Frankland Quartet

string quartet

Thursday 16th November 2023

7.30pm Morpeth Methodist Church

Programme (on occasion, the artists may make minor changes to the published programme)

J.S. Bach Contrapunctus 4 from The Art of Fugue

Haydn String Quartet Op. 76 No 4 'Sunrise'

INTERVAL

Janáček String Quartet No 2 'Intimate Letters'

The Frankland Quartet will make a welcome return to Morpeth having performed an excellent concert for us in 2021.  The quartet formed in 2017, having met as colleagues at Royal Northern Sinfonia  and is the current Quartet-in-Residence at Durham University.  The artists create innovative programmes, balancing familiar and newer works, with a particular focus on female composers and under represented groups.  Our programme will open with a movement from Bach's Art of Fugue followed by Haydn's 'Sunrise' quartet - named for its opening rising chord sequence.  The whole second half will be Janáček's second quartet 'Intimate Letters' which is the composer's representation of his decade-long correspondence with his muse Kamila Stösslová.

More about the musicians (reproduced from their website):

Sophie Appleton

Sophie’s love of chamber music began at a young age with her childhood quartet and developed playing in the Denis East string quartet in her twenties and later in the Bloomsbury Piano Trio. She has had a varied career – working in contemporary music as part of the successful group Kurbis and as an orchestral musician playing in London with orchestras such as the Philharmonia, Academy of St Martins in the Field and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House amongst many others. She is now a member of the Royal Northern Sinfonia and lives in Durham with her husband, composer James Weeks, with whom she is currently collaborating on a piece to be with EXAUDI vocal ensemble later in the year.

Sarah Roberts

Sarah is an in-demand and celebrated chamber musician whose career has taken her around the world. Whilst studying at the Royal Northern College of Music she won the Philip Newman prize and the Terrence Weill Chamber music prize. She is involved with contemporary music, recently leading the ‘Next Wave 2’ CD released by NMC. Sarah has balanced her varied orchestral career with being a long time member of the first violin section of the Royal Northern Sinfonia. She lives in Allendale with her husband and children.

James Slater

James is much sought after as a chamber musician, working regularly with established and new ensembles across the country. He acts as guest principal viola with leading orchestras including the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Manchester Camerata and Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, as well as playing regularly with the John Wilson Orchestra, Sinfonia of London and Orchestra Revolutionaire et Romantique. Hailing from the south west of England, James lives in Gateshead with his family and is a member of Royal Northern Sinfonia.

Daniel Hammersley

Daniel was formerly a member of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London and now lives in Tynemouth where he enjoys surfing as well as practising his cello. He balances his position as Principal Cello No. 2 of Royal Northern Sinfonia with appearances in orchestras up and down the country as well as recent engagements as guest principal with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra.

Photo by Rebecca O'Donnell.

'It was a lot of fun, and the Frankland Quartet were clearly enjoying themselves immensely.'

Music in Durham concert 2022