Well done to my students for your excellent piano exam results. An adult returning to the piano gaining grade 2 with merit, and a ten year old with autism gaining a distinction. I'm very proud of you!
A rather nice way to spend a Friday evening .... playing Christmas themed piano repertoire by a log fire! Beautiful crafts and Christmas presents on sale by some very talented artists. Lovely!
Gillian Wells, Soprano, and Helen Wilkins, Pianist, performed at the fantastic setting of the Corinium Museum in Cirencester on Friday 3rd November to raise money for the charity 'Chyp' - Cirencester Housing for Young People. Chyp held another one of our popular musical evenings at The Corinium Museum on 3rd November 2017. Highly acclaimed musical duo soprano Gillian Wells and pianist Helen Wilkins provided a delightful evening’s entertainment, performing art songs and opera, to songs from the shows. The show ended with rapturous applause and a request for an encore. As usual fantastic canapés, provided by wonderful volunteers, were enjoyed by all afterwards and a delightful glass of wine. Thanks to sponsorship from the Cotswold Primrose Trust and involvement from Barclays including match funding the evening raised a fantastic amount of £2,089. This will go along way to support Chyp’s work with local young homeless people. Chyp would like to thank everyone who supported the evening. http://www.chypthecharity.org.uk/latest-news Thanks to Matthew O'Connor for organising another Microdot event on 8th October and inviting us to perform classical music at the Louisiana cellar, Whapping Wharf, Bristol.
It was a privilege to accompany Robert Short, Classical Tenor, in a selection of music ranging from Purcell, Handel, Pergolesi, Puccini, Margaret Bond and Gershwin. We shared the stage with the acclaimed Bristol based piano duo Rustom Battiwalla and Natalie Haupt who delighted us with the music of Bach, Mozart and Schubert. ' thank you so much to both of you for another fantastic concert which again has been very well received with many complimentary comments about yours and Gillian's performances ' Pam Yates
' We really enjoyed the concert ... you make a great duo and the programme was so varied and fun. Altogether a lovely evening. ' Viv Arthur This year’s Summer Concert took place on 21st July and saw the return of soprano Gillian Wells and pianist Helen Wilkins, due to popular demand. Last year saw a programme of music from Mozart to musicals. This year their programme promised music from art songs and opera to songs from the shows. The concert began with ‘Les Chemins de l’amour’ by Poulenc. Gillian then continued with a selection of pieces by Massenet, R. Strauss, R Schumann, H. Wolf and Mascagni. Though all these pieces were sung in either French, Italian or German, the audience were given a clear insight to the setting of each song by the introductory scene setting given by Gillian before each one. The first half concluded with ‘Love went A-Riding’ by Frank Bridge. The second half started with ‘Love’s Philosophy’ by Roger Quilter. There then followed pieces by Quilter, Cole Porter and Gershwin concluding with ‘There are fairies at the bottom of our garden’ by Lehmann. It was a varied programme which delighted the audience. Last year Gillian impressed with the high quality of her singing, this year was even better and left the audience inspired and spell bound. Helen also played her role of accompanist to Gillian admirably. Then she shone as she played her piano solos. We heard Chopin’s Nocturne in E flat major, Grieg’s Wedding Day at Troldhaugen and Debussy’s Clair de lune. Helen also set the scene for each of her pieces before playing each one beautifully. We thought the quality of her performance last year was excellent but this year it was outstanding. Her smiling enthusiasm and passion for her music was clear to see by all as she shared her love of it with us – certainly it was ‘food for the soul’. We were expecting a very high standard from them both after last year’s performance – this year’s concert was a sell-out – but they exceeded our expectations. Everyone left uplifted by the quality of music and they were all rewarded for venturing out on a very wet evening. Pam Yates. |
Helen WilkinsProfessional self-employed graduate musician, pianist, accompanist, piano teacher and qualified Archives
May 2022
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