Ensemble 360 open new Chichester Chamber Concerts season

He will be with them when they play the opening concert in the new Chichester Chamber Concerts season in the Assembly Room, North Street on Thursday, October 3 (tickets available from Chichester Festival Theatre). Their programme will be Prokofiev: Overture on Hebrew Themes; Mozart: Clarinet Quintet, K. 581; and Schumann: Piano Quintet, Op 44.

“I am a relative newbie to the group but the group was formed about 20 years ago now. It is an amazing story. Before the group, the Lindsay Quartet made their home in Sheffield and it became a musical residency. 40 years ago they set up this organisation called Music In The Round through which they organised their concerts in the area but also developed this idea at Sheffield’s Crucible, which is in the round, of having the audience all around you.

“When the Lindsay Quartet retired 20 years ago, they held auditions to form a new group to become the group in residence with the idea that it would be a different group. Ensemble 360 was formed basically to carry on that residency in Sheffield. Music In The Round have an established schedule and contacts, and for a chamber ensemble it was a real gift to have that stability and steadiness and that schedule. Ensemble 360 Play Music In The Round concerts as well as other concerts, as do other chamber groups, around the country, and it's a very enjoyable and varied diet of work.

“I remember when the auditions were advertised 20 years ago for Ensemble 360 but I had not long moved to Cardiff where I used to work. When the group was formed the stipulation was that all the members would live in Sheffield and were salaried effectively to rehearse and live there. But I had only just arrived in Cardiff. It really appealed to me but I just could not consider it at that time. My predecessor stayed with the group for 17 years I didn't really think much more about it but when my predecessor left and they were looking for a clarinettist, I jumped at the opportunity and expressed my interest. They offered me for the position and it is a real sense of delayed gratification!

“They are fantastic colleagues in all departments. There are some members that are originals from the very beginning but obviously some have changed over the years. There are 11 members altogether and there are six of us coming to Chichester.

"What I love is that it is a very interesting repertoire. For a group of that size I've enjoyed such variety and played many pieces over the last three years I've never had the chance to play before even though I've done lots of chamber music. It is an amazing sense of camaraderie within the group, really inspirational players and it's fascinating music to play.”

A key piece in the Chichester concert for Rob will be Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet: “It is the most sublime piece ever written for the clarinet. It's the balance of the music and the real sense of invention as well.

"It's full of intriguing things and has a really beautiful slow movement and then it's also so creative and so funny and so clever. It is everything that you could want from Mozart in one piece.”