The Two Moors Festival Residencies were set up in order to give busy professional musicians the opportunity to rehearse undisturbed in peace and quiet. The Residencies offer the perfect environment in which to work towards an important concert, a recording or on the formation of a new chamber group. Musicians can make use of the lovely acoustics in the gallery at Barkham and enjoy the idyllic surrounding countryside as inspiration. They are also given food, wine and accommodation in return for a concert at the end of the rehearsal period. This year’s series is a collaboration between wind and strings, which over the course of the next six months will evolve into a performance of the chamber version of Mahler’s Fourth Symphony during the October Two Moors Festival.
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| Two Moors Quartet rehearsing |
The 2011 Residencies went off with a bang with the Two Moors Quartet (led by Alan Uren) who arrived in Devon last week for an intensive five days of rehearsals. The four musicians were utterly spoilt with the incredible weather and spent their time alternating between rehearsing in the Gallery and walking in the countryside around Exmoor. On Friday evening, the quartet gave the most moving and intimate performance of music by Haydn, Beethoven and Smetana, which left the audience spellbound.
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| (From Left-Right) Yusuke Kinoshita, Ben Birtle, Kay Stephen and Alan Uren |
The second residency takes place in the beginning of August with the concert on 12th August at Barkham. The Two Moors Piano and Wind Quintet will delight audiences with Mozart, Poulenc and Françaix. For tickets, email: adie.exmoor@btinternet.com
