Talented group of international young stars, Platform Music, performs in railway stations at Penrith and Carlisle THIS WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY, as part of a brand new project.
London-based classical music group Platform Music are visiting Cumbria this week with a unique project. Musicians Luke, Varinia and Sarah are accomplished young professionals who between them have performed at some of the world’s top classical music venues, including Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall and the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall.
Platform Music’s mission is to bring exciting and original performances of contemporary classical music into shared spaces like train stations.
They will be performing at Penrith Rail Station at 4pm this Wednesday 3rd October (performance lasts around 45 minutes) and at The Undercroft at Carlisle Rail Station at 4pm this Thursday 4th October (performance lasts around 1 hour).
Programmes will feature contemporary classical music for string trio, duo and solo instruments, including by Judith Weir (the first ever female Master of the Queen’s Music), and an invitation for new scores and graphic scores by local school students and residents.
Cellist Sarah says “We want people to come and hear us play this week who’ve never ever been to a classical concert before! That would be our dream. And we want people to come as well who’ve been to 200 concerts –but maybe never one with trains arriving in the middle of the concert venue!”
Call for artists!
Platform Music are extending an open invitation to Cumbrian residents (of any age!) to bring an abstract drawing or painting for us to interpret. All (appropriate!) submissions will be displayed at the performances and a few will be selected for the musicians to create a musical interpretation of, as part of the performance.
No art experience necessary! Your drawing can be literally anything (so long as it’s appropriate), the more abstract and creative the better; it can be drawn on any material – the back of a postcard, or paper of any size. You can bring your artwork along to the performance. Traditionally notated musical score submissions are also welcome.
Platform Music works with people of all ages to inspire and to share their love of music.
Platform Music will be in Penrith on Wednesday 3rd October and Carlisle on Thursday 4th October and will be visiting in the community during the morning/early afternoon, prior to each performance.
If you would like Platform Music to visit your school, centre or care home in the area on these days, please contact them asap directly through their email platformmusiclondon@gmail.com.
Visited schools will also have the opportunity to create scores to be performed.
All three musicians studied at the prestigious Royal Academy of Music in London, where they were awarded the top grade. They are in demand as performers across the globe, and are returning to London the next day to give a performance of Mozart’s String Quintet.
American violinist Luke Hsu is 28 and from Houston, Texas. He has performed at the Wigmore Hall and Windsor Castle and for royalty around the world, including His Royal Highness The Earl of Wessex, Prince Edward and Her Majesty Queen Mathilde of Belgium. Luke is a top prize-winner in multiple international competitions, most recently the Indianapolis International Violin Competition, and a featured young artist of The Violin Channel (leading social media page for classical music).
Violist Varinia Oyola Rebaza, 31, is from Peru and is a graduate of New York’s world-famous Julliard School, where she performed many times at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Centre. Also a past fellow of the University of Iowa, Varinia now plays with the London-based Alauda String Quartet, with whom she performs across Europe – featured in the Strad and Gramophone magazine.
24 year old cellist Sarah Gait grew up near Hesket Newmarket where she regularly appeared in the local music scene, winning top prizes in the Carlisle and District Music and Drama Festival, and later the Keldwyth Award for Young Musicians. Winner of the BBC Proms Young Composers’ Competition, Sarah has appeared on BBC Radio 3 as cellist, pianist and composer, in Classical Music Magazine and on Classic FM’s social media channels. Sarah is an Ambassador for the BBC Proms Inspire Scheme which encourages young people to become involved with creative music-making and composition.
