Tickets go on sale for new Chichester Chamber Concerts season

Tickets are available from August 11 from Chichester Festival Theatre, with all concerts taking place in the Assembly Room, North Street.

Chairman Anna Hill said: “I'm very excited by this season which will be Emma-Jane Wyatt’s last for us (as artistic director). The reason she is leaving is because she has got so much other work, but she's done a great job for us. We are lucky to have found somebody else who will be planning the season 2026-2027. Anna Starkey is with us already in meetings.”

The season opens on October 2 with the English Chamber Orchestra Graduate Ensemble directed by solo violinist Ofer Falk. They will play Holst St Paul’s Suite, Dvorak Romance in F minor Op 11 and Beethoven Violin Concerto in D major Op 61 arranged for solo violin and string ensemble.

“Ofer Falk is one of my favourite violinists. Last time he was leading a group from the English Chamber Orchestra. This time he is leading a group of younger performers from the English Chamber Orchestra Graduate Ensemble.

“He has got lovely tone as a violinist. He is also very fine teacher as well as player. He did a masterclass for us 18 months ago with students from the university music department and then they came along to the concert in the evening for free because we do offer students free tickets.”

Next on November 6 is the Amatis Piano Trio with a programme of Schubert, Liszt and Mendelssohn.

“I have wanted them to come and play for us for a long time. They are Dutch. They were founded in 2014 and they have played at the Proms. They are quite seasoned performers now.

“In December we have the Carducci Quartet with a Shostakovich programme in honour of the fiftieth anniversary of the composer’s death, and in January we have the Orsino Wind Ensemble, a line-up of star wind players. One of their first performances was in Aldeburgh in 2018, and my husband and I were actually there. It was just wonderful playing. When they come together, their artistry just bounces off each other.”

For the new season Chichester Chamber Concerts will be hoping to continue to rebuild their audiences, not having secured quite the attendances they were hoping for last year: “I think some people are still perhaps a little bit nervous about coming out. The audiences that we get always very enthusiastic but they not quite back up to the levels that we had before Covid. Now we get more like 130 but before that we were selling out maybe once or twice a year with 180 people. I wonder if some people have just got out of the habit so we've got to think about some nice little inducements!”

More details on https://www.chichesterchamberconcerts.com

The full programme is:

Thursday, October 2: Ofer Falk and the English Chamber Orchestra Graduates Ensemble. Holst: St Paul’s Suite; Dvorak: Romance in F minor Op.11 (arr for strings); Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D major Op.61 (arr for soloist and strings).

Thursday, November 6: Amatis Piano Trio. Schubert: Piano Trio in E flat major Op.100, D.929; Liszt: Tristia (La Vallée d’Obermann) for Piano Trio, S. 378c; Mendelssohn: Piano Trio No. 2 in C minor, Op. 66.

Thursday, December 4: Carducci String Quartet. Shostakovich: String Quartet No.10 in A flat major Op.118; String Quartet No.8 in C minor Op.110; String Quartet No.2 in A major Op.68.

Thursday, January 22: Orsino Wind Ensemble. Schumann: Kinderszenen Op.15 (arr. Abrahamsen); Hindemith: Kleine Kammermusik; Pavel Haas: Quintet Op.10; Beethoven: Sextet for 2 Horns and String Quartet Op.71 (arr Rechtmann).

Thursday, February 26: Trio Sitkovetsky. Bruch: selection from Eight Pieces Op. 83 (arr. for piano trio); Mozart: Piano Trio No. 3 in B-flat major, K. 502; Brahms: Piano Trio No. 2 in C major, Op. 87.

Thursday, March 26: Kleio Quartet. Webern: Five Movements for String Quartet Op.5; Beethoven: String Quartet in F minor Op.95; Saariaho: Terra Memoria; Mendelssohn: String Quartet in E flat major Op. 44 No. 3.