Most regrettably, due to recent health issues, Pascal Rogé is reducing his workload and has withdrawn from the concert at Hellens on 18 July. The event is therefore cancelled. The box offices will contact those who have already booked to offer refunds.
We apologise for the disappointment this will cause but are letting you know that Pascal Rogé will be performing on Friday 17 July at the Festival Theatre in Great Malvern, should you wish to attend that event. Please see their website for programme and booking details here
Saturday 18 July 2026 at 7.30pm
The Great Barn, Hellens Manor, Much Marcle, HR8 2LY
The celebrated French pianist PASCAL ROGÉ comes to Hellens
EVENT
CANCELLED
The celebrated French pianist Pascal Rogé has performed in almost every major concert hall in the world and with every major orchestra across the globe, often collaborating with the most famous conductors. As a prolific recording artist, he has won countless prestigious awards. He is especially renowned for his performances of the music of his homeland, exemplifying as he does the finest in French pianism. In such repertoire, which provides the music for Pascal’s entire recital at Hellens, his playing is noted for its wonderful elegance and very real beauty.
‘he produces beautiful sounds and has that kind of poetry peculiar to the French at their most sensitive
’ Naxos
The recital opens with three charming, engaging miniatures by Francis Poulenc, full of lyricism and wit. The suite of five pieces which make up Ravel’s Miroirs follows the Poulenc. The musical impressions, which abound in local colour, cover the flickering of moths at night; sorrowful birds in a forest; the dangers of a ship on the ocean; a dawn song; and the sonority of the tolling of bells. The first half ends with the pictorial imagery of Debussy’s Estampes: the ‘engravings’ are of pagodas, an evening in Granada and raindrops in a garden. Book I of Debussy’s Preludes, comprising twelve self-contained evocative and atmospheric pieces, fills the second half: the subjects here include both a whispering and a terrifying wind; a melancholy winter landscape with footsteps in the snow; the legend of a submerged cathedral; and, most famously, ‘the girl with the flaxen hair’.
| Poulenc | Trois Novelettes |
|---|---|
| Miroirs | Miroirs |
| Debussy | Estampes |
| Debussy | Preludes Book 1 |
The Celebrated British Piano Duo
Benjamin Frith and Heidi Rolfe
Saturday 21 November 2026 at 5.30pm
The Great Barn, Hellens Manor, Much Marcle, HR8 2LY
Book here on the Hellens website or here on The Courtyard website.
Sunday 22 November 2026 at 3pm
The Lion Ballroom, off Broad Street, Leominster HR6 8BT
Book here on The Courtyard website.
Tickets also available from Leominster TIC on 01568 616460
We are delighted to welcome celebrated British pianists Benjamin Frith and his wife Heidi Rolfe to give ‘one piano four hands’ recitals at Hellens and the Lion Ballroom with a mixed programme of music ranging from an atmospheric work by John Ireland; a sublime Fantasie by Schubert; a most accessible new work, specially written for the duo by contemporary composer Martin Ellerby; and a blockbusting version of Rimsky-Korsakov’s famous Scheherazade arranged for four hands by the composer himself.
| Ireland | The Forgotten Rite |
|---|---|
| Schubert | Fantasie in F minor D.940 |
| Martin Ellerby |
5 Lowry Pictures:
Going to Work Man Lying on a Wall The Elite Fish and Chip Shop Meeting Place Lancashire Fair: Good Friday, Daisy Nook |
| Rimsky-Korsakov | Scheherazade (piano duo version by the composer) |
Benjamin Frith is one of the most respected and engaging pianists in the UK. A prolific recitalist and recording artist with over 80 recordings - from Scarlatti to MacMillan - and many acclaimed reviews, he is at the forefront of the craft of music making. He has performed with many of the world’s finest orchestras and conductors. In high demand as both soloist and chamber musician, Benjamin enjoys a busy and versatile career. As pianist in the Gould Piano Trio he has toured extensively throughout North America; and has performed as guest pianist in the illustrious Nash Ensemble to critical acclaim. Solo tours have taken him to America, Europe and the Middle and Far East. He was a life student of the late Dame Fanny Waterman and lives in Yorkshire with his wife and piano duo partner, Heidi Rolfe.
He was Gold Medal Winner of the Artur Rubinstein Piano Masters Piano Competition and Top Prize Winner of the Busoni International Piano Competition.
‘… he possesses a formidable talent both musically and technically’ Gramophone
After time spent riding racehorses in the UK and abroad, Heidi Rolfe returned to continue her musical studies, graduating with a Masters degree in Piano Performance. Throughout her education she was privileged to work with eminent pianists, including the legendary Andrei Gavrilov, and take musical guidance from the late Dame Fanny Waterman. Heidi and her husband Benjamin Frith, as the exciting and esteemed Frith Rolfe Piano Duo, have explored the wonderful piano duo repertoire in recitals throughout the UK and abroad, both four hands at one piano and two piano works. The Frith Rolfe Duo received the honour of an invitation to give a complete Piano Duo Day at the Wigmore Hall and have appeared at many of the UK’s leading Festivals and venues. Much in demand, their performances are renowned for their synchronicity, insight, intensity and sheer impact of spontaneity.
Tickets £20 (students in full-time education and carers free)
Concerts supported by The John Ireland Charitable Trust and the Gemma Classical Music Trust
Sunday 13 December 2026 at 6pm (Reception from 5pm)
Berkeley Castle, Berkeley, Gloucestershire GL13 9PJ
BERKELEY CASTLE ORCHESTRAL CHRISTMAS CONCERT 2026
Soloists: Michael Bochmann and George Ewart
The Berkeley Castle Orchestral Christmas Concert 2026 will take place on Sunday
13 December at 6pm in the Castle’s Great Hall with a Reception in the lovely Long Drawing Room from 5pm with wine, mince pies and more ...
Launched in 2002, this popular event has delighted audiences for well over 20 years. The magical atmosphere of this beautiful historic venue made seasonal with twinkling lights and Christmas trees is truly special. As usual, Orchestra Pro Anima, directed by Michael Bochmann, will play a mixed programme of music from the Baroque, Classical and Romantic periods. The first half opens with a most vibrant early work by Mozart; continues with one of Vivaldi’s most loved concertos, featuring engaging interplay between the two solo violins; and ends with a perennial seasonal favourite, Corelli’s ‘Christmas’ Concerto, with its alternation of fast and slow movements and allusion to the Italian shepherd pipers who would come down from the mountains to play at this time of year. The second half comprises Beethoven in his most lyrical vein; the young Mendelssohn at his most buoyant; Borodin, with his famous Nocturne, at his most deeply romantic; and a carol made famous by one of the Home Alone films. Leroy Anderson’s rollicking Sleigh Ride will end the evening. Refreshments will be served in the interval between the two halves and the event will end at approximately 8pm.
The programme is:
| Mozart | Divertimento in D major K136 |
|---|---|
| Mozart | Concerto for Two Violins in A minor RV 522 |
| Corelli | Concerto Grosso in G minor Op 6 No 8 ‘Christmas Concerto’ |
| INTERVAL | |
| Beethoven | Romance No 2 in F major Op 50 |
| Mendelssohn | String Symphony No 10 in B minor |
| Borodin | Nocturne |
| Leontovych | Carol of the Bells |
| Anderson | Sleigh Ride |
Tickets £56 (including Reception and further refreshments in the interval) from the
Roses Theatre, Tewkesbury on 01684 295074 or online at www.rosestheatre.org