Autumn Piano Festival

In 1926, Henry Wood invited the seventy-two-year-old Leoš Janáćek to visit the Royal Academy of Music, where he sat in Duke’s Hall and watched an orchestral rehearsal, chatting to his host Mrs Rosa Newmarch and the students.   

A hundred years later we’re celebrating Janáćek’s passionate, utterly original output for pianists, in five very distinct concerts spread throughout the day. There’s the complete solo piano music – from the celebrated sonata 1.X.1905 ‘From the Street’ and the complete series of On an Overgrown Path, to his fragmentary, deeply personal Intimate Sketches.  The day-long festival presents duo chamber pieces, music for organ and club-swinging, Moravian folk dances, and the larger ensemble works Capriccio and Concertino for piano, wind and brass – the second of which received its Wigmore premiere two days after Janáček’s Academy visit. 

‘I hear music constantly in the empty silence, while the intellect is still and all emotional strings are relaxed.’  Leoš Janáček 

11.15am-12.15pm
In the Mists 

At the start of the day Joanna MacGregor briefly introduces the different styles in today’s five concerts - from Janáček’s well-known masterpieces to his later personal works and fragments - and tells the story of Janáček’s visit. 

Zdenka Variations  
Mayuko Narutani piano 

Moravian Dances  
Chuyu Wang piano 

Intimate Sketches  
Emanuil Ivanov piano 

In the Mists  
Harry Bowden piano 

1pm-1.50pm
UPRISING AND FOLKTALES

Sonata 1.X.1905 From the Street 
Herman Med Cerisha piano  

15 Moravian Folk Songs 
Andra Bačila piano 

On An Overgrown Path Series I  
Arthur Kokerai piano

2.30pm-3.15pm
WAR MUSIC 

Dumka for violin and piano 
Romance for violin and piano 
Agatha Parkin violin 
Hayden Miller piano 

Pohádka for cello and piano 
Doraly Gill cello 
Daniel Liu piano 

Sonata for violin and piano  
Matteo Hager violin
Katya Grabova piano  

3:45pm-4.30pm
PARALIPOMENA

Music for Club Swinging/Gymnastics 
Nalni Chen piano 

Organ works 
George Herbert organ 

On an Overgrown Path Series II/Paralipomena 
Daniel Liu piano 

5:15pm
FOREVER YOUNG 

Concertino for piano and ensemble  
Edward Harris-Brown piano 
Luka Venter conductor 
Agatha Parkin violin 
Eleanor Holmes violin 
Constance Hayward viola 
Raj Bhaumik clarinet 
Marcel Cress bassoon 
Peter Raistrick horn 

March of the Bluebirds 
Lucy Rowan piccolo  
Chuyu Wang piano 

Capriccio for the Left Hand and Ensemble  
Joseph Havlat piano 
Daphne Delfas conductor 
Lucy Rowan flute/piccolo 
Leonor Duarte Cunha trumpet 
Leo Stemp trumpet  
Ned Pettitt trombone  
Jack Traynor trombone   
James Owen bass trombone 
Jude Smith tuba