Villiers Quartet with Ariana Pethard (piano) and Lucinda Cox (soprano)

Vivian Fung: String Quartet no. 1 (2004)
Ariana Pethard: ’The Dance of Persephone’ for piano and string quartet (wp)
Ailsa Dixon: ’The Spirit of Love’ – 3 Songs for soprano and string quartet (1986-87)
Schubert: String Quartet No. 14 in D minor, D. 810 ('Death and the Maiden’)

The second of the Villiers Quartet’s Late Schubert Series pairs the great Austrian composer’s ‘Death and the Maiden’ with three recent pieces by women composers. St Hilda's music student Ariana Pethard’s ‘The Dance of Persephone’ has been commissioned especially for this concert as a response to ‘Death and the Maiden’, with the composer playing the piano part. It's also a rare opportunity to hear Ailsa Dixon's fascinating song cycle 'The Spirit of Love'; a setting of music to her own words and poems by A.E. Housman and Francis William Bourdillon.

6.45pm, pre-concert talk by Dr Peter Copley

This concert is supported by the Vaughan Williams Foundation