by Admin | 27 Jul 2024 | events, FRONT PAGE NEWS
We have something a little different for you this month.
British-Canadian soprano Margarita Wood began her music studies in Nova Scotia, where she was raised. She holds a Master’s of Music in Performance and Literature from Western University, and in 2017, completed the International Artist Diploma at the Royal Northern College of Music.
Roles have included Iris (Semele), Gabrielle (La Vie Parisienne), Rodelinda (Rodelinda), Valencienne (The Merry Widow), Cupid (Orpheus in the Underworld), Nella (Gianni Schicchi) and Queen of the Night (The Magic Flute).
Rita has been the recipient of the Dr. Don Wright Scholarship for excellence in music, the Richard Newitt Fund, the Leverhulme Arts Trust and of the Nova Scotia Talent Trust Scholarship. At the RNCM she was awarded the Clare Croiza Prize for French Song.
Scottish tenor Michael Gibson is in his second year as a member of the Jette Parker Artists Programme at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Roles in the coming season include Borsa (Rigoletto), Young Servant (Elektra), Normanno (Lucia di Lamermoor) and Pong (Turandot) in the Royal Opera House’s 2024 tour of Japan.
In the 22/23 season, mainstage roles included Heinrich (Tannhäuser), Pong (Turandot), Gastone (La Traviata) and Ruiz (Il Trovatore) and in the Linbury Theatre, Male Chorus (The Rape of Lucretia) and Varo (Arminio).
Michael and Rita will be accompanied by conductor, pianist, répétiteur and organist Edward Reeve on piano.
Edward joined the Jette Parker Artists Programme in the 2022/23 Season. Over his two seasons at the Royal Opera House he has worked as assistant conductor on Jephtha, Madama Butterfly, Tosca, Turandot and The Rape of Lucretia, and as répétiteur on Don Carlo, Tannhäuser, Das Rheingold, La Bohème, Elektra and Wozzeck. Edward has previously worked at the Bayreuth Festival as Assistant Chorus Master on all their operas featuring chorus, and he has appeared regularly on the Music Staff at Glyndebourne since 2018. Edward was Organ Scholar at Queens’ College, Cambridge, graduating with a Double Starred First in Music in June 2017. He subsequently completed a PhD there in the orchestration of Wagner’s operas as the Aliki Vatikioti Graduate Scholar.
The programme will include works by Quilter, Liszt and Britten.
Pizzas are available as usual. Head over to our box office to reserve your tickets.
by Admin | 22 Jul 2024 | Cricklereaders, Cricklereaders Current, FRONT PAGE NEWS
In August the group is reading Before the Coffee Gets Cold, the million copy selling Japanese cult read.
Deftly written and nimbly translated, Kawaguchi’s life-affirming tale of café-based time travel and symbolic hot beverages has all the hallmarks of a beloved cult classic.
What would you change if you could go back in time?
In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a cafe which has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time.
In Before the Coffee Gets Cold, we meet four visitors, each of whom is hoping to make use of the cafe’s time-travelling offer, in order to: confront the man who left them, receive a letter from their husband whose memory has been taken by early onset Alzheimer’s, to see their sister one last time, and to meet the daughter they never got the chance to know.
But the journey into the past does not come without risks: customers must sit in a particular seat, they cannot leave the cafe, and finally, they must return to the present before the coffee gets cold . . .
Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s beautiful, moving story – translated from Japanese by Geoffrey Trousselot – explores the age-old question: what would you change if you could travel back in time? More importantly, who would you want to meet, maybe for one last time?
Meet at 1030 in the library to discuss!
by Admin | 15 Jul 2024 | events, FRONT PAGE NEWS |
This will be BJO Quintet’s fifth visit to the library. They were our first jazz band and what a find they were. You’ve loved them ever since and they love playing here, so it’s a win-win.
This time it’s just an instrumental set, so kick back and enjoy these exceptional local musicians.
Tickets over here: https://buytickets.at/thefriendsofcricklewoodlibrary
by Library Admin | 10 Jun 2024 | activities, CrickleUkers, FRONT PAGE NEWS
Due to popular demand, we’re extending the timing of the monthly Ukulele jam, CrickleUkers, by 30 minutes. From Friday 5 July, the sessions will start at 1900, rather than 1930. This will hopefully give all the beginners enough time to get a few chords under their belt before joining the main group in the front of the library.
Also, a reminder that we have about 10 spare ukes to lend out, so no need to buy one before coming along to have a go.
It’s also fine to bring snacks and drinks to share on the night.
Looking forward to seeing more of you there soon.
by Library Admin | 18 May 2024 | FRONT PAGE NEWS, fundraising, triathlon
On 1 June, Susan and Gordon Kennedy are taking part in the annual Blenheim Triathlon alongside other local athletes in the Kensal Tri team, to raise funds for the library. It’s no mean feat, and they deserve your support. All the money they raise will go towards funding programmes and activities at the library, so show them some love and sling them some dosh!
https://www.justgiving.com/page/kensaltrikennedys
by Library Admin | 26 Apr 2024 | events, FRONT PAGE NEWS, news
We are delighted to welcome back the talented and entertaining Bow Django, east London’s premier latin-influenced jazz band.
Bow Django comprises guitarists Ienne and Chris, bassist Casper, clarinettist Jenny, violinist Peter, and vocalist Annie.
The band was formed when a group of friends got together to play gypsy jazz in an African cafe in Bow in about 2018. However, it really got going in the ‘tween and post-Lockdown periods when the group met in Victoria Park each Friday for a couple of hours to play for themselves and a dedicated group of distanced audience.
The natural choice for parks, street parties, cafe culture and libraries, their music – uptempo and infectiously optimistic – can’t fail to get your feet tapping.
Get your tickets here.
