Musical Salon Inspired by Gibbons

Preludes & Vollenteries 2

Virtuoso violinist Peter Sheppard Skærved (‘Remarkable…a technical tour de force’ Sunday Times June 2018) returns to Fairfax House after his salon-style concert earlier this year. The concert includes the premiere of a new work ‘Prelude after Grinling Gibbons’ by Nicola LeFanu, one of our great composers, alongside delicate works for solo violin from the 17^th & 18^th centuries, inspired by the atmosphere and history of Fairfax House.

Grammy-nominated violinist Peter Sheppard Skærved is the dedicatee of over 400 works for solo violin. Peter has recorded over 70 CDs, including the complete Beethoven Sonatas, Tippett Quartets, Henze Concerti and Michael Haydn Concerti. His pioneering work on music for violin alone has resulted in research, performances and recordings of cycles by Tartini, Telemann, Bach, de Bériot, and, most recently, his project, ‘Preludes and Vollenteries’, which brings together 200 unknown works from the 17^th Century, from composers including Colombi, Matteis, Marini and Lonati, with the Wren and Hawksmoor Churches in London’s Square Mile.  Peter’s work with museums has resulted in long term projects at institutions including the Metropolitan Museum, New York City, the Victoria & Albert Museum, the British Museum, Galeria Rufino Tamayo Mexico City, and the exhibition ‘Only Connect’, which he curated at the National Portrait Gallery, London. Most recently his ‘Tegner’ commissioned by the Bergen International Festival, is a close collaboration with the great Norwegian abstract artist, Jan Groth, resulting in a set of solo Caprices, premiering at Kunsthallen Bergen, and travelling to galleries in Denmark, the USA, and even Svalbard/Spitzbergen. Peter is the only living violinist to have performed on the violins of Paganini, Joachim, Viotti, and Ole Bull. As a writer, Peter has published a monograph on the Victorian artist/musician John Orlando Parry, many articles in journals worldwide, and most recently, ‘Practice: Walk’, part of the Camberwell Press ‘Walking Cities: London’ series. Peter is the founder and leader of the Kreutzer Quartet and the artistic director of the ensemble Longbow. Viotti Lecturer at the Royal Academy of Music, he was elected Fellow there in 2013. He is married to the Danish writer Malene Skærved and they live in Wapping.

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