PAVEL HAAS QUARTET

19 July, 11am

Pittville Pump Room, East Approach Drive, Cheltenham GL52 3JE. Tel: 01242 523852

Mozart, Adagio & Fugue in C minor, K456 / 8’
Dvořák, String Quartet No 12 in F major (American) / 25’
Janáček, String Quartet No 2 (Intimate Letters) / 27’

This hotly-tipped young Quartet is rapidly gaining a wider public and from 2007 will be part of the European Concert Halls ‘Rising Stars’ scheme. They open their concert with Mozart’s Adagio & Fugue, inspired by Bach. Dvořák’s beautiful and expansive Quartet, written during the same year as his famous New World symphony and equally well-loved, was inspired by his visit to a Czech community in Iowa. Janáček’s second quartet, written in the last year of his life, is the highly personal and, at times, harrowing outpouring of his infatuation for Kamila Stösslová - a married woman 37 years his junior. It is one of the great pieces written in his mature style and full of the jagged rhythms and rich harmonies of late works like the Sinfonietta.

‘The Pavel Haas Quartet from the Czech Republic was breathtaking’

                                                      The Independent

                                      ***

BRNO PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

20 July, 7.30pm + 21 July, 7.30pm

Cheltenham Town Hall, Imperial Square, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, GL50 1QA. Tel: 01242 521621

Reserved Seating

Bernstein, Overture: Candide / 5’
Gershwin, Rhapsody in Blue / 17’
Wayne Marshall, Improvisation on themes by Gershwin / 10’
Gershwin, Lullaby / 9’
Bernstein, West Side Story: Symphonic Dances / 23’
Gershwin, Overture: Girl Crazy / 6’

Cheltenham Music Festival welcomes international guests, the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra to the Festival for the first time. The illustrious orchestra, established by Leoš Janáček, will give two concerts.

The effervescent and multi-talented Wayne Marshall will conduct performances of some of Gershwin’s best-loved works. Girl Crazy includes two of the great tunesmith’s most enduring hits Embraceable You and I Got Rhythm whilst Rachmaninov and Stravinsky were among the star-studded audience at the premiere of Rhapsody in Blue - the greatest piece of ‘symphonic jazz’ ever written. The ‘New York, New York’ spirit is continued with scintillating and sparkling masterpieces from Bernstein’s two great stage-works West Side Story and Candide.

22 July, 11am

Princess Elizabeth Way, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, GL51 0HG, Tel: 01242 523169

A fun, interactive hour-long concert with a presenter to guide you through an entertaining hour of classical music. Don’t miss this exciting opportunity to hear a fabulous orchestra live on your doorstep!