Angels And Saints

"Angels and Saints"
a piano recital by Stephen Beville
Sunday 22nd May at 3:30 pm at St. Margaret's Church
Now that classical music concerts have really begun again in earnest after the
bad old days of lockdown, we are lucky that musicians are returning to
perform in St. Margaret's Church here in Topsham, and make use of its
beautiful Yamaha grand piano again.
One such is Exeter pianist and composer Stephen Beville, who last played
here in 2019. His new programme Angels and Saints contains one of his own
compositions entitled Portrait of the Angel Raphael, plus music by Bach,
Beethoven and Chopin. It concludes with Franz Liszt's, Deux Legendes, an
interesting piece which celebrates both St. Francis of Assissi and St. Francis of
Paola - the first saint "blessing the birds" and the other "walking on the waves"
(according to a famous story, in 1464 Francis of Paola was refused passage by
a boatman while trying to cross the Strait of Messina to Sicily. He reportedly
laid his cloak on the water, tied one end to his staff as a sail, and sailed across
the strait with his companions following in the boat!)
Don't miss this great chance to hear the playing of an accomplished
professional pianist. Stephen Beville holds a Professional Performance
Diploma with Distinction from the Royal Northern College of Music and he
also gained Distinction in the Soloistenexamen when he studied at the
Hochschule fur Musik in Karlsruhe, Germany.
In Fanfare, the American CD Review Magazine, the reviewer of his first
CD, Stephen Beville In Karlsruhe, wrote: "As much as I revere the playing of
Arrau, Rubenstein and Ax, I found Beville's way with the score refreshing….
His is a career to keep one's ears open for".
Available for sale at the concert will be copies of his recent CD Visions and
Ventures from Divine Art Recordings, which features music by Bach,
Beethoven and Prokofiev.
Refreshments will be served and tickets for the concert are £12 on the door
or £10 in advance from The Topsham Bookshop at 27, Fore Street Topsham
(telephone 01392-877895). Lily Neal.