I first met the Corran Quartet last summer when Joana came, on the Thursday before the ‘Rule of Six’ was introduced, to talk about playing a concert in my garden. Realising that it was now or never, we combined our resources and scheduled a concert for that Sunday which, as you can see was gloriously sunny and a great success – even if Molly’s cello did, at one point, threaten to melt in the sun! So I am delighted that they were free to open our series of concerts for the Highgate Festival.
The quartet is led by Portuguese violinist Joana Ly who came to England to study for her masters 10 years ago, left to spend two years in Amsterdam, then returned and now lives here. Early on she was joined by Scottish cellist Molly Mcwhirter with whom she had played at a festival in France and who was equally keen to form a quartet. More recently they have been joined by two other regular playing partners:
Laura Rickard, their second violin, studied at the Royal Academy and already belongs to the Mila Piano Trio and directs the Romsey Chamber Music Festival.
Violist Rebecca Breen studied at the Royal College and now teaches at both the Royal Academy and Guildhall School of Music.
Although the pandemic has been disastrous for the group, as for all other ‘live’ musicians, in that they have had no income, it has allowed them to sort out their priorities – and for Joana this has meant really focusing on the quartet and deciding that is where her heart lies. Playing quartets, she believes, allows a player to immerse themselves in the music in a way that is difficult in the more hectic life of a symphony orchestra. Although she does make an exception of an opera orchestra where, to accommodate the needs of the singers, the players too get more time to delve into the music.
And there is such a wealth of wonderful repetoire on offer to a keen quartet. The Corran had just started on a Beethoven cycle when the first lockdown happened and they certainly hope to return to that. But for the Highgate Festival concert they are leaping forward a couple of centuries, first playing the famous Bartók String Quartet No. 1 in A Minor (it’s first ‘outing’ with them) and then Dvorák’s American String Quartet – for us, but also for one of their keenest supporters whose favourite piece this is and for whose birthday they are playing it three days later!
And whatever happens with the lockdown, July is going to be a busy month for the group. First they will be at the Buxton Festival where they are the first group to be chosen to head up the festival’s Young Artists Programme. This involves a couple of concerts at the festival (running from 8th to 25th July) and then an ongoing programe of community music making throughout the year.
And then, between 22nd and 25th July Joana is running her own festival in Islington – three days of music and arts events in and around Islington. Check out their website for all the details.
Meanwhile, if you want to book for the Highgate Festival concerts, here are the details. And don’t forget that we are offeringa FREE glass of wine at each concert to anyone who books for two or more.
June 21st
The Corran Quartet play Bartók – String Quartet No. 1 in A minor and Dvorák String Quartet No. 11 in F Minor ‘The American’
6.30 -7.30pm – in the Highgate School Chapel – Buy tickets here – £20 per ticket.
June 22nd
The Korros Ensemble play Sir Arnold Bax, Elizabeth Poston, Dmitri Shostakovich and Maurice Ravel
June 22nd – 6.30 -7.30pm – Highgate School Chapel – Buy tickets here – £20 per ticket
June 25th
Alacris String Quartet play Haydn String Quartet in D Minor, Op.76 No.2 (‘Fifths’) and Mendelssohn String Quartet No. 2 A minor, Op. 13
6.30 – 7.30pm – Highgate School Chapel – Buy tickets here – £20 per ticket
June 27th
Madeleine Mitchell and her London Chamber Ensemble play Schubert’s String Quartet in No.13 in A Minor – the Rosamund Quartet and Debussy’s String Quartet in G Minor, Op. 10
6.30 – 7.30pm – Highgate School Chapel – Buy tickets here – £20 per ticket
We look forward to seeing you all!
For more on the Korros Ensemble, see this post and for more on Highgate’s beautiful Victorian chapel, see this post. For more on all Festival Events see the Festival website; for all of the muscial events, see this page.
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