Lewes Chamber Music Festival set to explore Vienna

It brings together internationally renowned musicians for seven concerts, as well as a pre-concert talk, an open rehearsal and a film screening. There will be a whole host of musicians performing chamber music in intimate venues around Lewes. Baritone Christopher Purves (at Glyndebourne this summer) will be performing and organisers are excited to welcome back pianists Alasdair Beatson and Bengt Forsberg along with a group of some of the most exciting young string players in the UK. Exploring Vienna is the title of this year’s festival with music by Korngold, Mozart, Beethoven, Kreisler and Strauss alongside the little known Walter Rabl. The festival also features pieces by Arnold Schoenberg, including his second String Quartet in the Festival Finale concert on June 16 (Trinity St John Sub Castro Church, £17), with young soprano Raphaela Papadakis. There will also be a late night performance of Schoenberg’s rarely heard Serenade Op.24 on June 15 (St Michael’s Church, £15). This piece, for baritone and septet, will include superstar baritone Christopher Purves and will be introduced with a pre-concert talk by guitarist, BBC Radio 3 presenter and Schoenberg enthusiast Tom McKinney. The festival weekend opens with a screening of the classic film, The Third Man (which is set in Vienna) at the Depot Cinema on Wednesday, June 13 (8.15pm), and the music begins with the Opening Concert at 7.30pm on Thursday, June 14, at St John Sub Castro church, featuring the Mozart C minor String Quintet. There will be a Coffee Concert at the All Saints Centre, Friar’s Walk, on Saturday, June 16 (11am-12pm), featuring the String Sextet from Capriccio Op.85 (1942) by Richard Strauss and the Oboe Quintet (1927) by Bliss. Artistic director and violinist Beatrice Philips said: “I have been wanting to do a Viennese themed Festival for a couple of years now, and am very excited about this year’s concerts. “The re-opening of St John Sub Castro church with its brilliant acoustics makes it the perfect year for presenting this Viennese Festival. “The music that came out of the city of Vienna, from Mozart, Schubert and Beethoven in the 19th century right through to Schoenberg, Kreisler and Korngold into the 20th century encapsulates an extraordinary evolution of Western Classical music - making for an amazing set of concerts.” Tickets are £15-£17. Visit www.leweschambermusicfestival.com or call 01273 47865. Alternatively, email box-office@leweschambermusicfestival.com. Don’t miss out on all the latest breaking news where you live. Here are four ways you can be sure you’ll be among the first to know what’s going on. 1 Make our website your homepage 2 Like our Facebook page 3 Follow us on Twitter 4 Register with us by clicking on ‘sign in’ (top right corner). You can then receive our daily newsletter AND add your point of view to stories that you read here. And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out! Be part of it.