Schubert celebration at church tonight

This year marks 200 years since Franz Schubert gathered in his musical circle in a friend's room in Vienna, the earliest account of a Schubertiade.

Schubert played and sang, a lot of punch was drunk and the festivity went on until 3am.

Tonight, six local musicians with perform, remember and celebrate musical talents, set in the historic and acoustically-superior Town Church.

They will perform in a format of which Schubert and other notable composers from Austria, Germany and England would have approved.

The event is free, with a retiring collection and some refreshments.

Town Butchers has donated the home made sausages to be consumed in Austrian style, Moore's Hotel has donated some apple strudels to be consumed in Austrian style, and Randalls donated some wines also to be consumed in the spirit of the event.

Musicians:

Joseph Edwards is a baritone and has a particular focus on lieder singing. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London where he was awarded the highest graduated diploma for performance and is now Associate Artist with Tenebrae choir. When not in the UK performing, he lives, teaches and performs in Guernsey.

Henri Northmore was born in Salisbury, moved to Guernsey aged seven, and is a soprano, with a long history of involvement in singing choirs on the island. She left the Island on a music scholarship to Bryanston School, and furthered her studies in England, including a live solo on BBC Radio 3 Evensong broadcast, from Liverpool Cathedral. Henri sings in a range of choirs in Guernsey, often with soloist interventions.

Anthony Tennant studied music at Birmingham University before going on to study piano accompaniment at the Royal Northern College of Music with David Lloyd. Whilst there he participated in a number of master classes particularly with singers. Anthony accompanied instrumentalists for national and international competitions.

Carmen Craven-Grew was born in the Midlands. She started playing the violin aged 4 and also the viola aged 9. She studied at the Yehudi Menuhin School and then graduated from the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester in 2006. Carmen moved to Guernsey around 5 years ago as Head of Strings with the Schools’ Music Service.

Stephen Le Prevost was born in Guernsey and educated at Elizabeth College. He has held assistant organist posts at Westminster Abbey and Ely Cathedral, and became Director of Music and Organist at the Town Church in 2008.

James Hatton studied cornet with Richard Marshall at the Royal Northern College of Music and graduated in 2008. He began to play the trumpet as a second instrument while at the RNCM and featured as principal trumpet in the wind orchestra. Since moving to Guernsey as brass teacher for the Schools Music Service, James has been part of the Guernsey Jazz Orchestra on lead trumpet.

About the Schubertiade:

Art, poetry, and music lovers would host social gatherings in their home salons and invite a large mix of arts supporters and artists.

The Schubertiade grew out of this tradition. The piano often served as the centerpiece for salon gatherings, given its versatility and increasing popularity.

For the Austrian composer Franz Schubert, these evenings dedicated to the sharing of his music became known as Schubertiades.

Each Schubertiade usually featured a combination of chamber music, music for solo piano and, of course, songs (or lieder) — lots and lots of lieder.

Schubert was an incredibly gifted and prolific composer of lieder — essentially re-defining the genre into one which not only extolled the powerful marriage of poetry and music, but also the relationship between singer and piano.

He enjoyed exchanging his work with the work of colleagues and friends at his house in Vienna, at the end of the working week.