Concert of harp music by Katherine Thomas and Alex Rider with pieces by Ravel and Debussy.
Katherine Thomas and Alex Rider are playing together at the CBSO Centre on Wednesday 9 December, a lunchtime concert that puts two harps on one stage. Thomas is the CBSO's Principal Harpist, and Rider is her colleague in the orchestra, so this is a pairing of two musicians who usually sit in the same section. The programme runs for about an hour with no interval, and it's built around the French impressionists, Maurice Ravel and Claude Debussy.
They'll be playing Ravel's Mother Goose and Debussy's Preludes, two works that usually get their most famous recordings on solo piano. Hearing them on two harps changes the texture entirely, and the CBSO describes the set as weaving through those two composers, with the mysterious tales of Ravel, shimmering nocturnes, and Debussy's musical images. There's also a piece by Carlos Salzedo, Song in the Night, to round it out.
It's a midday slot, so it fits into a working day rather than a night out. The CBSO describes itself as Birmingham's orchestra, a family of musicians creating music for the people of Birmingham, the West Midlands and beyond, and this is one of those smaller-scale performances that puts a couple of their own players in the spotlight rather than the full ensemble. If you've ever wondered what the harp section does when it's not tucked away at the back of the orchestra, this is a good chance to hear it front and centre.
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Tickets are £12, with reduced prices for students, under-18s and benefit recipients. It starts at 1:00pm at the CBSO Centre in Birmingham, and since it's an hour long with no interval, you'll be out by two.
