Dorking Concertgoers Society

13/05/2024

12/05/2024

SUPERB- recital in the Dorking Halls yesterday by Sheku and Isata Kanneh-Mason to a capacity audience.
Mendelssohn
Beethoven
Fauré
Chopin
It was a long and demanding programme ( 2hrs + interval) for the audience as well. ( As luck would have it, it was very hot!) There were a good few children in the audience who were extremely well behaved!! Well done!
Sheku spoke briefly to the audience. He was so warm and engaging!
His ‘cello playing is exquisite and draws the listener in so that one feels that he is playing just for you.
A pin dropping in the quieter sections would have been deafening.
Isata is a technically and musically brilliant young musician. The organiser methinks!
The couple received a rapturous response from a mesmerised audience.
And- they were charming with it!!

30/04/2024

Please note- the ticket pricing is wrong on this ad.

30/04/2024

Jess Gillam is a BBC Young Musician winner and her octet is gaining wide acclaim for its varied and entertaining programmes.

29/04/2024

A volunteer wanted to turn the pages for Isata Kanneh-Mason at the Dorking Halls on May 11th.
Concert Sheku and Isata!
Sold out!
Small fee plus expenses paid.

03/10/2023

Nicholas McCarthy appears at the first concert of our 2023/24 season.
He is preparing to appear in the prestigious Belfast International Music Festival!
Hear him here first!!

17/08/2023

As we draw near to our 2023/24 season- a plea!
The little group of volunteer trustees on the Committee is frighteningly small and about to get smaller with the resignation of Susan Bixley from the Committee.
The organisation of SEVEN concerts is a huge task and unless some volunteers (hopefully younger!) are prepared to ‘step up to the plate’ the group may well soon find the task is beyond it!
This when we are better financially placed than we have been for some years and have the prospect of some really exciting concerts with ‘big name’ artists.
OUR AGM WILL BE AT AT 8.15PM ON MON. 16TH OCTOBER IN ST. MARTIN’S CHRISTIAN CENTRE, CHURCH STREET, DORKING.
Please come and support us!!

21/04/2023

This an article about the exciting performers Jess Gillam and Sheku Kaneh-Mason.
We have both these artists booked for next year.

08/03/2023

Petition to save the BBC Singers

https://click.e.change.org/f/a/uaHO05i8GV5bn3fw6aDJ2Q~~/AANj1QA~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

International Women's Day 2023!

06/03/2023

I have never heard so many superlatives after a concert.
Below is the proramme to which the Carducci Quartet treated us yesterday ( Sunday 5th March)
Martineau Hall- Dorking Halls

Haydn
String Quartet in B flat, Op.76 No.4, Sunrise

Felix Mendelssohn
String Quartet No.6 in F minor, Op.80

Beethoven
String Quartet in E minor, Op.59 No.2, Rasumovsky

Matthew Denton Violin
Michelle Fleming Violin
Eoin Schmidt-Martin Viola
Emma Denton Cello

The first and last pieces are well established favourites in the quartet repertoire.
The late Mendelssohn quartet is less well known and reflects Felix’s grief at the death of his sister F***y.
We received comments from highly respected players in the audience who said that they had never heard the enormously taxing Beethoven piece played as well. Other members of the audience were effusive in their thanks to the Concertgoers for organising the event.

A good concert!
The quartet’s next visit to us- 2nd April.
Be there!

20/02/2023

A little bit of audience research!
Dorking Concert Goers have provisionally booked the talented young internationally known saxophonist Jess Gillam for a concert in the Dorking Halls in the Autumn of next year.
We have two options:-
1. A concert by Jess and a piano accompanist.
2. A concert by the Jess Gillam Octet- Jess, a string quartet, bass, piano, drums.

Which would attract YOU most to come?
Which would appeal most to your children, young acquaintances.

The octet is a much more expensive proposition but, for once, money is not a particular issue.
Please share this post if appropriate!

13/02/2023

l Another triumphant concert for the Dorking Concertgoers hot on the heels of the Grand Hall ‘sell out’ for the Grimethorpe Colliery Band.
On Sunday afternoon 12 Feb. the Martineau Hall was packed for a wonderful concert by the Carducci String Quartet.
They played works by Haydn -and we were caught out by the joyful ending of the Joke Quartet ( like audiences for the last 300 years); by F***y Mendelssohn proving that she had a talent that matched her brother Felix’s ( but has only recently been discovered); and by Beethoven, whose Op. 127 towered like a colossus over the rest of the programme ( and energised the performers in a miraculous way)!
There are two more concerts by this talented group. ( 5th March, 2nd April). Be there to witness something special.
Thank you Carducci.

20/01/2023

Fantastic!

03/04/2022

The six concerts we organise annually in the Dorking Halls involve an enormous amount of work ( all of it, of course, voluntary). At the moment, all those committee members doing “key jobs” are happy to carry on but the group would struggle to continue were one or more them unable or unwilling to do so. The committee, like those of many other community organisations, has found it more and more difficult to recruit.
If you peruse the Dorking Halls brochure you will realise that the Concertgoers’ efforts represent the largest part of “the face” of professional classical music therein. This is not, in any sense, to decry the many examples of classical music concerts both professional and amateur that take place locally. The Halls owe their existence to the efforts of Ralph Vaughan-Williams and the world famous Leith Hill Festival that he started. 2024 will mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Dorking Concertgoers Society. Please consider joining us both as an audience member and, possibly, a committee member to help us keep the tradition alive!

31/03/2022

The concert last Saturday (26/3) by the Chamber Philharmonic Europe was VERY well received by a disappointingly small audience in the Main Hall of the Dorking Halls. The scheduled oboe soloist had to withdraw because of illness and her item was replaced by an excellent performance of the Bach Double Concerto for two violins, with its iconic slow movement!
There were some outstanding moments. The trumpeter was superb and almost more effective in the Astor Piazzola “encore” than in the Neruda Trumpet Concerto in the concert’s first half.
The poor attendance was a sign of current uncertainties and we hope that our last concert of the season on 14th May featuring the prizewinning young pianist Ariel Lanyi and the violinist Charlotte Saluste-Bridoux will be better supported. They offer a VERY exciting programme!!

15/03/2022

Promises to be an exciting concert!!

07/02/2022

We sadly say goodbye to the Jubilee Quartet who have given us a series of three wonderful concerts. Yesterday they played Haydn, an early Schubert quartet and also his immensely challenging, late, G major quartet.
They admitted that it was their first public airing of this monumental oeuvre. They intend to record it later in the year and are performing it at the Wigmore Hall in April.
We have been privileged to host the concerts and wish this splendid young group the success it deserves.

17/01/2022

It is a huge privilege to witness the immaculate, inspired and inspiring playing of the Jubilee Quartet.
What a treat their second concert of the three concert series was today!
Roll on the third and last on Feb. 6th!

12/01/2022

16th Jan. Sunday. 3.00 p.m. Dorking Halls/Martineau Hall.
Jubilee String Quartet.
Haydn-Webern-Mendelssohn.
Be there!!

30/12/2021

Remember that if you subscribe to the Mole Valley Lottery, half of each ticket price (50p) goes to a “good cause” of your choice! Hopefully this one!

21/12/2021

Buy CDs of the works in our forthcoming concerts at a bargain price from our sales desk in the Dorking Halls Foyer.
We have a credit card reader!!!

17/12/2021

Don’t forget the Jubilee String Quartet’s next concert on 16th January!

03/12/2021