JENEFER Fraser, flute, and Chris Hughes, piano, will perform this month’s Dementia Friendly Tea Concert on Maundy Thursday at St Chad’s Church, Campleshon Road, York.
“I’m really looking forward to this solo flute recital, playing some really lovely and fun repertoire, including La Flute de Pan by Mouquet and Carmen Fantasy by Francis Borne,” says Jenefer, who is studying for a MMus in Performance at the University of Leeds.
She will be joined by accompanist Hughes for the 2.30pm programme on April 17 that also will feature music by John Rutter and Massanet’s Meditation before concluding with Borne’s Carmen Fantasy, based on tunes from Bizet’s opera.
“It will be a great start to the Easter weekend,” says co-organiser Alison Gammon. “Please encourage your friends to come too! As usual, 45 minutes of music will be followed by tea, coffee and homemade cakes in the church hall.
“The event is a relaxed concert and ideal for people who may not feel comfortable at a formal classical concert, so we do not mind if the audience wants to talk or move about.
“Seating is unreserved and there is no charge although donations are welcome. We give a donation to the church to cover heating and the rest goes to Alzheimer’s charities.”
Along with a small car park at the church, on-street parking can be found on Campleshon Road, but it can become busy, so do allow plenty of time. “If you are more mobile, it would really help if you could park on the street to allow for disabled parking in the car park,” advises Alison. Wheelchair access is via the church hall.
Dates for the 2025 diary of Dementia Friendly Tea Concerts are: May 22, York Guitar Quartet; June 19, Patrick Wilson, trumpet, Maria Marshall, cello, and Robert Gammon, piano; July 17, Flauti Felice flute ensemble; Aug 14, Tina Sanderson and friends, string ensemble.
The season will continue on September 18, Robert Gammon, piano; October 16, Giocoso Wind Ensemble; November 20, Billy Marshall, French horn, and Robert Gammon, piano, and December 11, Ripon Resound Choir.
John Ledger: Back To Normalism artist at Micklegate Social and Fossgate Social
IT’S time for back-to-normal service to resume as Charles Hutchinson wipes the sleep from the eyes of his diary for 2023.
Exhibition launch of the week: Back To Normalism, by John Ledger, Micklegate Social, Micklegate, and Fossgate Social, Fossgate, York, January 13 to March 13
ON the portentous Friday the 13th, the preview of Barnsley artist John Ledger’s solo show Back To Normalism begins at 7pm at Micklegate Social.
Ledger looks at the uncanny reality that has unfolded since the pandemic started, along with the underlying weirdness of trying to patch up the black holes in our collective experience of time, in a show about cultures uprooted and disjointed by a series of disasters and distorted by the consequences of trying to repeatedly return to a “before” moment.
Baaaaaarrrrgggghhhhhhbican frustration! Ricky Gervais’s brace of Armageddon dates at York Barbican sold out in 27 minutes
Apocalypse very soon: Ricky Gervais, Armageddon, York Barbican, Tuesday and Wednesday 7.30pm precisely
ARMAGEDDON is not the end of the world as we know it but the name of grouchy comedian, actor, screenwriter, director, singer, podcaster and awards ceremony host Ricky Gervais’s new tour show.
Gervais, 61, will be torching “woke over-earnestness and the contradictions of modern political correctness while imagining how it all might end for our ‘one species of narcissistic ape’,” according to the Guardian review of his Manchester Apollo gig. Box office? Oh dear, you’re too late for Armageddon; both nights have sold out.
Chris Helme: Revisiting his days in The Seahorses
Love Is The Law unto himself: Chris Helme, solo Do It Yourself 25th Anniversary Tour, Pocklington Arts Centre, January 14, 8pm
YORK singer-songwriter Chris Helme is marking the 25th anniversary of The Seahorses’ only album, Do It Yourself, released on May 26 1997 in guitarist John Squire’s short-lived post-Stone Roses project with Helme and fellow York musician Stuart Fletcher on bass.
Recorded in North Hollywood, California, the album was pipped to the number one spot by Gary Barlow while debut single Love Is The Law reached number three. A further highlight of Helme’s solo acoustic set will be Love Me And Leave Me, Liam Gallagher’s first songwriting credit, no less. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.
The Lonesome Ace Stringband: Turning bluegrass bluer and grassier at Selby Town Hall
Better late than never: The Lonesome Ace Stringband, Selby Town Hall, January 18, 8pm
RE-SCHEDULED from January 20 2022, The Lonesome Ace Stringband’s gig features righteous folk and country music, played by an old-time band with bluegrass chops and a feel for deep grooves.
Band members Chris Coole, banjo, John Showman, fiddle, and Max Heineman, bass, are three Canadians lost in the weird and wonderful traditional country music of the American South, having served their time in New Country Rehab, The David Francey Band, The Foggy Hogtown Boys and Fiver. Box office: 01757 708449 or selbytownhall.co.uk.
Robert Gammon: Relaxed concert of piano music at St Chad’s
Afternoon entertainment: Robert Gammon, Dementia Friendly Tea Concert, St Chad’s Church, Campleshon Road, York, January 19, 2.30pm
AT the first Dementia Friendly Tea Concert of 2023, pianist Robert Gammon plays J S Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in B flat major from The Well-Tempered Clavier Book 2, Mozart’s Piano Sonata in B flat major K. 570 and Schubert’s serene Impromptu in A flat major, D. 935 No. 2.
As usual, 45 minutes of music will be followed by tea and homemade cakes in the church hall. Next up will be University of York Students (violin and piano) on February 16. No charge, but donations welcome for church funds and Alzheimer’s charities.
Tales From Acorn Wood: Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s stories take to the York Theatre Royal stage
Children’s show of the month: Tales From Acorn Wood, York Theatre Royal, January 26, 4pm; January 27, 11am and 2pm
NLP’s world premiere staging of Tales From Acorn Wood is based on favourite stories from Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s lift-the flap books for pre-school children, featuring the sock-losing old Fox, the tired Rabbit, Postman Bear’s special surprise and Pig and Hen’s game of hide-and-seek.
Suitable for one-year-olds and upwards or anyone who loves books, this 50-minute touring show is full of songs, puppetry, projection and flap-lifting technology. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Rob Auton: Getting mighty Crowded in his new stand-up show
Crowd pleaser: Rob Auton, The Crowd Show, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, February 24, 8pm; Hyde Park Book Club, Leeds, February 25, 7.30pm
CHARMINGLY eccentric, uplifting and poetic writer, comedian, actor and podcaster Rob Auton returns home to York on the 2023 leg of The Crowd Show tour.
After his philosophical observations on the colour yellow, the sky, faces, water, sleep, hair, talking and time, now he discusses crowds, people and connection in a night of comedy and theatre “suitable for anyone who wants to be in the crowd for this show”. Box office: York, tickets.41monkgate.co.uk; Leeds, hydeparkbookclub.co.uk.
Stewart Lee: Three nights, fully booked already, at York Theatre Royal in March
Too late for tickets already:Stewart Lee, Basic Lee, York Theatre Royal, March 20 to 22, 7.30pm
AFTER filming last May’s three-night run of his Snowflake/Tornado double bill for broadcast on the BBC, spiky comedian Stewart Lee returns to York with his back-to-basics new show.
Following a decade of ground-breaking high-concept gigs involving overarched interlinked narratives, Lee enters the post-pandemic era in streamlined solo stand-up mode: one man, one microphone, and one microphone in the wings in case the one on stage breaks. Tickets update: Sold out, basically.
Hands up who’s starring in Heathers: The black comedy musical to die for is heading to the Grand Opera House
Too cool for school: Heathers The Musical, Grand Opera House, York, May 9 to 13
WELCOME to Westerberg High, where Veronica Sawyer is just another nobody dreaming of a better day. When she joins the beautiful and impossibly cruel Heathers, however, her craving for popularity may finally come true, whereupon mysterious teen rebel JD teaches her that it might kill to be a nobody, but it is murder being a somebody.
Winner of the What’sOnStage Award for Best New Musical, Kevin Murphy and Laurence O’Keefe’s black comedy rock musical, based on the 1988 cult film, makes its York debut, produced by Bill Kenwright and Paul Taylor-Mills, directed by Andy Fickman and choreographed by Gary Lloyd. Box office: atgtickets.com/York.
Peter Harrison: Playing Wessex country tunes on boxwood flute
NEXT Thursday’s Dementia Friendly Tea Concert at St Chad’s Church, York, will be “something a little different”.
“We are exploring the writing of Thomas Hardy and the music that he would have known,” says organiser Alison Gammon. “Julia Elliott will read short extracts from some of Hardy’s well-known books and Peter Harrison will play traditional Wessex country tunes on his boxwood flute.”
Harrison is the director of York early music ensemble Concert Royal and has given recitals in every corner of the UK, in Europe and the USA, as well as for the British Council in South America.
“As usual, the format on June 16 will be a 45-minute concert followed by tea, coffee and homemade cakes, with a chance to chat,” says Alison. “The event is a relaxed concert, ideal for people who may not feel comfortable at a formal classical concert, so we do not mind if the audience wants to talk or move about!
“Seating is unreserved and there is no charge, although donations are welcome. We give the hire cost to the church and the rest goes to Alzheimer’s charities.”
St Chad’s has a small car park and street parking can be found along Campleshon Road. “But it can get busy, so do allow plenty of time,” advises Alison. “Wheelchair access to the church is via the church hall.”
York violinist Paul Milhau: music, coffee, tea and a chat on a relaxed afternoon
YORK professional violinist Paul Milhau will perform
February 20’s Dementia Friendly Tea Concert at St Chad’s Church, Campleshon
Road, York.
His 45-minute classical concert of solo violin pieces will
be followed by tea, coffee, homemade cakes and a chance to chat.
Milhau’s 2.30pm programme will combine two partitas by J S
Bach with Eugène Ysaye’s lovely second sonata in a
relaxed atmosphere suitable for anyone who might not feel able to attend a
formal classical event.
No admission charge applies but donations are welcome. Please
note, there is a small car park at the church, along with street parking on
Campleshon Road. Disabled access is via the hall.
