Northern Chords ensemble to join chamber concert series
Northern Chords Ensemble are the latest guests in the Chichester Chamber Concerts series, performing in Chichester’s Assembly Room on November 4 at 7.30pm.
They will be playing: Mozart Piano Quartet No 2 in E flat major K493; Beethoven Violin and Piano Sonata in E flat major Op 12 No 3; and Brahms Piano Quartet No 1 in G minor Op 23.
The Northern Chords Ensemble features artists from the Northern Chords Festival, founded in 2009 by artistic director Jonathan Bloxham who will be playing the cello in Chichester.
The festival takes place on the banks of the River Tyne and brings together the most exciting young musicians from across Europe to play unique concerts that excite, surprise and inspire audiences across the region, Jonathan says.
“I started it because I hugely felt that the north-east has lost out a little bit with the arts. One of the reasons I left the northeast was because I really wanted to spread my wings musically and there was not a lot of chance to do that up there.
“Young people in music were moving away because they didn’t have the chances. I thought, when I was 19 when I set up the festival, that if I brought younger people to perform there, then perhaps the next generation will be able to stay, and we’ve had some beautiful successes through the festival, young people going on to become musicians.”
As for the Northern Chords Ensemble: “Rather than importing full ensembles coming to the festival we wanted to put together unique groups. And out of putting these together we decided that we wanted to play more together.”
The Northern Chords is a flexible ensemble and Chichester has already enjoyed a concert by the group as a trio when they stepped in at short notice to replace the Sitkovetsky Trio in November 2020. Now they are back as a quartet – back at a time when the world of music is recovering.
“It is fantastic to be playing again. It is so good. It was a very strange time for everybody in the performing arts. But it is wonderful now that we are finding a way to get back to performing again. Everything came to a halt and I think for the first few months for us it was a good time for reflection and also reinvesting and remembering why we do what we do and also remembering just what a hugely important part the audience is.
“Online you can perform and it is all well and good but it absolutely is not the same as having an audience in front of you.
“Audiences are participants. They share in the energy in the room and yes, they can influence the performance. Playing in front of the camera is a very different relationship, but nothing is like playing in the moment in front of people.
“Music is a fleeting art form apart from when it is recorded, obviously. Performing live is an art form that has just gone in that moment, and that is the wonderful thing when you share it with an audience.”s