Live-streaming this season for Chichester Chamber Concerts

The season proper opens on Thursday, October 1, but first the series catches up with last year’s truncated season, offering a concert on Thursday, September 10 from the Trinity Ensemble (leader Ofer Falk, violin) – a date rescheduled from March 26.

Concerts will be in the Assembly Room once a month until March. Seats in the Assembly Room will be limited to approximately 40 (against a usual capacity of around 170), with tickets available from Chichester Festival Theatre (https://www.cft.org.uk/chichester-chamber-concerts). Tickets can be ordered online or by post, Chichester Festival Theatre, Oaklands Park, Chichester, PO19 6AP, but there will be no telephone or in-person bookings at the moment. But to help accommodate the usual demand, the concerts will also be live-streamed on YouTube by MD Music Production directors David Greenlees and Mark Mawson.

Series chairman Anna Hill said: “David is also a very, very good viola player so he understands exactly what is needed and that the audio quality has got to be very, very high. I am confident they are going to do a very good job.

“The concerts will go out on YouTube because apparently that’s the best way of achieving high quality.”

Chichester Chamber Concerts won’t be able to charge on YouTube, but after the first, rescheduled concert, they will be asking for donations from online viewers: “We are putting ourselves in the hands of our audiences and hoping that they will be generous.”

Judging by response so far, Anna doesn’t believe people will be cautious to attend in person: “The people who are nervous will obviously stay at home. I think it is going to be terribly important for the smaller audiences and for the players. The players have been denied playing to a live audience for months now. I am sure they are really looking forward to it, and I think people will be terribly keen to come. I went to a similar concert by the Hanover Band in Arundel, and there was a great atmosphere. People were just thrilled to be hearing live music for the first time in months and also just to see each other and talk.”

Anna had considered increasing attendance by holding the concerts twice on the day: “But we spoke to the City Council (who own the Assembly Room) and they said there would have to be an awful lot of cleaning in between one audience going and the next one coming. But who knows, by the spring, perhaps things will have got a lot better and we will be able to have more people in.”

Concerts coming up include:

Thursday, October 1 – The Dudok Quartet: Judith Van Driel violin, Marleen Wester violin, Marie-Louise de Jong viola, David Faber cello. Winner of a prestigious Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award 2018, and prizes at the Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition, the Dudok Quartet of Amsterdam is forging a reputation as one of the most creative and versatile young quartets of their generation. They will play Brahms – Czardas Programme; Bartók – Quartet No. 5; Dance arrangements by Kurtág, Kalman, Vigh, Ligeti and Brahms; Brahms – Quartet No. 3 in B flat major.

Thursday, November 5 – The Sitkovetsky Trio: Alexander Sitkovetsky violin; Isang Enders cello; Wu Qian piano. The Sitkovetsky Trio is established as an exceptional piano trio of today, with performances in the foremost concert halls around the world to their credit. Alexander Sitkovetsky (violin) and Wu Qian (piano) were joined last season by German-Korean cellist Isang Enders. They will play: Schumann Fantasiestücke in A minor Op. 88; Beethoven Piano Trio in E flat Op.70 no. 2; Arensky Piano Trio No 1 in D minor Op. 32.