CHARLTON FINE ARTS   

Season 02 was kindly sponsored by Cloke Scaffolding, FF Harvey, Dover Priory Dental, Rebecca Jackson, Citronex, Jasmine Colman, Dover Town Council, Sleepyhead-Beds, Sylvan Logistics, Mascalls Carpets, Thomas & Partners Estate Agents, Sedgemead Dental Clinic and Hollis Motors. We are most grateful to Stefan Setchell for his excellent poster designs, to Adams Printers and to La Salle Verte. Read more below.
  You can now book your tickets for Charlton Fine Arts via this link! https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/st-peter-and-st-pauls-charlton-church-dover

SEASON 03, in the making...
 

Sunday 7th September 3pm	"A Special Relationship" - Penelope Turner (mezzo-soprano) and Helen Crayford (piano)
Sunday 5th October 3pm	Ringlemere Ensemble - piano quartet
Sunday 29th March 3pm	Orsay Ensemble
Sunday 12th April 3pm	Alan Ewing (bass) and Helen Crayford (piano)
May...	Bradstow Music family-friendly concert
May also...	Walter Reiter (baroque violin)
Sunday 14th June 3pm	Max Mostovetski (piano)

WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!
Season 02! Read all about it below.

Season 02: Concert 10
The closing concert of the series was a high-spirited, virtuoso ragtime show by pianist Helen Crayford. 'Rags to Riches' has taken Helen far afield, including the Edinburgh Festival, Italy and New York. This highly entertaining performance, complete with scenery, was a great way to bring the season to a close, and was followed by a delicious tea provided by La Salle Verte cafe.


Season 02: Concert 9
The penultimate recital in the season presented sparkling operatic soprano, Sophie Radley, with Richard Davies FRSA on the organ and piano, giving a beautiful evening performance of well-loved classics for soprano voice on Midsummer's Day. Sophie trained at the Superior Opera School of Madrid and the Royal Northern College of Music, and has performed extensively throughout Europe.

Season 02: Concert 8
Mellifluous tenor, Greg Tassell, accompanied by the redoubtable Spencer Payne (Director of Music at St Edmund's School, Canterbury) on the organ and piano, brought us a delightful recital of songs ranging from Britten, Tchaikovsky, Novello and Elvis. Greg is much in demand as a soloist on the oratorio platform: at Christmas and Easter he can be found somewhere in the UK performing Handel's Messiah, Mozart's Requiem, Bach's passions, Britten's St Nicolas and other seasonal favourites.


Season 02: Concert 7
We were thrilled that Walter Reiter, one of the foremost players of Baroque violin in Europe, gave a solo recital on Sunday, 4th May at 4pm.

A former principal of The English Concert and leader of The Orchestra of the Sixteen, Walter has performed and directed wherever Baroque music is played and has also pioneered Historically Informed Performance in countries where it was previously unknown. Walter is Professor of Baroque violin and viola in The Royal Conservatoire of The Hague and in Trinity Laban Conservatoire in London.




Season 02: Concert 6
On Sunday, April 13th, the Charlton Fine Arts audience was rapt to hear the playing of duo Butterfly Paterson and Helen Crayford. The brilliant young cellist, not yet 21 years old and in her final year at Cambridge University, partnered seamlessly with the more experienced piano virtuoso, giving a beautiful and inspiring concert. It was a privilege to be there.




 Season 02: Concert 5
Charlton Fine Arts' first family-friendly concert took place on Sunday, 6th April at 5pm. Thank you, Jacob Bride, Bradstow Symphony Orchestra and Singers for a superb family-friendly concert. It was a diverse and stimulating programme, much enjoyed by all. From Mozart's Queen of the Night, through Lord of the Rings to a moving rendition Downton Abbey, and including Jacob Bride's own splendid Alice in Wonderland suite, every item was exciting. It was excellent to see so many young families and children experiencing the music. Congratulations to the superb soprano Joanne Whalley, who thrilled us as Carmen and the Queen of the Night. It was a great privilege to have such a consumate performer and musician at Charlton. Many performers generously appeared for no fee.

Thanks to Dover Town Council, Sleepyhead Beds and various anonymous benefactors for funding this concert. Bradstow Music will return next year!
A substantial audience gathered to hear the Orsay Ensemble on Sunday, March 9th. It was an entrancing concert. The Orsay Ensemble loved the Charlton acoustic so much that they asked to return in March 2026.


Charlton Fine Arts No. 2 began on September 1^st with the marvellous Muzika Lyra performing Ukrainian music and other music from across the Slavic world. The ensemble was led by the superb Philharmonia Orchestra violinist and composer, Julian Milone, with fabulous pianist and composer Nadia Giliova and gifted singer and songwriter Lila Milone. An audience of 60 was transfixed by the intense, entertaining and virtuosic performances given by these engaging artists. What a privilege to have musicians of this calibre at Charlton!

October 6^th, we welcomed international operatic bass Alan Ewing and virtuosic pianist Helen Crayford, for In The Lowest Deep, a concert of beautiful songs for bass. The programme included works of Handel, Brahms, Ireland and Tchaikovsky. Alan's tremendous voice, thrilling in its size, quality and expressiveness, was perfectly matched by Helen's skilful and inituitive accompanying. Alan's informative and highly amusing introductions to the songs delighted the audience. We are immensely grateful that these astonishing musicians, who have graced concert halls and opera houses around the world, come to a (hitherto) unknown venue in Dover to give people a wonderful afternoon of music. 

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THE FIRST SEASON, SEPTEMBER '23 - MAY '24
On Sunday 5^th May, an audience of about 60 was treated to a performance that would have earned accolades in the West End or Broadway.  The superb duo performed music of Kurt Weill and his contemporaries (1920s -1950s) with enormous skill and panache. Crayford’s technical virtuosity and Turner’s compelling voice and dramatic skill made this a thrilling show that commanded one’s attention from start to finish.

Cheers rang out after their first number, Cabaret, and often thereafter. Mack the Knife, September and Youkali were perhaps the most familiar to the audience, but less known numbers  - for example, Tell me the Truth about Love (Auden/Britten) and Hotel (Apollinaire/Poulenc) were greeted enthusiastically.  Crayford’s spectacular solo items, The Man I Love, I Got Rhythm and Tango Ballade, gave us the chance to enjoy the piano at its best, with lid raised, and to appreciate her astonishing skill as a performer. It was hard to believe that the duo had rehearsed for the first time only the day before.

 

The audience were welcomed with a drink to take to their tables (Charlton Church was temporarily transformed into a Continental cafe or nightclub, with red and white check table cloths, fresh flowers on the tables and atmospheric lighting). The era was set by a few well-chosen props: a Tiffany lamp and a fern on an elegant stand. Into this convivial atmosphere, the two glamorous performers, suitably attired for the 1920s, sequins and feathers included, brought an air of sophistication that transported us to a different time and place.  Refreshments followed the performance and people stayed for at least another hour to enjoy each other’s company.
 
Enormous thanks to Penelope and Helen for coming to perform in the Charlton Fine Arts Series, to Penelope’s husband James, to Chris and Maggie Tyler and to Shane and Vicki, for their stalwart support. Thanks also to Jonathan Eddolls from St Mary’s Church for taking photographs and to Simon Partridge of Dover Community Radio for attending and interviewing Penelope.

 

CHARLTON FINE ARTS SERIES

Superb young countertenor, Richard Decker, accompanied at the piano by Charles Spanner, gave a wonderful recital on Sunday, March 3^rd.  The varied programme showed off the wide range of expression of which this young artist is capable. We are most grateful to the performers for this excellent concert and wish Richard the very best of luck in his future career.

RECITAL FOR CELLO AND PIANO by ERIC BOSSHARD AND CHARLES SPANNER
Charlton Church was delighted to welcome about 50 people on Sunday 28^th January for a beautiful recital of music for cello and piano. The duo played Elegie by Gabriel Faure, Sonata no. 2 by Ludwig van Beethoven and Variations Concertantes by Felix Mendelssohn. Their encore was The Swan by Saint-Saens. The discriminating audience, including all generations, from babes in arms to the elderly, listened attentively as the music resounded in the fabulous acoustic of the church. It seems that the building is particularly suited to the sound of the cello. We are very grateful to the artists for donating a proportion of the proceeds to the church. Mr Bosshard accepted no fee. Most of the audience stayed afterwards for refreshments and there was a pleasant, convivial atmosphere.

On 29th October, Oliver Poole, virtuoso international pianist, gave the second recital in the Charlton Fine Arts series with the following programme, dazzling the audience with his technique and panache.
 
Scenes from the Ring Cycle     (including the Ride of the Valkyries)
                                                Richard Wagner (arr. Louis Brassin)
 
Celestial                               Yerkesh Shakeyev (arr. John Lenehan)
 
Improvisation on themes suggested by the audience 
 
Rhapsody in Blue              George Gershwin  

FINE ARTS SERIES LAUNCHED! September 2023

For the inaugural recital of our new Fine Arts Series, the duo Charlie Brookes (violin) and Charles Spanner (piano) gave a delightful and absorbing programme of Mozart, Beethoven and Elgar. The duo played these demanding and beautiful works with great skill and feeling, and the concert was altogether a most enjoyable occasion. Charlie Brookes freelances as a professional orchestral player here and abroad, and is the founder of the Elgar Ensemble.