A concert performance of Stephen Dodgson’s chamber opera Margaret Catchpole: Two Worlds Apart – a tale of misguided loyalty, passion and fate. The concert marks the 200th anniversary of the real Margaret Catchpole’s death. Dodgson’s 1979 chamber opera tells the story of Suffolk heroine, criminal and chronicler Margaret Catchpole. The opera immerses us in the internal battle between her own good character and values, and her heartfelt loyalty to Will Laud, a smuggler – the man she loves. Libretto by Ronald Fletcher based on the novel by Richard Cobbold. Background and full synopsis > A pre-performance talk by Anthony Cobbold will be given[...]

Cellist Leo Popplewell performs Stephen Dodgson’s Partita at a Bach-themed recital forming part of the Cambridge Summer Music Festival. ‘My idea was to explore the influence of Bach on twentieth-century solo cello repertoire. Stephen Dodgson’s Partita from 1985 draws upon Bach’s language through the lens of Benjamin Britten, whose three suites from the latter half of the twentieth century form a staple of the modern cello repertoire. Renowned for his prowess in musical invention, Bach’s motivic efficiency is explored in Elliott Carter’s Figment from 1994, a six-minute work encompassing a vast range of musical colours whilst based thematically on a single musical idea.’ The recital takes[...]

If Italy was the ‘cradle of the renaissance’, it was also the ‘playground of the Baroque’. Julian Perkins and Sounds Baroque’s The Italian Connection celebrates the infusion of Italian music throughout Europe with a programme that juxtaposes works by esteemed Baroque Masters with Baroque-inspired tonal works by Stephen Dodgson. Dodgson works include Invention No. 5 from Set 1: ‘The Worm’; Invention No. 5 from Set 2: ‘Plush and Roses’ and The New Terpsichore, Book 1. Julian Perkins harpsichord Sophie Barber violin Karin Björk violin Henrik Persson cello Sounds Baroque Italian Connection programme Find out more about Concerts at Cratfield.

Pianist Emma Abbate and the Tippett Quartet perform a concert of piano quintets, at the Penkhull Festival of Music, including Stephen Dodgson’s Piano Quintet No. 1 which they recently recorded on the Toccata Classics label and a voted a MusicWeb recording of the year. Programme Mendelssohn: String quartet no. 1 in E flat major op. 12 Dodgson: Piano quintet no. 1 in C Chris Brammeld: string quartet Schumann: Piano quintet op. 44 in E flat major St Thomas’s Church Manor Court Street Penkhull Stoke-on-Trent Staffs ST4 7LG

On what would have been Stephen Dodgson’s 97th birthday, pianist Emma Abbate and the Tippett Quartet perform a concert of quartets and quintets in Pisa including Dodgson’s Piano Quintet No. 1. Programme Haydn: String quartet op. 33 no. 1 Dodgson: Piano quintet no. 1 in C Schumann: Piano quintet op. 44 in E flat major I Concerti della Normale Teatro Verdi Via Palestro 40 56127 Pisa Italy