Music for Organ and Strings

Music ranging from the 17^th to 20^th centuries played by a famous organist together with gifted young musicians.

Tuesday 1st July, 7.45pm at St Nicholas' Church, Church Street, Chiswick W4 2PJ

Tickets £16 Full-time education £8

David Titterington   Organ            Trinity College of Music Strings          Nicholas Pendlebury   Director

David Titterington was recently appointed Artistic Director of the International Organ Festival at St Albans, confirming his position as one of the world’s most distinguished organists. He made his debut at the Royal Festival Hall in 1986 launching a career that has since taken him to many of the great international festivals and concert halls. He was a featured artist of the European Festivals Association’s 50th anniversary celebrations in 2002 performing works by Kurtag and Messiaen at the Festival of Festivals in Geneva.

Committed to contemporary music he has premiered a number of significant works.  In addition to CD’s of works by Olivier Messiaen, Petr Eben and Johann Ernst Eberlin, David Titterington has recorded more than thirty programmes for the BBC and innumerable for radio and television networks world-wide, including the complete works of César Franck from the Abbey of St Etienne, Caen.

David Titterington was Organ Scholar at Pembroke College, Oxford and continued his studies in Paris with Marie-Claire Alain and Susan Landale at the Conservatoire at Rueil-Malmaison, where he won a unanimous Premier Prix. In 1996 he was appointed Head of Organ Studies at the Royal Academy of Music, London, and has served on many international juries.

Engagements in the current season include Poulenc’s Organ Concerto conducted by Jan Latham Koenig at the Turin Opera House, and the premiere of a new work by Pavel Novak for organ, soprano and trumpet at the Dartington International Summer School, a debut recital at Moscow’s International Performing Arts Centre, and two performances at the South Bank’s Messiaen Festival Towards the Canyons and the Stars.

Nic Pendlebury was born in Cambridge and at the age of nine won a scholarship to study at Chetham's School of Music in Manchester where he studied with Carmel Kaine and Richard Deakin. Whilst at school he was a chorister at Manchester Cathedral and after leaving, gained a place at the Royal Northern College of Music to study with Malcolm Layfield. Latterly he moved to Germany to study viola with Hariolf Schlichtig. On returning to England he formed the Smith Quartet which has gone on to become one of Europe’s leading exponents of contemporary music.

The Quartet now in its 20th year has established itself as a major force in the contemporary world and has built an impressive repertoire of works by many of the world's most exciting and innovative composers earning plaudits for its dynamic performances and original approach to contemporary music. From its beginning the quartet has been dedicated to the commissioning of new works and to date well over 100 have been written for the group. Michael Nyman, Kevin Volans, Django Bates, Gavin Bryars, Stephen Montague and Howard Skempton are among many who have written for them. New works from Nyman and Volans are scheduled for 2009.

The quartet's touring schedule has taken it to North and South America, South East Asia and Japan as well as major European and UK venues. A regular performer on BBC radio and Classic FM, the Smith Quartet has also featured on many recordings including Steve Martland's Patrol for BMG, Django Bates' You Live and Learn...(apparently) and Karl Jenkins' popular album, Diamond Music for Sony. In 2005 the Smith Quartet appeared in the acclaimed BBC film Holocaust - A Music Memorial Film from Auschwitz performing - During the War from Steve Reich’s Different Trains. Shot on location at Auschwitz in November 2004 and broadcast to mark the 60th Anniversary of the liberation of the camps, the film went on to win many prestigious awards in 2006 notably the BAFTA for Best Documentary and The EMMY for Best Arts Documentary.

On the strength of its work on this film the Smith Quartet was invited to record with Signum Records and released its album of Reich in 2005. It received rave reviews from the music press. Its second album Ghost Stories released in 2007 was also critically acclaimed. The Smith Quartet is currently enjoying a number of prestigious residencies in its 2007/2008 season. The quartet have recently been awarded a PRS award and are due to visit Hong Kong and Korea at the end of 2008 and South Africa and the United States in 2009 as well as visits to Germany, Austria, Sweden, Slovenia, Ireland and Italy.

Nic is Head of the String Faculty at Trinity College of Music leading one of the most vibrant string departments in Europe and has in his care a faculty of 150 students and over 40 staff built from many of the countries leading musicians. He is in constant demand as a freelance viola player and has played with a wide variety at Orchestras and Ensembles.