Interest area: Music

Treat yourself and your loved ones to an exceptional Valentine’s piano recital in the beautiful candlelit setting of St George’s Hall Concert Room in Liverpool.  Renowned pianist John French will present an outstanding selection of classical and romantic piano works in what will be an evening to remember!

Featuring
John French (piano)

Programme
Mozart  – Rondo Alla Turka
Beethoven – Moonlight Sonata
Brahms – Intermezzo in A major op 118
Liszt
-Liebestraume No.3
-Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2
INTERVAL
Chopin
– Ballade no.1
– Nocturne in Eb
– Fantasie Impromptu in C# minor
Debussy – Claire De Lune
Gershwin – Rhapsody in Blue

Three outstanding singer-songwriters coming together to showcase their talent at the British Music Experience inside Liverpool’s Cunard Building on Thursday February 1st.

The event is headlined by Jenny Colquitt who is soon to head out on a British tour, and includes two other superb performers in Joel Gardner and Caitlin Gilligan.

Winner of the 2021/2022 FATEA ‘Female Artist of the Year’ award and the 2020/2021 GSMC Award for best female solo singer/songwriter, Jenny’s music is described as fit for film and storytelling at its finest.

A voice that uniquely combines the melodic undertones of artists such as Eva Cassidy and the rawness of Alanis Morissette, she writes with soul, lyrical vulnerability and style to accompany her musicality both through keys and guitar.

Supporting Jenny will be rising Cheshire artist Joel Gardner. With one hand placed firmly in Pop, Rock and Groove and the other in Trad, Roots and Folk, Joel’s music is built on infectious melodies, introspective lyrics and intricate guitar playing.

His songwriting style and sound is often compared to the likes of Paul Simon and Frank Turner and his music celebrates the simplicity of one man and a guitar. Performing live, his shows are an explosion of positive energy, charisma and showmanship honed from relentless gigging.

Over the years Joel’s music has won him an array of awards including the ‘Danny Kyle Award’ at Celtic Connections and Wath Festival’s ‘Young Performer of the Year Award’.’

God & Star Signs, his most recent release, is an anthemic yet bittersweet folk rock song exploring themes of dementia and lost love underpinned by Joel’s signature intricate guitar playing.

And opening the show will be Caitlin Gilligan from the rolling hills of rural Galloway.

Now based in Liverpool, her songs still echo the wildness of her Scottish youth. Stirring age-old folk songs into a set of bare-boned and poetically crafted originals, she demonstrates refreshing insight whilst simultaneously summoning the voices of times gone by. She draws much inspiration from folk giants such as Anne Briggs, Nick Drake and Leonard Cohen as well as traditional vocal music of Scotland, Ireland and America.

She has supported artists such as Martin Carthy, Martin Simpson, Sam Amidon, Rachel Sermanni, Emily Portman, Rachel Newton and The Rails. She played her debut Cambridge Folk Festival in 2019, where she was a selected highlight on The Den Stage. In the last year she has already secured some notable gigs such as Cottingham Folk Festival, where opened for The Unthanks.

Doors open at 6.45pm, first artist on stage at 7.30pm. Tickets £10.

On Wednesday February 21st Liverpool Urban Sketchers are holding a fund-raising concert to help celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the group.

They are raising money to publish a book of their sketches, and the profits from this concert will go towards this end. Anthony John Clarke will be performing in his inimitable style at Christ the King Parish Centre, Score Lane, Childwall, start time is 8.00pm, doors open 7.30.

Price of tickets is £13.50, contact Lesley Scholes, either via email: lesleyscholes@blueyonder.co.uk, or via Messenger,

Celebrated Irish singer and composer, Sue Rynhart, brings her show ‘You, me or the Wallpaper’ to the Liverpool Philharmonic Music Room on 1 Feb 2024.

Rynhart’s intriguing performance piece is a response to Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s ground-breaking feminist short story The Yellow Wallpaper which recounts the story of one woman’s experience of postnatal depression.

Rynhart responds to the complex and challenging themes of the original text using her own personal experiences to explore how creativity has enhanced her experience of life and motherhood. Loved for her unique voice and extraordinary blend of folk and contemporary jazz, Sue is an adventurous and award-winning musician who is not to be missed.

She is accompanied by musicians Lina Andonovska and Mike Nielsen. The performance is part of the Liverpool Irish Festival St Brigid’s Day celebrations.

Serious Sam Barrett is a hard touring, folk and country singer/songwriter from Yorkshire, playing honest, heartfelt self-penned and traditional songs on 12 string guitar and banjo.

Raised in the Dales village of Addingham, Sam began performing in and around Leeds in 2004, with word spreading further afield with the release of his 2009 debut album Close To Home. Having performed at SXSW in Austin, Texas in 2010, he has toured the US widely, usually in the company of friends and fellow skaters The Pine Hill Haints.

Along the way, Sam has shared stages with the likes of Martin Carthy, Dave Burland, Katherine Tickell, Lucero, The Young Un’s, Frank Fairfield, Deer Tick and Karine Polwart, and received airplay and praise plaudits from the BBC’s Bob Harris, Marc Riley, Mark Radcliffe and Mike Harding.

Come and enjoy a celebration of Viennese melodies from Port Sunlight Orchestra including The Gipsy Baronfrom, The Merry Widow, Die Fledermaus and the ever popular Blue Danube waltz.

Port Sunlight Orchestra was formed around 1900 and is one of the village’s oldest institutions. The orchestra played at the opening ceremony of the Lady Lever Art Gallery in 1922 and have presented regular Sunday afternoon concerts here ever since.

Georgie Weston LIVE- Crafting songs using a pallet of Soul, Jazz and 70s Soft Rock, a fusion he calls ‘Nu-wop’ you’ll usually find Georgie Weston sat behind the Ivory keys tapping out lyrics on his phone or whistling a new found melody as he walks beside the river Mersey.

Georgie goes by the method of using left field chord changes, commonly found on an old jazz record, with the intent of aiming for a pop song. Similar to The likes of Stevie Wonder , Steely Dan and Billy Joel . ‘Play it, Georgie’ For fans of Matt Maltese , Strawberry Guy , Weyes Blood , Bruno Major , Benny Sings , Mac DeMarco ,Parcels , Drugdealer , Mayer Hawthorne

Support from Talkfield and Blue Jean

Liverpool Bach Collective was formed in 2013, with the aim of putting on performances of J S Bach’s cantatas in churches in and around Liverpool every month as part of Sunday Evensong or Vespers. The cantatas chosen are based on, or are at least relevant to, the readings of the day in the churches visited.

Cantata 54 ‘Be steadfast against sin’ is a suitable preparation for Lent. It is a solo cantata which will be sung by Danny Townley (countertenor), accompanied by a baroque string ensemble.