A breathtaking musical love story comes to Shropshire this month. To mark the 100th anniversary of the death of French composer Gabriel Fauré, Shropshire Music Trust is staging a recital. The performance of ‘Archangel: A foray into Fauré’ will take place on November 15 at 7.30pm at St Chad’s Church.
Shropshire Music Trust musical director John Moore explained: “As director of the Paris Conservatoire, where his nickname was The Archangel, Fauré was ultimately responsible for the pre-eminence of French music in the 20th century.
“Drawing on Fauré’s letters to his fiancée, Marianne Viardot, and on Turgenev’s novella The Song of Triumphant Love, it has rarely been told before.
“Words and music in alternation build the narrative together, while the concert spotlights Fenella Humphreys in some of the most thrilling French virtuoso violin works.”
Winner of the 2023 BBC Music Magazine Premiere Recording Award, Fenella (pictured) has attracted critical admiration and audience acclaim with the grace and intensity of her remarkable performances.
She will be joined by Jessica Duchen as narrator, who contributes to the i, The Sunday Times, the Evening Standard and BBC Music Magazine and was classical music correspondent for The Independent.
Viv McLean will accompany them on piano. Since winning first prize at the Maria Canals Piano Competition in Barcelona, she has performed in all the major venues in the UK as well as throughout Europe, Japan, Australia and the USA.
