Pavlos Carvalho (cello) makes the first of his four contributions to this year’s Festival of Chichester when he joins forces with Andrew Quartermain (piano) to explore ground-breaking masterpieces all now admired for the elegance and romanticism of their lyrical melodies.

Debussy, Chopin, Shostakovitch – Sonatas for Cello and Piano will be on June 19 from 19:00-21:00 at St Paul’s Church, Churchside, Chichester, PO19 6FT with tickets available on https://wegottickets.com/f/17692

Pavlos said: “I met Andrew when I was 15 and we met again at university. We became very, very good friends and we shared a flat together. Back at university we created a duo and we played lots and lots of concerts together. I've known him something like 35 years.

“And it is a lot of fun when we play together. We spend most of the time making fun of each other to be honest when we are rehearsing but without wishing to sound pretentious the fact is that when you spend a long time performing music with someone and you know them so well, it almost feels like you have a kind of telepathic understanding. We used to rehearse for many, many hours but now we can just turn up on the day and it just feels like coming home again. You're always a bit apprehensive if you've not rehearsed but you always know that it is going to be OK. He is so flexible, like a jazz musician. He has incredible principles in music but he never tries to dictate. He just allows it to ebb and flow. We have an incredible trust together and it just works so well together

Pavlos Carvalho (cello) and Andrew Quartermain (piano) (contributed pic)

placeholder image — Pavlos Carvalho (cello) and Andrew Quartermain (piano) (contributed pic)

“Obviously we do our separate things. He lives in Suffolk but we get together every now and again but we thought that we hadn't done a big concert of hefty cello sonatas for a long time so that's the idea behind this. Originally we were going to do Shostakovich and Chopin but we wanted something a bit more substantial as well and so we've included the Debussy. It is a wonderful piece within the context of what we are doing, and it's just great to be back together again doing a big meaty recital programme.”

Pavlos has been a prize-winner in international competitions in Britain, Italy, Russia and Germany as well as working with orchestras including the London Philharmonic and Northern Sinfonia. He has been invited to play for Prince Charles at Kensington Palace and for the 70th birthday celebrations of Rostropovitch. He has performed as soloist with the Royal Philharmonic, Covent Garden Chamber Orchestra and Southern Pro Musica among others. He is also one of the founding members of chamber music group, Ensemble Reza.

Andrew Quartermain is a concert pianist and music educator. For 17 years he was CEO and artistic director of Pro Corda, the National Chamber Music School. There he oversaw a huge expansion of participation, including national schools delivery and the only UK music festival dedicated to chamber music in schools.