The current season of Sidmouth Music concerts reaches its finale with the last concert on Easter Saturday, March 30. The Rossetti Ensemble will be performing in the Parish Church at 3pm and will no doubt impress listeners with the artistic brilliance for which they have become known.

The piano quartet was formed in 2018 by its four members who have long been collaborating together in various formats. Their name reflects their commitment to the music of the second half of the 19th century, the period of British poet and artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

They open their programme with Beethoven’s Piano Quartet in E flat. This was a work he had originally composed for a piano and wind quintet in 1796. When he submitted it for publication he also produced this second version for a quartet of piano and strings, which would enhance the marketability of the piece for salon performance. As an early composition this work still reflects the significant influence of Mozart, whose death had occurred only five years before the original was written.

Judith Weir is the current holder of the ancient post of Master of the King’s Music, appointed in 2014 by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Compositions by Weir featured in both the state funeral of the late Queen and at the consequent coronation of King Charles. Her music is described as being ‘fairly conservative’ with 'the knack of making simple musical ideas appear freshly mysterious'. The Rossettis will play her String Quartet (2000), a two movement piece commissioned, and premiered, by The Schubert Ensemble and Cheltenham Festival, where it was first performed.

The Rossetti’s closing piece will be Dvořák’s second piano quartet, in E flat, a work of mature compositional genius. Dvořák was at his creative peak when he wrote this in 1889. He imbued it with his distinctive Bohemian style to create a work of joy, excitement and high spirits.

Tickets are available online at www.SidmouthMusic.org.uk, locally at Paragon Books in the High Street, or on the door. Enquiries can be directed to 01395 597454.