Recorder virtuoso plays Chichester

As a concerto soloist, Piers performs with orchestras including the BBC Symphony and Concert Orchestras, the Philharmonia, the English Sinfonia, the City of London Sinfonia, London Musici, Guildhall Strings, the Academy of Ancient Music and the Singapore Sinfonietta.

For the FMG’s meeting at 7.30pm on Wednesday, February 8 in the University of Chichester Chapel, he will play a work written specially for him.

“David Bedford died about three or four years ago, but he wrote this for me in 1994. He was a true cross-over musician.

“He was a very respected classical composer, but he also worked across the board in all different areas. He did the orchestration for Tubular Bells and worked with a lot of different rock and pop musicians. He had a proper foot in both camps.

“I used to teach for many years at the Dartington Summer School, and he was one of the other people that came along quite regularly. It was the organisers of the summer school who put us together and commissioned the work. It doesn’t get better than that for a musician, particularly when it is a fantastic work by a great composer.

“He had been to a couple of my concerts at Dartington, and he knew what I was all about. I have always tried to be this combination of being quite flamboyant but at the same time a serious core. I think he really picked up on that with this piece. It’s a very virtuosic piece that really puts me through my paces, and it has got a real emotional depth to it. He really takes the piece seriously, and it is not easy to write for a recorder. It’s an instrument with a number of limitations, and he really does it very well. He really picks up on some of the figures that some of the baroque composers would have used, and he is able to transpose them into a modern idiom. It has got roots in earlier music.”

Also performing on the night will be Finland’s virtuoso violinist Zoltan Tacáks who will lead the University Chamber Orchestra. Funtington Music Group has shared with the University of Chichester the cost of bringing him over.

They will offer – under the baton of Crispin Ward – a programme of music by Vaughan Williams and Bella Bartok. Zoltan will also play Vaughan Williams’s solo violin composition The Lark Ascending.

FMG chairman David Tinsley said: “The Funtington Music Group has a strong and thriving membership which is pleased to support the University in this way and in return enjoy a wonderful evening of music with world class performers.

“All are welcome to join us at for a ticket price at the door of just £15. Visitors may join as members at any time during the year. The subscription for this event and the remaining seven events in 2017 is £70, a saving of £50 on ticket prices. Please contact our membership secretary on 378900 for further details.”

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