Wednesday 22 January 2025
7pm
Milton Court Concert Hall
Alumni Guitar Concert
Digital Programmes
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Milton Court
Eating is not permitted in the auditorium.
Drinks are allowed inside the auditorium in polycarbonates.
Filming or recording of the performance is not permitted.
Latecomers will be able to enter the auditorium at a suitable break in the performance.
Guildhall School of Music & Drama
Founded in 1880 by the City of London Corporation
Chair of the Board of Governors
The Hon. Emily Benn
Principal
Professor Jonathan Vaughan
Vice-Principal & Director of Music
Armin Zanner
Programme
Domenico Scarlatti Sonata in A major, K 208 & 209
Johann Kaspar Mertz Elegie
Matilde Freiria guitar
Alessandro Piccinini Toccata III Cromatica
Jens Franke theorbo
Robert Johnson Two Songs
I. As I walk’d forth
II. Come, heavy sleep
Tarquinio Merula Canzonetta spiritual sopra la nanna
Isabelle Peters soprano
Jens Franke theorbo
Interval (20 minutes)
Camille Saint-Saëns Bacchanale (arr. Daniel Bovey)
Claude Debussy Arabesques (arr. George Tarlton)
Sergei Rachmaninoff Italian Polka (arr. Vyacheslav Gryaznov/George Tarlton)
Engelbert Humperdinck Hänsel und Gretel Overture (arr. George Tarlton)
Mikhail Glinka Ruslan and Lyudmila Overture (arr. George Tarlton)
Mēla Guitar Quartet:
George Tarlton guitar
Matthew Robinson guitar
Michael Butten guitar
Zahrah Hutton guitar
Matilde Freiria
Matilde Freiria began her musical journey at age six at the Conservatório de Música S.José da Guarda. She completed her Bachelors degree, Masters degree and Fellowship at Guildhall School under the guidance of Robert Brightmore. Expanding her artistic horizons beyond classical guitar, Matilde developed a profound interest in early music, undertaking theorbo and baroque guitar studies with David Miller and William Carter in 2018. Her exploration of early music has led to enriching collaborations with Academy of Ancient Music members, as well as participation in numerous opera scenes and cantata projects. Throughout her career, Matilde has participated in masterclasses with distinguished guitarists such as Sean Shibe, Judicael Perroy and Margarita Escarpa, further refining her technique. Her artistry has been recognised in several international competitions. A passionate advocate for new music, Matilde regularly premieres commissioned works and actively encourages composers to write for the guitar, playing a vital role in expanding the instrument's contemporary repertoire. Most recently, in 2024, she was invited to participate in the Ex-Aequo artistic residency in Austin, Texas, where she performed concerts and recorded a collaborative album, further establishing her presence in the contemporary music scene.
Isabelle Peters
Soprano Isabelle Peters is a current English National Opera Harewood Artist. Formerly a Welsh National Opera Associate Artist and a 2022 Classic FM 30 Under 30 Rising Star, she was a finalist in the 2020 Royal Over-Seas League and 2022 Voice of Black Opera Competitions. Recent roles have included Mabel The Pirates of Penzance, Governess (cover) Turn of the Screw, Papagena Die Zauberflöte, Barena Jenůfa and Daughter 2 Akhnaten (English National Opera); Sigismondo Arminio (Royal Opera House); Nannetta Falstaff (Opera North); Esmeralda The Bartered Bride (Garsington Opera); Zerlina Don Giovanni and Berta Il barbiere di Sivilglia (Welsh National Opera); and Dido Dido’s Ghost (Barbican). In July 2023 she was a soloist at the English National Opera’s televised ‘Orrible Opera BBC Prom at the Royal Albert Hall. She has also appeared in solo recitals with Malcolm Martineau and Sholto Kynoch (Oxford International Song Festival). Later this season she looks forward to appearing as Marzelline in Garsington’s Fidelio. Isabelle studied at Guildhall School and the Royal Northern College of Music.
Jens Franke
Jens Franke, guitarist, lutenist and theorbo player, is known chiefly for his pioneering work as a period instrument performer. Born into an eminent German musical family, his international concert work, recordings and broadcasts spotlight the lyricism and intimacy of the plucked string. Recording credits include a collection of Schubert songs with contemporaneously transcribed guitar accompaniments recorded at the Wigmore Hall (Quartz), a solo album of works by Johann Kaspar Mertz recorded at Champs Hill (Stone), and three Naxos albums with his Norwegian guitar duo partner Jørgen Skogmo. Jens plays continuo with a number of orchestras, opera companies and ensembles including the Scottish CO (Maxim Emelyanychev), English Touring Opera (The Coronation of Poppea), Blackheath Halls Opera (Semele), Oslo 415, Ensemble Hesperi and La Serenissima. Jens studied guitar at Guildhall School and musicology at King’s College, London.
Mēla Guitar Quartet
Winners of the prestigious Guitar Foundation of America International Ensemble Competition 2023, the Mēla guitar quartet are known for their imaginative, engaging programming, ingenious arrangements and commissioning celebrated original works.
Hailed for their “collective technical brilliance and preternatural ensemble making” (Gramophone), the quartet have released three albums: the complete guitar quartets of composer/author Anthony Burgess; the complete guitar chamber works of Stephen Dodgson, both with Naxos; and the self-released album Pluck, Strum, and Hammer!.
Notable performances have included the Southbank Centre’s Purcell Room, Kings Place Hall One, St. James’ Church Piccadilly, Barbican Centre’s Milton Court, St. George’s Bristol, Westminster Abbey, Soest Germany and of course Jimi Hendrix’s bedroom. In 2019 the quartet embarked on an eight concert tour of China, including Shanghai Oriental Arts Centre, Changsha concert hall and Tianjin Grand Theatre. The quartet will commence a six week tour of America and Canada as part of their GFA winners prize in 2025, including a USA premiere performance of Anthony Burgess' Concerto Grosso for four guitars and orchestra with Stanford Philharmonic at the Bing Concert Hall, California.
The quartet formed in 2015 as graduates of Guildhall School and the Royal Academy of Music. They became International Guitar Festival Young Artists 2015/16, then Park Lane Group young artists 2018/19 and Royal Over-Seas League chamber music finalists 2019. The members Michael Butten and Zahrah Hutton joined in 2023.
The quartet are enthusiastically adding to the guitar quartet repertoire through their adventurous arrangements of much loved orchestral works and their commissions of new music. Laura Snowden’s My Clock is Broken! (2019) and The Emperor’s New Clothes (2023); Michael Finnissy’s Albion on the Road to Hell (2019) and Stephen Goss’ Venezuela (2019) are all pieces commissioned and premiered by the quartet.
“A Stunning Display of Virtuosity… Wizardry… Revelatory music making”
– Soundboard (2023)
“An exalted level of perfection”
– Naxos
The quartet are sponsored D'addario Strings artists.
Forthcoming Events
Book Launch and Musical Evening: The Periodicals of Ferdinand Pelzer
29 January 2025
Silk Street Music Hall
Guildhall School is delighted to host the book launch for The Periodicals of Ferdinand Pelzer (1833–1857): A German Musician in London, edited by Sarah Clarke.
Postgraduate Strings Concert
10 February 2025
Silk Street Music Hall
Students from the string department present a selection of repertoire in these informal concerts.
Guitar Concert
05 March 2025
Silk Street Music Hall
We shine the spotlight on outstanding Guildhall guitarists in this chamber concert celebrating the instrument.
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