All concerts take place at Square Chapel Centre for the Arts unless otherwise specified. Food will be available in the bar before and after all concerts at the weekend and in the evenings. For events marked * please contact the Festival Office on 01706 817633.
6.30pm Pre-Concert Talk
Professor Douglas Jarman talks about Alban Berg's Quartet op.3
7.30pm The Allegri Quartet
(Concert in association with Halifax Philharmonic Club)
This year's opening concert is given by the Allegri Quartet which celebrated its fiftieth anniversary during the concert season of 2003/4. Although today's members are all from a younger generation, they still adhere to the musical values laid down by its founders, those of sound interpretation and communication with their audiences.
About the Allegri Quartet
11.00am The Mortella Ensemble / Laura Newman, cello
Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama
Walton's Façade – a performance of the complete work, with narrators, with which the Mortella ensemble will, later this spring, launch Lady Susanna Walton’s annual concert series at her home on the island of Ischia.
About the RWCMD performers
3.00pm at Halifax Parish Church
Liam Cartwright (organ) & Sergio Pacheco (trumpet)
Royal College of Music
About Liam Cartwright and Sergio Pacheco
6.30pm Pre-Concert Talk
Professor Douglas Jarman talks about Berg's Kammerkonzert [Chamber Concerto].
7.30pm Charlotte Scott (violin), James Baillieu (piano) & Timothy Orpen (clarinet)
Royal Academy of Music
About Charlotte Scott, James Baillieu and Timothy Orpen
11.00am Vent Cinq Wind Quintet
Birmingham Conservatoire
About the Vent Cinq Wind Quintet
3.00pm Scottish Traditional Music
Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama
A concert of music from the highlands and islands played on traditional instruments - an ideal concert for the whole family.
6.30pm Pre-Concert Talk
Dr Anthony Gilbert talks about Elisabeth Lutyens's 6th Quartet.
7.30pm Chimera String Quartet
Trinity College of Music
About the Chimera String Quartet
*10.30am and *1.30pm Elisabeth Nygaard (vocals) and Pete Jewel (piano)
Leeds College of Music
Concerts for primary school pupils and Year 7 pupils.
*10.30am and & *1.30pm Elisabeth Nygaard (vocals) and Pete Jewel (piano)
Leeds College of Music
Concerts for pupils in Special Schools and pupils supported by the Calderdale Sensory Unit.
*9.15am-12.15pm 'Ensemble Music-Making' Workshop (open to the public)
For GCSE Key Stage 4 students from Calder High School and North Halifax Grammar School, led by Sadie Harrison and fellow composers.
*3.00pm-4.30pm Open Rehearsal of Amy Whitwam's 'Dreams'
Four musicians and the Elan Dancers from Huddersfield New College prepare, after two months' of rehearsals / workshops, for the first performance of a piece written especially for this year's Festival by the young composer Amy Whitwam.
6.30pm Gala Concert
by Calderdale and Kirklees students
Emily Kennedy (violin), North Halifax Grammar School
Year 10/11 students from Calder High School and North Halifax Grammar School
Claire Crowther (alto sax), North Halifax Grammar School
Amy Whitwam (violin), Joanne Poulter (oboe), Jay Crossland (horn), Ben Oliver (piano) with the Elan Dancers (Huddersfield New College)
Ian Brown (piano), Huddersfield New College
6.30pm Pre-Concert Talk
Dr Kris Worsley talks about Beethoven's 32 Variations in C minor.
7.30pm Anton Lyakhovsky (piano)
Guildhall School of Music and Drama
About Anton Lyakhovsky
6.30pm Pre-Concert Talk
Timothy Salter speaks about his own (and others' new) works in tonight's programme.
7.30pm RCM Contemporary Consort (clarinet, violin, cello and piano)
Royal College of Music
About the Contemporary Consort
11.00am LCM Jazz Choir
Leeds College of Music
An a capella choir of 12 jazz singers, led by the Norwegian singer Kari Nygaard Bleivik, performing a new and exciting repertoire.
About the LCM Jazz Choir
7.30pm Trio Ismena
Royal Danish Academy of Music, Copenhagen
We are delighted to welcome the Academy's top piano trio (also studying at the Basel Conservatoire, Switzerland) representing this year's featured European conservatoire.
About the Trio Ismena