Festival Launch: Metamorphoses & Resilience
Richard Strauss ‘Metamorphosen’
Realisation for string septet by Rudolf Leopold
(Interval - complimentary refreshments)
Dimitri Shostakovich Piano Quintet in G Minor Op.57
Felix Ensemble
Jane Gordon (violin/director)
Ellie Fagg (violin)
Kay Stephen (viola)
Lorena Canto (viola)
Kirsten Jensen (cello)
Lousie McMonagle (cello)
Lucia Polo Moreno (bass)
Jan Rautio (piano)
We launch this year’s Hastings Chamber Music Festival festival with two powerful virtuoso works that explore transformation and resilience. Richard Strauss’s Metamorphosen, heard here in an intimate septet arrangement, is a poignant reflection on cultural devastation and personal loss, often interpreted as an elegy for a Europe shattered by World War II. Paired with this is Shostakovich’s Piano Quintet (1940), a work that balances vibrant energy with introspective depth, weaving humour and melancholy into a compelling dialogue between piano and strings. Together, these pieces offer a moving meditation on the turmoil and hope that arise from profound personal and societal upheaval.
The Felix Ensemble is a dynamic group of chamber musicians and soloists directed by accliamed violinist Jane Gordon. Featuring some of Europe’s most prestigious performers, frequently heard on BBC Radio 3 and in the finest concert halls including the Wigmore Hall, Berlin Philharmonie, Vienna Konzerthaus, Carnegie Hall and Glyndebourne Opera.
Followed by drinks in the church ‘meet the musicians’
Violinist Jane Gordon is artistic director of Hastings Chamber Music Festival. She has invited a wonderful line up of international musicians to perform four concerts over the weekend at Kino Teatr and Christ Church in St Leonards-on-Sea.
