Our second free concert, on Friday 16 February, is titled: Schubert and Grieg violin sonatas
Vanessa and Tom present two contrasting violin sonatas: Schubert’s exemplifies the late classical style, while Grieg wrote his at the height of the romantic period. Both sonatas contain dramatic and energetic material, as well as beautiful melodies, and both bare influences of folk music.
Vanessa White is a German born violinist who grew up into a multicultural and musical family. Her mother is a Canadian pianist and father, a British violinist. Vanessa has recently completed a Masters in Performance (MPerf) at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with professor Ofer Falk. She also holds a Bachelor of Music degree with honours from the Royal Northern College of Music where she studied with Czech violinist Pavel Fischer. Vanessa is a dedicated chamber musician. She co-founded the Alegría Piano Trio in 2015 with Imy Luc and Lizzie Elliott. The trio have received coachings from Gaspard Trio, Sitkovetsky Trio, Elias Quartet, Jeremy Young and Petr Prause and were finalists of the RNCM Hirsch prize. She has also performed the Mendelssohn Octet with the Elias Quartet. Vanessa is currently the artistic director of Fresco Musicians, founded in 2019 in Manchester. The festival has recently launched its own YouTube channel which includes vlog style content about the joys of performing chamber music. She is also the Artistic Associate of the Great Bowden Music Fest which was founded by her father in 2014. Find out more about Vanessa on this link.
Tom Jesty (piano) sang as a Winchester College Quirister from the age of eight. While studying with Nick Salwey at Winchester College, he gained an FTCL diploma in piano performance. After graduating from St Peter’s College Oxford, Tom has worked as a piano teacher and accompanist. Tom has just completed a masters course in piano accompaniment at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, studying with Pamela Lidiard and Iain Burnside. In March last year, Tom won the Paul Harmburger Prize for Voice and Piano, accompanying baritone George Robarts. Tom accompanies for the Encore Choir, directed by Charles MacDougal, the City Chamber Choir, directed by Stephen Jones, and the Hampshire Youth Choirs, directed by Kerry Kenward and Andrew Hayman. Tom works as music director of St Mary’s church in Islington, and works as an accompanist and teacher at the Guildhall, where he is a junior fellow. You can hear Tom in action here.
Dates for the next few concerts are: Friday 15 March, Friday 19 April and 17 May.
Come and be delighted by high quality classical performances at St Mary’s, Upper Street. The concerts are free and you do not need a ticket.