GALA CONCERT: MARTIN ROSCOE, PIANO & I MUSICANTI
Saturday 9 July 2022, 7.30pm, Howden Minster
Free admission with retiring donations
The concert will consist of two halves with interval, in which refreshments will be available.
Please note: Due to high demand for this concert, pre-booking is essential
Schubert Piano Quintet in A major, D.667, 'Trout'
Beethoven arr. Lachner Piano Concerto No. 5, 'Emperor'
With an extraordinary career spanning over five decades, Martin Roscoe is unarguably one of the UK’s best loved pianists. Renowned for his versatility at the keyboard, Martin is equally at home in concerto, recital and chamber performances. His enduring popularity and the respect in which he is universally held are built on a deeply thoughtful musicianship and his easy rapport with audiences and fellow musicians alike. Martin is Artistic Director of Ribble Valley International Piano Week and the Manchester Chamber Concerts Society, and Co-Artistic Director of the Beverley Chamber Music Festival.
With a repertoire of over 100 concertos performed or recorded, Martin continues to work regularly with many of the UK’s leading orchestras, having especially close links with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Hallé Orchestra, Manchester Camerata, Northern Chamber Orchestra and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, where he has given over ninety performances. Other orchestral highlights have included BBC Symphony Orchestra and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Martin also performs widely across Europe, Canada, Australia and the Far East, sharing the concert platform with eminent conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Mark Elder, Gianandrea Noseda, and Christoph von Dohnányi.
A prolific recitalist and chamber musician, Martin tours the UK extensively every season, including regular appearances at Wigmore Hall and Kings Place. He has long-standing associations with Peter Donohoe, Kathryn Stott, Tasmin Little and the Endellion and Maggini Quartets as well as more recent collaborations with Jennifer Pike, Liza Ferschtman and the Brodsky and Carducci Quartets. One of his most important ensembles, the Cropper Welsh Roscoe Trio (2005-2016), performed many times across the UK, most notably at Wigmore Hall.
Having made over 600 broadcasts, including seven BBC Prom appearances, Martin is one of the most regularly played pianists on BBC Radio 3. Martin has also made many commercial recordings for labels such as Hyperion, Chandos and Naxos. He has recorded the complete piano music of Dohnányi ,Nielsen and Szymanowski, as well as four discs in the Hyperion Romantic Piano Concerto series. For the Deux-Elles label, Martin has recorded the complete Beethoven piano sonatas, for which he received unanimous critical acclaim.
Teaching has always formed an important part of Martin’s life and the development of young talent helps him to constantly re-examine and re-evaluate his own playing. He is currently Professor of Piano at the Guildhall School of Music in London and has been awarded his Fellowship there.
Watch Martin Roscoe and I Musicanti perform Beethoven's 'Emperor' Piano Concerto No.5
The artists who make up I Musicanti are all distinguished performers. They play in the best orchestras and as soloists and chamber musicians; they appear in concert halls internationally and on recordings; they are based in Britain but come from around the world. What unites them is their ceaseless musical curiosity, a palpable sense of adventure and an unswerving commitment to excellence.
I Musicanti was formed in 2013 by its artistic director, the internationally renowned double bass virtuoso Leon Bosch.
“The overwhelming majority of professional musicians probably recognise the moment when their artistic ambitions and the reality of the music profession intersect, and it is often at this point that lovingly nurtured dreams and ambitions evaporate. The desperate need to earn a living, in an increasingly casual profession of self-employed artists, subordinates the search for true meaning to the crass question of survival. It nearly led me to abandon music, despite my own all-consuming passion for it and for the double bass in particular.”
Instead, Bosch has set up I Musicanti as an outlet for his insatiable curiosity and that of his colleagues. The group explores not only the much beloved masterpieces of the chamber music repertoire, but neglected work by great composers, great works by neglected composers and the rich creative output of our own time.
“I Musicanti embodies the universally cherished ideal of total artistic freedom and unrestrained self-expression, and it aims to provide a home to creative and imaginative artists who share the ambition of realising this dream.”
