Concert
A Tapestry of Music and Poetry
Sunday 27th July • 15:00 (doors 14:30) – 17:00
Hosted by Matthew Kleinman
£12 online.
This concert features original music by John Whittaker alongside short poetry readings given by Anthony Pinching.
Peter Edge
Shropshire-born baritone Peter Edge studied at the Royal Northern College of Music and the Royal College of Music with Peter Savidge, Quentin Hayes, and Andrew Robinson. Winner of the Llangollen International Eisteddfod and runner-up of the London Bach Singers Prize, he has also been a principal artist with English Touring Opera, Longborough Festival Opera, The Grange Festival, Hampstead Garden Opera and Opera North. Peter made his role debut with The Royal Opera in the 2024/25 Season in Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti/A Quiet Place, and returned to perform in Verdi’s Aida. Future roles include Dulcamara with Baseless Fabrics and the bass solos in Mendelssohn’s Die Erste Walpurgisnacht with The Constellation Choir and Orchestras.
John Whittaker
John Whittaker lives in Reading, Berkshire. His lyrical and accessible musical style follows in the footsteps of composers like Vaughan Williams and Finzi. His choral and vocal works have been performed in the UK, the USA, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Sweden. He has worked with Opera Anywhere and Irrational Theatre Company to stage his two one-act operas. He has recently developed a musical partnership with baritone Peter Edge to present concerts of his original music.
Professor Anthony Pinching
Professor Anthony Pinching is a retired clinical immunologist, previously much involved in HIV/AIDS and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS/ME). He directs Pinner Music Festival/Music in Pinner Series, and Chairs Ludlow Song (Ludlow English Song Weekend). He now writes poetry, including assembling/writing libretti: For Russell Pascoe, Secular Requiem (2013); Three Masks, One Face (Pessoa) (2015); A Different Child (Apocryphal Infancy Gospels) (2015), To be a King (Shakespeare) (2017); A Sequence for Remembrance (2018); & St Eustachius Triptych (2018). For Martin Bussey he wrote A Brother Abroad (2021)
Repertoire first half
‘A Journey Through The Seasons’.
Poetry by Anthony Pinching alongside settings of Shakespeare, Andrew Young, Thomas Hardy, Tennyson, Ursula Vaughan Williams, and Walter De La Mer.
Intermission with tea and biscuits.
Repertoire second half
‘Aspects of Nature’.
Poetry by Anthony Pinching alongside settings of Tennyson, De La Mer.
Song-cycle ‘By Each Hedge and Hill’ (words by Andrew Young).
£12 online.
