International Classical Concerts Series
38th Season 2026 - 2027
June 2026
I have great pleasure in announcing details of the 38th Season of concerts at Marlborough House Vinehall (MHV). This year’s concerts will maintain our international approach with the added attraction of some of our finest home-grown musicians. We are also inviting back some of our most popular artists such as the Wigmore Soloists and Tier3. We welcome, for their first visit, the acclaimed Van Kuijk Quartet from France and the outstanding Canadian pianist Carter Johnson who will continue our tradition of encouraging the most talented of young musicians. The renowned cellist Guy Johnston will return with someo f his musical friends, as will the leading Baroque ensemble, the London Brandenburg Ensemble. The Voces8 Scholars will add the vocal dimension to the season.
The 38th Season begins on Sunday 11th October at 3.00 p.m. with a welcome return of the WIGMORE SOLOISTS. Taking the name of one of the world’s most iconic concert halls (the first time an ensemble has been given this honour), the group gives regular concerts at Wigmore Hall and in other major venues around the world. The ensemble has recorded five discs with BIS Records which have received critical acclaim and high praise from Gramophone, BBC Music Magazine, and The Strad. Acclaimed clarinettist MICHAEL COLLINS will take the lead in Mozart’s Kegelstatt Trio and ALBERTO ESCRIBANO the horn in Brahm’s Horn Trio. Dohnanyi’s sunny Sextet will complete the programme.
On Sunday 8th November at 3.00 p.m. the second of our concerts features the VAN KUIJK STRING QUARTET. They are one of the most outstanding young quartets currently performing, having been BBC New Generation Artists in 2015-17 and since then they have established an international reputation. They made their Carnegie Hall debut in 2024 and tour Asia and Europe each year. Their recordings are critically acclaimed, the latest being Impressions Parisiennes (2025).
“These performances are by turns poetic and nimbly dancing, with plenty of colour too...There’s often a gorgeous duskiness to the players’ sound too, which is particularly magical in harmonics. Captured in a close recording, this is addictively good.” The Strad
They will perform quartets by Haydn and Debussy, ending with one of Beethoven’s middle period masterpieces, the first ‘Razumovsky’ quartet.
On Sunday 6th December at 3.00 p.m. the LONDON BRANDENBURG ENSEMBLE returns to MHVC led by JANE GORDON. Described as playing with ‘glowing conviction’ (Financial Times) and a ‘ravishing tone and depth of timbre’ (The Independent), Jane’s expressive and refined performances have won critical acclaim, establishing her as one of the leading violinists of her generation. The ensemble comprises of performers from many distinguished period ensembles, such as the Orchestra of the Age of the Enlightenment and the Academy of Ancient Music. The programme of baroque masterpieces by Vivaldi, Geminiani, Telemann and Biber, will conclude with Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No 4. They will also include Warlock’s ever-popular ‘Capriol Suite’.
On Sunday 7th February, at 3.00 p.m. we welcome the acclaimed cellist GUY JOHNSTON AND FRIENDS. Guy’s career took off when he won the BBC Young Musician Competition. Since then, he has travelled the world, performing with top orchestras and has recorded many of the great concertos. The BBC Music Magazine said of his recording of the Bliss Concerto “Johnston certainly shines – a splendid performance of a splendid piece” – 5 stars. You will be able to hear him at the Proms this summer playing the Britten Concerto. Guy is also passionate about teaching, being Professor of Cello at the Royal Academy of Music. He will be joined by five of his musical friends to perform three sextets; Strauss’ Sextet from Capriccio, Tchaikovsky's Souvenir de Florence and finishing with Brahms’ brightest of works, his String Sextet in B flat.
On Saturday 6th March at 3.00 p.m. we are delighted to welcome CARTER JOHNSON. Carter is an outstanding young Canadian pianist now living in New York, who won the Dublin Piano Competition and also in 2025 was a finalist in the world-famous Van Cliburn Competition. He has been described as “A very strong and serious musician with real charisma.” (La Scena Musicale) and “Carter Johnson is an emotionally generous pianist” (The Boston Musical Intelligencer).
He will perform a selection of Bach Preludes and Fugues followed by two Beethoven sonatas, including the famous ‘Moonlight’. He will conclude the recital with Schumann’s set of Davidsbündlertänze, inspired by his romance with his future wife, Clara.
On Sunday 9th May at 7.00 p.m., we welcome VOCES8 SCHOLARS. They are a dynamic ensemble of young singers who have all come through the Voces8 Foundation. They perform alongside Voces8, as well as undertaking engagements across Europe and as far as Colombia. Their programme ‘All Seems Beautiful’ will take us on a varied journey from Renaissance works through to today.
The final concert of the season will be on Saturday 5th June at 7.00 p.m. when we welcome back TIER3 and FRIENDS. The Tier3 Piano Trio performed two years ago and I am delighted they are returning to perform Mozart’s Piano Trio No 4 before being joined by Jon Thorne (viola) and Steven Williams (double bass ) to play Hummel’s Piano Quintet Op 74 and Schubert’s ever-glorious ‘Trout’ Quintet.
Let’s hope the weather will match Schubert’s cheerful mood, so we can enjoy picnicking in the grounds beforehand and meet for complimentary Pimm’s at 6.00 p.m.
The standard price of £30 (including refreshments) is for all individual concerts, but please consider the much cheaper season ticket. This offers a massive saving and works out at an extremely reasonable £22.85 per concert. The ticket price for children and students remains at only £10 as it is so important to encourage the next generation of music lovers. We are very proud to attract such distinguished artists down to this part of Sussex and are enormously grateful to our sponsors, without whom the ticket prices would have to rise substantially.
I very much look forward to welcoming you to the Thirty-Eighth Season at Marlborough House Vinehall and hope that you find our programme to be of interest to you and your friends. If you would like tickets, then please follow the instructions below. We do, of course, take bookings by post, telephone and email throughout the season.
With best wishes,
Geoffrey Whitehead
MHV International Classical Concerts Organiser
Tel: 01580 883092
Email: concerts@mhvschool.co.uk
HOW TO BOOK
Bookings are made on Trybooking.com which is an online booking service requiring a debit or credit card. However, you can still have a hard copy of the leaflet, should you request one.
Please EITHER complete the hard copy booking form and return it by post with a cheque (details on the leaflet) or complete the form via the link below.
A few helpful (and important) tips!
The choice is to buy either the full season ticket or individual tickets. Mathematically inclined regulars will see that if you know you are going to miss one concert (as you already have a holiday booked, for example) it is still cheaper to buy a season ticket at £160 than 6 individual tickets at £180.
If this is the case, you can either give the seats away to friends or neighbours, or hand them back to me for sale. What we do not want are lots of empty seats, whether they are paid for or not.
If you definitely know that you won’t make a concert and are not going to pass them on to friends, then it would be very helpful when you make your booking if you can send me an email or a message on Trybooking to say e.g. “I have booked 4 season tickets, but we will not be needing any seats for X concert.”
It will save the huge bother of trying to fit you into the complex seating plan for something you won’t attend!
You will get a receipt and ticket immediately sent back to you from Trybooking. It will NOT have a seat number on. It is purely an acknowledgement of the booking and payment.
After two weeks from the start of bookings the applications will be processed by me as usual. After this, you will then get an email from me with your ticket numbers for all the concerts you have booked. Please DO NOT delete it, as it will have all your seats for the season.
If a concert is sold out and you are seeking a season ticket, then you should book individual tickets for the ones available and send a message to me, so I know to put you on the waiting list for the other concerts. If by the end of the season you have managed to come to all seven, you won’t be charged more than the season ticket price!
If you wish to request a particular seat/area/sit with a friend or send any other relevant information or message, then you will find on the first screen a little box which says ‘Contact event organiser’ If you click on that you can then send me a message.
When you come to the concert, all you need is the seat numbers. You do not need to print everything out.
If you are booking several concerts, for example, 2 season tickets, and 4 individual tickets, then do it all on the booking page. You don't have to make separate bookings. You will see your purchases add up in the 'basket' at the top right of the page. If you make a mistake when booking just delete the contents of your basket and start again.
If you can’t find a concert on the list, it means it is sold out and has automatically been removed. If this happens and you want to go on the waiting list, please send me a message (as above) and I’ll put you on the waiting list. Last season everyone on the waiting lists got to the event they wanted, so please do not be discouraged!
If you experience any difficulties, then please email me on concerts@mhvschool.co.uk and I will endeavour to ensure that your booking is processed. I will be very happy to talk on the phone to anyone who is unfamiliar with the Trybooking process and would like a little help, though I can assure you that it is not complex.
Indeed, it is very much simpler than many on-line purchases or flight bookings!