Music at The Firs

Growing up as a child at Lower Broadheath he was constantly surrounded by music, in the family home and in his father’s shop, and throughout his life he immersed himself in musical performance.

This is our wish for his birthplace, to fill the property and gardens with the joyous sounds of live music, music in all its forms from cello to dulcimer. 

Our emerging programme has got off to a fantastic start with the development of an innovative residency with Volante Strings.

Members of the group perform in various ensembles or as soloists in our performance space or in the beautifully tranquil cottage garden to surprise and delight our visitors. 

We have an active calendar of performances at the Firs, please have a look at our events page to see what might take your fancy

Please read on to learn more about some of the groups who perform here at The Firs or go back to our list article and read our more in depth profiles.

ISM Concert at The Firs

16 June at 3pm the ISM presents a selection of performances from students in Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

Lunchtime Recital Series

A collaboration between Corrine Frost (Musical Director of Volante Strings) and Janine Parsons.

Janine Parsons

Janine completed her studies at the Birmingham Conservatoire, having gained a B Mus (Hons) degree and a Post Graduate Diploma. She studied piano with Frank Wibaut and Professor Malcolm Wilson. As soloist she gave her debut recital at the Purcell Rooms, London and has since given concerto performances including Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, Chopin’s piano concerto no 1 with The Worcester Philharmonic Orchestra; Haydn’s piano concerto in D Major with Volante Strings and Mendelssohn’s concerto in A Minor with the English String Orchestra. Janine has also given solo recitals for music societies throughout the UK, including locally, The Kidderminster Classical Music Society, The Midland Gershwin Mayerl Society, Upton Arts Music Group and The Elgar Music School, Worcester.

Janine has worked as a freelance repetiteur with the Birmingham Royal Ballet in numerous educational projects, which has led her to appearing in a BBC TV drama. 
As accompanist, she has worked with numerous singers and instrumentalists in concerts and competitions, including performances broadcast on BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio Shropshire.  She has performed for many years as part of an all female trio ‘The Sirens’ who together have given concerts nationally and internationally. In 1997, she appeared as finalist in the Young Accompanist of the Year competition. Janine has also performed alongside Maureen Lipman and Julian Lloyd Weber. Janine now works regularly with cellist Corinne Frost and together they have recently performed in the Worcester Festival; Hellens, Much Marcle; the Lion Ballrooms, Leominster and for Coughton Court Arts.

Currently Janine enjoys a busy musical life in her role as Head of School at the Elgar School of Music in Worcester. 
 

The Carice String Quartet

During December 2017 members of the Carice String Quartet performed original and arranged Christmas themed music by English composers for: string quartet, violin and piano, cello and piano and voice and piano.

The Carice quartet are made up of Graham Longfils (Violin), Anita Porter (Violin), Dorthy Wilson-Longfils (Viola) and Caroline Nuttall (Cello).

We hope to host them again soon, keep an eye out on our events.

Read about the Carice String Quartet here >>> (PDF / 0.3MB) download

Vocal Variations

Vocal Variations was founded in February 2004 by Pat Pennington who shared a passion for music in group form and solo singing at The Elgar Birthplace Museum. In 2016 we moved to Holy Trinity Church, Malvern and have performed with their church choir on many occasions. We have also performed during the August event at Worcester Music Festival (2008 – 2016) in the Lumby Room (Deansway School of Music)  raising money for Leukaemia Care.  I had the pleasure in taking the group over in 2017.

Vocal Variations is a group of amateur singers who have a love of music, performance and solo singing. We sing individual songs on a theme accompanied by professional accompanists. Everyone supports everyone else helping to develop confidence and expertise.

We all have a great time together at our meetings and once our singing has completed we enjoy a social cup of tea and homemade cake.We meet once a month, locally and are always looking for new members to our group.

For more information please contact Julia Winkworth ATCL on 07752 886204, email jwinkworth@btconnect.com or check out our facebook group page under “Vocal Variations”

Janet Thomas (viola)

Janet studied at what was then the Royal Manchester College of Music (now the Royal Northern), before returning home to Birmingham to do her Cert.Ed. She was a string teacher with Solihull Music Service for 36 years, until her retirement in 2010. She is still very active as a player in various local orchestras and ensembles, including Volante Strings, of which she has been a member since 2001.