Alderley Edge Methodist Church are hosting their monthly Lunchtime Concert on Wednesday, 15th February.
The February concert will feature clarinettist Suzanne Clare, accompanied by Russell Lomas, and the programme will comprise pieces by: Muczynski (Time Pieces), Ravel (Pièce en Forme de Habanera), Paul Harvey (Three Études on Themes of Gershwin) and Finzi (Five Bagatelles Opus 23).
Suzanne Clare was born in West Bromwich and began playing the clarinet at the age of 8. From 2004 she studied clarinet at the Birmingham Conservatoire where she graduated in 2008 with a First Class Honours Bachelor of Music degree. Whilst studying in Birmingham she regularly played with the Birmingham Philharmonic Orchestra.
In 2009 Suzanne was awarded the Giles Thomas Lyth Scholarship to continue her studies at Postgraduate level at the Royal Northern College of Music where she graduated with a Master of Music at Distinction level in Solo Performance. Since commencing her studies in Manchester she has played with the Hallé Orchestra and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.
She was also selected for the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme in 2010 and her studies in music so far have enabled her to perform in such prestigious venues such as London's Wigmore Hall and Royal Festival Hall, the Symphony Hall and Town Hall in Birmingham and further afield in America and Italy.
Since graduating, whilst pursuing a career in orchestral playing, Suzanne continues to give solo recitals, and workshops and chamber music performances for Live Music Now.
Russell Lomas was born in Manchester and began piano lessons at an early age. When he was fifteen, he won a scholarship to study with Gordon Green, Clifton Helliwell and Franz Reizenstein at the Royal Manchester College of Music from where he graduated with a Distinction in both Performers and Teachers Diplomas and was awarded the Ricordi Prize for Accompaniment.
He has given piano duet concerts and accompanied chamber music and vocal recitals throughout the UK, Europe, Jordan and Lebanon. He has broadcast for the BBC, Classic FM and a number of European and local radio stations and has also performed on television for the BBC and several ITV channels.
Until his retirement in 2003, he was a member of the Music Department of Chetham's School of Music in Manchester for over thirty years, and Head of Accompaniment for the final twelve, and he was the only accompanist to appear on at least one televised programme in every series of the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition between 1978 and 2004.
Since then he has given many concerts in the UK and abroad, accompanied auditions for the National Youth Orchestra and National Youth Orchestra of Scotland, and been an accompanist at the Oxford Flute Summer School and several Music Festivals
A proportion of the proceeds from this concert will go to Barnabus, a Christian homeless charity based in Manchester.
Admission is by programme, which is available for purchase at the door priced £3.50.
Light lunches, charged separately, are available from 12 noon and the concert will take place from 1pm to 1.45 pm.
