Dear fellow music lover,

The Autumn season of concerts is here and we are pretty pleased with the line up.

Last season we invited back lots of performers that you told us you enjoyed the first time round but this time we have ventured into pastures new and all our artists are playing for us for the first time.

If you enjoy early music concerts you may well have seen Matthew Wadsworth, Katharine Hawnt or Amy Wittlesea before. They are all well known and well respected in the world of renaissance and early baroque performance. They join forces under the Ensemble Unmeasured banner to bring us a delightful concert entitled Timeless Treasures.

The Darach Ensemble is a reed trio of musicians at the start of their professional careers. Most of their programme is music that you will recognise, but, in the arrangements for their instruments,  it takes on a texture and creates a sound world that is intriguing – and very beautiful.

Another intriguing combination is the Mikeleiz-Zucchi Duo. Who would have thought that accordion and saxophone was a good combination? In fact it works really well for music from Praetorius to Piazolla

Our special concert is a real winner. Each member of the Eblana String Trio has a busy professional career performing in their own right. Their concerts as a trio have been very well received in venues such as the Wigmore Hall and Bridgewater Hall and they also teach and mentor students on the art of playing chamber music. If you don’t know the works they are playing you are in for a treat. EJ Moeran was of English/Irish heritage and was obsessed with the folk music of both countries. The Trio reflects this – little snatches of melody that are almost, but not quite, familiar. Alwyn’s Phantasy Trio is a very early work and to date, unpublished. The Eblana Trio were invited to give the first performance in 2017 – almost a hundred years after its composition. Alwyn went on to compose music in many genres, including scores for lots of well known films.

We have put programme information about all the concerts on our website.

So… lots of lovely music in store AND we have decided to offer refreshments again. We know that Covid is still with us and that some of you may prefer to join us just for the concerts and might continue to wear masks. This, of course is absolutely fine. However, as things stand at the moment, we feel it will be safe enough to offer you tea and coffee before the one hour concerts, and a cool drink during the interval of the Special concert.

As usual, tickets are on sale via our website. Subscriptions this time round represent fantastically good value when compared with tickets for single concerts, but do book early – if a single concert sells out we cannot then offer subscriptions. Booking for subscriptions is now open. Booking for single concerts starts on Monday 26 September. If you prefer to book by post you can pick up your tickets on the door or, if you enclose a stamped addressed envelope, we will post them to you.

We are trying hard to reduce our postal bill. If you have email, could I encourage you to receive our fliers that way? Hard copies of the flier are always available at the Town Hall, Black Swan, Rook Lane and other venues in Frome. Sarah will also have some if you wish to collect from her at 10 Bath Street.

Looking forward to seeing you in October,

With best wishes,

Mary and the committee – Clive, Edith, Richard, Rhona and Sarah