George Gershwin was one of the most popular and successful American composers, a master of the Broadway musical as well as Classical works. This concert features Gershwin's instrumental music alongside arrangements of his songs by Iain Farrington. Performed by two of London's leading woodwind players, this concert captures the toe-tapping, jazz-inspired world of Gershwin's music. Iain Farrington's arrangements of Gershwin have been performed around the world, including several times at the BBC Proms to much acclaim.
Born in Bangor, North Wales, Peter Sparks studied at the Royal Northern College of Music Junior Department and read music at Cambridge University studying with Dame Thea King. He subsequently studied at the Royal Academy of Music with Angela Malsbury and Nick Rodwell, where he won the Geoffrey Hawkes Clarinet and Harold Craxton Chamber Music competitions.
As a soloist, he has performed in the Purcell Room, London, at Cheltenham International Music Festival, and live on BBC Radio 3's In Tune. He has performed numerous concerti, including Copland's Clarinet Concerto, Elizabeth Maconchy's Clarinet Concertino, John Adams Gnarly Buttons, Peter Wiegold's Bass Clarinet Concerto, Weber Concerto No.1 with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, and Mozart's Clarinet Concerto with the English Symphony Orchestra.
Peter is a busy chamber musician, performing with London Winds (directed by Michael Collins) in venues such as the Royal Albert Hall (BBC Proms), Wigmore Hall, Purcell Room, Queen Elizabeth Hall and in International Festivals in Hong Kong and Paris. As an orchestral musician, Peter is co-Principal clarinet at English National Opera. He regularly plays with many of the country's leading orchestras including as Principal Clarinet with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Academy of St-Martin-in-the-Fields, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Glyndebourne Touring Opera, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Northern Sinfonia, Manchester Camerata, Ulster Orchestra and English Symphony Orchestra.
Kyle Horch studied in Chicago at Northwestern University (BMus, MMus), where he learned with Frederick Hemke, and postgraduate study at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, with Stephen Trier. Since making his London debut on the Park Lane Group series, he has performed as soloist at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room, British and World Saxophone Congresses, and many other venues in Britain and abroad. Kyle maintains an active career as a freelance musician across a wide range of chamber, orchestral, contemporary, and light music. Orchestral work has included concerts, tours, broadcasts, and CD recordings with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Rambert Dance Company, London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, Royal Opera House (Covent Garden), Music Theatre Wales, Garsington Opera, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and many others.
Kyle is lead saxophonist with Michael Law's Piccadilly Dance Orchestra, playing music from the American songbook, mixed with early jazz arrangements, as well as songs by British contemporaries. Kyle has made several critically acclaimed recordings as a featured solo artist, exploring chamber repertoire for saxophone and other instruments, as well as music by contemporary composers, including Ian Stewart, Timothy Salter, John Carmichael, and Roderick Elms. He is a member of the chamber ensemble Counterpoise which has commissioned and premiered numerous works, performing in venues and festivals across the UK. Kyle is a saxophone professor at the Royal College of Music in London, Visiting Saxophone Consultant at Birmingham Conservatoire, and saxophone teacher at Royal Holloway, University of London. In recognition of his many achievements as a performer and teacher, Kyle was appointed to the honorary position of Vice-President of the Clarinet and Saxophone Society of Great Britain in 2016.
Iain Farrington has an exceptionally busy and diverse career as a pianist, organist, composer and arranger. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music, London and at Cambridge University. He has made numerous recordings, and has broadcast on BBC Television, Classic FM and BBC Radio 3. As a solo pianist, accompanist, chamber musician and organist, Iain has performed at all the major UK venues and abroad in the USA, Japan, Mexico, South Africa, Malaysia, Hong Kong and all across Europe. He has worked with many of the country's leading musicians, including Willard White, Bryn Terfel, Paul McCartney and Lesley Garrett. Iain played the piano at the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics with Rowan Atkinson, the London Symphony Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle, broadcast to a global audience of around a billion viewers. He has performed on numerous occasions at the BBC Proms, including acclaimed solo performances in 2007 on the Royal Albert Hall organ.
Iain has composed orchestral, choral and instrumental pieces and has arranged hundreds of works in many styles, including opera, orchestral, choral, African songs, cabaret, klezmer, jazz and pop. He has composed several orchestral works for the BBC Proms, including songs for the CBeebies Prom in 2019, Gershwinicity in 2018, A Shipshape Shindig in 2017, and two pieces for the Wallace and Gromit Prom in 2012. With the poet, DJ and actor Craig Charles he has written two large-scale orchestral works based on traditional fairy tales. His chamber orchestrations of the symphonic repertoire are regularly performed around the world and his organ arrangement of Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance March No 5 was performed at the Royal Wedding in 2011. In 2018, Iain performed a Mahler Piano Series at 1901 Arts Club, which featured his own solo piano arrangements of Mahler's symphonies, alongside songs and piano music from the period.