Our next concert is on Saturday 25th April at 7.30pm  when we will be welcoming the Vandepeer Quartet with a programme of Mendelssohn, Schubert, Caroline Shaw and the Danish String Quartet.

The Vandepeer Quartet last played for us in April 2024 and the audience response was so positive we decided it would be great to have them back as part of our 50th Anniversary Season.

This is the last concert of the current season so do try to join us if you can. We will be back again in September 2026 when the acclaimed Paddington Trio will start our new season with works by Beethoven, Menlessohn and Shostakovich.

We are delighted to welcome back to Whitstable the Gould Piano Trio with Lucy Gould (Violin), Richard Lester (Cello) and Benjamin Frith (Piano.) 

Their programme includes:
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• Schubert Piano Trio D897
  
• Ravel Piano Trio in A Minor
  
• Dvorak Piano Trio Op.26

The Gould Piano Trio has been compared in the Washington Post to the great Beaux Arts Trio for their “musical fire” and “dedication to the genre” and has remained at the forefront of the international chamber music scene for over a quarter of a century. They first came to Whitstable in April 2019, and again in February 2024 and because of their outstanding musicianship and superb repertoire we felt it would be wonderful to have them back again in our 50th Anniversary Year. 

If you are a lover of chamber music make sure this date is firmly in your diary!

A reminder about our next concert on Saturday 28th February at 7.30pm at the usual venue when the  internationally acclaimed flautist Gareth Davies together with Michael McHale (piano) will perform works by Debussy, Faure, Poulenc and others.

Gareth is one of the greatest flautists of his generation. He  studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Shortly after graduating, he was appointed Principal flute in the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra at the age of just 23. During his time on the south coast, he recorded the Nielsen concerto with the orchestra. In 2000, Gareth was invited to become Principal flute with the London Symphony Orchestra where he has remained ever since.

Belfast-born Michael McHale has established himself as one of Ireland’s leading pianists and has developed a busy international career as a solo recitalist, concerto soloist and chamber musician. After completing studies at Cambridge University and the Royal Academy of Music, Michael went on to win the Camerata Ireland Accenture Award, Brennan and Field Prizes at the Dublin International Piano Competition, Terence Judd/Hallé Award and a Major Individual Award from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. His teachers and mentors include John O’Connor, Réamonn Keary, Christopher Elton, Ronan O’Hora and Barry Douglas.

We are delighted to welcome Matthew Rose and Anna Tilbrook who will perform the Schubert Winterreise. 

Franz Schubert's Winterreise is a song cycle for voice and piano, setting 24 poems by Wilhelm Müller to music. The cycle portrays a despondent wanderer's journey through a harsh winter landscape after a failed love affair. The cycle is often seen as a reflection of Schubert's own struggles with illness and personal challenges. It also reflects the Romantic era's fascination with nature, emotion, and the individual's struggle against fate. 

We will be providing a printed translation of the poems from the original German into English to enable our audience to appreciate the intensity and beauty of both the poetry and the music.

This is an early reminder for your diaries that we start the second half of our 50th Anniversary Season with our first concert of 2026 on Saturday 31st January at our usual venue.

We are delighted to welcome Matthew Rose (Bass) and Anna Tilbrook (Piano) who will be performing the Winterreise by Franz Schubert. 

The Winterreise is a song cycle for voice and piano, setting 24 poems by Wilhelm Müller to music. The cycle portrays a despondent wanderer's journey through a harsh winter landscape after a failed love affair. The music, composed in 1827, is known for its emotional intensity and exploration of themes of lost love, isolation, and the confrontation with death.  His journey is both a physical trek through a wintry landscape and a psychological descent into despair. The wanderer encounters various natural elements (sun, wind, trees, snow) which become symbolic companions on his journey. 

The songs are sung in German but we have printed an English translation which will be included with the programme notes so that you can closely follow and understand this beautiful and intense journey.

Tickets are also usually available on the ticket desk on the evening of the concert.

We are delighted to welcome the pianist Clare Hammond. It has been some years since Clare last played for us in Whitstable but her performances were so memorable that we often get requests for her to come back, and what a better time than our 50th Anniversary Season.

Acclaimed as a “pianist of extraordinary gifts” (Gramophone) and “immense power” (The Times), Clare Hammond is recognised for the virtuosity and authority of her performances. She won the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Young Artist Award in 2016. In 2024 Clare made her debut at the Royal Albert Hall, performing Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with the Philharmonia conducted by Christopher Warren-Green.

Clare will be performing works by Ravel, Debussy, Cecile Chaminade and a work specially commissioned by Clare called "Prison Piece" sponsored by the Gloucestershire Piano Trust, which Clare will introduce herself.

We are delighted to welcome the students of the Royal College of Music Wind Ensemble.  

The RCM Wind Ensemble is dedicated to showcasing brilliant works for wind ensembles of all sizes, and have been hailed for their energetic playing and eclectic programming. Particular recent highlights for the group have been their sold-out performance at Champs-Hill and an opportunity to play at Highgrove House. Other notable performances have taken place at Dorchester Arts and Garsington Opera, where they presented a pre-performance concert welcoming audiences to the evening’s production of Mozart’s 'The Marriage of Figaro'.

For this concert, they are collaborating with recent RCM graduates in a performance of Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro Overture, Matyas Seiber's Serenade for clarinets, bassoons and horns, Mark Simpson's 'Geysir' and the much-loved Mozart ‘Gran Partita’ for 13 winds.

This is the second concert in our special 50th Anniversary Season and those of you who were able to come to our September concert will have felt the thrill in the audience as we were treated to a truly memorable recital by the Sacconi Quartet.

This next concert by the Royal College of Music musicians is one not to be missed.

​We start our 50th Anniversary Season on Saturday 27th September at 7.30pm at our usual venue with a recital by the superb Sacconi String Quartet  

The Sacconi and the Whitstable Music Society have a long association going back many years and we were delighted when agreed to open our 50th Anniversary Season with a superb programme of the Beethoven Quartet Op.132, the Ravel String Quartet, and a delightful piece by Hugo Wolf, The Italian Serenade. 

Tickets can be purchased on our website or at the ticket desk on the evening of the concert. If you haven't yet done so please consider purchasing a season ticket for all seven concerts this season, which represents a 32% discount on the single concert ticket price.   
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The Society is celebrating its 50th Anniversary season this year- quite a remarkable achievement- so we hope you will be able to join us on what we think will be an outstanding season of chamber music- the equivalent of having the Wigmore Hall right here in Whitstable!