Gina back as society guest

For many years the Sorrel String Quartet was a regular feature of the society’s programme and for 13 years Gina was its leader. Sadly, the Sorrel is no longer but Gina has launched out into a solo career and she will be warmly welcomed back to Alnwick accompanied by the pianist, Nigel Clayton.

Gina is now well established as a solo artist with engagements at London’s Wigmore Hall and the South Bank Centre as well as performances with the Halle and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. She has toured throughout Europe, South Africa and South America.

She has a long association with her duo partner, Nigel Clayton, who studied at the Royal College of Music in London and won several prizes there. Nigel has toured extensively at home and worldwide and performs 80 or more concerts every season.

The programme for Alnwick begins with a Sonatina in D major by the Polish-born composer Mieczyslaw Weinberg. Then follows more familiar territory with Five Melodies by Sergei Prokofiev. Mendelssohn’s Violin Sonata in F major, championed by Yehudi Menuhin, is the third part of Gina’s programme. The penultimate piece is Szymanowski’s ‘La Fontaine D’Arethuse’ drawn from Greek mythology. Syzmanowski is a great favourite of Alnwick Music Society president Martin Roscoe.

The concert ends with Richard Strauss’s Violin Sonata in E flat major, which the programme notes indicate as ‘providing opportunity for virtuosity and lush romanticism’.