Queen's Hall Recitals at the Edinburgh International Festival
Edinburgh's Queen's Hall is one of the most delightful chamber music venues in Britain. During the annual Edinburgh International Festival it becomes the venue for morning chamber music recitals (except Sundays).
The first week opens with the Ysaÿe Quartet in Haydn, Stravinsky, Szymanowski and Debussy (9 August), followed by clarinettist Paul Meyer and pianist Eric Le Sage in Brahms, Martinu, Lutoslawski and Berg (11 August). Argerich protégé Garbiela Montero links Bach, Chopin and Debussy along with Schumann's Carnaval and Liszt's Mephisto Waltz No 1 (12 August), preceding two song recitals (13 & 14 August). In the first, soprano Christiane Oelze and baritone Olaf Bär sing Wolf's Italienisches Liederbuch with pianist Helmut Deutsch while, in the second, tenor Keith Lewis and pianist Melvyn Tan survey songs by Beethoven, Liszt, Hahn and Janácek. The final two concerts of the first week (15 & 16 August) feature the Belcea Quartet in all six Bartók Quartets, with 1, 3 and 5 followed by 2, 4 and 6.
The second week starts with violinist Leonidas Kavakos returning with pianist Enrico Pace for Schnittke followed by Shostakovich and Richard Strauss Sonatas (18 August). Soprano Susan Bullock sings works by Schubert, Grieg, Liszt and Britten with pianist Malcolm Martineau (19 August) before Turkish pianist Fazil Say plays Mozart, Bach, Beethoven (Appassionata) and Liszt's only Sonata (20 August). Father and daughter, cellist Mischa and pianist Lily Maisky, play various Russian song transcriptions arranged by Mischa before Shostakovich's epic Sonata (21 August), followed by the Pavel Haas Quartet in quartets by Haas (No 3), Prokofiev (No 1) and Janácek (No 2 Intimate Letters) (22 August). To end the second week, soprano Christine Schäfer and pianist Graham Johnson include songs by Wolf, Schumann and Brahms in their recital (23 August).
Baroque and contemporary come together in the final week's first recital, when violinists Irvine Arditti and Rüdiger Lotter join early music ensemble Lyriate for Biber and Berio (25 August). Soloists of the Budapest Festival Orchestra play Seiber, Enescu and Donhnányi (26 August) and mezzo Katarina Karnéus sings Szymanowski, Respighi, Grieg and Richard Strauss, accompanied by Johan Ullén (27 August), before Czech pianist Ivan Moravec performs Choipin, Janácek and Debussy (28 August). Two ensembles close the series - the youthful Jerusalem Quartet in Haydn, Smetana and Brahms (29 August) and venerable Beaux Arts Trio, which first appeared at the Edinburgh International Festival in 1960, playing Mendelssohn, Kurtág and Beethoven (30 August).
Related Information
| Contact Details | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Edinburgh International Festival |
| Email: | info@eif.co.uk |
| Fax: | +44 (0) 131 473 2003 |
| Phone: | +44 (0) 131 473 2001 (information line) |
| Phone: | +44 (0) 131 473 2000 (box office) |
| Address: | The Hub, Castle Hill, Edinburgh, EH1 2NE, Scotland |
| Venue Information: | Queen's Hall |
| Full Name: | |
| The 850-seat Queen's Hall, opened by Elizabeth II as a concert venue in 1979, is one of Britain's finest small venues (rivalling London's Wigmore Hall). The home for the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the focus of the Edinburgh International Festival's chamber programme, it also runs an annual programme which is wide-ranging and eclectic, from morning recitals to gigs and ceilidhs. | |
| Address: | Clerk St EH8 9DJ |
| Directions: | On the west side of Clerk St, just north of the junction with Hope Park Terrace. You can walk there in 15-20 minutes from Princes St and 10-15 minutes from the High St (the Royal Mile). By Bus: LRT 3, 3a, 5, 6, 8, 14, 31, 33, 36, 51, 69, 80, 81, 81a, 82, 87 & 89 and SMT 62, 64, 65, 70, 77, 79, 80, 86, 88 & 97. |
| Contact Details: | Queen's Hall |
| Phone: | +44 (0) 131 668 2019 |
| Fax: | +44 (0) 131 668 2656 |
| Other Information: | Queen's Hall |
| Website: | City of Edinburgh Council Website |
| Website: | Queen's Hall Website |
| Contact Details | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Edinburgh International Festival |
| Email: | info@eif.co.uk |
| Fax: | +44 (0) 131 473 2003 |
| Phone: | +44 (0) 131 473 2001 (information line) |
| Phone: | +44 (0) 131 473 2000 (box office) |
| Address: | The Hub, Castle Hill, Edinburgh, EH1 2NE, Scotland |
| Name: | Edinburgh & Lothians Tourist Board |
| Location: | Edinburgh |
| Address: | VisitScotland - Edinburgh & Lothians, Ocean Point One, 94 Ocean Drive, Edinburgh, EH6 6JH |
| Email: | info@visitscotland.com |
| Phone: | 0845 2255 121 (UK); +44 (0) 131 625 8625 (Outside UK) |
| Name: | Visit Scotland (Scotland's National Tourism Board) |
| Location: | Scotland |
| Address: | Ocean Point One, 94 Ocean Drive, Edinburgh, EH6 6JH, Scotland |
| Email: | info@visitscotland.com. |
| Phone: | +44 (0) 131 472 2222 |
| Name: | The National Trust |
| Location: | United Kingdom |
| Email: | enquiries@ntrust.org.uk |
| Phone: | +44 (0) 20 8315 1111 |
| Fax: | +44 (0) 20 8466 6824 |
| Name: | Visit Britain |
| Location: | United Kingdom |
| Address: | 1 Palace Street, London, SW1E 5HE |
| Phone: | +44 (0) 20 7578 1000 |
