Ensemble 360, resident group with South Yorkshire based organisation Music in the Round, opened their first annual series of concerts in Doncaster on Saturday 4 October 2008, bringing a wealth of inspiring and informal chamber music to town. Four more concerts follow in December, January, March (as part of the HotHouse Festival) and June.

The series will take place in the beautiful setting of Priory Place Methodist Church in the heart of Doncaster. Its warm acoustics and the horseshoe seating create the perfect environment for chamber music.

"Ensemble 360 have already proved a success with audiences in Tickhill and Sprotbrough as well as at the Library and Arts Centre, Priory Place and various other venues as part of the HotHouse Festival but now they have an opportunity to bring their own series to Doncaster. We’re privileged to be able to bring music back to the wonderful Priory Place Church and are pleased to be working closely with HotHouse to expand their activity outside of the annual Festival. Ensemble 360 is the largest group of professional musicians resident in South Yorkshire, which remains the largest region without its own professional orchestra. We’re committed to providing access to the very best of chamber music to audiences of all ages." says Music in the Round’s Concert Manager, Tracy Johnston.

Ensemble 360’s strings, the Elias Quartet, horn player, oboist, bassist and pianist opened the series on Saturday 4 October with a varied programme of works. Beethoven’s Horn Sonata is an absolute delight with its colourful tone appealing to audiences today just as it did when it was premiered by horn virtuoso Giovanni Punto. Finzi’s Interlude is a short but beautiful work for the rare combination of oboe and string quartet. The oboe also takes the lead role in Poulenc’s lyrical sonata for oboe and piano, one of a series of wind sonatas he started to write before his death, each one dedicated to the memory of a friend or fellow musician. The programme ends with the delightful string quintet in C minor by Schubert – a masterpiece that is rarely heard quite like this as the double bass replaces the second cello.

Saturday 6 December brings a real treat. A programme chosen by the Ensemble’s pianist, Tim Horton, containing some of his favourite works, it offers the opportunity to get to know some music by Schoenberg in one of the last works he wrote before abandoning tonality. This is sandwiched between Brahms’ C minor piano quartet, a work that contains some of his most touching music, and Berwald’s Septet. Swedish Romantic composer Berwald was under-recognised in his own time. A contemporary of Beethoven, this Septet is written for the same line up as Beethoven’s (clarinet, horn, bassoon, violin, viola, cello, double bass) and is great fun!

Tickets for all the concerts cost just £10.00 / £8.00 concessions / £3.00 under 18s and students and are available from the Civic Theatre Box Office on 01302 342349, www.doncastercivic.co.uk, or on the door.

A copy of the concert schedule flyer is available to download below:

Ensemble 360 concert series flyer

To find out more information about Ensemble 360 and other concerts around South Yorkshire and the UK visit www.musicintheround.co.uk