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February 26 'No Laughing Matter' an illustrated talk given by Christopher Monckton - professional keyboard player and Cruise Tours Music Organiser and Lecturer.

In a number of obvious ways, music and the performance of music can make us smile or even laugh out loud. Less obviously, a great deal of the music which we are invited by modern performance conditions to treat with anxious reverence originally depended for its effect not on its high seriousness but on the fact that both performer and audience found it witty or humorous. This talk explores the notion of humour in music both as an incidental – and occasionally accidental - effect, and as a fundamental motor of innovation.

Christopher Monckton originally learnt to play the organ, the piano and the flute at Greshams School in Norfolk. In 1973 he won a choral scholarship to Magdalen College Oxford, where he studied voice with David Johnstone and only returned to the organ after graduating from the University. A further scholarship brought him to the South of France in 1979, where he studied the organ privately with Jean Wallet at the Conservatoire National de Region de Nice, and was appointed organist of the Basilica of Notre Dame de Nice in 1980. As well as playing the organ in Nice, he became Assistant Director of Music of a choir school in Grasse training boys choirs and child soloists both for the concert platform and for the opera houses of Nice, Monte Carlo, Nimes, Lyons and Paris Bastille. In various roles – solo singer, organ recitalist, orchestral and choral conductor, or accompanist – he has performed in most European countries, including live radio broadcasts in France and Poland. Recent performances in the British Isles include song recitals in St John’s Smith Square, organ recitals at Canons Ashby, Evesham, Hastings, Rickmansworth and Chichester, and (as conductor) a “Messiah from Scratch” in St Patrick’s Cathedral Dublin, with Irene Drummond (soprano) and David Leigh (organ). As a free-lance lecturer on a variety of subjects connected with art, history and music, Christopher Monckton has been addressing fine arts and music societies in England and France for the last 15 years, as well as leading tours for specialist tour operators. In 2005 he and Simon Monckton founded their own travel company, Thomas Martlet Ltd specialising in art, history and music tours.

March 25 Ben Socrates, piano - Graduate of Chichester University and now studying at Trinity College of Music, playing music by Haydn, Rautavaara and Ravel.

Ben Socrates started playing piano at the age of 11, with an eclectic musical development that would encompass classical piano, improvisation and composition. Studying with pianist/composer Adam Swayne at the University of Chichester, he embraced every opportunity to perform throughout Sussex, and won the first Clifford Benson Piano Prize and the Robert Headley Award in 2009. He studied jazz piano with Wayne McConnell and Nick Reynolds, and participated in masterclasses with Aaron Shorr, Deidre Doyle and Jonathan Plowright.

As his solo repertoire increased, Ben found himself accompanying several prize-winning instrumentalists and singers in concert. Ben graduated with First Class Honours in 2010, after making his debut as a soloist with the University of Chichester Chamber Orchestra.

Ben commenced his postgraduate studies with Douglas Finch at Trinity Laban Conservatoire in 2011. He was offered a scholarship from the TCM Trust, and is further supported by the Osbourne Charitable Trust, the Kathleen Trust, the South Square Trust and the Funtington Music Group. Ben continues to pursue his other musical interests, including jazz piano, composing in various media and writing for and performing with Mulatones – a five piece world/electronic music collective. He enjoys performing both as a vocal accompanist and a chamber musician, and teaches piano privately in London. He is currently collaborating with a Bristol based artist to devise a sound art installation – Field Song – which was a recent winner of the Ideas Fund Innovators Award.

www.bensocrates.com

April 29 Ana Luisa Monteiro, piano, Jenavieve Moore, soprano and Clare Ghigo, mezzo soprano, students from the Guildhall School of Music, with music by Liszt, Rossini etc.

May 27 Claire Denzil, cello and Stephen Rose, piano, play music by Boellman, De Falla, Dvorak, Faure and Brahms.

July 1 The Chichester String Ensemble. Conductor: Louis Halsey, leader: Mark Hartt-Palmer, keyboard: Stephen Norris, oboe: Wendy Carpenter, flute: Alex Palmer. Music by Purcell, Albinoni and Bach.With the first performance of a new work by Terence Albright, piano - 'Grave and Harmonius Musick' plus music by Grieg and Strauss. This concert will be part of The Chichester Festivities.

July 29 The Anemos Ensemble, wind quintet - Helen Walton, flute, Fiona Reeve, oboe, Bridget Bartholomew, horn, Robert Blanken, clarinet, Richard Moore, bassoon. Wind Music from the 19th and 20th Century.

September 30 Jasmin Rowe, piano - a national prize winner from West Sussex. Music by Liszt, Janacek and Ravel.

October 28 Roy Lidstone - 'Toward the unknown region with Ralph Vaughan Williams' - an illustrated talk. Plus the club's AGM.

November 18 The Palmeira String Quartet - Anna Ruijterman and Chris Darwin, violins, Paul Manderson, viola and Howard Gough, cello. Music by Haydn, Shostakovich and Beethoven.

December 9 The Auster Saxophone Quartet - Ali Helsby, Louise Martin, Toni Kent and Spencer Bundy. Music by Jacob, Holst, Pierne, Gershwin etc.