Piano, violin and classical guitar feature in a series of six performances at Sidmouth Parish Church

The Sidmouth Music season will maintain its incomparable standard of performance with more top classical music artists over the coming season. The six monthly concerts, which run from October to March in the Parish Church, are the subject of a display in the town library until 15th September.

Pianist Reiko Fujisawa, described by BBC Music magazine as “impressive and charismatic”, opens the season on 6th October. Reiko’s programme consists of pieces set around the life of Clara Schumann whose Prelude and Fugue and Scherzo feature alongside works from Brahms with his Intermezzo op 119/2, two impromptus from Chopin and the impressive Carnaval de Vienne from husband Robert Schumann.

The acclaimed Trio Martinu visited Sidmouth in 2015 in their first visit to the UK. Their welcome return on 17th November will feature piano trios from Martinu, of course, Mendelsssohn and Dvorak.

Each season includes an up and coming young star. This year Australian violinist Emily Sun is accompanied by pianist Jennifer Hughes in a set of sonatas by Schubert, Grieg, Faure. Their performance on 1st December will finish on Tchaikovsky’s Valse Scherzo opus 34.

Guitarist Sean Shibe now ranks on a par with guitar colossus Julian Bream, according to The Sunday Times. On 26th January he will play etudes and preludes from Heitor Villa-Lobos , works by JS Bach and a selection of lute music garnered from 17th and 18th century manuscripts hidden away in Scottish collections.

February 16th brings to Sidmouth the winner of the Leeds International Piano Competition, Eric Lu. The American pianist also won the Dame Fanny Waterman Gold Medal at the competition on September 14 and 15, along with the Terence Judd Hallé Orchestra Prize.

The season will close on March 23rd with a repeat visit for an ensemble whose interpretation is, according to The Guardian, “consistently superb”. The Dante String Quartet will play Haydn’s Quartet in G op 33/5, Howells’ Quartet no 3 ‘Gloucestershire’, and the second of Beethoven’s Rasumovsky Quartets.

Full details of all concerts can be found in brochures available from the TIC and parish church as well as on line at SidmouthMusic.org.uk.