commemorating the fate of the unlucky lovers of Llangynwyd, Ann Maddocks and Wil Hopcyn, and the inspiration behind Metcalf’s composition. Details of the tour can be found at www.Ensemble.Cymru.
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Note to Editors;
- Ensemble Cymru was established as a charity in 2002, and its mission is to promote the heritage and culture of contemporary Welsh chamber music along with chamber music from around the world, to audiences in Wales and internationally.
- Each year, Ensemble Cymru reaches communities across Wales and performs in concert halls as well as schools, schools for young people with special educational needs, hospitals, hospices and other venues.
- The Ensemble is a group of up to 18 professional musicians from across the UK who specialise in chamber music. This tour will have eight members of the Ensemble, which will include musicians from the areas of Gwynedd, Newport, Pembrokeshire, Anglesey and Conwy.
- Ensemble Cymru is Bangor University and Venue Cymru’s resident ensemble and is grateful to the following for their continued support: The National Lottery, the Welsh Government and the Welsh Arts Council, the Big Give, Gaynor Cemlyn-Jones Trust and the Waterloo Foundation.
