• Huw Wiggin, saxophone and Oliver Wass, harp

    Huw Wiggin, saxophone and Oliver Wass, harp

  • Huw Wiggin, saxophone

    Huw Wiggin, saxophone

  • Oliver Wass, harp

    Oliver Wass, harp

  • Huw Wiggin, saxophone

    Huw Wiggin, saxophone

  • Oliver Wass, harp

    Oliver Wass, harp

  • Huw Wiggin, saxophone and Oliver Wass, harp

    Huw Wiggin, saxophone and Oliver Wass, harp

  • Coco Tomita, violin

    Coco Tomita, violin

  • Yume Tomita, violin

    Yume Tomita, violin

  • Coco Tomita, violin and Yume Tomita, violin

    Coco Tomita, violin and Yume Tomita, violin

  • The High Sheriff of Surrey Mr Shahid Azeem DL with Kumi & Lionel and the musicians

    The High Sheriff of Surrey Mr Shahid Azeem DL with Kumi & Lionel and the musicians

  • Summer at Breinton:  Seemingly Unlikely

    Summer at Breinton: Seemingly Unlikely

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Photographs courtesy of David Hogg of Horizon Imaging, © 2020

 

Once again, we were fortunate with the weather. The fourth recital of our Summer at Breinton series completed joyously with the sun shining and everyone smiling. The concert reminded us how incredibly wonderful it is to feel the glorious power, warmness, comfort, and excitement of live music. It binds people together despite social-distancing and the restrictions between household bubbles; of course, where there is music, there are people!

Coco and Yume Tomita performed a 30-minute programme jam-packed with precious short pieces. Enescu and Bartok yielded a mysterious and quirky gypsy feel and rhythm. Coco’s solo performance of Largo from Bach’s solo Sonata in C contained a wealth of divine melodies, gently penetrating through the audience and creating serenity. Such a contrast was Yume’s Amazing Grace Theme and Variations; it was jazzy and rhythmical, performed with virtuosity and momentum. There encore piece Limerock for Two Violins, played with total control and amazing articulation, was joyful, uplifting, and total fun. I found myself tapping my feet, and I know I was not the only one.

Huw Wiggin and Oliver Wass began their programme with Debussy’s Girl with the Flaxen Hair and Arabesque No. 1, capturing the audience immediately with the well-known melodies with heartfelt sounds. Every time I hear Huw, I am amazed by his skilful breath control, and today was no exception. The Adagio of Bach’s Sonata in G minor was seriously beautiful; the long-lasting sound, with no impurity and just a hint of sweetness, travelled straight through the garden, accompanied by the equally beautiful harp. Oliver’s solo, Spanish Dance, was full of life with stunning resonance, and I noticed Coco and Yume looking like they wanted to jump up and join him with their violins. What crossed the minds of our guests during Gershwin’s Summertime, I will never know, but it had a bittersweet feeling now that this unprecedented summer 2020 is nearing the end. Fantasie Brillante sur des airs de Carmen certainly showed off the skills of both performers, then Piazzolla’s Oblivion, total beauty lingering with a bit of sorrow, to conclude Summer at Breinton, at least, for now.

Anna Fedorova

Commonwealth Musician of the Year, First Prize and Gold Medal winner of the Royal Over-Seas League Annual Music Competition, Huw Wiggin is one of the most popular saxophonists of his generation.

He has performed in venues as far afield as the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing – where he gave recitals and a concerto performance of Eric Coates’s Saxo Rhapsody – as well as those closer to home such as London’s Wigmore Hall. Other past highlights include appearances at Brighton, Newbury, Henley, Ripon and Edinburgh Fringe Festivals. His performance of Milton Babbitt’s Accompanied Recitative was broadcast by BBC Radio 3 on ‘Hear and Now’ to celebrate the composer’s centenary.


Anna Fedorova

Oliver Wass holds a First Class Masters Degree from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, where he studied with Imogen Barford. He graduated from the University of York with a First Class Honours degree in Chemistry.

He recently won the Suoni d’Arpa International Competition in Italy, the Jury Prize at the International Harp Competition in Szeged, and Second Prize at the Bromsgrove International Competition. He is the only harpist to win the Guildhall Gold Medal – the London conservatoire’s most prestigious prize. Previous winners of the competition include Jacqueline du Pré, Bryn Terfel and Tasmin Little.


Anna Fedorova

Yume Tomita was born in the UK in 2008 and began to play the violin when she was five years old. She was invited to give her first recital at the age of seven in Italy, and in the following year she was awarded a place at the Yehudi Menuhin School where she studied with Natasha Boyarsky, Diana Galvydyte and is currently studying with Ning Kam.

Within the last two years, Yume has won 1st prize at the Ilona Feher International Violin Competition in Hungary (2019), 2nd prize at the Andrea Postacchini International Violin Competition in Italy (2019) and 3rd prize at the Grumiaux International Violin Competition in Belgium (2018).


Anna Fedorova

The UK based Japanese violinist Coco Tomita is a winner of the BBC Young Musician 2020 Strings Category. Previously, Coco won various other prizes at international competitions and festivals including Golden Medals at the Vienna International Music Competition 2019 and Berliner International Music Competition 2019, Carl Flesch Prize at the Carl Flesch Academy 2019, 3rd Prize in the Junior section of the Andrea Postacchini International Violin Competition (Italy) and 1st prize at the Eastbourne Symphony Orchestra Young Soloist Competition 2017.


Music on arrival 

  • Coco Tomita, violin
  • Yume Tomita, violin

  • Pieces by Enescu, Bartok and Bach as solos and duos 

Main performance 

  • Huw Wiggin, saxophone
  • Oliver Wass, harp

  • Debussy:  Girl with the Flaxen Hair; Arabesque No. 1
  • Ravel:  Pavane pour une infante défunte
  • Bach:  Sonata in G minor
  • Rachmaninoff:  Vocalise
  • de Falla:  Spanish Dance
  • Granados:  Andaluza
  • Gershwin:  Summertime; Someone to watch over me
  • Borne:  Fantaisie Brillante sur des aires de Carmen