Fortepiano/Modern Piano
SAMPLE PROGRAMMES
| Conductor and keyboard player Steven Devine received his early musical training at Chetham’s School of Music, Manchester and read music at Oxford University. He is now in demand across the world and is at home in the fields of opera, large-scale concerts, chamber music and solo performances. He made his London conducting debut in 2002 at the Royal Albert Hall and is now a regular performer there. He has conducted the Mozart Festival Orchestra in every major concert hall in the UK and also across Switzerland. In opera, Steven has worked at the Comische Oper in Berlin and has alongside Paul Mcreesh throughout France. Recently appointed Associate Music Director of Opera Restor’d, he has conducted at Wigmore Hall in London, at the Warwick, Lake District, Stour Norwich and English Haydn Festivals. Steven works regularly with New Chamber Opera in Oxford and with them has conducted performances of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Mozart’s La Finta Semplice, Stradella’s Il Trespolo Tutore and Rossini's Il Comte Ory. For the Dartington Festival Opera he has conducted Handel’s Orlando. |
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| Steven is the Co-Principal keyboard player with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and also often appears as a director with them . He is also the principal keyboard player for I Fagiolini, Apollo and Pan, The Classical Opera Company and performs regularly with many other groups around Europe. He has recorded over thirty discs with other artists and ensembles and made three solo recordings. Ever since his schooldays, Steven has been associated with the Finchcocks Collection of historic keyboard instruments in Kent and now holds the post of Assistant Curator. He has special responsibilities for the education side of the museum. Steven was appointed Professor of Fortepiano at Trinity College of Music in 2003 Ali and Steven first met in 1986 at Finchcocks. They have played extensively together and enjoy playing a very wide range of music. They share a common love and enjoyment of performing and sharing their enthusiasm of music with their audiences. Their first CD together features two virtuosic works for mandolin and piano by the great mandolin virtuoso Raffaele Calace (1863-1934); his two Concertos, op.144 and op.113 (originally scored only for mandolin and piano). Three other Calace works also feature on the disc: Danza dei Nani, Rhapsodia Napoletana and Polonese. The CD will be released on the Naxos label on 28th Aug 2007 (cat no: 8.570434). Ali and Steven can provide, and perform on, period instruments if required (a fortepiano and Ali's 18th Century Vinaccia mandolin). The original works of Hummel and Beethoven form the core of their programmes but they also each play solos. As a duo they are also quite at home performing virtuoso romantic works by composers such as Calace and other repertoire from the 19th and 20th Centuries with modern instruments. Recitals for the 2007/8 season include the Suffolk Villages, Dartington and Finchcocks Fesivals, Plymouth City Museum and other recitals in Essex, Kent and Cornwall. They have been chosen for Making Music's Concert Promoter's Network for the 2008/9 season. Future plans for 2008 and 2009 include a recital tour across South Africa and an educational trip to the Middle East. | |
| SAMPLE FULL LENGTH PROGRAMME | |
| Mandolin & Piano: Sonatina in C Sonatina in C Minor |
L.V.Beethoven (1770-1827) |
| Solo Mandolin: Three pieces from Estampas (Tendresse Matinale, L'ami, El Duende) |
J.C. Munoz (b.1965) |
| Mandolin & Piano: Grande Sonata in C (Allegro con Spirito: Siziliano: Rondo) |
J.N.Hummel (1778-1837) |
| Danza dei Nani | R. Calace (1863-1934) |
| INTERVAL | |
| Mandolin & Piano: Theme and Variations in D |
L.V.Beethoven (1770-1827) |
| Piano Solo: Song Without Words |
F. Mendelssohn (1809-1847) |
| Mandolin & Piano: Concerto No.1, Op.113 (Marziale: Largo Mesto: Rondo) |
R. Calace (1863-1934) |
| SAMPLE LUNCHTIME (1 hour) PROGRAMME | |
| Sonatina in C Sonatina in C Minor |
L.V.Beethoven (1770-1827) |
| Grande Sonata in C (Allegro con Spirito: Siziliano: Rondo) |
J.N.Hummel (1778-1837) |
| Concerto No.1, Op.113 (Marziale: Largo Mesto: Rondo) |
R. Calace (1863-1934) |