Events
Saturday 23 June. 7.30pm. Samuel Coleridge Taylor: Hiawatha, and part-songs. Carshalton Choral Society. Carshalton Methodist Church on Ruskin Road. Standard admission £10. See further details on
http://carshaltonchoral.org.uk . (Unfortunately this clashes with the Croydon Festival event which includes Tale of Old Japan.)
Thursday 5 July. 6.30-8.30pm. The Life of SCT. Speaker Black British Music expert Kwaku. New Clapham Library, Mary Seacole Centre, 91 Clapham High Street, London, SW4. To book or for more information: www.BBMM2012SCTLambeth.eventbrite.com.
17 July-17 March 2013. Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Display. National Portrait Gallery. The display documents Coleridge-Taylor’s increasing fame, with an early publicity photo complete with facsimile signature, inclusion in a group image of fellow-composers (including Elgar and Ethel Smyth) and posthumous renown on a cigarette card. An intriguing oil study painted when he was a child is complemented by a stunning portrait by E.O Hoppé. www.npg.org.uk/whatson/display/2012/samuel-coleridge-taylor-1875-1912.php.
Friday 27 July. 2.30pm. The Dante Quartet with Robert Plane (clarinet) performs the SC-T and Brahms Clarinet Qunitets as part of a programme for the 2012 Three Choirs Festival. Venue to be announced. Further details on www.3choirs.org/2012-hereford/composer/coleridge-taylor-samuel.html.
Friday 27 July. 6pm. SC-T at the Three Choirs Festival. Festival Chorus and Philharmonia Orchestra with Geraint Bowen (Conductor) and Wynne Evans (Tenor) will performTchaikovsky 1812 Overture, Coleridge-Taylor Petite Suite de Concert and Berlioz Te Deum. ‘The four movements of Petite Suite de Concert take us from militaristic brass fanfares and delicate dancing melodies, soft pastoral string passages to a brisk, up beat finale. The suite has an unmistakeably English essence and its understated charm provides a great contrast to the monumental theatrics of the other two pieces in the programme.’ Hereford Cathedral. Tickets: £40, £35, £25, £20, £15, £7. See: www.3choirs.org/2012-hereford/programme/friday-27-july/50-olympic-fanfare.html.
Saturday 28 July. Song of Hiawatha trilogy. Cumbria Choral Initiative with the Northern Chamber Orchestra conducted by Ian Jones, with soloists Lesley Jane Rogers, Nicholas Hurndall Smith and Nigel Dempster. Coronation Hall, Ulverston. http://hugill.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/hiawatha-complete.html.
Saturday 29 September. 7.30pm. “From Coleridge-Taylor to Chopin”: piano, soprano and tenor recital including songsand piano works by Coleridge-Taylor, alongside piano solos, operatic solos and duets by Chopin, Mozart, Donizetti, Gershwin (Porgy and Bess) and Scott Joplin (Treemonisha). The programme features three performers of Black heritage. Maxine Franklin (piano), Royal College of Music graduate and BBC Mozart competition prizewinner, has given numerous concerts in London, Europe, Africa, Brazil, the Caribbean and USA. Abigail Kelly (soprano), Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Birmingham Conservatoire graduate and prize winner, has performed in Birmingham, London, across Europe, Jamaica, and with English Touring Opera and Opera South Africa. Peter Brathwaite (tenor), Royal College of Music graduate and prize winner and Winston Churchill Opera Fellow, has performed operatic parts in Germany, France, Italy, Sweden, Belgium, Aldeburgh, Edinburgh Festival and with Opera North, Glyndebourne Festival Chorus and the Diamond Jubilee River Pageant. Piano accompanist is Oliver Davies, former piano professor at the Royal College of Music, piano and chamber music performer, music historian and Coleridge-Taylor specialist. This is a charity concert organised by Kiwanis (UK) international charity raising funds for a global UNICEF mother-and-baby project. Tickets £25 (students/children £15) from the Fairfield Halls Box Office, 0208 688 9291.
Wednesday 2 May. 7.30pm. John Stafford, Piano. Coleridge-Taylor, Petite Suite de Conert, Op.77, plus Bowen, Twelve Etudes, Op.46 and Piano Sonata in F minor, Op.72, andIreland, The Darkened Valley, The Holy Boy and Ragamuffin. The Seckford Theatre, Woodbridge. Tickets £10 at door or ring 01394 615015. www.seckfordtheatre.org.
Wednesday 3 May. 6pm. Celebrating Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. Royal College of Music Strings play: Piano Quintet in G minor op 1; Fantasiestücke op 5 for string quartet; Clarinet Quintet in F sharp minor op 10. Recital Hall. Prince Consort Road, London, SW7. www.rcm.ac.uk/strings/events/details/?id=6321
Saturday 19 May. Ionian Singers Concert. Music by Brahms, Mendelssohn, Hindemith and Poulenc. Part songs by Coleridge- Taylor, Stanford, Vaughan Williams, Finzi, Howells, Howard Skempton and Timothy Salter. St. Peter's Church, Milton Lilbourne, Wiltshire, SN9 5LQ. www.ioniansingers.co.uk
Tuesday 22 May. 1pm. Lunchtime Piano Recital by Chisato Kusunoki. Fairfield Halls, Park Lane, Croydon, CR9 1DG. Programme to include music by SC-T. Presented by Soundpractice Music Ltd. Tickets from 0208 688 9291 or www.fairfieldhalls.co.uk. Croydon Festival event.
Thursday 24 May. 8pm. Celebrating Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Royal College of Music Strings. Programme includes chamber music. piano and clarinet. Piano Quintet in G minor op 1; Fantasiestücke op 5 for string quartet; Clarinet Quintet in F sharp minor op 10. www.rcm.ac.uk/strings/events/details/?id=6321. Braithwaite Hall, (Croydon Town Hall), Katharine Street, CR0 1ET. Tickets: £8 from 0208 657 7909 or at the door. Croydon Festival event.
Friday 1 June. 7pm. Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: the life of the Black British musician (1875-1912). Talk by Jeff Green. Battersea Library, 265 Lavender Hill, SW11. Organised by Network. Contact Sean Creighton for details: 020 8764 4301; sean.creighton197@btinternet.com. Wandsworth Heritage Festival event.
Saturday 16 June. 7.30pm. Songs of Celebration inc. Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast. Henley Choral Society concert featuring British composers on a theme of celebration. Inc. Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast; The Turning Year by Cecil Armstrong Gibbs; Ralph Vaughan Williams Five Mystical Songs; Flourish for a Coronation, Musical Director Will Dawes. Tenor Guy Cutting (who will sing Onaway! Awake, Beloved); bass Dominic Bowe; 100-strong chorus and superb accompanist David Smith. St Mary’s Parish Church, Hart St, Henley. Tickets £12 (under 18’s - £8) from Ticket Secretary 01491 572795 or Gorvett & Stone, Duke Street, Henley-on-Thames. Will Dawes said: “Guy is a prodigious talent. Currently in his final year at Oxford and a choral scholar at New College, he is already doing great things professionally.” A short extract from Longfellow’s poem will set the scene. www.henleychoralsociety.org.uk & www.henleystandard.co.uk/entertainment/ent.php?id=1110543.
Saturday June 23 2012, 2.30-4.30pm. Remembering Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (15 Aug 1875 - 1 Sept 1912) - an African British musical genius & pan-Africanist. History consultant Kwaku leads on a family-friendly audio-visual presentation on the life and work of the composer and pan-Africanist on behalf of BTWSC/SCT100PM Collective. Hear some of SC-T's music and find out a bit more about this once global superstar! Gayton Library, 5 Saint John's Road Harrow, Middlesex HA1 2EE (Harrow On The Hill) 020 8427 6012. Free. To book: www.BBMM2012SCT.eventbrite.com
This section lists events that were not part of the Croydon Festival in 2012. For events in the Croydon Festival see Croydon Festival page.
Events 1913
Thursday 7 November. 7.30pm. Concert in which Waka Hasegawa will play Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Valse Suite "Three- Fours", Dvořák’s Dumka and Furiant, Hilary Robinson’s 10.10.10, and Rachmaninoff/Grainger’s 3rd Mov. of Rachmaninoff's 2nd Piano Concerto. There will also be a singer. St George's, Bloomsbury. www.stgeorgesbloomsbury.org.uk/index.htm
Wednesday 13 November. 1.10pm. Waka Hasegawa Lunchtime Concert. Waka will play Coleridge-Taylor’s From Forest Scenes "Characteristic Pieces for Piano, The Lone Forest Maiden No.3 The Phantom tells his tale of longing, and Moorish Dance, along with Dvořák’s Dumka and Furiant, Chopin’s Nocturns Op.27 No.1 & No.2, Op.48 No.1 and Liszt’s Rigoletto-Paraphrase. St. Sepulchre, the Musicians Church, Holborn Viaduct, London EC1. www.st-sepulchre.org.uk/index.html.
Events 1912
Saturday 4 February. Barnby Choir: www.thebarnbychoir.org.uk/singing_day.html
Saturday 4 February. Hiawatha. Bristol Choral Society: www.bristolchoral.co.uk
Sunday 11 March. Tallis Chamber Orchestra. SC-T’s 4 Novelletten at St Peter’s Church, Westleton, Suffolk, along with Vaughan Williams Concerto Accademico and Dvorak’s Serenade for Strings.
Saturday 28 April. 3-6pm. Surrey Opera Open Rehearsal working on SC-T‟s Symphony in A minor and Zara‟s Ear-rings. The rehearsal will be followed by tea and an informal performance of the two works at approximately 7.30pm. Jonathan Butcher of Surrey Opera explains: ‘It should be a fascinating session looking at SC-T only symphony and his orch. song Zara's Earrings. ….If there are any players out there who still want to be involved they should get in touch with me ASAP, but it is open to everyone and anyone to observe and generally get involved.’ jonathanbutcher@blueyonder.co.uk.Clyde Hall, Clyde Rd. Croydon, CR0 6SZ. Croydon Festival event.
Saturday 28 April.7.30pm. London Saxophone Choir Concert. The programme includes several first performances in new arrangements of pieces that may not have been heard for a while, for example SC-T’s Danse Negre, and a set of Jamaican dances from Joseph Holbrooke. Also arrangements of Lully and Mozart dance pieces and a lyrical Nocturne by Rimsky-Korsakov. The Ruby Cubes, a female a cappella group, will sing. www.londonsaxophonechoir.org.uk is off line.
Sunday 30 September. 7.30pm. A Dream of Africa 2012. Gala Concert in aid of Ashanti Development. Programme to include Coleridge-Taylor: Five Negro Melodies for piano trio (Robert Gibbs, violin; Adrian Bradbury, cello, Oliver Davies, piano) and dancers from the Royal Ballet and English National Ballet in new and recent works by Tamara Rojo, Thomas Whitehead, Nathalie Harrison, Daniel Jones, Erico Montes and other choreographers. Britten Theatre, Royal College of Music, Prince Consort Road, London, SW7. Tickets £30 from RCM Box Office, www.rcm.ac.uk/ box office.
Monday 1 October. 2.30pm. SC-T in A Celebration and Education of Contributions made by Black People in England from Enslaved to Pioneers. Features Queen Liliuohalani, SC-T, Mary Seacole, Lewis Lattimer. Original Artwork by pupils of Abbott Primary School and artist Rosetta Jallo, and authentic clothing exhibitions, music and Caribbean food. Mustard Tree, 110 Oldham Rd, Ancots, Manchester, M4. Tel Graham: 07401 820424.
Friday 5 October. 6.30 – 8.30. Death of a Musical Genius: Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Remembered. At The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), Cromwell Road, London SW7. £9, £6 concessions. Book online or call 020 7942 2211. With the agreement of the V&A I will be selling Jeff’s mini-book.
Tuesday 9 October. 8pm. SC-T on Radio and Television. A rare opportunity to hear television broadcasts of two programmes about SC-T: Great Lives and Hidden History. Some lantern slides will be shown. There will also be a performance of some of SC-T‟s Twenty-Four Negro Melodies op. 59 for solo piano. The Braithwaite Hall (Croydon Town Hall), Katharine Street. Tickets: £8 from 020 8657 7909 or at the door.
Wednesday 10 October. 7.30pm. Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. Talk by Sean Creighton. Herne Hill Society. Herne Hill United Church Hall, near top of Red Post Hill at junction of Herne Hill and Denmark Hill.
Friday 19 October. 2pm. Croydon as Coleridge-Taylor would have known it. Talk by Chris Bennett (Borough Archivist). Coulsdon Library, Brighton Road, Coulsdon, CR5. Free activities during Croydon Black History Month. Free but need to book tickets: 0208 726 6900; libraries@croydon.gov.uk.
Saturday 20 October. 2.30pm. Croydon as Coleridge-Taylor would have known it. Talk by Chris Bennett (Borough Archivist). Central Library, Croydon Clocktower, Katharine Street, Croydon, CR9. To book tickets see 19 October.
Wednesday 24 October. 6.30pm. John Archer and the Black Atlantic. Talk by Sean Creighton. Putney Library, Disraeli Rd, London, SW15. This talk will examine the contacts John Archer (and SC-T) had around the Black Atlantic. (Note 1)
Wednesday 31 October. 2.30-4pm. Remembering Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Streatham Library, Streatham High Rd. This is primarily for Lambeth schools. Led by Kwaku. (Note 2)
Wednesday 31 October. 6.30-8.30pm. Remembering Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. Talk by Kwaku. Putney Library, 5-7 Disraeli Road, SW15 2DR. (Note 1)
Thursday 1 November. 2.30-4pm. Remembering Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. Brixton Library, Windrush Square. This is primarily for Lambeth schools. Led by Kwaku. (Note 2)
Saturday 17 November, 7.45pm. Kubla Khan by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. Hayes Philharmonic Choir; Rodney Williams, conductor. Programme also includes Three Elizabethan Part-Songs by Ralph Vaughan Williams, an extract from HMS Pinafore by Gilbert & Sullivan, and The Gypsy Rover arr. Havelock Nelson, together with some solo pieces. Hayes Parish Church, Hayes, Kent, BR2 7LH. Tickets £10 (concessions £8; school age children £2)
Box Office: 07989 192928 or on the door. www.hayeschoir.com. Hayes Parish Church is on the 119 bus route from Croydon (nearest stop at the George pub in Hayes) and the 353 from Addington Village also stops nearby. Alternatively, trams to Elmers End link with the railway line to Hayes Station, which is about 10 mins walk from the church.
Friday 23 November. 7.30pm. A Celebration of John Ireland (d. 1962) and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (d. 1912). London Song Festival Event. St Paul’s Church, Covent Garden London, WC2E. There is also an entrance in Bedford St off the Strand. Tickets at £15 and £10 are on sale from www.seetickets.com or by phone on 0871 221 0260. Lead singers: Sylvie Bedouelle (mezzo-soprano) and Gary Griffiths (baritone). The publicity states: ‘Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was an Anglo-African composer who died aged 37 having fought racism, found fame as the composer of Hiawatha's Wedding Feast and since sunk into unjustified neglect. John Ireland is one of England's most characteristic composers of Song.’ While this concert clashes with the Croydon Festival event that evening I am in touch with the organisers and with their support I will be there to sell Jeff’s booklet. Hopefully this event will attract people from parts of London who would not normally consider coming to Croydon. The Church is the Actors’ Church and is well worth visiting in its own right. It is the annual venue for the Prisoners’ Education Trust Carol Concert. There are plenty of restaurants nearby if you want to make an evening out of the event. Full Festival details on http://londonsongfestival.org/concerts.php.
Note 1. These are part of Wandsworth Black History Month. The talks are free but booking is essential: 020 8871 7090.
Note 2. For more information: Awula Serwah btwsc@hotmail.com. www.SCT100PMCollective.blogspot.com. Free: To book: btwsc@hotmail.com
November. Northern music club tour including Kendal, Hexham, Teesside. Robert Plane with Dante Quartet inc. Clarinet Quintet. http://robertplane.com/forthcoming.asp
Saturday 17 November. Kubla Khan. The Kent based Hayes Choral Society hopes to perform Kubla Khan. Further details in due course.
Friday, 23 November. 7:30pm. A Celebration of the anniversaries of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (d. 1912) and John Ireland (d. 1962). Concert by Sylvie Bedouelle - mezzo-soprano, Gary Griffiths – baritone and Nigel Foster-piano.The concert is part of the London Song Festival.The programme includes SC-T’s Sorrow Songs (poems by Christina Rossetti and Songs of Sun and Shade (poems by Radclyffe-Hall.St Paul’s Church, Bedford St, London, WC2. This is the wonderful Actors’ Church. £15/10/ plus booking fee £1.45/£1. To book go to www.seetickets.com/Event/THE-LONDON-SONG-FESTIVAL/St-Paul-s-Church-Covent-Garden/637865.