Joshua Ellicott, Simon Lepper, The Endellion String Quartet

A Double Concert in the beautiful surroundings of Sledmere: two contrasting concerts in the house and church, both repeated, the audiences changing places after a picnic interval.

House:

‘Your ever loving son Jack’

Joshua Ellicott (tenor)
Simon Lepper (piano)

In 1915, Jack Ellicott, aged 19, signed up to join his pals in fighting the ‘queer one’. A century later, his great-nephew, the tenor Joshua Ellicott, presents a programme of words and music, telling the story of his Great Uncle Jack by reading the letters he sent to his mother and father and following his journey from Blackpool to Tunbridge Wells, then on to France and into the trenches from where he would never return, killed in combat at the Somme.

Jack’s letters are often funny, surprising and deeply moving, a portrait of a youth on the cusp of manhood, with all of its joys and sorrows. The interspersed songs performed by Joshua Ellicott and Simon Lepper complete a moving and unique musical portrait.

Church:

'Death and the Maiden'

Endellion Quartet

Schubert – String Quartet no. 14 in D minor Death and the Maiden

The Endellion Quartet perform one of Schubert’s most beloved works, composed in 1824 when, despite his despair over his failing health, he nevertheless managed to produce one of his most expressive and profound scores.