Fenella Humphreys, violin, Martin Roscoe, piano, Ben Goldscheider, horn, and Jess Dandy, contralto
THIS was two recitals in one. It began and ended with three instrumental works, one each from Robert and Clara Schumann at the start, with the Brahms Horn Trio to finish.
In between we had a song recital from contralto Jess Dandy, with Martin Roscoe as her ‘collaborative pianist’ (we are no longer allowed to speak of accompanists, such is the woke world we live in). Indeed, he was omnipresent and vivid throughout the evening.
Ben Goldscheider’s horn was in pretty good form for Robert’s Adagio and Allegro, Op 70, if not quite at the peak he reached later. One top note even went astray, but he bounced back quickly. His legato was marvellously smooth in the Adagio. One had to smile at the ducking and diving between him and Roscoe in the Allegro, which maintained a tactically immaculate blend.
Less extrovert were the Three Romances, Op 20 for violin and piano by Clara. Fenella Humphreys wisely kept her violin intimate in the opening Andante in D flat major but without compromising her naturally rich tone. The ebb and flow with Roscoe in the finale was a delight. Clara may not have been as persuasive a melodist as her husband, but she knew how to balance these instruments.
Goldscheider was back to join Humphreys for the Horn Trio in E flat at the close. He despatched it with the panache of the super-confident. But Humphreys matched him stride for stride and their balance in the opening movement’s dialogue was impeccable. Goldscheider found a lovely pianissimo for the return of the first theme.
A smoothly elegiac trio allied to a perky scherzo prepared us for penetrating the Adagio’s darker moments. But the rondo was altogether light-hearted, gambolling through its episodes with gay abandon.
Roscoe was the mastermind behind this trio’s cohesion. The best was certainly kept until last. Jess Dandy is a fine talent and as a true contralto she is a rare bird, one to be carefully nurtured.
She is not quite the finished article, however. It took her until her very last song, Schumann’s Requiem, the last of his Op 90 settings, to produce a real pianissimo. Until that point, she had stuck to a stolid mezzo forte or more with little variation in tone. It was as if she had been casting around for a focus.
With a little more confidence she could stop worrying about delivering a beautiful sound – she already has that – and concentrate on interpreting the poetry (but not by shaking her head for emphasis as much as she does).
There was still a great deal to enjoy in what she offered. She glowed at the top of Clara’s setting of Heine’s Ich stand in dunkeln Träumen (I Stood Darkly Dreaming) over Roscoe’s richly flowing accompaniment and found a nicely contemplative mood for Robert’s Stille Tränen (Silent Tears), which was complemented by an exquisite postlude.
She and Humphreys (now on viola) had blended well in Brahms’s Two Songs Op 90, where they and Roscoe negotiated the tempo-changes with pleasing dexterity.
Alison Taylor’s Mrs Alexander, left, Jonathan Wells’s Christopher Boone, centre, and Beryl Nairn’s Siobhan with Pick Me Up Theatre ensemble members Jon Cook, Tom Riddolls and Lee Harris. Picture: Matthew Kitchen
THE Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time is playing York for the third time in ten years.
First came the National Theatre’s bells-and-whistles production, winner of seven Olivier awards, at the Grand Opera House in January 2015, with its white box framework of graph-paper lines on moving walls and flooring to match the mathematical mind of teenage protagonist Christopher Boone.
Next, the performing arts department at All Saints RC School combined dance, original livemusicand movement sequences in a February 2023 adaptation wherein ten narrators represented Christopher’s imagination and inner thoughts, while highlighting the key motifs of letters, as well as Chris’s love of numbers and space, through physical theatre and projections.
Now comes York company Pick Me Up Theatre’s interpretation, using University of York history graduate Simon Stephens’s superlative script, premiered by the National Theatre, under the imaginative and inventive direction of Andrew Isherwood, a regular presence on the York stage and increasingly in the director’s chair too.
“Directing this show has absolutely been one of the best experiences over the past 12 years I’ve had making theatre,” he says in his programme note – and it shows in an ensemble production that is cinematic yet boldly theatrical in its fusion of video projection, effects and lighting and sound by Will Nicholson, always in harmony with the mathematical shapes, emotional frictions and physical theatre of Isherwood’s team of 11 players.
Jonathan Wells’s Christopher Boone and his pet rat Toby with Beryl Nairn’s Siobhan. Picture: Matthew Kitchen
His choice of recorded music is impeccable too, especially Cat Power’s heart-rending Maybe Not and Moby’s God Moving Over The Face Of The Waters, last used so evocatively in Robert De Niro and Al Pacino’s face-off in Heat in 1995.
On arrival, the audience is confronted by the sight of Elanor Kitchen’s model of a dead dog, Wellington, pinned to the ground by a garden fork, on the end-on raised stage. Welcome to a “murder mystery like no other”.
Jonathan Wells’s Christopher John Francis Boone is rocking, traumatised, even more so when accused of killing the dog by Mrs Shears (Natalie Melia), his potty-mouthed neighbour in Swindon, Wiltshire.
Christopher is 15 years three months and two days old; he attends a special needs school, and although he is never attributed with Asperger’s syndrome by source novel writer Mark Haddon, this fearful yet fearless boy can calculate A-level Maths to A* standard at 15 but is ill-equipped to work out everyday life.
Christopher does not like to be touched, is incapable of lying and has powers of logic beyond conventional reasoning or normal patterns of behaviour. He loves red, his lucky colour, but rejects an offer of Battenberg cake because of his dislike of yellow.
Such frankness and original thinking instil humour and wonderment in his bright, naive, unpredictable utterances, but pain and puzzlement bubble beneath the surface too in Jonathan Wells’s performance, expressed in his twitching, fidgety fingers and downward gaze.
Jonathan Wells’s Christopher Boone, centre, with fellow Pick Me Up Theatre cast members Jon Cook, left, Lee Harris, Catherine Edge, Beryl Nairn and Tom Riddolls. Picture: Matthew Kitchen
This Elvington GP has favoured musical theatre in his York stage appearances, but here he returns to straight theatre for the first time since Berkoff and Strindberg plays in his Sheffield student days, making you wonder why he has not done so previously.
What a revelation his performance is. Slim of frame, boyish of looks, not unlike Ben Whishaw, he is 34 yet wholly believable as 15 – the age, by the way, that he took his A-level in computing, giving him an immediate connection with Christopher.
His physical demeanour is only part of the equation, Equally significant is how to convey Christopher’s intelligence and more significantly, the way he thinks, and both Wells and Isherwood maximise how Stephens’s script travels both inside and outside Christopher’s head as he vows to defy his father by “doing detective work” to hunt down Wellington’s killer.
Like a Keaton or Chaplin, Wells’s Christopher makes us laugh at the absurdity of others, or whoever he winds up with his candid, unconventional manner, but he never sets out to be a clown or funny. Christopher is serious, earnest, but his comments are the stuff of observational comedy.
Such is the skill of novelist Haddon and playwright Stephens’s writing, where we wholly empathise with the young boy who follows his own path, however unsafe he may feel amid the chaotic cacophony, on a bigger journey of discovery that combines abnormal intellect with bewildering, baffling new experiences.
Jonathan Wells’s Christopher Boone cowers from his father Ed (Mike Hickman) as a policeman (Jon Cook) looks concerned. Picture: Matthew Kitchen
Yes, we laugh, but we are also stopped regularly in our tracks by the feeble behaviour of his elders, but certainly not betters, who let him down, in particular his mendacious father Ed (Mike Hickman), a boiler engineer with a tendency to boil over into rage, even violence.
The one exception is special needs teacher and mentor Siobhan (Beryl Nairn), who encourages him in his writing.
Catherine Edge, so elegantly impressive in Settlement Players’ Separate Tables in February 2024, excels again as Judy, the mother that, spoiler alert, Christopher had been told was dead but had in fact fled to London with her feckless lover, neighbour Roger Shears (Lee Harris). Hers is the most emotionally complex role, the least black and white, and Edge finds those nuances.
In the ensemble, Alison Taylor, Natalie Melia, Lee Harris, Jon Cook, Tom Riddolls and Alexandra Mather both play multiple roles and bond in choreographed movement and babbling, threatening noise on Christopher’s first solo train journey to London with pet rat Toby, into the pandemonium of a Tube station, and out on to the alienating, disorientating streets.
Nicholson’s lighting is key to Pick Me Up’s technical flourish, but all in service of Wells’s remarkable portrayal of a boy with a beautiful mind in search of a safe haven.
Pick Me Up Theatre in The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, 7.30pm tonight and tomorrow; 2.30pm and 7.30pm, Saturday. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
York Open Studios newcomer Sinead Corkery in her studio in Monkton Road, York. She paints on recycled and reclaimed wood
IN the largest event of its 24 years, York Open Studios will feature 163 artists at 116 venues on April 5 & 6 and April 12 & 13, preceded by a preview evening tomorrow (4/4/2025).
Artists and makers within a ten-mile radius of York will be showcasing their work and inspirations, inviting visitors to “see where the magic happens” in this not-for-profit annual event run by volunteers.
Full details of participants and an interactive map can be found at yorkopenstudios.co.uk and a free directory with a tear-out map of all the locations is available from libraries, shops, galleries and artist locations throughout the city centre and the wider city region to enable visitors to “plan your route to maximise the range of artists”.
Scott Dunwoodie: Architectural aspects, nature and still life are common themes of hisphotography, on show at The Homestead, Moor Lane, Bishopthorpe
As ever, the diverse range of arts and crafts will take in painting, printmaking, illustration, collage, digital art, mixed media, photography, ceramics, glass sculpture, jewellery, textiles and furniture.
Many artists open their doors to invite the public into their workspaces; some artists share venues or exhibit their work in other spaces.
No fewer than 38 artists and makers will be making their Open Studios debut, including painters Dave Cooper, Marcus Callum, Ala Jazayeri, Julie Mitchell, Mo Nisbet, Mark Kesteven, Denise Duncan, Peter Monkman, Leon F Dumont, Dabble Doodle, Emily Littler, Sinead Corkery and Julia Leonard and ceramicists Wait And See Ceramics, Rock Garden Ceramics, Jackie Maidment and Schiewe Ceramics.
Paper artist Margaret Beech: Making her York Open Studios debut in Oaken Grove, Haxby
So too will be illustrators Alice Elizabeth Wilson and Rachel Merriman; printmakers Kate Hardy, Nic Fife, Drawne Up and Kai West; mixed-media artist Daisy Age Art; photographers Mark Pollitt, Alasdair McIntosh, Laurence Tilley and Jake Straker; drawing exponent Suzanne Young; paper artist Margaret Beech; furniture makers George Younge and Dominic Brown and York St John University students Emma Parker (paper) and Angela Stott (drawing).
York Open Studios chair Christine Storrs has been an enthusiastic visitor to the event since moving to York in 2003, joining the committee from 2012 to 2018 before taking a break and rejoining in 2022.
“We open the applications in the summer, starting in June, open to anyone within a ten-mile radius of York, and every year we get many new applicants,” says Christine.
“Selection takes place in September, and it’s made by an independent panel who assess applications based on images and artist statements submitted. They come from outside York, which was a deliberate decision taken some years ago, because it means they don’t know the artists, so they’re unbiased.
Zak and Lydia of Rock Garden Ceramics, Sutton Road, Hot Box Stoves, York
“They work independently of each other, and we ask them to say Yes or No on the set of criteria we give them. They also don’t know if an artist is a new applicant or a regular participant, so the decision is based entirely on the merits of the work.”
Christine continues: “The selection is also about the quality of the work. It’s not an open event in terms of just applying and taking part. We want selectors to judge whose work they think is of the right quality to take part. No-one has a guarantee of getting on to the list of participants. That’s why we need independent selectors.”
The names of the 2025 selection panel is not made public until they have made their selections, but you will now find their names in the directory: Helmsley Arts Centre artistic director Natasha Jones, jewellery designer Mari Thomas and former Leeds Beckett University research director Simon Morris.
“We never have the same selectors from year to year,” says Christine. “They can each do it for no more than two years in a row, but not three, so there’s always a change.”
Drawing exponent Mark Druery, who will open his studio in St Paul’s Terrace, Holgate
Reflecting on 24 years of York Open Studios, she says: “The event has evolved over the years. Several years ago, there was a renewed emphasis on it being held in studios, rather than groups of artists exhibiting together, because people enjoy seeing how artists work, where they work and what tools they use. That’s why we get so many visitors going from studio to studio, rather than it just being a series of exhibitions.”
Committee member and jewellery designer Charmian Ottaway, who will open her studio in Penleys Grove Street, adds: “York Open Studios is for anyone with a discerning eye for quality, an interest in art and those keen to find out more about the inspirations and techniques used to create the work.
“It’s also a lovely opportunity for artists to meet potential buyers and welcome those who just want to enjoy a day out in our lovely city. There’s certainly a sense of anticipation, and I can’t quite believe April is here at last!”
York Open Studios: public preview, tomorrow, 6pm to 9pm (check individual listings at yorkopenstudios.co.uk to see who is participating); April 5 and 6, April 12 and 13, 10am to 5pm. Look out for the yellow balloons to indicate studio locations.
Vivienne Carlyle’s Mrs Johnstone and Sean Jones’s Mickey in Willy Russell’s Blood Brothers, on tour at the Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Jack Merriman
WILLY Russell’s tragi-comic Liverpool musical is visiting York for a remarkable tenth time since 1996. No show can rival that record, not even fellow regulars The Rocky Horror Show or Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story.
Ticket demand is as high as ever: Monday’s press night was packed to the gills, opening a week’s run that accommodates three rather than the routine two matinees (Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday).
Should you somehow still be a Blood Brothers virgin, make sure to initiate yourself in Russell’s modern-day Jacobean tragedy on its first York outing since 2022, when your reviewer considered the combination of Niki Evans’s Mrs Johnstone, Sean Jones’s Mickey, in his “last ever tour”, Joel Benedict’s Eddie, Carly Burns’s Linda and Robbie Scotcher’s Narrator to be “better than ever”.
The 2025 leads are more than a match, especially Scottish actress Vivienne Carlyle’s Mrs Johnston, with a singing voice to rival Annie Lennox, and Sean Keany’s tall, gaunt grim reaper of an Irish-accented Narrator. Sean Jones, meanwhile, has still not left the building – was he taking the Mickey when he said 2022‘s tour would be the final curtain after 23 years on and off in Blood Brothers’ baggy green jumper and short trousers?! – but why would he leave a role he has made his own?
At 54, Jones continues to pour blood, sweat and tears into his combustible combination of bouncy comic timing [as seen each winter in his daft lad role in the Florian Pavilion, New Brighton panto too] and heartrending pathos on Mickey’s doomed path from skip to slouch to slump, from cheeky, boundlessly energetic child to lovelorn, tongue-tied teen, to crushed, enervated adult, broken on the wheel of anti-depressants and redundancy.
Impresario and producer Bill Kenwright – who had asked Jones to return to the role in 2022 – has passed away since that tour but the 2025 production still carries his stamp, credited as co-director with Bob Tomson, the team that brought Russell’s Blood Brothers to its emotional heights with gold standard production values to boot.
Vivienne Carlyle first worked with Kenwright and Tomson in 2006, playing Mrs Lyons and understudying Mrs J at the Phoenix Theatre in London, later appearing as Mrs Lyons at the Grand Opera House on tour in 2008, and she now returns to Mrs J after a 12-year gap, bringing scabrous Scouse humour, love, fierce passion, desperate resilience and guilty pain to the secret-burdened Catholic mother at the heart of Russell’s1983 cautionary tale of twin brothers separated at birth and cursed by a fateful superstition that if either should discover the other’s existence, they will die instantly.
Already struggling with too many children on an impoverished Liverpool estate and deserted by her wastrel husband, Mrs J’s budget on the never-never means she can only “afford” one child more, not two, and so cleaner Mrs J rashly enters a pact with her employer, a travelling salesman’s barren wife, Mrs Lyons (Sarah Jane Buckley), to give her the choice of the twins.
Whereupon, seen from the age of seven upwards, Jones’s scally urchin Mickey and Joe Sleight’s initially naïve, then scholarly Eddie are divided by the class divide that Russell lambasts, but their paths are destined to keep crossing, as fate plays its hand as much as social circumstance, turning their “blood brother” bond in adolescent rites of passage to adult separation.
Ever present in the shadows on Andy Walmsley’s set of house frontages, a mezzanine level and backdrops of Liverpool Liver Building skyscraper and the verdant countryside is Keany’s Narrator, a Faustian debt collector as dark as his suit and tie, overseeing innocent child’s play making way for crime and tragic final resolution, guns turning from toys to real.
From Vivienne Carlyle’s renditions of Tell Me It’s Not True, Marilyn Monroe and Easy Terms to Gemma Brodrick’s lovely performance as teen crush Linda, caught between Mickey and Eddie, to Nick Richings’ lighting and Matt Malone’s band, the 2025 tour of Blood Brothers shines with high quality in the transition from comedy to tragedy, the two faces of theatre writ large in this peerless, hard-hitting, unsentimental yet emotionally shattering musical.
Bill Kenwright Ltd presents Willy Russell’s Blood Brothers, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Thursday and Saturday matinees. Box office: atgtickets.com/York. Age recommendation: 12 plus.
Vivienne Carlyle’s Mrs Johnstone and Sean Jones’s Mickey in Willy Russell’s Blood Brothers, on tour at the Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Jack Merriman
FOUR nights of Greg Davies and tenth visit of Willy Russell’s Blood Brothers are the headline acts in Charles Hutchinson’s bill for cultural satisfaction.
Musical of the week: Blood Brothers, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees
WILLY Russell’s Liverpool musical makes its tenth visit to the Grand Opera House, and despite Sean Jones’s appearance in the 2022 tour being billed as his “last ever” after 23 years on and off as Mrs Johnstone’s son Mickey, here he is once more, still “running around as a seven-year-old in a baggy green jumper and short trousers” at 54.
Scottish actress Vivienne Carlyle, who played Mrs Lyons on her previous Blood Brothers visit to York, takes the role of Mrs J in Russell’s moving tale of twins separated at birth, who grow up on the opposite sides of the tracks, only to meet again with tragic consequences. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Curiouser and curiouser: Pick Me Up Theatre in The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York
Play of the week: Pick Me Up Theatre in The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, until Saturday,7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees
ANDREW Isherwood directs York company Pick Me Up Theatre in Simon Stephens’s stage adaptation of Mark Haddon’s story of Christopher Boone (Jonathan Wells), a 15-year-old boy with an extraordinary brain Exceptionally gifted at Maths, he finds everyday life and interaction with other people very confusing.
Christopher has never ventured alone beyond the end of his road, hates being touched and deeply distrusts strangers, but everything changes when he falls under suspicion for killing his neighbour’s dog, propelling him on a journey of self-discovery that upturns his world. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Greg Davies: Milking it in his Full Fat Legend stand-up show at York Barbican
Comedy gigs of the week: Greg Davies: Full Fat Legend, York Barbican, tonight to Saturday, 7.30pm
TOWERING comedian Greg Davies plays York Barbican for a full-fat four nights on his Full Fat Legend Tour, his first on British soil for seven years.
The 6ft 8 inch star of Taskmaster, The Inbetweeners, The Cleaner, Never Mind The Buzzcocks, Man Down and Cuckoo is undertaking his biggest stand-up tour to date. He last played York Barbican on November 1 and 2 2017 on his You Magnificent Beast tour, his first travels for four years. Tickets update: Sold out; for returns only, go to yorkbarbican.co.uk. Davies’s Hull Connexin Live shows on June 3 and 4 and at Leeds First Direct Arena on June 20 are sold out too.
Daniel Wilmot’s Count Dracula in Baron Productions’ Dracula at St Mary’s Church, Bishophill Junior, York
High stakes of the week: Baron Productions in Dracula, St Mary’s Church, Bishophill Junior, York, tomorrow to Saturday, 7.30pm
FOUNDER and director Daniel Wilmot makes it Count when starring as the mysterious Dracula in York company Baron Productions’ account of Bram Stoker’s Gothic masterpiece in one of York’s most atmospheric churches.
When Jonathan Harker (Jack McAdam) embarks on a business trip to Count Dracula’s Transylvanian castle, little does he know the terror that awaits him. Guided by the wise Professor Van Helsing (Lee Gemmell), a courageous group must gamble their lives, even their very souls, to stop Dracula’s evil plans to enslave the world. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk/baron-productions.
Pianist Ian Pace
Classical concert of the week: York Late Music presents The Beethoven Project: Ian Pace, Unitarian Chapel, St Saviourgate, Saturday, 7.30pm
IN the second of The Beethoven Project concerts for York Late Music, pianist Ian Pace continues his exploration of Beethoven’s nine symphonies (transcribed by Franz Liszt) with his iconic Pastoral Symphony No. 6.
The programme also includes Michael Finnissy’s English Country Tunes (1-3), Beethoven’s Six Goethe-Lieder (transcribed by Liszt) and a new work of three musical tributes by Steve Crowther, Rock With Stock, A Study In Glass and Louis’ Angry Blues. Box office: latemusic.org/product/ian-pace-concert-tickets/ or on the door.
The Remi Harris Hot Club Trio: Heading for Helmsley Arts Centre
Jazz & blues gig of the week: The Remi Harris Hot Club Trio, Helmsley Arts Centre, Saturday, 7.30pm
ACOUSTIC and electric guitarist Remi Harris is joined by double bassist Tom Moore and rhythm guitarist Chris Nesbitt for an enthralling evening of gypsy jazz and blues. Combining musical virtuosity with passion and flair, this dynamic trio draws inspiration from Django Reinhardt, Peter Green, Wes Montgomery, Jimi Hendrix and Joe Pass in a mix of original compositions, jazz standards and new arrangements of Harris’s favourite tunes. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
“There is so much you don’t know,” says Andrew Margerison, introducing his portrayal of the life and times of Walter Raleigh in That Knave, Raleigh
Ryedale play of the week: Dyad Productions in That Knave, Raleigh, Helmsley Arts Centre, Sunday, 7.30pm
DYAD Productions follow up I, Elizabeth with a return to the Elizabethan era in That Knave, Raleigh, writer-performer Andrew Margerison’s story of Elizabethan explorer, sailor, dandy and warrior Sir Walter Raleigh, Elizabeth I’s favourite and James I’s knave.
The Huguenots, America, the Armada and execution: is that the whole story? “There is so much you don’t know,” says Margerison of Raleigh, father, husband, writer, poet, adventurer, philosopher, soldier, tyrant, egotist, lover, traitor, alchemist, visionary, victim. “The final chapter of Raleigh’s life is perhaps the most daring, strange and utterly heart-breaking. See the fall from grace taken directly from historical record; marvel at the magnetism of a man who seized every opportunity.” Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
The poster for Dianne Buswell & Vito Coppola’s Red Hot And Ready tour, booked into York Barbican and Leeds Grand Theatre
Show announcement of the week: Burn The Floor presents Dianne Buswell & Vito Coppola in Red Hot And Ready, York Barbican, July 6, 7.30pm; Leeds Grand Theatre, July 18, 7.30pm, and July 19, 2.30pm and 7.30pm
STRICTLY Come Dancing’s stellar professional dancers, 2024 winner Dianne Buswell and 2023 winner Vito Coppola, will star in the new show from the Burn The Floor stable, created by Strictly creative director Jason Gilkison.
Billed as “a dynamic new dance show with a difference”, Red Hot And Ready brings together Buswell, Coppola and a cast of multi-disciplined Burn The Floor dancers from around the world, accompanied by vocalists and a band. Expect “jaw-dropping choreography, heart-pounding music and breathtaking moves, from seriously sexy to irresistibly charming”. Box office: York, yorkbarbican.co.uk; Leeds, 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.
The Twangtown Paramours’ Mike T Lewis and MaryBeth Zamer: Promoting new album The Wind Will Change Againin Leyburn and Bradford. Picture: Scott Simontacchi
NASHVILLE soulful folk duo The Twangtown Paramours play Leyburn Arts Centre on May 3 and Black Dyke Mills Heritage Venue, Queensbury, Bradford, on May 10 on their debut British tour.
Husband-and-wife duo MaryBeth Zamer (lead singer) and Mike T Lewis (writer, producer and guitar player) released their new album, The Wind Will Change Again, in January, charting at number one on the Folk Alliance International Chart for that month.
Their first folk recording in 12 years, the album addresses the themes of resilience in the face of loss, the realisation that our time is finite, and renewed appreciation of the people we love who are gone and of those who are still with us.
In their own lives, Zamer and Lewis “relied on their songwriting to help get them through difficult times with gratitude and humour”.
“We are very excited to finally get a chance to travel to England,” say Zamer and Lewis, winners of Texas’s Wildflower Contest. “It’s something we’ve been wanting to do for many years. Especially after getting very generous reviews in the UK for our last two albums, we can’t wait to play the great venues where we’re booked.”
Zamer used to sing backing vocals for Eva Cassidy; Lewis wrote a platinum-selling number one in Korea and sometimes plays upright bass for Jimmie Dale; other artists have started to record their songs.
The Twangtown Paramours play Leyburn Arts Centre on May 3, 7.30pm; Black Dyke Mills Heritage Venue, Queensbury, Bradford, May 10, 7.30pm. Box office: Leyburn, 01969 624510 or leyburnartscentre.com; Bradford, 07920 122735 orblackdykemills.org/events/twangtown2025.html.
Take a seat: Sponsorship opportunity at Pocklington Arts Centre
POCKLINGTON Arts Centre is marking its 25th anniversary by inviting patrons to sponsor a seat of their choosing through a seat plaque scheme.
This special opportunity will allow 150 supporters to leave a lasting legacy while helping to secure the future of the Market Place venue.
For a contribution of £200 for three years, individuals can dedicate a plaque on an auditorium seat, whether to commemorate a loved one, celebrate a special occasion or show support for the arts. A limited number of lifetime and business sponsorship opportunities will be available soon too.
Arts centre director Angela Stone says: “We’re thrilled to offer our supporters the opportunity to be part of Pocklington Arts Centre’s legacy. Sponsoring a seat is a fantastic way to celebrate our 25th anniversary while helping us secure the future of our creative work within the community.”
All proceeds from the scheme will be reinvested into ongoing improvements at the arts centre, including the establishment of a dedicated Community Fund to ensure the financial sustainability of creative engagement activities for young people and older adults.
Portland, Oregon singer-songwriter Laura Veirs: Playing The Crescent, in York, on her six-day visit to British shores. Picture: Paul Rhodes
WE COULDN’T have been in better hands. With Venus apparently sending us all a bit bats in the heavens, Laura Veirs’ fine songs reminded us about what really matters.
Many in the sold-out Crescent had seen her play before, some many times. This is someone who gets into the listener’s bloodstream and stays there. For a first timer, it was a welcome initiation into this smart, emotionally intelligent cult.
Laura Veirs: “Over 75 minutes and 13 songs, she wove her happy spell to great effect.” Picture: Paul Rhodes
This was the second concert in a short six-day UK tour. The absence of other musicians allowed Veirs the chance to improvise and the entire set felt fresh and alive. There was a well-judged mix of old and new material on show, with the last songs in the set all being audience requests.
Veirs is unashamedly in a happy place emotionally (she is touring with her fiancé, a professor receiving a crash course in selling merchandise). Over 75 minutes and 13 songs, she wove her happy spell to great effect. Once she got into her rhythm (somewhere around Where Gravity Is Dead), the performance kept getting better.
Laura Veirs’ beloved nylon string guitar. Picture: Paul Rhodes
Swan Dive was particularly special, and she more than did justice to another one-time Portland native, the late great Elliott Smith’s Between The Bars. What is striking perhaps is how subtly Veirs wears her influences, and how with minimal ingredients she somehow manages to sound unique and authentic. Perhaps this is the real reason she is so beloved.
Opener Lucca Mae has yet to find her own distinctive voice. Also, without her band, Mae’s set felt elegant and stylised, but somehow generic. The focus was on her Winehouse voice, which her songs don’t yet live up to.
YORK Concerts continued its exciting and innovative series of concerts with a piano recital by Leon McCawley. The pianist is well known to concert goers at this series and his invitation to return to perform music by Scarlatti, Beethoven Chopin and Franck was eagerly anticipated, and with good reason.
As we all know, Domenico Scarlatti (1685–1757) was an Italian composer renowned for his prolific output of keyboard sonatas, an impressive 555 pieces, to be exact. As a Baroque composer with a visionary eye, he was noted for his radical, innovative and fresh approach.
However, the opening Sonata in F minor, K.69, appears to be a standalone work and a rather conservative one. Leon McCawley’s performance was incredibly tender and emotionally charged, giving it a haunting quality. To be honest, it sounded (quite) like Bach. The way the pianist delicately caressed the cantabile imitations, enhanced by the subtle ornamentation, was very moving.
By contrast, the performance of his Sonata in C, K.159 positively zipped along without a care in the world. The phrasing was crisp and clear, and the elegant melodic embellishments added to the sense of spontaneity.
The opening galloping rhythms and quasi fanfare-like motifs presumably gave the work its nickname La Caccia (The Hunt). Another striking aspect was McCawley’s embrace of the music’s theatrical quality, as evident in the leaps between registers. However, it was the darker introspection of the F minor work that left a lasting impression, until we bumped into Beethoven, that is.
As far as charm and elegance go, it doesn’t get much better than McCawley’s interpretation of Beethoven’s standalone Andante Favori in F major, WoO 57. It was originally intended as the second movement for the radical Waldstein Sonata but was criticised as being too long and replaced with a short Introduzione. Given that it is about nine-ten minutes long, this was surely a good call.
Leon McCawley possesses a remarkable ability to captivate the listener. The playing was characterised by richness, nuance and warmth. Moreover, like the entire programme, the performance conveyed an expressive depth that left a profound impact.
Beethoven humorously expressed his wish that he had never composed the piece, stating, “I cannot walk down a street without hearing it”. Unfortunately, for me, it evokes the Pemberley soirée from the 1995 BBC TV adaptation of Pride And Prejudice. In this scene, Georgiana Darcy plays the piece in response to Elizabeth Bennet’s rendition of “Voi Che Sapete” from Mozart’s The Marriage Of Figaro. Amidst the romantic atmosphere, love was in the air and here too, the cantabile melody did feel like a love song.
Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 21 in C major, Op. 53 (Waldstein) is a musical masterpiece that continues to captivate audiences. The opening pianissimo was portrayed as a thing of beauty, but one with a government health warning. However, as the music progressed, the simple crescendo built tension and anticipation, leading to a dramatic and powerful climax.
What truly impressed me about this performance was the controlled elegance and precision of the playing. The dramatic shaping of the music was seamless and well-executed, without resorting to excessive virtuosity or raw power.
While the sonata undoubtedly conveys a sense of grandeur and monumentalism, it does so without the testosterone-fuelled intensity that some pianists find necessary to fully express its emotional impact.
The Introduzione: Adagio molto had a mysterious, even dark quality that created a hypnotic spell that seamlessly blended into the Rondo: Allegretto moderato – Prestissimo finale. McCawley’s playing here was simply impeccable. There was a genuine sense of majesty combined with the driving, flowing lyricism. Of course, the musical fireworks display at the end of the journey eventually erupts like a volcano, but it did so beautifully.
After a well-deserved 20-minute interval, we were treated to a programme of 19th-century Romantic music, featuring Chopin and Franck. Chopin’s Trois Écossaises, Op. 72, No. 3, were simply delightful.
Each of the three pieces exuded a charm and elegance that we associate with these popular and lively dances. No. 3, written in D-flat major, is perhaps the most well known of the set. The pianist clearly enjoyed the witty and syncopated rhythm, as well as the cheerful character of the piece.
The performance of the composer’s Berceuse, op.57 was the highlight of the second half. For me, obviously. The berceuse is a lullaby, with the left hand gently rocking the cradle while the right hand sings a series of increasingly intricate variations.
The pianist’s control was remarkable; the delicate ebb and flow of the music had a Zen-like quality. In the end, as the lullaby had sung itself to sleep, there was a feeling of absolute relaxation. The performance was simply sublime.
The performance of Chopin’s Barcarolle in F-sharp, op.60 once again projected an assured grasp of all that mattered. The rubato phrasing shaped and caressed the melodies, while the balance between the right-hand song and the left-hand rocking ostinato effectively imitated the rhythmic sway of a gondola.
While there was certainly a dramatic climax, the serene coda concluded the performance on a note of tranquillity, suggesting a sense of harmony and contentment.
The programme concluded with César Franck’s Prelude, Chorale et Fugue. Undoubtedly, this work stands as one of the great Romantic piano compositions. Franck’s ingenious incorporation of Bach-like counterpoint, coupled with the virtuosity of Franz List and his distinct French style, creates a masterful blend of musical elements.
The issue for me is that I don’t really ‘get it’. It is not one of my favourite piano works, even when it is performed as brilliantly as this. The Prelude, with its rich, searching chromaticism, technically brilliant arpeggios, the Chorale, with its rich processional quality and organ-like textures and references to Wagner’s Parsifal, obviously, left me looking inside from the outside.
Ironically, it wasn’t until Leon McCawley’s performance of the Fugue, that most disciplined, abstract of forms, that I actually emotionally engaged with the work. Mind you, it was worth waiting for.
MIXED media artist Jill Tattersall and ceramicist Sylvia Schroer unite for an Artists’ Open House at Jill’s studio, The Wolf At The Door, 11 Mount Parade, York, on April 5 & 6 and April 12 & 13 in an alternative to the York Open Studios on those two weekends.
“All are welcome from 10am to 4pm each day,” says Jill. “It’s not a formal open house/studio, more an informal chance to see friends (and anyone interested), show some new and ongoing work and some of the processes involved, and generally catch up on life after a long and drear winter.
“I’ll be joined by my friend Sylvia Schroer with her innovative and distinctive ceramics. Always good to have excellent company when opening the doors.”
Dr Schroer had been set to take part in York Open Studios at Lady Kell Gardens in Haxby, but instead she will be showing her sensitive figurative sculptures – busts and torsos – as well as hand-built and wheel-thrown functional and decorative pottery at Wolf At The Door after being “deselected” since the 2025 brochure was printed.
“I had done a lot of work preparing for York Open Studios but was sadly unable to take part,” Sylvia posted on Facebook on March 27. “I was absolutely heartbroken and it was costing me a lot of money. So I am very glad to be able to show my work at an independent open house with such a fantastic artist and lovely person as @jilltattersallartist.” More on this subject later.
Jill jumped at the chance to offer Sylvia an exhibition space, in keeping with her long-standing commitment to collaboration. “I have 20 years’ experience of taking part in and helping to run Open Studio schemes in Newark, Lincolnshire and Brighton and try to avoid wearisome and unnecessary politics,” she says.
“An artist’s life has never been an easy one, and current world events don’t help. Mutual support and collaboration are essential to us all. We just need to get on, represent local artists, and create some colour and joy and fun for the local community. So much needed right now!”
Why call the studio Wolf At The Door, Jill? “There is a Wolf, a large one,” she says. “When I spent more than ten years or so in Brighton, sculptor Iaian Tatam made the Wolf from recycled materials and, more than life-size, it became part of our lives.
“This was what set the tone for some truly interesting and offbeat collaborations. Brighton was a good place for this! We held many art-related events, as well as taking part in Brighton and Hove Artists’ Open House.
“We wanted to embrace and celebrate all aspects and varieties of art and to have some fun at the same time! Some of our collaborations and star turns involved: books, paintings and sculptures, recitals, previews and performances, garden art, ceramics, puppetry, science…you name it!”
Reflecting on those south coast days, Jill says: “I do miss the Brighton Wolf At The Door events when we hosted so many inspirational creative people: artists, writers, actors and singers even! Though a propos of that, I shall again be taking part in Brighton and Hove Artists’ Open House all May as part of the wonderful Art In Bloom.”
Jill has brought her brushes and brio to York, setting up her Artists’ Open House days and taking part in The Other Collective exhibition at Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, in February and March, featuring five artists not selected for York Open Studios 2025: Jill, Rob Burton, Liz Foster, Ric Liptrot and Lu Mason. Or “the Five Refusés”, as former medieval French university lecturer Jill called them.
Down the years, Jill has taken part in many exhibitions, projects and commissions. “My work’s all over the place, from Peru to Tasmania, even the official residence in Rwanda,” she says.
“My main obsession is with patterns. They’re all around us; we’re made up of them ourselves. Force meets counter-force and patterns emerge: coasts and weather systems, stars and galaxies, trees and blood vessels, maps and mazes. It’s where science and art intersect!
“I constantly experiment with materials and techniques, often using my own hand-made paper and water-based paints, inks, dyes and pigments to build up intense and glowing colour. Throwaway or reclaimed elements often sit side by side with gold and silver leaf. Value, price, worth…who decides.”
Jill, whose latest works take the theme of sunshine, will be holding a solo show at Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, from May 5 to the end of June and will make her North Yorkshire Open Studios debut on June 7 & 8 and June 14 & 15, from 10am to 5pm, followed by a further NYOS weekend on November 1 & 2, from 11am to 4pm. More than 200 artists will be taking part” in an event that she describes as “friendly and collaborative”.
Now, let’s return to Sylvia Schroer’s frustrations with York Open Studios. In an earlier Facebook post on March 13, she wrote: “I did not withdraw from York Open Studios. I would not have withdrawn after the directory was printed unless I was ill. This would have been letting down visitors – who in my case would be travelling to an out-of-town venue. It would have been letting down artists with whom I was sharing a venue & working with.
“I had been making and preparing work for months for Open Studios and was greatly looking forward to taking part. So, I was upset when I missed the email/ deadline for the Taster [at the Hospitium, York Museum Gardens, on March 22 and 23] – by one working day – along with others and told I couldn’t take part.”
She went on: “Although I had already made all due apologies I was informed of my deselection on 3/3/25 & informed I had upset others & broken the Terms & Conditions by speaking out.
“We are trying our best here as artists and Open Studios is important financially, so deselection can feel like losing a job. It’s sad for us and hard for us and I don’t think it has to be like this. Other cities don’t run their Open Studios like this. It’s hard when an artist isn’t selected or is deselected & I see artists being very upset indeed & hard hit financially. Why not print a bigger directory? We pay to be part of Open Studios and pay £hundreds in commission. £thousands in some instances.”
Her post concluded: “Speaking out here [on Facebook] will probably result in my being refused the right to apply ever again. But I do not want to be part of something that humiliates artists, punishes them and makes them feel their work isn’t good enough. I am looking forward to a more joyful experience showing my work at an independent artist’s house/studio.”
In a further statement, Sylvia said: “Unfortunately I had a disagreement with the chair/committee and there was no way to resolve it. It was never my intention to cause offense (sic) and hurt. I just wanted my work and that of other artists who had missed an email about the Hospitium Taster event (and just missed the deadline of Feb 14th) to be included. I apologise, once again, for any offense (sic) I may have caused.”
An interview with York Open Studios 2025 chair Christine Storrs will appear in The York Press and at charleshutchpress.co.uk on Thursday.
