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...

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...

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. 

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.

'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. 

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.

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.

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.

Past performers 2006-2022

After an eventful year when we returned to hosting concerts without restrictions, here is our regular look back at the growing list of fantastic performers we have been priviliged to host. We wish all our supporters a Happy New Year!

Adrian Bradbury | Adriano Graziani | Aiso Quartet | Alessandra Testai | Alex Metcalfe | Amanda Pitt | Ann Beilby | Anna Tilbrook | Anthony Zerpa-Falcon | Archaeus String Quartet | Archduke Trio | Barbirolli Quartet | Bérengère Mauduit | Bethany Horak-Hallett | Bojan Čičić | Callum Smart | Cambridge Taverner Choir | Cantabile: The London Quartet | Cellists of the RPO | Charles Wiffen | Chelys Viol Consort | Chris Hatt | Chris Parsons | Christopher Sayles | Clio Gould | Daniel Auchinloss | David Chatterton | David Campbell | Daniel Edgar | Daniel Grimwood | Daniel Tong | David Owen-Norris | David Maw | David Owen Norris | Decimus Consort | Diana Moore | Dominic Bowe | Dulcinea Quartet | Eboracum Baroque | Eleanor Alberga | Ellen Smith | Emma Halnan | English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble | Felicity Lott | Felix Buser | Fiona Brown | Florian Stortz | Follia | Frances Yonge | Gary Branch | Gerald Finley | Giles Davies | Gilfillan family | Greg Tassell | Guy Johnstone | Hugh Webb | Ibrahim Aziz | James Gilchrist | Jamie McVinnie | Jane Gomm | Jennifer Snapes | Jenny Vizinet | Jonathan Ayling | Jong-Gyung Park | Joseph Wolfe | Julian Broughton | Julius Drake | Karen Jones | Karina Lucas | Kate Andrews | Kate Semmens | Katharine Johns | Katie Stillman | Kokoschka Trio | Konevets Quartet | Ken Aiso | King Charles Singers | Lianna Jeffrey | Liz Partridge | London Bridge Ensemble | London Concertante | Marcus Andrews | Mark Chambers | Margaret Faultless | Marie-France Ouellet | Marie-Noelle Kendall | Martin Bloor | Martin Fogel | Masahiro Yamaguchi | Matchbox Opera | Matt Glendening | Merry Opera | Michael Bacon | Michael Collins | Michael Grant | Michael McHale | Miriam Cox | Mirriam Teppich | Nigel Clayton | Oliver Davies | Owen Rees | Paul Clark | Paul Jeffrey | Paul Guinery | Pentagon Ensemble | Peter Arnold | Peter Barker | Rachel Godsill | Rachel Stroud | Rachel Threlfall | Raphael Wallfisch | Richard Egarr | Richard Uttley | Robert Gibbs | Robin Jeffrey | Rory Carver | Roselyne Martel-Bonnal | Rose Trio | Royal Tunbridge Wells Male Voice Choir | Ruairi Bowen | Ruth Beedham | St Andrews University Madrigal Group | Sam Haywood | Sara Lois Cunningham | Sarah Stuart-Pennink | Sasha Grynyuk | Schubert Ensemble | Simon Lane | Sophia Lisovskaya | Steve Pierce | Steven Devine | Temenos Chamber Choir | Teresa Caudle | Tim Gill | Tim Lines | Tom Bowes | Tom Foster | Tom Lilburn | Trajecti Voices | Trevor Eliot Bowes | Trio Lavolta | Tristan Gurney | Twilight Ensemble | Unexpected Opera | William Bass | William Summers | Yeo Yat Soon | Yukiko Shinohara

High horns live

Our annual Christmas baroque concert at King Charles on Saturday 3rd December, at 7:00pm is what Steven Devine, the concert's director, describes as "a rare chance to hear high horns live". 

Book here: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/mkctw/bach-for-christmas/e-zajdjk

Note: this concert is likely to sell out of tickets at the advance price. However, a further 50 tickets will still be available on the door at full price (£22.50).

Bach's Mass in F Major and his first Brandenberg Concerto are two of the fairly unusual works to feature natural horns - that is, valveless and therefore restricted to the notes of the harmonic series in the key in which they are set up.

Steven writes:

Bach’s “Lutheran” Mass in F (BWV 233) consists of just the first two sections of the Mass ordinary (i.e. the Kyrie and the Gloria). This is one of four such compositions which date from the late 1730’s and was probably assembled from earlier composition – the Kyrie of the F major mass has its origins in a cantata movement dating from around 1708. These compositions share stylistic similarities with the earlier mass movements (Kyrie and Gloria) that were composed around 1733 and incorporated into the 1749 B Minor Mass (BWV 232). There is a contrast between old-style polyphony with instrumental doubling, for example the Kyrie, with thrillingly virtuosic style concitato writing for voices and instruments – for example the opening movement of the Gloria. 

The role of the natural horns also reflects a contrast – in the Kyrie they play a plainchant-like melody against the counterpoint of the voices and instruments, though this actual melody has not been identified. However, in the Gloria, they are released from this and play some of the most uplifting writing for the instruments ever written. 

The concerted nature of the horn writing is mirrored by the use of those instruments in the first of Bach’s six Brandenburg Concerti. As is well documented, Bach assembled the collection from earlier works as a portfolio of his instrumental compositions to impress the Margrave of Brandenburg. From the pristine nature of the surviving score (and the fact that Bach didn’t ever work for the Margrave) it seems that the collection didn’t have its intended effect. However it is now regared as one of the landmark compositional collections of Western music. 

The first concerto of the set, like the other five, showcases groups of instruments: in this case the horns, the oboe band (three oboes and bassoon) and the string team led from the Violin piccolo – a smaller instrument tuned a minor third higher (top string is G, then C, F and B flat). The technical demands placed on all the instruments show how accomplished Bach’s original musicians were (probably at the court in Dresden?) and push the demands of the instruments of the time to their limits. 

Vivaldi’s instrumental writing is equally enlightened in his concerto for violin RV 270 Il Riposo. He calls for all the strings to be muted (placing a small wooden clip or similar on the bridge in order to dampen the vibrations and hence the sound) and instructs the harpsichord continuo to remain tacet (silent) throughout. The soft-edge sound this creates is a perfect backdrop for Vivaldi’s writing of a high solo violin against frequent pedal notes. It seems to have been a favoured composition of Vivaldi’s as he returned to it a number of years later and appended the title “per il Santissimo Natale (for Holy Christmas)”.

Book now for our annual Baroque Christmas concert

In Dulci Jubilo
The annual Christmas baroque concert at King Charles
Saturday 3rd December, at 7:00pm. 

https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/mkctw/

One of the world's leading baroque violinists, Bojan Čičić, joins director and harpsichordist Steven Devine for a programme of music by Vivaldi, Praetorius and Bach, with 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. 

This concert has been an exciting feature of the Christmas celebrations at King Charles, Tunbridge Wells’ oldest building, for several years now and is always very popular.

Steven Devine, known to many in the area through his many years of work at the Finchcocks Musical Museum, said: “This is absolutely one of my favourite concerts of the year. I’m lucky enough to be able to involve some brilliant players from groups I work with, and we enjoy ourselves so much that every one of them asks to come back each time. 

“The setting is just perfect. An intimate baroque church with a wonderful acoustic, and the audiences are wonderful! The ovation at the end of our first concert, when we performed Handel’s Messiah in 2018, was the most spontaneously exciting response I’ve ever witnessed in this country. This year I’m thrilled to involve Bojan Čičić as soloist - for me, he’s got to be one of the finest violinists around.”

The programme includes Bach’s Brandenberg Concerto No.1, carols by Praetorius, Vivaldi’s violin concerto ‘Il Riposo’, and Bach’s Lutheran Mass in F major.

Rupert Preston Bell, director of music at King Charles the Martyr, has been promoting concerts of chamber music at the church since 2006. He said: “We’re very lucky to have these musicians coming to Tunbridge Wells, and their excitement is infectious. The church was built in the baroque period and is the perfect venue for this exciting and life-affirming music.”