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Welwyn Garden
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History
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Welwyn
Garden Concert Club
Today |
History of the Club
The Welwyn Garden Concert Club was founded in 1944 by Dorothy Hess, an esteemed piano teacher in the town. Not only had she many friends and acquaintances of renown in the chamber music world who were willing to come to play, but she had a talent for discovering young artists of great musical ability whose fees were still within the Club's means. As far as possible, this is a practice the Club has aimed to continue; indeed, we gave the world-renowned Takacs String Quartet their second engagement in this country.
Over the years many other famous musicians have played to the Club, including Kathleen Ferrier, Oda Slobosdskaya, Reginald Kell, Paul Tortellier, Peter Pears, Janet Baker, the Amadeus String Quartet, Ginette Neveu and many others. Sarah Francis (oboe) has recently succeeded as a recitalist here her father, John Francis, (flute), who played here in our foundation year.
For many of the early years we had a long list of potential members whom we could not accommodate . Our concert venues have changed from a local restaurant, to a college hall, to a tiered theatre holding over three hundred people.
From its inception the Club has presented music of variety in instrumentation and programming, the aim always being to arrange first-class chamber music recitals for the people of Welwyn Garden City and the surrounding area.
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Welwyn Garden Concert Club Today
We believe with some confidence that the Club would
still be recognisable over fifty years later by its founder. Each year we
arrange a series of six chamber music recitals which take place during
the autumn and winter months. These are held on Saturdays in the
comfortable surroundings of Campus West Theatre with its modern
facilities, including a bar for drinks before and during the
concerts. The Club has become a registered charity and continues to be run by a committee elected annually by the season ticket holders at the annual general meeting. The committee members are in effect the trustees of the charity. All season ticket holders are encouraged to take an active part in the running of the Club. Normally each year two coach outings are arranged for the benefit of all ticket holders to concerts at one of the major concert venues in London.
We are fortunate to have two distinguished musicians as the Club's Patron and President. They are respectively Nicholas Daniel, the oboist and conductor, and Andrew Watkinson, member of the Endellion Quartet, violinist and conductor.
We are able to engage high quality professional artists, many with international reputations, because of the financial support the Club receives from a number of external organisations, to whom we are extremely grateful. Organisations which have supported the Club over many years include the John Lewis Partnership, Welwyn Hatfield Council, Roche Products, Cereal Partners, and Kane International.
Artists which have played at the
Club in recent seasons include the Vogler String Quartet, O Duo, the Endellion String Quartet, the Wihan Quartet,
Ashley Wass, Thomas Carroll, Nicholas Daniel
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