Description
Baroque Concertos and Arias by Candlelight
To help dispel the January blues, we will perform an uplifting programme of music for strings, trumpet and soprano by Bach and Handel.
Chapel Street Ensemble, with soloists Katy Rowe and Nat Jones, will be joined by the enormously experienced Robert Farley on trumpet, and we are delighted to welcome Cornish soprano Katherine Gregory.
Katherine is this year’s recipient of the Eleanor Margaret Scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music, where she is studying for an MA with Susan Waters, Chris Hopkins and James Baillieu. In her first weeks at the Academy, Katherine was accepted as a scholar on the Josephine Baker Trust and Royal Academy Song Circle, as well as the preparatory opera course.
Katherine is sought after as an oratorio soloist, performing frequently with some of
the UK’s top choirs and orchestras. She made her debut at the Royal Festival Hall singing alongside the Bach Choir and Philharmonia Orchestra at the age of 20, since going on to perform with them a number of times, including performances in Holy Trinity Sloan Square and Kings College Chapel, alongside the Britten Sinfonia. Some of her 2024/5 highlights include Verdi’s Requiem, Mendelssohn’s Elijah and Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle.
Robert Farley studied at the Royal College of Music where he won several prizes including the Ernest Hall Memorial Prize. He is now a busy freelance trumpeter working with major UK orchestras.
On the baroque trumpet he is principal of The Orchestra of the Sixteen, Orpheus Britannicus and The Hanover Band. With these groups he has appeared as principal trumpet on numerous critically acclaimed recordings including Bach B Minor Mass  Handel’s Messiah, Coronation anthems and Bach’s Orchestral Suites. He has been guest principal and soloist with The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Academy of Ancient Music and Tafel Music, Canada.
Katy Rowe is a talented and flexible professional violinist currently working across the UK and abroad but choosing Cornwall as her home. Katy’s studies at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama (RWCMD) began with a full entrance scholarship and upon graduation saw her being awarded a first-class honours degree. She was then selected for and enjoyed a short placement at The Newcastle Conservatoire in Australia, completed two more years at the RWCMD which resulted in a distinction in performance for her Postgraduate Diploma. Katy’s performances span many fields from chamber music to soloist, session musician and orchestral player. With a love for collaborating with other artists and art forms, Katy has also performed in several theatre productions…singing, playing bass guitar and percussion, using loop pedals and sharing the stage with puppets! Her passion and commitment towards outreach and educational work has seen Katy work for the Live Music Now scheme, the Cavatina Chamber Music Trust, Music In Action and Hemi Help. She has led many arts projects engaging vulnerable young people with music-making and performance as well as establishing a successful private teaching practice.
Nat Jones attended Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester the Royal College of Music before working as a freelance violinist based in London. During that time he played with the English Chamber Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall, participated in theatre productions at the Lowry Theatre, Salford, did recordings at Abbey Road and Air Studios, and toured with productions across stadiums in the UK and Europe, including Wembley, the 02 Arena, and the Heineken Music Hall, Amsterdam. Nat worked for the Cornwall Music Trust from 2016-2019. As a musician in Cornwall, Nat performs chamber music frequently as part of the Chapel Street Ensemble, leads the Cornwall Quartet, and plays with The Three Spires, Cornish Sinfonia and Truro Symphony Orchestra.
Programme
Bach double violin concerto in D minor BWV 1043
Soloists Nat Jones / Katy Rowe
Andrea Grossi Sonata (Concerto) for Trumpet and strings
Soloist Robert Farley
‘Angels ever bright and fair’ from Handel’s Theodora
‘Let the bright Seraphim’ from Handel’s Samson
Soloists Katherine Gregory (soprano) and Robert Farley
‘Auch mit gedampften schwachen Stimmen’ from Bach Cantata BWV 36
Soprano and violin obbligato
‘Jauchzet Gott in alle Landen’ (complete) Bach Cantata BWV 51
Soloists Katherine Gregory and Robert Farley
Sunday 18th January, 3pm
Chapel Street Methodist Church, Penzance
