Spitalfields Music Festival

On Tuesday, June 19, we attended a reception in Shoreditch Town Hall with the Lord Mayor and fellow Masters in celebration of the Spitalfields Music Festival. This very worthwhile charity produces two annual music festivals and runs creative music projects throughout the year in the local community. In an area often seen to be full of challenges, they focus on music and its power to bring people together.

The reception was followed by a concert by the Schubert Ensemble in the early eighteenth century St Leonard’s Church in Shoreditch High Street. The concert featured the World Premiere of a new piano quartet by the British composer Huw Watkins, as well as works by Martinu and Dvorák. 

The concert got off to a lively if unwelcome start when, in the second movement of the Martinu, the strings of the viola exploded off.  I have no idea what the technical term is for the piece at the bottom that holds the strings but it is not something you can just stick back on.  Fortunately an audience member who lived close by was dispatched to fetch his instrument – a very nerve-wracking experience for the musician who then had to play a world premiere “cold” on an unfamiliar instrument.  The concert was extremely well reviewed and if The Times did not have a pay wall I could direct you to the review.