NEWS: Coffee, Croissant, and a Concert anyone?

Ostara Chamber Players in association with Park Theatre presents:

Coffee, Croissant and a Concert

A series of three Sunday morning breakfast concerts given by locally based chamber musicians

Park Theatre, Sunday 24 October, 14 November, 5 December 10.30am - noon

“An utterly beguiling group - witty and tender, scintillating and soulful by turns (and sometimes simultaneously) - always surprising and never less than enchanting.” Simon Callow

Twitter: @ParkTheatre | facebook: ParkTheatreLondon & OstaraChamberPlayers | Instagram: ParkTheatreLondon | www.parktheatre.co.uk

 

For a relaxing and social morning of pastries, coffee and music, Park Theatre is hosting three live concerts with Ostara Chamber Players. The musicians, all regular players with top London Orchestras, formed a string quartet during lockdown and embarked on a series of ‘doorstep concerts’ to bring live music to the N4 area. Now, with three, star, guest musicians, they continue to bring classical music to an easy-going setting in the intimate Park200. The programmes will include some light arrangements too and ticket prices include the refreshments.

The quartet comprises Sijie ‘Susie’ Chen and Lucy Waterhouse, violins, Judith Busbridge, viola and Penny Driver, cello. Susie is co-leader of the London Mozart Players and was a string finalist in the BBC Young Musician of the Year Competition. Lucy is a freelance violinist (London Mozart Players, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment), teacher and workshop leader. Judith is principal viola in the Royal Opera House and in the London Mozart Players. Penny is a renowned teacher and chamber musician who also performs regularly with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the London Symphony Orchestra.

For each Sunday performance they will be joined by a special guest. On 24th October, they will perform Mozart’s glorious Clarinet Quintet K.581 with Sacha Rattle (clarinet). On 14th November they celebrate Schubert, playing his final chamber work, the sublime and monumental String Quintet in C major D.956 (Desert Island Discs favourite), with Richard Lester as guest cello; and on December 5^th they return to Mozart with his breath-taking String Quintet in C major K.515 (one of the very greatest of his chamber music masterpieces), Jenny Lewisohn joining them on viola.

Judith Busbridge from Ostara Chamber Players said, “We are thrilled to be presenting these three, classical masterworks in the intimate setting at Park Theatre. Forming Ostara Chamber Players out of a sheer need to play music together during lockdown, we discovered, by performing concerts on my doorstep, a mutually strong desire within our local community to experience the intimacy and revelation that chamber music can bring. We hope that the relaxed nature of these Sunday morning coffee concerts, and the inclusion of some lighter music, will encourage audience members of all ages to try chamber music, even if they haven’t experienced it before.”

Park Theatre presents exceptional theatre in the heart of Finsbury Park, boasting two world-class performance spaces: Park200 for predominantly larger scale productions by established talent, and Park90, a flexible studio space, for emerging artists. In eight years, it has enjoyed eight West End transfers (including Daytona starring Maureen Lipman, The Boys in the Band starring Mark Gatiss, Pressure starring David Haig and The Life I Lead starring Miles Jupp), two National Theatre transfers, twenty-five national tours, five Olivier Award nominations, has won Offie Awards for Best New Play and Best Foodie Experience and won a Theatre of the Year award from The Stage. Park Theatre are grateful to all those who have donated to the Park Life fund, supporting the venue through the pandemic.

 

10.30am coffee and pastry, 11am – noon concert | Suitable for all ages

Listings information

Park Theatre, Clifton Terrace, Finsbury Park, London N4 3JP

Sunday 24 October, 14 November, 5 December

10.30am doors, 11am start

Tickets include a hot beverage and pastry: Standard: £20, Child (under 16) £10, Access concession £9

www.parktheatre.co.uk | 020 7870 6876*

* Telephone booking fee: 10% capped at £2.50 per ticket

Sunday 24 October                 Mozart Clarinet Quintet in A major K.581 with Sacha Rattle (clarinet)

Sunday 14 November              Schubert String Quintet in C D.956 with Richard Lester (cello)

Sunday 5 December                Mozart String Quintet in C major K.515 with Jenny Lewisohn (viola)

 

Musicians

Sijie ‘Susie’ Chen is co-leader of the London Mozart Players, and also plays with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields and on period instruments with the Academy of Ancient Music and the English Concert. She was a string finalist in the BBC Young Musician of the Year Competition and has performed chamber music in the Edinburgh International Festival and Prussia Cove Open Chamber Music. Since Lockdown she has been moonlighting as a ukulele chanteuse.

 

Lucy Waterhouse is a freelance violinist (London Mozart Players, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment), teacher (Junior Trinity) and workshop leader (Apollo Music Projects) and in Lockdown she discovered all-year-round, wild swimming at the West Reservoir and also began recording audiobooks as a side-line. 

 

Judith Busbridge is principal viola in the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House and leader of the violas in the London Mozart Players. For over 20 years she has been principal viola for Sir John Eliot Gardiner, playing late classical and romantic repertoire on gut strings. Her house is filled with her own hand-made pottery, some of which is quite remarkable… 

Penny Driver was co-principal cellist with the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and currently performs with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the LSO. She teaches some of the UK’s top young cellists at Wells Cathedral School and loves introducing young people to chamber music, co-directing con spirito chamber music Sundays at her N4 home. Her favourite thing is hiking in the French Alps - so easily reached by train from Finsbury Park.