Reviews

  There can be few musicians as talented and versatile as Derbyshire’s own Lizzie Ball. Her regular appearances at Peak Music are always eagerly awaited and her concert with Serbian accordionist Miloš Milivojević in the finale to the 2024/25 season did not disappoint. A thrilling programme including classical, folk, tango and even a hoe-down had […]

There was an air of excitement and expectation at the Peak Music Society on Saturday 29th March. The capacity audience had come to hear the concert pianist Jeneba Kanneh-Mason give a piano recital. The Kanneh-Mason family story is one of exceptional musical excellence and talent in a family of seven children. Jeneba won the keyboard […]

The eclectic combination of viola, flute and harp that is the Pelléas Ensemble gave a rich and expressive performance at the Cavendish Hall on 28th November, with a repertoire spanning three centuries. The ensemble was formed in 2011 when Guildhall School of Drama students Luba Tunnicliffe (viola) and Henry Roberts (flute) approached a third, Oliver […]

Last Monday I and my close friend Elizabeth took our seats in the Cavendish Hall, ready to be entertained by a group of string players we had not heard before. From their first entry on the stage, the group promised we would hear and see something very special. The opening work was Haydn’s ‘Jack-in-the-box’ Quartet […]

One might imagine that the pairing of a powerful and technically sophisticated instrument such as the synthesiser with one which is essentially a tube of wood with holes in it would be something of a mismatch, but Baroque Alchemy proved how well it can work. Recorder maestro Piers Adams and his keyboard partner Lyndy Mayle’s […]

  The Maxwell Quartet performed their programme with finesse and sensitivity, with quartets from Haydn and Beethoven along with their own arrangements of some folk music of Scotland. Their playing showed excellence not only in their musicality but also in how they smilingly interacted with each other as each moved in or out of a […]

A packed Cavendish Hall was treated to a fantastic musical tribute to the late Dudley Moore by the James Pearson Trio, in Peak Music’s penultimate concert of the 2023-24 season. Many people fondly remember Dudley Moore as the little man in the mac alongside Peter Cook in their television series, and later as a major […]

The Katona Twins, Péter and Zoltán, delivered a bravura performance at the Cavendish Hall for the Peak Music Society on 7th November. The sheer range of their technique was dazzling and the programme for their Spanish night gave full rein to its expression. It was a real eye-opener for those unfamiliar with the classical guitar […]

The Jervaulx singers were founded by Charlie Gower-Smith and Jenny Blanco – both having worked in the Arts for many years. Charlie also runs the Chapter House Youth Choir in North Yorkshire, the Thirsk Sinfonia Orchestra, Voices at the Rivers Edge Youth Choir at the Sage Gateshead, and the Hallé Youth Choir. Based in the […]

An empty stage and ethereal music coming from the back of the hall was the unusual, but captivating opening for the first concert in the new Peak Music season, featuring the trombone quartet Bones Apart. Fittingly, for an all-female group, the evening’s programme celebrated influential women throughout the ages, be they composers, artists or historical […]

The Sacconi Quartet combined the music of traditional string quartets with more modern classical music. Bringing together the quality of a group who naturally feel the music, as a group they embraced the breadth and depth of the possibilities of stringed instruments. The variety of techniques associated with stringed instruments (pizzicato, strumming, full range bowing […]

For a programme centred on George Gershwin, the references in Lizzie Ball and James Pearson’s concert at the Cavendish Hall were wide and impressive. Fritz Kreisler, Leonard Bernstein, Astor Piazzolla, Aaron Copland, Maurice Ravel, Stephane Grappelli, Sergei Rachmaninoff and a few others were incorporated in a sparkling performance which brought a packed audience to its […]

Having never been to a concert by a wind quintet before, I was unsure what to expect of the Haffner Wind Ensemble’s appearance at the Cavendish Hall. Happily, any expectations I might have had were overwhelmingly exceeded and, judging by their rapturous applause, the large audience felt the same way. The combination of oboe, clarinet, […]

Given that his more usual venues include the Royal Festival Hall, London, Alice Tully and Carnegie Hall, New York, and the Musikverein Vienna, it was quite a coup for the Peak Music Society to entice the celebrated pianist, Paul Lewis CBE, to perform at the Cavendish Hall, Edensor, on 11th October. In fact, he was […]

The new Peak Music season opened with a superb performance by the mixed instrument chamber ensemble, I Musicanti with Tamás András. This excellent concert which featured a distinctive programme of Beethoven, was chamber music at its finest creating a delight for the audience to enjoy. Well known international double bass virtuoso, Leon Bosch, founded I […]

The Queens’ Six, an a capella group whose members make up part of the Lay Clerks of St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, gave an outstanding vocal performance to the Peak Music audience at the last concert of this season. Demonstrating the highest musical standards that would be expected of a group who regularly sing […]

Peak Music’s fifth concert of this season featured the Metamorphoses Trio, a truly international grouping of British-American clarinettist, Jean Johnson, Dutch viola player, Roeland Jagers and Russian pianist, Ilona Timchenko. Whilst their musicianship was without doubt excellent, the programme choices perhaps, like themselves, painted a picture of these challenging times with its blend of harmonious […]

“It brought tears to my eyes” was the reaction of one long-standing Peak Music Society member to Kammerphilharmonie Europa’s exquisitely performed Bach’s much-loved Double Violin Concerto, with soloists Pavel Zuzanski and Andrei Sur passing the baton seamlessly as each in turn took the lead.  It’s been a long time since the formality of white tie […]

Peak Music’s last offering of the year was an absolute humdinger. Four young postgraduates (soprano Julia Mariko Smith, mezzo-soprano Naomi Rogers, tenor Philip O’Connor and bass Peter Lidbetter) from the Royal College of Music, together with their accompanist, Christopher Pulleyn, gave a memorable gala performance of mostly well-loved favourites that would have been familiar to […]

The exciting classical quintet ZRI demonstrated their superior craftmanship to Peak Music audiences playing with an exquisite intensity rarely seen. The quintet, which takes its name from Zum Roten Igel (or The Red Hedgehog), the legendary Viennese venue in the times when Brahms and Schubert were alive, delivered a very technically demanding program of Brahms […]

“Today’s concert wasn’t good or very good – it was brilliant!”, feedback that summed up the incredible start to the new Peak Music season. The James Pearson Jazz Trio offered a superb musical portrait of Oscar Peterson through fine musicianship delivered with their signature laid back style.  The trio (James Pearson on piano, Sam […]

Peak Music’s shortened season came to a rousing finale on Thursday 22nd July with an invigorating and authoritative performance by the Brodsky Quartet that fully justified their reputation as one of the leading string quartets in the world. Re-arranged from the original date of Tuesday 29th June as a result of Ian Belton, the second […]

What a wonderful way to spend a summer evening, listening to pianist Tim Horton at the Cavendish Hall in Edensor. As the breeze from the open doors cooled us in the hall, Tim conjured pictures in our imagination with his rendition of preludes by Debussy and Chopin. From the fascinating compositions in which the number […]

Live music came back to the Cavendish Hall with the wonderfully irreverent baroque quartet, Red Priest, playing two concerts on the same day to ensure all members of Peak Music, alongside some lucky ticket holders, could enjoy the performance whilst meeting the current social distancing requirements. Restrictions aside, it was glorious, delightful, magnificent and just […]

Veronica Henderson (cello) Julia Seiber-Boyd (daughter of Matyas Seiber), Ian de Massini (accordion), Simon Seiber-Boyd “Well, I didn’t know what to expect but is wasn’t this” was a comment overheard after Ian de Massini in accompaniment with Veronica Henderson played the Cavendish Hall in the third of Peak Music’s five concert season. The comment highlighted […]