The Kyan Quartet not only span the heights – but span the seas.
Naomi Warburton (violin 1) is from London where she plays with the Philharmonia (she is an MMSF fellow) and the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
Sydney Grace Mariano (violin 2) comes from Los Angeles but came to London in 2019 to take her masters at the Royal Academy.
Simon Guémy (cello) comes from Paris where he studied cello at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Paris before moving to London to study at the Royal Academy.
And Wanshu Qui (viola) grew up in Chengdu in China where she learned to play the viola. She came to England to the Royal Northern College of Music and then moved on to the Royal Academy to take her masters.
Since they joined forces as a quartet in 2020, courtesy of the Royal Academy, they have held residencies with the Britten Pears Young Artist Programme, the European String Teachers Association and the Borromeo Music Festival. They are also members of the very glamourous Le Dimore del Quartetto which arranges chamber concerts in stunning houses around Italy and elsewhere in Europe.
Their programme for the 4th November was designed to reflect their home countries – so we will be hearing:
- Peter Warlock’s Capriol Suite – for Naomi
- Sun Keting‘s Snowpetal – for Wanshu
- Caroline Shaw‘s Entr’acte – for Sydney
- Claude Debussy‘s String Quartet in g minor, Op. 10 – for Simon
The question is, should supper also reflect this cosmopolitan programme?…
To book for the Kyan Quartet on 4th November, go here.
Vermeer Chamber Concerts
On Wednesday I was lucky enough to be invited to one of the Vermeer Chamber Concerts in the wonderfully quirky St Pancras Clock Tower.
Behind those tall windows beneath the clock there is actually not just a room but a whole flat…
And down there where you see the chairs, there is now a fine grand piano and lots of seats for an admiring audience!
The location for their concerts is a crucial element in the Vermeer Chamber Concerts – the brain child of violinist Sijie ‘Susie’ Chen. Susie, who is co-leader of the London Mozart Players, came to the UK when she was five and then studied the violin in the UK, US and Germany. A keen chamber musician – she plays on both modern and period instruments – she loved the idea of intimate chamber concerts in quirky or historic venues. So she made it happen!
So far they have performed in Leighton House, Burgh House, the Foundling Museum and, of course, the St Pancras Clock Tower. And we are hoping that 33 Hampstead Lane might get added to the list.
The venue is obviously a draw – but going on last Wednesday’s performance, you would want to hear their concerts no matter where they were held. Drawing on her pool of hugely talented musican colleagues, we had pianist Huw Watkins, cellist Orlando Jopling and Susie herself playing Mel Bonis, Schubert, Ravel and Huw’s own piano trio no 2.
The Mel Bonis (a prolific late 19th century female composer with a chequered and colourful life story*) was delightful and Schubert’s Notturno in E Flat major was a stunningly beautiful although rarely played piece – possibly a rejected slow movement of the Piano Trio No. 1. Both Huw’s and Ravel’s piano trios were hugely exciting and dramatic – and had the clock tower ringing!
Here they are while Orlando expounds on the evening’s programme. (Although the lady page turner looks slightly concerned that the clock might descend on our heads!)
Vermeer’s next concert is on November 1st at Burgh House where Susie and the lovely Nathaniel Mander will be playing Baroque sonatas for for Halloween followed by the Consone Quartet, also at Burgh House on 4th December.
Check in to their website for more details and to book.
* Mel Bonis
Mélanie Hélène ‘Mel’ Bonis was born in Paris in 1858 to a devout lower middle class Catholic family. As a child she taught herself to play the piano but aged 12 her parents reluctantly allowed her to take lessons and, at 16, to go to the Conservatoire to receive formal training. Here she met and fell in love with fellow student, poet and singer Amédée Landély Hettich. Her parents disapproved strongly and withdrew her from the conservatoire. In 1883 when she was 25 they married her to Albert Domange, a wealthy widowed businessman 25 years her senior with five children from previous marriages.
Melanie, as an obedient daughter and devout Catholic (which she was to remain for the rest of the her life) dutifully immersed herself in marriage and bore Domange three more children. She was not unhappy but neither was she fulfilled as, apart from any other incompatabilities, Domange did not like music so both playing and composition were barred to her.
Then, in the 1890s re-met Hettich, now a sucessful vocal teacher and writer on music – and married to a Polish harpist. Hettich encouraged her to return to composition – and they started an affair. In 1899, in deepest secrecy, they had an illegitimate daughter, Madeleine. As a pillar of Catholic bourgeouis society and a good wife, there was no way in which Melanie could acknowledge her daughter. Torn by her Catholic conscience and love of her daughter, she put Madeleine, incognito, into the foster care of a former chambermaid. Both the child’s parents, however, remained in touch – under a series of random disguises which greatly confused the child.
Meanwhile Melanie’s compositions, many for piano and often composed under a pseudonym to conceal the fact that she was female, were increasingly regularly performed and were published by Éditions Alphonse Leduc.
In 1912 Hettich’s wife died and he acknowledged Madeleine as his daughter. In 1918 Domange died (leaving Melanie well provided for) and, under the guise of a godmother, she assumed the care of Madeleine whose foster mother had also recently died.
In 1919 Melanie’s much loved son Edouard (by Domange) returned unharmed from the First World War – and promptly, and to the horror of their mother, fell in love with Madeleine! On pain of strictest secrecy she was obliged to reveal that they were in fact half siblings.
After the First World War Bonis’ music fell out of fashion but she continued to compose through the late 1920s until her death in 1937. Hettich died a month later. One can only hope that despite the moral ambiguity of their positions in the draconially moral circles in which they moved, they remained in touch over their last years.
For much more on Melanie’s fascinating life listen to Donald Macloed who featured her in Composer of the Week last year – or see this short biography. Below, Bonis at around 50 – courtesy of Wikipedia.
For other future happenings in at Hampstead Lane and elsewhere – see our Upcoming Events page.
Follow us on Instagram – SalonsMusicales
Leave a Reply