Oundle Music Trust is delighted to offer its programme of four autumn concerts, which covers a wide variety of musical genres, for your enjoyment.

All performances, will take place in some of the most serene and beautiful villages in Northamptonshire. Oundle Music Trust is grateful, as always, to the churches for hosting the concerts and for welcoming everyone so warmly. Some of the churches are in quite remote locations and have limited access; if you would like directions, information about any of the churches or assistance on the night of the event, please contact 01832 274919. Car Parking may be found near the venues, but could be on unlit streets.  If you need transport to concerts and you are elderly or disabled, Volunteer Action may be able to help you; call 01832 275433 for more details.

Refreshments will usually be available during the intervals, provided by members of the church and with the income going to church funds. Toilets will be available at all venues.  However at some locations, the toilets could be located at a separate site nearby. Please remember that pews are often hard, do bring a cushion if you wish; all seats are unreserved.

Friday 13th September, 7.30pm

Benefi eld - Church of St Mary the Virgin ‘LIFE STORIES’ - Harborough Collective The Harborough Collective is an ensemble that draws on the talents of this country’s most outstanding professional musicians who perform as soloists, chamber musicians and orchestral players all over the world.  Life Stories focuses on composers writing at important moments in their lives. Only two movements of the ageing Haydn’s fi nal quartet were completed and the inscription ‘Gone is all my strength, old and weak am I’ appears in the score. The slow movement of Beethoven’s Opus 132 quartet is a hymn of thanksgiving for having survived an illness and Smetana’s autobiographical quartet From My Life portrays, amongst other things, despair at the deafness that blighted the end of his life.

Friday 20th September, 7.30pm

Thurning - Church of St James the Great

‘BETWEEN HEAVEN & EARTH’ - David Le Page

David Le Page, a former pupil of the Yehudi Menuhin School, is one of the UK’s most sought-after violinists. Between Heaven and Earth is an exploration of music for solo violin with Bach’s transcendent Chaconne at its heart. The concert also features David’s new reconstruction of Bach’s celebrated Toccata and Fugue in D minor and a selection of Paganini’s legendarily virtuosic Opus 1 Caprices. Heinrich Biber’s Passacaglia from the Mystery Sonatas presents an intimate and meditative foreshadowing of Bach’s Chaconne.  David also performs his own work Between Heaven and Earth. The piece uses the recorded voice of World War Two pilot Richard Hillary and in it we hear him recount his experience of being shot down over the English Channel. His unsentimental musings about life and death, whilst waiting to be rescued, make for an extraordinarily moving experience.

Friday 27th September, 7.30pm

Polebrook - All Saints Church

HORNS ALOUD

Horns Aloud fi rst formed in 2003 when John Davy and Marc Woodhurst were persuaded to form a horn quartet to play some Tippett for a competition at Trinity College of Music.  Jamie Thomas also formed part of the original line-up and they were joined by 3rd horn Jocelyn Lightfoot in 2005.

From the outset the group have transcended the traditional boundaries and limitations of the horn quartet genre and worked to use the full expressive, dynamic and historical range of the French Horn to play music of many styles to new audiences in unusual and sometimes breath-taking venues.

As a brass ensemble, some judicious, lightfi ngered arranging of other instruments’ repertoire is a key part of their performances.  Horns Aloud will warm the heart, stimulate the mind and entertain and inspire you!

Friday 4th October, 7.30pm

Geddington - St Mary Magdalene

VILLIERS STRING QUARTET

Quickly gaining a reputation as one of the most innovative British quartets on the music scene today, the Villiers Quartet has created its own ground-breaking chamber music residency and concert series in collaboration with St. Andrew’s Church in Hammersmith & Fulham, London.

In 2012, Villiers Quartet became a featured ensemble of the UK’s Making Music Concert Promoter’s Group after being selected from a pool of over 100 applicants.

At the forefront of innovation and creativity in music, they regularly perform concerts which explore the relationship of chamber music with dance, art, fi lm, literature, digital media and technology. Projects for the 2013 - 2014 season include recordings of the complete quartets by Robert Still with the British Music Society, and a music residency with Syracuse University in New York. The Villiers Quartet is proud to be generously sponsored by the Delius and Bush Trusts, and by the VQ Supporters Circle.

Tickets are £13, £11 for concessions and £3 for under 18s. Book for three different concerts or more and save £1 per ticket.  To request a full brochure or to book, please contact Oundle Box Offi ce, 4 New Street, Oundle PE8 4ED, on 01832 274734 or online www.oundlefestival.org.uk Follow us on Facebook or Twitter (@ OundleMusic) for the latest on all of our activities.