17 June: Philippa Mo
Partita Fantasia Caprice
The internationally acclaimed violinist Philippa Mo makes her first visit to Calstock. Philippa studied at the Royal Academy of Music and at the Central Conservatory of Music, Beijing. She now performs extensively as a chamber musician and has given performances and live broadcasts worldwide, including her acclaimed debut at the Wigmore Hall, the Ankara International Music festival and the Lincoln Center, New York. Recent solo tours have taken her as far afield as Australia, Brazil and China. In 2020, Philippa won the Future Classic Women Awards held by the Women’s Radio Station.
As a champion of contemporary music, Philippa has worked closely with many leading British composers including Gabriel Prokofiev, David Matthews, John McCabe, Cecilia McDowell and Jim Aitchison and has given premieres of their solo and violin duo works. She has established an ongoing relationship with Tate St Ives and recorded a solo work written for her by Leo Geyer on the anniversary of Barbara Hepworth to be used as a sound installation at the Tate.
Philippa begins her programme with joyous Bach and Telemann displaying the shine and sprightly sparkle of the violin. The Red Violin Caprices by John Corigliano evoke Baroque, Gypsy, and High Romantic idioms and she chooses two birdsong inspired pieces by the brilliant British based composers Wendy Hiscocks and Errollyn Wallen. The programme closes with the sheer power and ironic drive of Prokofiev’s Sonata for solo violin.
Since the Baroque era, the instrument together with master virtuoso performers has encouraged experiments and imagination in musical practice. The violin itself demands the development of composition and has seduced composers ever since. Come along to explore the limits of the solo violin and violinist alike!
“…faultless technique and unfailing insight.” Gramophone Magazine
‘”…. the expertise of Mo’s near- instantaneous transitions from one style to another was often startling and always impressive.” Classical Source
“Philippa Mo has a lovely warm sound in the lower register that can turn remarkably dark; she possesses a silky-smooth legato.” Musicweb International
Image credit: Guy Carpenter
