Trio Bel Canto

Trio Bel Canto play the Music Room at Liverpool Philharmonic Hall on Monday 19 October, a lunchtime concert that pairs two very different French composers. The trio is oboe, bassoon and piano, and the programme works around that specific combination.

One half of the bill comes from Casimir Théophile Lalliet, a young composer whose work doesn't usually get much airtime. The other half is built from French musical history, with Francis Poulenc's trio dedicated to Manuel de Falla among the pieces. It's a lunchtime slot, so it's a short one: an hour's music in the middle of the day, rather than a full evening out.

If you're not that familiar with the combination, it's a light, conversational sound. The oboe and bassoon are both double-reed instruments, so they share a similar family tree, but they sit at opposite ends of the register—the oboe singing high and the bassoon holding down the low end—with the piano filling in the middle. It's a chamber ensemble, not an orchestra, so the Music Room is a good fit for it.

The concert starts at 13:00 and runs for an hour, which means you're in and out before the afternoon properly kicks in. It's on Monday 19 October at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, in the Music Room.