Piano Day: Saturday 9 October 2021
A free day of concerts organised by Howdenshire Music to celebrate our wonderful new FEURICH grand piano. The day saw eight acclaimed musicians perform for a capacity audience.
10.00am-10.45am
Ringing the changes
Experience the magnificent sound of Howden Minster’s bells – regarded as the finest eight in Yorkshire. The bells will ring out over the historic streets of Howden to mark the start of our musical journey.
11.00am-11.50am
Kasparas Mikužis, piano
J. S. Bach: French Suite No. 3 in B minor, BWV 814
Chopin: Ballade No. 3 in A flat major, Op. 47
Scriabin: Sonata-Fantasy No. 2 in G sharp minor, Op. 19
Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 12 in C sharp minor
Sensational young Lithuanian pianist Kasparas Mikužis was a double first prize winner at the XXVIII Roma International Piano Competition. At 20 years old, he has already performed at London’s Wigmore Hall and Purcell Room, at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and has released his debut CD.
The seductive melancholy of Bach’s B minor French Suite is followed by Chopin’s radiantly warm Ballade in A flat. Turning to nature, Scriabin’s Sonata No. 2 depicts the sea, both calm and tempestuous, while Liszt’s fiery Hungarian Rhapsody No. 12 promises a firework-filled finale.
12noon-1.30pm
Lunch is served...
A selection of delicious lunches will be available to purchase and enjoy in the Minster, along with tea, coffee and soft drinks, courtesy of Howden’s own That Tea Room.
1.30pm-2.45pm
Rhapsody: Matthew Collins, Carl Leighton, Joan Hill, Amy Butler & Graziana Presicce, piano
Five Yorkshire-based professional pianists perform a kaleidoscope of works for the piano: dreamy Venetian Gondola Songs by Mendelssohn, the ecstatic Piano Sonata No. 4 by Scriabin, Schumann's nostalgic Kinderszenen ('Scenes from Childhood') and Gershwin’s iconic fusion of the classical and jazz worlds, Rhapsody in Blue, in a thrilling arrangement for piano duet.
3.30pm-4.15pm
Harry Kneeshaw, violin & Kasparas Mikužis, piano
Kreisler: Praeludium and Allegro (in the style of Pugnani)
Elgar: Violin Sonata in E minor
Two musical stars of the future: violinist Harry Kneeshaw, currently studying at the Royal Academy of Music, is joined by multi-award-winning pianist Kasparas Mikužis.
The dazzlingly virtuosic Praeludium and Allegro was one of a number of ‘musical hoaxes’ which Kreisler wrote in the style of other composers - and, initially, passed off as their work rather than his own! By contrast, Elgar’s passionate Violin Sonata, composed shortly after the First World War, is a deeply emotional and personal outpouring.
4.45pm-5.30pm
Kanako Mizuno, piano
M.K. Čiurlionis: Nocturne in F sharp minor, VL 178
M. Tokuyama: Musica Nara, Op. 25
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op. 109
Chopin: Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23
Kanako Mizuno, winner of the Tokyo Piano Competition, presents an intimate programme of of piano masterworks. Kanako’s native Japan is represented by a visit to the mesmerising, enchanting soundworld of Tokuyama.
Beethoven’s late E major Piano Sonata, written during a period of extraordinary creative mastery and innovation towards the end of the composer’s life, is a work of profound beauty and intensity.
Our celebrations draw to a dramatic conclusion with a performance of one of the best-loved piano works of all time: Chopin’s Ballade in G minor.