Sarah Williamson CLARINET & Daniel Grimwood PIANO

PROGRAMME

Poulenc – Sonata

Weber – Grand Duo

Hover – David Knotts

Brahms – F minor sonata

To celebrate the end of our FIRST SUNDAY SERIES in our 24/25 season, we’re delighted to welcome two extraordinary performers in some of the finest music written for clarinet and piano.

This concert is supported by Norma and Bob Baxter.

Sarah Williamson has toured the world, playing at major concertvenues and collaborating with numerous leading orchestras.Sarah achieved international fame in 2002 following her success inthe BBC Young Musician Competition and EurovisionCompetition for Young Musicians.Sarah Williamson studied at Le Conservatoire Superieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris with Pascal Moraguès, principalclarinettist of the Orchestre de Paris, Jean-Francois Verdier andOlivier Derbesse, graduating with the Premier Prix and a ‘Laureate’,the highest honour.She is active in the field of contemporary music, championing themusic of Edward Longstaff, Philip Grange, Joseph Phibbs, GrahamFitkin, and Benjamin Baczewski. Sarah Williamson has performed and toured extensively with TheAcademy of St Martins in the Fields, The City of London Sinfonia,the BBC Concert orchestra, the LSO, BBC Concert Orchestra(broadcast live), The European Union Chamber Orchestra, TheBrighton Philharmonic, The Royal Philharmonic (Classic FM livebroadcast) and the Orchestra of the Swan. Sarah continued her studies at Le Conservatoire Superieur de Musique et de Dance de Paris, graduating with the PremierPrix and where she was awarded a ‘Laureate’, the Conservatoire’s highest honour in recognition of her reflecting her ability and musicality.

Daniel Grimwood is best known as a world-leading exponent of 19^thcentury virtuosic piano repertoire. Received with critical acclaim, Grimwood’s recordings and performances of the music of Adolph von Henselt ensure his international reputation as a groundbreaking, inspirational musician, marking him out as a unique voice amongst his generation of pianists. His recording of Henselt’s Complete Etudes garnered “instant classic status” by Gramophone Magazine, which also named it piano release of 2023.

With an astonishing range of music within his repertoire, Daniel’s superlative level of pianism means that he is equally at home performing the music of J.S. Bach, as he is of Rubinstein or Liszt. In 2023 Daniel was invited to open the 34th Season of the highly prestigious Husum Piano Festival in Germany, with a stunning concert of works including Field, Blumenfeld, Liszt, William Sterndale Bennet, Henselt and his own transcription of Purcell’s Chacony.

His discs of Liszt and Chopin, performed on an 1851 Erard piano, received a unanimous chorus of praise from the press; the Liszt album was Daily Telegraph CD of the week and Editor’s Choice in Gramophone Magazine.

Daniel has performed at many of the world’s leading concert halls, including the Wigmore Hall, Symphony Hall

\Birmingham, the Rachmaninoff Hall in Moscow, as well as venues in Germany, Austria, Italy, The Netherlands, Slovenia, Estonia, Taiwan, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Lebanon, Oman and Australia.