Masterclass with Gina McCormack Tuesday 25 February 3.00pm Recital Room
A Message from the Master
The musicians of Dulwich College are delighted and honoured to be playing their part in the 250th anniversary commemoration of the birth of Ludwig van Beethoven. In celebrating Beethoven, we are doing far more than drawing attention to the life and work of a great composer. We will be exploring the Romantic ideal of the Artist as Hero and considering the nature of Revolution (both cultural and political) and the idea of Liberty. I might also suggest we will be made to reflect on what it is to be European, at an important moment in our national history and in the history of the progress (or otherwise) of humanity.
Violinist Gina McCormack has given regular solo performances at Wigmore Hall, South Bank Centre and internationally. She was the leader of the Sorrel and Maggini Quartets before joining the Brodsky Quartet as first violin in May 2019. She is a professor at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Lunchtime Concert Wednesday 26 February 1.30pm Christ’s Chapel Dulwich College chamber groups perform a varied programme of Beethoven and his contemporaries. Music Award Holders annual trip: Brodsky Quartet Concert Thursday 27 February 6.45pm Kings Place Dulwich College’s music award holders will head to Kings Place to hear Gina McCormack and the Brodksy Quartet perform Beethoven’s sublime String Quartet Op 132 as part of their Rush-Hour Lates series. Tickets free for Music Award holders. General tickets available via Kings Place.
That leads me to another consideration. Albeit composing at the beginning of the age of nationalism, Beethoven’s work transcended national and ethnic boundaries. His vision was more spacious than that of composers whose work, however universal it became, was defined by their advocacy of their own national heritage, be it Verdi in Italy or Wagner in Germany or Dvorak or Janacek in their homelands. I hope you will engage with and enjoy as many aspects of our Beethoven 250 programme as possible, be it the masterclasses and lectures, or the performances by eminent musicians or the opportunity to hear our own musicians play Beethoven’s music. What I hope we capture in this wide-ranging programme of talks and concerts is the extraordinary scope and variety of Beethoven’s work. The popular image of the composer can be of the Promethean tortured artist and evidence to support this view can be found if the one hears only the sturm und drang works in Beethoven’s vast repertoire. That there was more to his work than this, and that his innovations and influence went beyond early 19th century German Romanticism, is captured beautifully in lines from the poet Gabriel Seidl: “He teaches us new jubilation, new laments, new prayer and new jests”. My grateful thanks to Mr Luis Pares, Dulwich College’s Head of Keyboard and Music Partnerships co-ordinator, for the time and thought he has put into constructing our Beethoven 250 programme. It is very fitting that the opportunities we are providing for our own pupils and the wider Dulwich College community are also open to pupils and teachers from our many valued partner schools and I hope they take up our invitations in great numbers too.
Dr Joe Spence The Master, Dulwich College
Made with FlippingBook Learn more on our blog