Nocturnes - Susan Tomes in conversation with Robert Philip

Susan Tomes is at Firth Hall on Friday 23 October, as part of the Off the Shelf Festival of Words. It's a conversation rather than a full recital, and she's joined by Robert Philip, the broadcaster and author of A Little History of Music. Between the talking, Tomes will play short pieces of night music to illustrate the points she's making.

The talk is built around her new book, Nocturnes, published by Yale University Press on 24 March 2026. It's already been shortlisted for a Saltire prize at Scotland's National Book Awards, and she marked its release with a solo recital at London's Wigmore Hall back in April. In this session, she looks at the cultural history of the music of twilight and sleep — a classical genre that inspired John Field, Chopin and Max Richter, as well as generations of artists and writers. The pieces she plays are the examples she's talking about.

It's a good way to get a sense of her background too. Tomes is an award-winning pianist and writer, as comfortable as a soloist as she is in chamber music, and she's written books including The Piano and Women and the Piano. The evening is presented in association with University of Sheffield Concerts, and it sits within the Off the Shelf festival, so it's as much about the writing as the playing.

Tickets are £14 standard and £12 for concessions, and it starts at 7:00 pm at Firth Hall.