Chamber Music, Culture and Arts
JANE GORDON previews Hastings Chamber Music Festival
Rautio Piano Trio, left to right Jan Rautio, Jane Gordon, Victoria Simonsen.
Hastings Chamber Music Festival takes place September 19 – 22 and brings together a wonderful line-up. Artistic Director, violinist Jane Gordon, has invited 13 of the UK’s internationally acclaimed musicians to perform four concerts, held at Kino Teatr and Christ Church. The Festival presents relaxed classical concerts with plenty of chat from the performers about the music. Everyone is welcome and there is a wide variety on offer.
Headlining this year is the award-winning Sacconi Quartet (20 Sept) who will perform Schubert’s iconic Death & the Maiden alongside a world première by composer/pianist Jan Rautio.There’s also Tchaikovsky by Candlelight (19 Sept), and Spanish Song and Dance Music (22 Sept). But a highlight of the festival is the French Romantics programme (Sept 21) which celebrates the music of Gabriel Fauré on the centenary of his death, alongside that of his celebrated pupil, Maurice Ravel. Both patriotic composers lived through wartime France, and through their output we can explore the perceived relations between political belief and artistic expression. (Incidentally, if you watched the Olympics closing ceremony, there was also music by Fauré. French tenor Benjamin Bernheim sang a new arrangement of Fauré’s Hymne à Apollon. It was accompanied by the rather dazzling floating piano!).
All the performers are regularly heard on BBC Radio 3 and play at venues including the Berlin Philharmonie, Vienna Konzerthaus, Carnegie Hall, and Glyndebourne Opera. The ethos of the Festival is to create the time and space for the musicians to share the process of making music. Throughout, there are ‘artist in conversation’ talks and after-show events to meet the players. For Christ Church Concerts (Sept 19 & 21) there are ticket deals available; early bird offers (£18), under 30s (£15), and free tickets for students, under 18s or jobseekers. They are also available in person, Thurs/Fri/Sat from The Bookkeeper in Kings Rd. Kino-Teatr box office is also now open for the Sept 20 and 22 concerts.
Inspired by the music we love and the art of live performance, I want to engage our listeners to contemplate the significance and relevance the Arts can hold in our culture today. We aim to give music a platform to connect to wider topics relevant to today’s cultural and political landscape.
Editors’ note: Violinist Jane Gordon founded Hastings Early Music Festival in 2017 with her mother Chris. They relaunched it as Hastings Chamber Music Festival in 2023 and have recently obtained charitable status. Jane has a busy touring schedule and has released four albums with her ensemble, Rautio Piano Trio, plus one solo album. She is playing at the BBC Proms on Sept 13.
Hastings Chamber Music Festival at Kino-Teatr and Christ Church St Leonards Sept 19 -22. (Ticket offers available for Christ Church concerts Sept 19 and 21). For more information and tickets, see hemf.co.uk.
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