With such a convenient location, and with our reputation for music, we often host concerts at the Chapel - both with our own Choir and with other musicians. 

 

Saturday 13th March at 7.00pm

A violin and piano recital by candlelight hosted by the Romanian Cultural Institute: click here for more information

 

   Friday 19th March at 7.30pm 

The Sgarbi & Pires Duo presents the recital “A Ring of Words” at the Grosvenor Chapel, South Audley Street, Mayfair, London W1 on Friday 19^th March 2010 at 19:30.

The Brazilian duo was formed in 2009 when baritone Victor Sgarbi and pianist Ivan Pires discovered that they shared not only Brazilian nationality, but also a love of chamber music for voice and piano.

This recital comprises of songs and arias from different countries and periods, combining a romantic aesthetic, contemporary composition and technical versatility. The programme comprises:

·         Robert Schumann’s song cycle: Liederkreis op. 24

·         R. Wagner - (O du mein holder Abendstern) from “Tannhauser” –

·         Vaughan Williams’ song cycle: Songs of Travel

·         Antonio Carlos Jobim – “Chovendo na Roseira”

 

Tickets

Tickets are charged at £12 at the door (£8 concessions) and £10 in advance (£5 concessions) through The Sgarbi & Pires Duo’s agent, Adriana Ribeiro:

pianoforte_produc@hotmail.com

+44 (0) 7706 554 082 

 

Biographies

           

Ivan Pires, pianist

Ivan Pires graduated in Piano Performance from the School of Music and Fine Arts of Paraná, Brazil. He performs regularly in Brazil and Europe, both as soloist or as part of ensembles. He has performed in several well-known Brazilian venues such as Sala Cecilia Meirelles in Rio de Janeiro and the Amazonas Theatre in Manaus.

 

As part of the celebration of the 500-year anniversary of the discovery of Brazil, Mr Pires performed at the Brazilian Embassy in Rome. He also performs frequently in France, at the Amphitheatre Richelieu at the Sorbonne and at the "Maison du Brésil". He was also a guest recitalist at the Museum of the Discovery in Santarém, Portugal, and for the festivities of Afro-Brazilian Week in Nairobi he played before an audience of dignitaries including the Kenyan Prime Minister.

 

Mr Pires has appeared on several Brazilian television and radio shows, for example, the "Programa do Jô" the most watched television talk-show in Brazil, as a result of his successful career. He was the director of the "Pianoforte Series", featuring local musicians as well as national and international artists in Curitiba, Brazil.

Currently, Mr Pires divides his professional life teaching pupils in London and Paris, and also working as a recitalist and collaborative artist.

Victor Sgarbi, baritone

Victor Sgarbi’s solo career began in 2000 with his first orchestral concert, still as a student of Classical Singing at the Universidade Tom Jobim in Sao Paulo, Brazil, performing the baritone role in Carmina Burana, under the direction of maestro Parcival Modolo accompanied by the Rio Claro orchestra.

 

 The following year Mr Sgarbi joined the professional choir of OSESP which allowed him to perform as a soloist with this Latin American multi-prize-winning orchestra. Works include Mozart's "Requiem", Rossini's "Petite Messe Solennelle", Purcell's "Dido and Eneas", Haydn "Missa in tempori belli" and Monteverdi's "Vespers".

 

By then, new doors had opened and Mr Sgarbi left the professional choir to dedicate his career to a more dramatic and technical arenas of Opera and Oratorio. He has subsequently taken several roles in fully staged operas in Brazil, including: Schaunard and Marcello from Puccini "La Boheme"; Conte Almaviva from "The Marriage of Figaro"; Belcore from Donizetti's "L'Elisir d'Amor"; Baritone role from the Stravinsky's balle "Les Noces"; and Uncle Ernie , from the Opera Rock based on "the Who"'s "Tommy". His Oratorio repertoire includes: Handel, "Messiah and Alexander's Feast", Mozart's "Requiem", Bach's "Mass in b Minor" and Mendelsohn's "Elijah" among others .

 

In 2005 Mr Sgarbi performed as a guest soloist with the English ensemble Collegium Musicum of London: Handel's "Chandos Anthems", and Purcell's "The Fairy Queen", as Hymen. He has also performed: Purcell's "Ode to Santa Cecilia" and Bach's cantatas BWV 161 and 39, and 129  in 2007, at the Theatro Municipal de Sao Paulo , Brazil.

 

Again in Brazil, in 2007, Mr Sgarbi sang in a series of concerts of medieval and baroque Christmas music from Spain and the Latin-American colonies, with the Baroque Ensemble of Sao Paulo.

 

Back in London, in 2008 he performed: Bach's St John’s Passion at St John Smith Square and the Bach's Mass in b minor at St. James, in Piccadilly. In 2009 he joined the "Platinum Consort" and the professional "Choir of London". Among his most recent works, Mr Sgarbi sang the role of the Turk on the Turkish Delight the Opera in recital, in June 2009 and recorded Vavoom, as Wally, also in 2009.

 

 

 

For more information on the artists please see:

 

Victor Sgarbi: 

vsgarbi@hotmail.com

www.myspace.com/victorsgarbi

 

Ivan Pires:

 ribeiropires@hotmail.com

 www.myspace.com/ivanpires

+44 (0) 7521 763 735