NEWBURY Spring FESTIVAL | 2023

40 box office 01635 522733 newburyspringfestival.org.uk 41 Wednesday 17 May Young Artists Recital 5 Maciej Kułakowski Rising stars Polish cellist Maciej Kułakowski and Swiss pianist/composer Jean-Sélim Abdelmoula met at the Kronberg Academy in Germany. Their programme includes, in his 150th anniversary year, Rachmaninov’s gorgeously lyrical cello sonata, one of the most romantic in the repertoire, written in 1901, a year after his beloved Second Piano Concerto. It was a period of turmoil for the composer having recently suffered a nervous breakdown and was the last piece of chamber music he wrote. JS Bach’s Suite No.1 in G major needs no introduction and is a perfect foil to the intensity of Rachmaninov’s G minor sonata. Maciej Kułakowski ‘cello Jean-Sélim Abdelmoula piano J S Bach Cello Suite No.1 in G, BWV.1007 Rachmaninov Cello Sonata in G minor, Op. 19 Sponsored by The Headley Trust Corn Exchange Newbury RG14 5BD 12.30pm (ends approx 1.30pm) £13.25 Recital only (series ticket for all 6 lunchtime recitals £66.25) (includes £1.25 Corn Exchange booking fee per ticket) © Kaupo Kikkas © Kaupo Kikkas Wednesday 17 May Corn Exchange Newbury RG14 5BD 7.30pm (ends approx 9.00pm) £11.25 (includes £1.25 Corn Exchange booking fee per ticket) Brief Encounter In the year marking Rachmaninov’s 150th anniversary it is appropriate to include a screening of the great classic of British post-war cinema, Brief Encounter . This is the film that brought attention to his second Piano Concerto, which is heard throughout the movie and which launched it as the most popular piano concerto of its time. After a chance meeting on a train platform, a married doctor (Trevor Howard) and a suburban housewife (Celia Johnson) begin a muted but passionate, and ultimately doomed, love affair. With its evocatively fog-enshrouded setting, swooning Rachmaninov score, and pair of remarkable performances (Johnson was nominated for an Oscar), this film, directed by David Lean and based on Noël Coward’s play Still Life deftly explores the thrill, pain, and tenderness of an illicit romance, and has influenced many a cinematic brief encounter since its release. David Lean director BOOK NOW BOOK NOW