Every musician appearing in the Music at 100 Princes Street series is a winner of awards or scholarships supported by the Royal Over-Seas League. The performances take place upstairs in the Royal Over-Seas League itself, and a ticket includes coffee and a bun after the performance in a near-by room. Furthermore there are then incentives to join or dine at a discount.
The series has been going since 1999 and again this year runs for two weeks, Monday to Friday, with three performances each day - Breakfast, after Lunch, Teatime or Late. Tickets sell fast; most events are sell outs. I was at the first of this year’s thirty concerts to hear a cellist and a pianist.
Martin Cousin, the pianist, was born in Scotland and gained a first class degree at the Royal College of Music. Since then his career has taken him around the world. Recently he has been performing in Prague, Tokyo, Indonesia and Thailand. He played for us Bach’s Toccata in e BVW 914 and this was followed by Bach’s Suite No 3 in c BWV 1009.
After half an hour the cellist, Yelian He, born in China in 1974 was on stage. He had trained at Melbourne University and is currently studying at the Royal Northern College of Music. He played Bach’s The Well Tempered Clavier, Book 1.
Both performers were a real treat.
Event: Monday 15 August 2011, 9.30am