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| Madeleine Mitchell violin, Julian Milford piano, Kirsten Jenson cello at Leighton House |
The trio of Madeleine Mitchell violin, Julian Milford piano, Kirsten Jenson cello are returning to Leighton House on Tuesday 24 June 2025 for a chamber concert that mixes a towering masterpiece with a selection of lesser known gems. They conclude the evening with Brahms’ Piano Trio in B major, Op. 8, and precede this with works by Mel Bonis and George Dyson.
Mélanie Hélène Bonis studied at the Paris Conservatoire with César Franck, where Debussy was a fellow pupil but family pressure meant she did not initially pursue a career in music until her late 30s when she used the name Mel Bonis to disguise her gender. She would write over 300 pieces and Soir et Matin from 1907 is one of the best known. A pupil of Stanford and Parry, George Dyson is perhaps best known for his large-scale works such as the oratorio The Canterbury Pilgrims. Dyson said of himself as a composer, “My reputation is that of a good technician … not markedly original. I am familiar with modern idioms but they are outside the vocabulary of what I want to say” and the concert will include four of his salon pieces from the 1920s.
Brahms wrote his Piano Trio in B in 1854, not long after door-stepping Robert and Clara Schumann and impressing them with his talent. Brahms’ however, was not satisfied and despite publishing the work continued to tinker. In 1889 he made such substantial revisions to the piece that he effectively created a new work.
The evening offers the opportunity to explore Leighton House and afterwards to enjoy convivial drinks and snacks in the adjacent café and garden until 9.30pm. Full details from EventBrite.
