POPULAR music group the Whiteknights Ensemble is charging ahead with a new sound to help raise funds for the First Days children’s charity.
The talented musicians are well known as a wind quartet sound but this latest concert will include a number of invited string players.
Since 2017, the Whiteknights, who are based in Earley, have raised more than £3,000 for a number of good causes.
Wokingham-based First Days aims to reduce the long term effect of poverty on children by equipping them with the essential items they need for their early years and at school.
This year marks the charity’s tenth anniversary and it now recycles 40 tonnes of donated baby essentials, school uniforms, equipment, furniture and toys to Berkshire families who need them the most.
Next month’s concert will include clarinettist Sarah Barrett, and a pianist, oboist Mildred Burchett-Vass, to perform four diverse pieces by Brahms, Finzi, Connesson and Hurd.
Sarah said: “I first heard the Brahms Clarinet Quintet live while at University. The richness of the sound of clarinet with strings and the passion of the music had me hooked and I’ve always wanted to perform it myself.”
Sarah will also be playing the fun-filled Disco Toccata by Guillaume Connesson with her cellist husband Chris. This is a piece that the pair discovered during lockdown, when they hugely missed being able to make music with their friends around Reading.
To provide you with even more woodwind loveliness, Whiteknights Ensemble oboist Mildred Burchett-Vass, and pianist John Sayer, will introduce us to the British composer Michael Hurd through his Concerto da Camera for oboe and orchestra.
Tickets are: £10 adults, £5 under-18/student.
The concert takes place on Saturday,April 22 at 7pm, in the Main Hall, Michael Malnick Centre, Leighton Park School
Full details at: www.whiteknightsensemble.org.uk
