Music at King Charles: 2023

21.12.23

Past performers 2006-2023

Wishing all our supporters a very Happy Christmas and fulfilling New Year, with our annual updated list of all the wonderful performers we have been priviliged to host in recent years.

4.12.23

Another wonderful year

An audience of nearly 200 were thrilled by Steven Devine's inventive and classy Vivaldi programme, rounding off another successful year of concerts at King Charles. The Devine Musicke and Decimus Consort pictured here in rehearsal.

Our seven concerts this year have featured two of the country's most celebrated tenor soloists, James Gilchrist and Mark Padmore; Bennett Memorial school chamber choir; local rising star Hannah Roberts; the Musical & Amicable Society; and a fabulous opera gala.

Our next concert falls on Saturday 27th January 2024 - the weekend of the King Charles Festival, on which the church marks the anniversary of the execution of King Charles I (30th January 1649). Nowadays, this festival includes an annual lecture and special services, celebrating the life of the parish, rather than the sombre services of repentence that originally took place on this date!

King Charles Festival Epiphany Concert Saturday 27th January, 7pm

Booking information

With Baroque ensemble 'Dei Gratia'. A programme celebrating the epiphany season through arias, duos and instrumental items with readings. Music by Bach, Handel, Buxtehude, Telemann, Locke and Green.

17.10.23

Devine and Vivaldi: A Winter Vespers

A Winter Vespers Sequence
Saturday 25 November, 7pm

Booking information here

Performed by the Decimus Ensemble and the orchestra of Devine Music – principal players of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, The Academy of Ancient Music and others, directed by Steven Devine.

Since 2018, Steven Devine has been staging an annual concert at King Charles the Martyr in the run-up to Christmas, including unforgettable performances of Handel's Messiah and Bach's Christmas Oratorio.

This year's programme features Vivaldi's 'Magnificat', RV 610; Psalm settings for choir and orchestra; Concerto for violin, oboe, organ and strings, RV 554; Concerto for two oboes, RV 535; and 'Winter' from The Four Seasons.

Performers

THE DEVINE MUSICK, director Steven Devine
Oboes: James Eastaway, Gail Hennessey
Violin 1: Caroline Balding, Christiane Eidsten Dahl
Violin 2: Rebecca Harris, Sophie Simpson
Viola: Lisa Cochrane
Cello: Andrew Skidmore
Bass: Peter Mcarthy
Harpsichord & Organ: Steven Devine

DECIMUS CONSORT
Soprano: Kate Baker, Caroline Preston Bell, Ellen Smith, Polly Walton.
Alto: Christina Astin, Nicholas Perkins, Ben Toombs.
Tenor: Alex Churchill, Stephen Pritchard, Philip Mills.
Bass: Keith Bryant, Nick Handel, Rupert Preston Bell.

12.10.23

14 October: On Wenlock Edge

Mark Padmore and Chamber Domaine
Saturday 14 October, 7pm

Vaughan Williams 'On Wenlock Edge'
Elgar Piano Quintet
Songs by Rebecca Clarke

Book tickets here

Mark Padmore was born in London and studied at King’s College, Cambridge. He has established an international career in opera, concert and recital. His appearances in Bach Passions have gained particular notice, especially his renowned performances as Evangelist in the St Matthew and St John Passions with the Berlin Philharmonic and Simon Rattle, staged by Peter Sellars. The current season focuses on recitals, including performances in Barcelona and Madrid with Julius Drake; Alicante with the Elias String Quartet; the Muziekgebouw Amsterdam with Till Fellner; the Théâtre de l’Athénée Paris with Julius Drake and Schubert Winterreise with Mitsuko Uchida at Carnegie Hall New York, the Kimmel Center Philadelphia and the University of California at Berkeley.

Following a residency at Wigmore Hall in the 2021/22 season where he celebrated his relationship with pianists Till Fellner, Imogen Cooper, Mitsuko Uchida and Paul Lewis he returned to Wigmore Hall last season singing Vaughan Williams and Fauré with the Elias Quartet and James Baillieu. The 2022/23 season also saw him appear on stage in the title role of a new production of Monteverdi Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria conducted by Fabio Biondi, sing the world première of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s song cycle A constant obsession with the Nash Ensemble and give concerts with Sinfonieorchester Basel and Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen.

Mark’s most recent appearance at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden was a new production of Britten’s Death in Venice, where his performance was described as a “tour de force” and “exquisite of voice, [presenting] Aschenbach’s physical and spiritual breakdown with extraordinary detail and insight”. Other opera roles have included Captain Vere in Britten Billy Budd and Evangelist in a staging of St Matthew Passion for the Glyndebourne Festival and leading roles in Harrison Birtwistle The Corridor and The Cure at the Aldeburgh Festival.

In concert Mark performs with the world’s leading orchestras. He was Artist in Residence for the 2017/18 season with the Berlin Philharmonic and held a similar position with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in 2016/17. His work with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment has involved projects exploring both the Bach St John and St Matthew Passion without conductor which attracted worldwide acclaim. His extensive and award-winning discography includes Schumann Dichterliebe with Kristian Bezuidenhout and Schubert song cycles with Paul Lewis, both for Harmonia Mundi. Described by the New York Times as “Schubert Masters” Mark Padmore and Mitsuko Uchida recently embarked on a series of highly acclaimed, worldwide recitals and this partnership has culminated in a recording on Decca Classics of Schubert Schwanengesang and Beethoven An die ferne Geliebte. Mark was Artistic Director of the St. Endellion Summer Music Festival in Cornwall from 2012-2022, voted 2016 Vocalist of the Year by Musical America and appointed CBE in the 2019 Queens’ Birthday Honours List.

Chamber Domaine is a trailblazing ensemble acclaimed for its virtuosity, distinctive programming and passionate advocacy of the music from the 20th and 21st Centuries. Chamber Domaine features some of the UK’s most outstanding musicians and aims to bring new work to new audiences placing the music of our time into its context. Its innovative programming, collaborations, recording and outreach place the ensemble at the forefront of music-making today.

Under its music director, Thomas Kemp, the ensemble regularly appears at leading festivals and concert series in the UK and abroad. Forthcoming appearances include Deal International Festival, Norfolk and Norwich Festival, Three Choirs Festival and Wigmore Hall where it will be performing Six Brandenburgs: Six Commissions in June 2025. In a recent five star review The Observer described its interpretations as “superbly performed” : The Artsdesk praised the ensemble for its “metaphysical brilliance… a colossal achievement made up of seemingly effortless and joyous playing meeting with an equally joyous audience response.” The New York Times praised its residency at Bargemusic for its “intriguing programming and unabashed lushness”.

The ensemble has an award winning discography on Resonus and Signum. The Gramophone commented on a recent recording “…a wealth of timbral subtlety…utterly magical…a tremendous sense of vitality and commitment.”

The ensemble has worked with many of the world’s leading composers and has given many territorial and world premieres in concerts and recordings. Recent collaborations have included Earth, Water, Air and Fire - featuring music by Deborah Pritchard and George Frideric Handel with art by Maggi Hambling CBE and Marc Chagall and collaborations with composer Brian Elias and Sir Anish Kapoor at the Brighton Festival.

Chamber Domaine are the resident ensemble for Music@Malling giving concerts and outreach: a year around programme that engages hundreds of young people and adults from across Kent in creative activities. This groundbreaking programme aims to create an artistic resource for the local area that is of outstanding quality; bringing excellence to people’s doorsteps. Music@Malling was in The Guardian’s Top Ten Operas and Concerts of 2022.

11.10.23

Piano recital cancelled

Thursday 12th October, 7pm
Clare Hammond, piano recital

We regret this concert has had to be cancelled / postponed due to illness.

7.10.23

Magical evening at the opera

King Charles church was crowded for a magical evening, with stars Charlotte Bowden, Rebecca Leggett and Edward Jowle, accompanied by Julian Black.

What a night! We enjoyed a terrific programme by these talented and versatile young performers, and hope they will come again.

19.9.23

OPERA GALA 7th October

‘Deception & Delirium’ - arias and ensembles delving into dramatic intrigues, and heightened emotions of operatic plots, with Charlotte Bowden - soprano, Rebecca Leggett - Mezzo Soprano, and Edward Jowle - Baritone.

Ticket price includes interval refreshments. Limited tickets available. BOOK NOW!

These young opera stars, and pianist extraordinaire Julian Black, are set to entertain and dazzle you with their virtuosity and sense of fun. Expect the usual mixture of tears and laughter, bizarre plot twists, intense passion, and comic relief. And all accompanied by a relaxed interval with drinks and other refreshments, making this a fully sociable and rewarding evening out.

Share on Facebook

Charlotte Bowden is a recent graduate of the Royal College of Music Opera Studio. She is also an alumna of the Verbier Festival Atelier Lyrique, Glyndebourne/Jerwood, Opera Holland Park, Britten-Pears, and Philip and Dorothy Green Young Artist programmes. As a 2022 Jerwood Young Artist Charlotte made her debut as Barbarina in Le Nozze di Figaro for Glyndebourne Festival, which she reprised and covered Susanna for the Glyndebourne Tour. She has sung in concert at the Royal Albert Hall, Wigmore Hall, Cadogan Hall, Snape Maltings, the Aldeburgh Festival and the London Song Festival. A finalist in the 2022 Kathleen Ferrier Awards, she gained second prize and the Audience Prize in the 2018 Maureen Lehane Vocal Awards. This year Charlotte played the Dew Fairy in Hänsel und Gretel at Opera Holland Park and will return to Glyndebourne as Zerlina in Don Giovanni in the autumn.

Edward Jowle is a recent graduate of the Royal College of Music Opera Studio. A Samling Artist and an alumnus of the Verbier Festival Atelier Lyrique, he also won the 2022 Somerset Song Prize as well as being a prize-winner of the 2021 Cesti Competition and a finalist of the 2021 Kathleen Ferrier Awards. This year he appeared with English Touring Opera as Emireno/Ottone, Lesbo/Agrippina, Gubetta/Lucrezia Borgia, Antonio/Il viaggio a Reims and Curio/Giulio Cesare as well as playing Starveling in Polly Graham’s new production of Purcell’s The Fairy Queen at Loughborough. In concert he has performed Messiah in Lincoln Cathedral and with The Really Big Chorus at the Albert Hall, as well as Vaughan Williams’ Five Mystical Songs with Sloane Square Choral Society. This summer he returned to the London Song Festival for the world premiere of Granville Bantock’s song cycle The Sphynx.

Rebecca Leggett is a 2020 masters graduate of the Royal College of Music, having graduated from Trinity Laban Conservatoire with the TCM Trust Silver Medal for Voice. This year Rebecca became an OAE ‘Rising Star’ 2023/25 and will perform Bach’s Easter Oratorio with the group next spring. This summer she began the 11th edition of the Jardin des Voix of Les Arts Florissants with William Christie and will tour with the ensemble in a new production of Purcell’s The Fairy Queen. Rebecca enjoys performing song repertoire and took first place at the LSF British Art Song Competition 2022 with pianist George Ireland. They were then finalists in the Kathleen Ferrier Award 2023 at the Wigmore Hall.

Julian Black studied conducting with Paul Brough and worked as a freelance repetiteur in London. Highlights included working with Sir Antonio Pappano on Keith Warner’s Ring Cycle at the Royal Opera House, as the Assistant Conductor to Ollie Gooch for the world premiere of Tarik O’Regan’s opera Heart of Darkness at the Linbury Theatre and accompanying performances for the ENO’s Young Artists scheme. He then took up a full-time repetiteur’s position at the Hamburg State Opera, playing on productions including Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Falstaff and Don Carlo.

10.9.23

Sing for Joy on 16 September

Join us for an evening of uplifting sacred and secular music by the Bennet Memorial School Chamber Choir.

Booking information

This is the school’s premier choir and membership is by audition only. The choir rehearses three times a week and enjoys taking part in events both in school and the wider community. Highlights recently have been ‘A night at the Proms’ with the Maidstone Salvation Army Band, and a performance of Faure’s Requiem at St Barnabas church and a tour of Amsterdam and The Hague in February 2023.

Proceeds from this concert are generously donated towards A Hall for All - the fundraising campaign for the new community hall at King Charles.

29.8.23

Fiddlers Three: music of the Restoration court

Friday 8th September, 7pm
Fiddlers Three: An exuberant Baroque recital by the Musical & Amicable Society - three violins, lute and continuo. Tickets available here

This is music that absolutely belongs in King Charles church. It's from the same period as when the church was built, with music by Purcell and his contemporaries. In previous performances of tmusic from this period, we've been immediately struck by how well it fits with the atmosphere and architecture of the building. Think of Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn, both subscribers to the church's construction, hearing and tapping their feet to this music - and the court and the King, Charles II himself, bringing fun and laughter back into public life after the Puritan years of the Civil War.

Based in the midlands, this is one of the country's premier Baroque ensembles, led by Dr Martin Perkins, Head of Historical Performance at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.

Martin Perkins

COMING SOON

Saturday 16th September, 7pm

Sing for Joy - a concert by Bennett Memorial School Chamber Choir

An evening of uplifting sacred and secular music by the school's premier choir, in support of the Hall for All campaign.

Tickets available here

And watch out for the Tunbridge Wells International Music Festival concerts at KCM, including a fantastic opera gala, and 'On Wenlock Edge' by Vaughan Williams with tenor Mark Padmore...

29.7.23

Summer concerts coming up!

Monday 28th August, 12 noon
Free lunchtime recital by Hannah Roberts
Flute, song and piano. A delightful afternoon's concert raising funds for the King Charles community Hall for All a project to refurbish and reimagine the King Charles church hall as a multi-purpose community centre.

Friday 8th September, 7pm

Fiddlers Three: An exuberant Baroque recital by the Musical & Amicable Society - three violins, lute and continuo. Based in the midlands, this is one of the country's premier Baroque ensembles, led by Dr Martin Perkins, Head of Historical Performance at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. The music is from the same period as when the church was built, and will transport you back to the wit and excess of the court of Charles II.

Tickets available here

Saturday 16th September, 7pm
Sing for Joy - a concert by Bennett Memorial School Chamber Choir

An evening of uplifting sacred and secular music by the school's premier choir, also in support of the Hall for All campaign.

Tickets available here

Coming soon... Tunbridge Wells International Music Festival concerts at KCM, including 'On Wenlock Edge' by Vaughan Williams, with tenor Mark Padmore...

24.6.23

Remembering Peter Barker

We learnt with sadness of the death of Peter Barker recently, Radio 3 announcer and a past performer here at King Charles the Martyr.

Peter was joined by colleague Paul Guinery for a rendition of Babar the Elephant here in 2013, as part of one of his retirement projects referenced in his obituary in the Telegraph this week.

Older members of the audience were reminded of his unflappable newsreading and gentile delivery on the radio, and we all enjoyed meeting him very much.

4.5.23

Music Festival 2023: first dates announced

The annual Tunbridge Wells International Music Festival is set for another terrific season this October.

Opening with the Tunbridge Wells Symphony Orchestra's autumn concert, the series will include three performances at King Charles the Martyr, including a special fundraising Opera Gala.

Sunday 1 October, 3pm: Royal Tunbridge Wells Symphony Orchestra at the Assembly Hall

Saturday 7 October, 7pm: Opera Gala at King Charles the Martyr church

Thursday 12 October, 7pm: Piano recital by Clare Hammond, at King Charles the Martyr

Saturday 14 October, 7pm: On Wenlock Edge by Vaughan Williams, with tenor Mark Padmore, at King Charles the Martyr

More details will be announced soon. Keep an eye on the Festival website and follow it on Twitter for more details in the coming weeks.

5.2.23

'Inn Stetter Hut': concert 17 March

Friday 17th March

Music for the richest man in the world
James Gilchrist (tenor) and the Linarol Consort
CD launch tour
16th Century German Love Songs
Book tickets (advance booking discount)

A concert of enchanting sixteenth-century song performed by one it its leading exponents and authentically accompanied on copies of the earliest surviving viol.

Love in all is various forms (unrequited, romantic and lascivious mischief) is explored in the songs by leading musical figures working in Maximilian’s court: Heinrich Isaac, Paul Hofhaimer and Ludwig Senfl, one of the most prolific composers of German song and secular music of the period.

As well as to Tunbridge Wells, the Linarol Consort are bringing this programme to Oxford and Cambridge as part of a tour to launch their new recording of the music. You can read more about it in this Oxford Medieval Studies article.

Tenor James Gilchrist began his working life as a doctor, turning to a full-time music career in 1996. His extensive concert repertoire has seen him perform in major concert halls throughout the world with renowned conductors including Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Sir Roger Norrington, Bernard Labadie, Harry Christophers, Harry Bicket, Masaaki Suzuki and Richard Hickox.

A master of English music, he has performed Britten’s Church Parables in St Petersburg, in London and at the Aldeburgh Festival, Nocturne with the NHK Symphony in Tokyo and War Requiem with the San Francisco Symphony and the National Youth Orchestra of Germany. Recent highlights have included singing the role of Rev. Adams in Britten’s Peter Grimes in Deborah Warner’s award-winning production at the Teatro Real in Madrid, and for his company debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, as well as with Bergen Philharmonic and Edward Gardner with performances at the Edinburgh International Festival, the Royal Festival Hall, Grieghallen and Den Norske Opera.

1.1.23

Concerts coming up in 2023: booking info

We wish all our supporters a very happy and fulfilling New Year!

Plans are already under way for another exciting Autumn season in 2023. In the meantime, we are looking forward to a few special events earlier in the year.

Friday 17th March
James Gilchrist (tenor) and the Linarol Consort
CD launch tour
16 th Century German Love Songs - Inn Stetter Hut
Book tickets

A concert of enchanting sixteenth-century song performed by one it its leading exponents and authentically accompanied on copies of the earliest surviving viol.

Friday 28th April
Handel's Messiah, presented by Merry Opera
Book tickets

This unique and highly acclaimed staged production of Handel's Messiah, now in its fourteenth tour, has already seen by over 11,000 people across the UK.