This Autumn, there were so many musicians wishing to play solos in the evening platform series that we decided to hold two concerts rather than just the one scheduled for Tuesday 2 November.

So it was that on a very cold night, surely reminding us that autumn was well and truly here, that we were warmed in the Recital Room with performances by amongst others, Natalie Chau (Debussy’s 1st Arabesque), Isla Stevens (Poulenc’s flute sonata) and Alice Paterson (singing Bellini’s ‘Vaga Luna’).  If this concert had a feeling of a Middle School Musicians’ Platform about it, the playing of the younger musicians certainly sat very well. Elizabeth Shaw showed us how much promise she possesses with a very mature performance of the 2nd movement from Haydn/David cello concerto.

And so on to the second open concert, hastily arranged for Monday 8 November but no less spectacular for it. This was a more varied affair, with the age ranging from the 11-year-old Billy Hill playing his neat folk pieces to the Year 11 string quartet playing a movement from Shostakovich’s 1st string quartet. In between there were performances on the harp by Gaia de Ponti and the piano by Tom Scott in among another delightful evening programme.