Heart for the Arts
Falmer Concerts
For over 15 years St. Laurence has organised an annual programme of musical events throughout the year and also participates in the Brighton Fringe
St. Laurence Recital Series, 2023-24
Unless stated, refreshment and admission to these recitals are free, with donations going to the outreach and upkeep of the church.
SATURDAY, 4TH DECEMBER, 2.30-4.30pm
SHEPHERDS ARISE! A selection of beautiful old West Gallery carols from Sussex villages accompanied by flute, fiddle, serpent, bassoon, clarinet, concertinas & recorder. Between the carols are readings about Christmas in Sussex in the past, and the musicians play lively dance tunes from old Sussex manuscripts. There is also a Sussex Mummers' play. As always, there will be some old favourites & some new additions.
This is a lovely celebration of Christmas from earlier centuries, still full of the joy and delight it gave then.
Please note: admission and refreshments are free and donations will be split between the Martlets Hospice and church funds.
SATURDAY, 25th NOVEMBER, 5.30pm:
SOUTH DOWNS WIND QUINTET present a lively programme to cheer a November evening, with music
Malcolm Arnold: Wind Quintet, Op.2: Allegro, Presto, Alla Marcia
George Gershwin: Promenade (Walking the Dog)
Scott Joplin: Two Rags: Maple Leaf Rag, The Cascades
Dave Brubeck: Blue Rondo a la Turk
Mike Mower: Two pieces from Jazz Suite for Wind Quintet in the Style of Bebop & Dixieland
Irving Berlin: Alexander’s
Ragtime Band
Karen Rash - Flute, Barbara Ashby - Oboe, Clare Moisan - Clarinet, Zoe Hurlock - French Horn, Hilary Ougham - Bassoon
Saturday, 2nd december, 2.30-4.30pm
SHEPHERDS ARISE! Quite & Band directed by Mary Motley
OLD SUSSEX CAROLS from SUSSEX CHURCH MANUSCRIPT BOOKS & ORAL TRADITION with voices, flute, fiddle, bassoon, serpent, clarinet & concertina
DANCE TUNNES & READINGS from SUSSE SOURCES
SUSSEX MUMMERS PLAY
Monday, 4th December, 7-8pm
THE STRING ENSEMBLE of Brighton & East Sussex Orchestra
directed by Andrew Sherwood: the stars of the youth orchestra play in aid of ENCORE, a charity raising funds to enable young musicians in East Sussex to receive instrumental lessons. Admission free, donations will be split between the charity and St. Laurence church
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Sat. 4th November, 5.30-6.15pm: JIGSAW JAZZ CAFÉ! Come and enjoy jazz classics with delicious, home-made snacks from Marine Cuisine (cash please), fireworks afterwards (weather permitting) – bring sparklers and friends! Admission free, donations will be split between the band and church funds.
Saturday, 21st October, 17.30-18.15
EVELYN HARRISON - SAXOPHONE and ZHANNA KEMP - PIANO
Concerto 2d and 3d movements by Ronald Binge
Melody by Tchaikovsky
Danse by Darius Milhaud
Serenata by Gaetano Braca
Chante Corse by Tomasi
Valse Romantique Seymour Burns
“My man’s gone now”, Promenade by Gershwin and “Bess, you is my woman now” by Gershwin- Heifetz
Saturday, 9th September, 5.30-6.15p,: Will Walshe-Grey (organ scholar, St. Mary's Redcliffe, Bristol), Organ, to include Cecilia McDowall, ) Antiphon Sequence and Graig Phillips, The Archangel Suite.
Friday, 15th September, 7.30pm
MAGIC OF THE MUSICALS
The Sound of Music, Sunset Boulevard, South Pacific, Phantom of the Opera…….
Narrated by Dame Evangeline Rackett!
Musical Director – Jason Pimblett
with the Falmer Singers and Guest Soloists
Saturday, 21st October, 5.30-6.15pm: Evelyn Harrison - Saxophone and Zhanna Kemp - Piano
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Saturday, 1st July, 5.30-6.15pm
DUCK SOUP: English folk music ,
with a dash of the music-hall, a dollop of groove and a soupcon of surreality. Duck Soup is a happy
accident.
Way back in 2005, Dan Quinn (Gas Mark 5, Flowers & Frolics) started thinking about recording a solo album, and thought it would be fun to get Ian Kearey (Shirley Collins, Oysterband) and Adam Bushell (Stocai, Tacet Ensemble) to join him on a couple of numbers. He was right! So much so that we recorded the whole album as a trio, and haven't stopped since.
Our sound is based around Dan's melodeon and vocals, which keep us firmly rooted in English tradition even when we're playing tunes from Canada, Barbados or beyond
Whatever instrument Ian plays, he provides solid groove. He's a man that can find the rock'n'roll heart of any traditional ballad, and vice versa.
Adam’s array of instruments might not immediately make you think of folk music, but the way he plays them certainly will – from polka-ing with a marimba to ballad-ing with a phonofiddle.
It all ends up as a glorious cross between an English tune session in your favourite pub and a collision in an instrument shop.
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SATURDAY, 24th JUNE, 5.30pm
THE PASTORES ENSEMBLE: A BANQUET OF MUSICAL DELIGHTS, music for viols, mandolins, guitar and voice by Johnson, Tye, Marais, Playford and Robert Carrington and others
BRIGHTON FRINGE 2023
Saturday, MAY 13th, 5.30pm - THE COPPER FAMILY
The Copper Family traces its roots back to 1593 in the Sussex village of Rottingdean where an entry in the first extant Parish register records a marriage. The Family singing tradition can be traced back at least to the 18th Century. The Coppers were always renowned as singers in the village and the Copper menfolk, largely comprising farm labourers, carters, ploughmen and shepherds were always in demand at sing-songs, pubs, harvest suppers and seasonal celebratory events around the farms and villages.
Sunday, May 21st, 6pm – THE AMITY SINGERS (Please note the change of time)
The Amity Singers (women’s voices) perform 6-10 concerts a year in the local community and will entertain us with an eclectic mix of styles, ranging from Purcell to The Evening Prayer from Humperdink's Hansel and Gretel to Chicago by Ebb and Kander.
Saturday, May 27th, 5.30pm – BELLADONNA: Sue Mileham, Soprano, Jane Plessner, Clarinet, Nicola Grunberg, Piano presents Love is in the Air, a programme on the eternal theme taking us through varying styles from Thomas Arne to Cole Porter, including such gems as Finzi’s Romance for Clarinet and Piano, Mendelssohn’s piano solo, On Wings of Song, and Rusalka’s Song to the Moon by Dvorak.
FRINGE AT FALMER IS A GRATEFUL RECIPIENT OF A
BRIGHTON LIONS' BURSARY
FIVEWAYS AT FALMER
Weekends 6th-28th May
Saturdays, 10.30-16.30
Sundays, 11.30-16.00
St. Laurence Church is pleased to announce that members of the Fiveways Artists' Group will be exhibiting at St. Laurence as part of their Open Houses scheme. The following artists will be exhibiting:
Sue Barnes (Falmer artist): sacred art
Sam Beck: recent contemporary paintings inspired by the cityscape and landscape
Laura Darling: still life and landscape paintings in oil
Rex Matthews: acrylic paintings inspired by Gaudi's Sagrada Famillia in Barcelona
Eva Wibblerley: seascapes and landscapes in a range of painterly media
Teresa Winchester: printmaking and storytelling using animal and floral imagery
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SATURDAY, 15TH APRIL, 5.30pm
ELLIE BLACKSHAW – VIOLIN
J.S.Bach: G minor solo sonata, BWV 1001
Bela Bartok: Solo Sonata in G minor, Sz.117: Melodia, Presto
Peter Copley: The Violinist is hanging on the wall…
SATURDAY, 25TH MARCH, 5.30pm
BRIGHTON GUITAR QUARTET:
Simon Hopkins, James Hartt, Olivier Thereaux , Ruairi Gann
(Director: Gregg Isaacson)
Luigi Boccherini, Roland Dyens,
Simon Hopkins, Turlough O'Carolan,
Stepan Rak, Maurice Ravel, Andrew York
SATURDAY, 4TH FEBRUARY, 4.30-5.40pm
SOUTH DOWN WINDS QUINTET
Arrieu, Fauré, Poulenc, Gounod, Debussy and Bizet
(this slightly longer concert includes a short interval)
SATURDAY, 11TH FEBRUARY, 5.30-6.15pm
LEWIS KINGSLEY-PEART – PIANO
Paderewski: Minuet in G, Op. 14 No. 1, Nocturne in B-flat major, Op. 16 No. 4
Dohnányi: Aria, Op. 23 No. 1, Rhapsody in C, Op.11 No. 3
Billy Mayerl, Song of the Fir-Tree, Railroad Rhythm, Marigold
Grünfeld, Soirée de Vienne, Op. 56
SEE WHAT WE HOSTED IN 2021-22 SEASON
SHEPHERDS ARISE! Sunday, 11th December, 2.30-4.30pm, a selection of beautiful old West Gallery carols from Sussex villages accompanied by flute, fiddle, serpent, bassoon, clarinet, concertinas & recorder. Between the carols are readings about Christmas in Sussex in the past, and the musicians play lively dance tunes from old Sussex manuscripts and there is also a mummers'play. Admission and refreshments free, donations will be split between the church and the Martlets Hospice
Saturday, 10th September, 5.30-6.15pm
Lewis Kingsley-Peart, Piano
Beethoven, Sonata quasi una fantasia, (Moonlight), Schubert, Fantasie in C Major (Wanderer), Chopin, Ballade No.1, Op.23
Lewis made his debut at St. John's, Smith Square in March 2013 in a programme of music celebrating the 75th birthday of renowned American composer, Stephen Montagu. In the summer of 2021 he had the privilege of working with the British concert pianist and composer, Stephen Hough, on his third piano sonata, "Trinitas" for the Trinity Laban New Lights Festival of Contemporary Music. Lewis looks forward to future recital engagements, and is excited to make his debut at St. Martin-in-the-Fields in September, as well as his concerto debut in 2023.
Saturday, 8th October, 6.30-7.15pm
Simon Madge, Baritone and Katy Friese-Greene, Piano
A programme of English Song, to include works by George Butterworth and Vaughan Williams' "Songs of Travel"
Saturday 18th June, 5.30-6.15pm
THE PASTORES ENSEMBLE with special guests
Roberto Prieto-Labrador Countertenor
Zhou Han (Rose) Erhu
present: A VARIETY OF MUSIC TO DELIGHT
Tenorlieder @ 4 Ludwig Senfl (1486-1542?)
Wolcum de Mai I
Rosina, wo was dein Gestalt
Wolcum de Mai II
Madrigals @ 3 Michael East (1580–1648 ): How Merrily we Live Follow Me
Villancicos Cancionero de Palacio— Songs from the Library of the Palacio Real in Madrid:
Tres Morillas –Anon Más vale trocar –Juan del Encina (1468-1530)
Ay Linda Amiga - Anon Mano a mano los dos amores –Anon
Solo Lute: Night Song—Robert Carrington (fl. 2022)
Erhu & Viols: Wild Swans Fairest Isle –Henry Purcell (1659-1695)
Trio: Aire– Paul Neville (b. 1969)
Suite from the Tempest- Matthew Locke (1621 – 1677)
The First Music– Galliard– Gavot– Lilk
All concerts 5.30-6.15pm
SUNDAY, MAY 8TH: UNFENCED UNWRAPPED, Sally Wilson, SAm Brennan, Liz Woodhouse, Jane Peckham and Barney Guy - a musical confectionery: female voices, sophisticated piano, string bass and a zippy drummer. Unfenced have one aim only: to lift your hearts, bring a smile to your faces and get your toes tapping!
SATURDAY, MAY 14TH: DUCK SOUP: Dan Quinn - voice, melodeon, Ian Kearey - bass guitar, 12-string dobro, manndolin, tipple, and Adam Bushell - marimba, mandolin, triangle, saw and phonofiddle: English folk music, with a dash of the music-hall, a dollop of groove and a soupcon of surreality. It all ends up as a glorious cross between an English tune session in your favourite pub and a collision in an instrument shop. Amongst the favourites that we'll probably play are Molly Bawn, Hornpipe, The Indian Intermezzo, Marche de 64ieme Batallion, Lena.
SATURDAY, MAY 21ST: SUSSEX FLUTES: Sue Gregg, Victoria Hancox, Anne Hodgson and Nicole Leclerc are delighted to be returning to St. Laurence, the very first venue in which they performed as a group 12 years ago! With a reputation for high quality chamber music for different combinations of flutes ranging from Piccolo to Bass Flute they encompass a wide range of musical styles and genres.
Mozart - Flute quartet in D major Herman Beeftink - "Birds" for Flute Trio Telemann - Flute Quartet in D minor Kern - "Smoke gets in your eyes" Trad. - "Shepherd's Hey"
Find them on Facebook to keep up to date with their latest news
SATURDAY, MAY 28TH: DOUBLE DUOS: Alan Larkin - clarinet and alto sax, Michael Withers- clarinet and tenor sax, Trevor Denyer - Horn, Susan Denyer - bass: a unique ensemble, playing show music from the 1920s to 1950s and beyond. Programme will include The Frim Fram Sauce, New York, New York, Sunrise, Sunset, The Poirot Theme, Stranger on the Shore
SATURDAY, JUNE 4TH: REFLECTIONS OF LOVE: DARIA ROBERTSON, Soprano and ZHANNA KEMP-DASHKOVSKAYA, Piano present a programme of well-known romantic arias including works Mozart, Puccini, Poulenc, Stravinsky and lesser-known gems by Offenbach, Menotti and Clara Schumann.
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Saturday April 8th, 5.30pm
Beatrice Sales, Viola and Kevin Allen, Piano
Beethoven - Seven variations on Bei Mannern from Mozart's Die Zauberflote
Robert Schumann - Marchenbilder, Op.113
D. Shostakovich - Sonata for Viola and Piano, Op. 147
Beethoven - Country Dances