Nicola Summerscales – Flute and Havilland Willshire – Piano
Programme
Ralph Vaughan Williams Suite de Ballet
- Improvisation
- Humoresque
- Gavotte
- Passepied
Olivier Messiaen Le Merle Noir
Enqrique Granados The Maiden and the Nightingale for solo piano
Charles Marie Widor Suite for Flute and Piano Op. 34 No 1
- Moderato
- Scherzo
- Romance
- Final
Biographies
Nicola Summerscales is a prominent freelance flautist featuring as a chamber and orchestral musician throughout the UK. Alumni of Chetham’s School of Music and the Royal Academy of Music, Nicola graduated with a BMus Hons and a Postgraduate Diploma with Distinction studying with Michael Cox, Kate Hill, Patricia Morris and Karen Jones.
Nicola performs regularly in live, televised and broadcasted performances with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Opera North, Welsh National Opera, English Touring Opera, Scottish Opera and English Chamber Orchestra. Highlights include performances at the BBC Proms, Britten Pears Festival, orchestrations of film scores such as Jaws and The Nightmare before Christmas.
A prize-winning chamber musician, Nicola founded the Nephele Ensemble and they were a featured Park Lane Young Artist and winner of the Tunnell Trust. A firm supporter of Contemporary music, they commissioned works from Timothy Salter, Stuart MacRae and Colin Riley which were premiered to critical acclaim in the Purcell Room. Nicola frequently performs with the chamber ensemble Symphonia Academica and is also an ABRSM Examiner and visiting flute teacher at Beaconsfield High School.
Havilland Willshire studied piano with Rsyzard Bakst and accompaniment with Clifton Helliwell at the Royal Northern College of Music and Music Education at the University of Manchester. He held the post of Coordinator of Metropolitan Wigan Instrumental Music Service for nine years before accepting the position of Head of Junior Conservatoire of Music at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in 2000. Following a year as Head of Music Education in 2008 he became Dean of the School of Music in 2009. In 2014 he was appointed Assistant Director and Head of Performance at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance and more recently, Director of the Faculty of Music in November 2018, a post he held until early 2023.
A dedicated teacher, he taught for a number of years at the Birmingham Conservatoire of Music Junior School and continued to teach at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and Trinity Laban. Currently he teaches at Cheltenham College. He also enjoyed an active concert career as soloist and chamber musician including live broadcasts and recordings for BBC Radio and is the duo partner for the violinist Pip Clarke.
Next week’s concert our last in the current series is Luna Duo – Amy Butler and Graziana Presicce, piano four hands