About this Event
We are very much looking forward to this performance by brilliant Lithuanian and British pianists Lauryna Sableviciute and Nicholas Ashton, who, in addition to their extensive individual work, have collaborated for more than a decade as the acclaimed Re:Sono Piano Duo.
Their wide-ranging programme combines cornerstones of the two-piano repertoire by Mozart, Chopin and Stravinsky with an arrangement of Vaughan Williams's gorgeous Fantasia on 'Greensleeves', the sonata for piano duet (one piano, four hands) by Poulenc, and two contemporary works — the duo's specialism — by Graham Lynch and Alina Savanenkovaite that Lauryna and Nicholas have premiered in recent years.
We are grateful to the Ida Carroll Trust for supporting our recital series, enabling us to pay the artists who perform here.
PROGRAMME
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)
Larghetto and Allegro in E flat K. 681 (1781–1783), completed by Maximilian Stadler (1792)
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (1882–1971)
Sonata K067 (1944)
I. Moderato
II. Theme with Variations
III. Allegretto
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872–1958)
Fantasia on Greensleeves (1934), adapted by Ralph Greaves from the opera Sir John in Love (1928), and arranged for two pianos by Hubert J. Foss (1945)
Graham Lynch (born 1957)
Songs of Love and Death (2024)
Alina Savanenkovaite
Per jūrą iki Klaipėdos — Over the Sea to Klaipeda (2017)
Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc (1899–1963)
Sonata for piano, four hands FP 8 (1918), performed on two pianos
I. Prélude
II. Rustique
III. Final
Frédéric François Chopin (1810–1849)
Rondo in C Op. posth. 73 (1828)
ABOUT THE PERFORMERS
Lauryna Sableviciute
is a Lithuanian born pianist who began to give public recitals at a very early age and by the time she was 15 had already accumulated many prizes and honours in various competitions including prestigious national awards from the Czech Republic and Lithuania.
At the age of 15 she performed Vainiunas' Piano Concerto together with the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Lithuania, as well as Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No.1 in B minor together with the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Lithuania in the Philharmonic Hall in Vilnius, which was broadcast on national radio. She toured with Vilnius Quartet as part of Young Talents of Lithuania scheme.
In 1998 Lauryna has graduated from Vilnius Conservatoire and moved to Glasgow, Scotland to work as an accompanist at Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. In 2003 she graduated RCS with MMus Performance under prof. Fali Pavri guidance. Since then, Lauryna has given many recitals in the UK and internationally as a piano soloist, a chamber musician and as an accompanist.
In addition to her interest in works from the Baroque, Classical and Romantic periods, she is passionate about introducing audiences to new works by living composers from around the world-never forgetting to include some pieces by her native Lithuanian composers. She has accumulated many World Premieres and/or UK performances of works by composers such as Ennio Morricone (Italy), Yuri Kasparov (Russia), Eduardo Miranda (Brazil/UK), Graciela Paraskavaidis (Uruguay), Senderovas (Lithuania), Feliksas Bajoras (Lithiania), Alina Savanenkovaite (Lithuania), Stephen Pratt (UK). Stephen Davismoon (UK), Alan Williams (UK), Camden Reeves (UK), Graham Lynch, Marc Yeats, Raminta Serksnyte, Sadie Harrison and many others, involved in the ongoing long term collaboration.
Besides her passion to perform she strongly believes in the necessity of introducing young people to classical music and is often involved in various BBC or Buxton Outreach projects traveling to the schools in remote areas of the North of England. Lauryna is currently really enjoying her involvement in several orchestras across the North West, including Hale Orchestra, Opera North, Hope Metropolitan Orchestra and Orchestra del'Arte. Lauryna is also a dedicated piano tutor and Staff Pianist working in the institutions such as Royal Northern College of Music, Chetham's Music School and University of Manchester.
Nicholas Ashton
was born in Preston, Lancashire and educated at Chetham’s School, the Royal Northern College of Music, on postgraduate scholarships in Geneva and Frankfurt-am-Main and at the University of Edinburgh.
His two principal teachers were Renna Kellaway and Joachim Volkmann and he received inspirational coaching from Murray Perahia and Menahem Pressler.
Following a debut at the 1980 Manchester International Festival in the city’s Free Trade Hall, Nicholas performed intensively as a soloist during his undergraduate and postgraduate studies, building an extensive repertoire. Nicholas has performed widely as both soloist and chamber musician thoughout the UK, Germany, the USA, Lithuania, Finland and Italy at series and festivals, including at the Hamburg Chamber Arts Association, Paxton House Summer Music, the Amici della musica in Udine, the Edinburgh and Salford Sonic Fusion and Glasgow Sound Thought Festivals, the Obertoene Festival and the Halle 424 concert series in Hamburg, the Cantilena Chamber Music Festival and the Lake District Summer Music Festival. He has also contributed many times as a performer and in interview for BBC Radio 3 and 4, BBC Radio Scotland and in Germany, Switzerland, New Zealand, Lithuania and the USA.
A première recording of the complete works for solo piano and the piano quintet by the distinguished Scottish composer Robert Crawford, was released on the Delphian Records label in February 2008. This recording attracted very high praise in the media, including International Record Review, The Scotsman, The Herald, Musical Opinion and The Gramophone.
Nicholas currently works with the distingushed pianist Lithuanian pianist Lauryna Sableviciute in a piano duo entitled Re:Sono, specialising in contemporary two-piano repertoire. They have performed numerous works by contemporary composers and have been commissioned to perform premiere works and received dedications.
Nicholas and the Edinburgh Quartet worked together for over ten years, performing much of the piano quintet repertoire. They recorded the Robert Crawford piano quintet in 2007 – a premiere recording for Delphian Records.
Nicholas recently performed two series of carefully curated, themed programmes, the first of which, entitled Wasserklavier (2017-2019), centred around concrete and abstract evocations of water. The second themed programme, entitled Birds and Landscapes (2019-2022), explored these subjects. A third themed prgramme, entitled Feuerklavier (Fire Piano), is in preparation for 2027, with recitals at the new Laidlaw Music Centre at St Andrews, the Queen’s Hall Edinburgh and the University of Edinburgh in the 2026-2027 season, with planned recordings of all three (Wasserklavier/Birds and Landscapes/Feuerklavier).
Since September 2020, Nicholas has been Principal Senior Tutor at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS) and at the University of Edinburgh, also maintaining a private teaching practice. He is active as an examiner, assessor and adjudicator, including at Eton College, St Mary’s Music School, the Royal Irish Academy of Music, the Royal High School of Dundee, Guildhall School of Music and Drama and at RCS.
Nicholas is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy/Advance HE (2018) and was a Teaching Fellow at Edinburgh Napier University from 2018-20. For 29 years (1991-2000), Nicholas was a full-time Lecturer and Senior Lecturer at Edinburgh Napier.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Forsyth Brothers Limited, 126 Deansgate, Manchester, United Kingdom
GBP 4.00
