Chichester Music Society & University of Chichester Conservatoire, 14 March
International violinist-virtuoso and conservatoire tutor Bogdan Vacarescu returned to CMS to lead a thrilling Chamber Music Extravanganza in the University Cloisters on 14th March in which six students collaborated with instrumental tutor-colleagues Meg Hamilton (viola) and Ivana Peranic (cello) to perform quintets and sextets by Mozart, Dvorak and Schumann.
The well chosen and challenging programme included some masterpieces of the Chamber Music genre, including movements from Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet and String Quintet in G Major, and Schumann’s Piano Quintet in E flat major. The second half of the programme was devoted to a complete performance of Dvorak’s String Sextet in A major Op.48, and ended with Piazzolla’s ‘Libertango’, arranged by Meg Hamilton for the whole group of tutors and students – a sensational finale!
The evening saw some outstanding music making by the students – Ray Box (violin), Holly Cushion (clarinet), Verity Lawrence (cello), Nicola Oakley (viola), Mahya Mahroomi (piano) and Georgia Smith (viola). Holly Cushion set a high bar in the first movement of Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet, followed by the lovely slow movement from the Mozart Quintet and a spirited performance of the quintet’s finale. Mahya Mahroomi was the outstanding soloist in the first movement of Schumann’s E flat major Piano Quartet.
