Sonnets & Sonatas: Violin, piano & poetry

About

A one-off Chiltern Arts event this November... join us for an irresistible evening of words, music and conversation...

6pm Pre-Concert Talk
7.30pm Concert

Cristian Grajner de Sa violin
John Lenehan piano
Mark Burrows reader

Brahms Scherzo in C minor (from the F-A-E Sonata)
Clara Schumann Three Romances for violin and piano, Op.22
Ethel Smyth Violin Sonata in A minor, Op. 7
Amy Beach Romance for violin and piano, Op. 23
Fauré Violin Sonata No. 1 in A major, Op. 13

A beautifully-curated dance of Romances, Sonatas and Sonnets, this musical and literary evening invites you to leave day-to-day life behind for a few short hours and to join three outstanding artists in exploring the music of Brahms, Ethel Smyth, Clara Schumann and Fauré in tandem with Mark's brand new translation of Rilke's Sonnets to Orpheus.

Rilke's Sonnets to Orpheus were written from the isolated location of Château de Muzot in Switzerland — which, as Mark Burrows puts it in his introduction to the Sonnets, "provided the uninterrupted quiet Rilke had long sought". Rilke's expansive, lyrical work explores the unexplainable, the mysteries between life and death and experiences of love — and the poet himself speaks of the "unsayable": the things that are so deeply felt they cannot be expressed. And what better way to embrace and immerse ourselves in these "unsayable" things than through music?

Premium Experience tickets (limited availability) offer a full evening of cultural immersion, including the opportunity to meet the artists at their pre-concert talk (6pm), with a glass of sparkling wine and a selection of canapés, at The Griffin's stylish Assembly Room, across the road from St Mary's Church, where the concert will take place. Concert-only tickets (£15 & £25) are also available.