Programme:

SCHUMANN: Fantasiestucke Op.73
BRAHMS: Sonata in E Flat, Op 120 No.2
GERALDINE MUCHA: Tempo di Mazurka
CHOPIN: Scherzo No.1 in B minor Op.20
MACMILLAN: From Galloway, for clarinet
POULENC: Sonata for clarinet
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Flight of the Bumblebee
RACHMANINOV: Vocalise
Stranger on the Shore


The Performers:
 

Katherine Spencer, the newly appointed principal clarinet of the Handel and Haydn Society, is also the principal of The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Academy of Ancient Music, Gabrieli Consort and Players, The Irish Chamber Orchestra, and the City of London Sinfonia, as well as guesting with many of Europe’s leading period and modern orchestras. Katherine has played for Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace and at a private performance for the Emperor of Japan.

The New York Times says Katherine delivers “a knockout performance”, Opera Wire said her performance with H+H “was so exquisite her solo should have been repeated as an encore” and The Independent has acclaimed her “brilliant clarinet solos”.

Katherine made her concerto debut at London’s Royal Festival Hall aged 14. She has played as a soloist in all of the UK’s major concert venues with orchestras such as the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. 

Sam Haywood has performed in many of the world’s major concert halls, including Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Tonhalle in Zürich. Private audiences have included Princess Diana, David Attenborough and the then Vice-Presidents Biden and Xi. The New York Times hailed his ‘Passionate flair and sparkling clarity’ and the Washington Post his ‘dazzling, evocative playing’. Sam embraces a wide spectrum of the piano repertoire and is equally at home as soloist and chamber musician. His highly acclaimed duo with violinist Joshua Bell toured all over the world for over a decade and he has also performed on many occasions with cellist Steven Isserlis. 
Following his early success in the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition, the Royal Philharmonic Society awarded him their prestigious Isserlis award. Haywood went on to study with Paul Badura-Skoda in Vienna, where he began his enduring passion for opera, and subsequently at the Royal Academy of Music in London.