Aylesbury Lunchtime Music presents

Lance Mok

Print version
9 October 2025

Starts: 12:45pm, Doors: 12:15pm

Duration: 1 hour (approx.)

St Mary the Virgin, Aylesbury

£7 adults on the door (<18s & carers free)

Lance Mok Piano

Programme

This recital is a musical journey through the many departures in life necessary for our becoming, and the memorabilia we carry with us. The programme opens with Arne’s Sonata, the first piece of music Lance ever fell in love with as a young pianist, which, in turn, opened the doors to all his subsequent musical adventures. The set of 8 late-Baroque sonatas was published with an alternate title, Lessons for the Harpsichord, and hence, their more pedagogical traits. The outer movements are written in rounded binary forms typical of the genre at the time, while the middle Adagio is more freely structured.

  • 1710-1778

    Sonata no. 2 in E minor (Arne)

    Thomas Augustine Arne was an English composer. He is best known for his patriotic song “Rule, Britannia!” and the song “A-Hunting We Will Go”. This sonata is from his 8 sonatas for harpsichord.

  • 12 Ways to Say Goodbye, Op. 23 (Mok)
    i. Caps and Gowns, ii Always Us, iii Parting in Life I: Fly!, iv Dearer for the Absence, v. Silent Estrangement, vi. Farewell in Death I: The Unreached Valediction, vii. Shattered Goblets, viii. The Parting of the Ways, ix. Parting in Life II: In Exile, x. Heathrow Terminal 3, xi. This Pillow That Wouldn’t Let Go of Your Scent, xii. Farewell in Death II: Till Death Do Us Part

    12 Ways to Say Goodbye is a suite that gradually teaches us the gravity of farewells. What begins as youthful goodbyes, buoyed by an idealistic belief in unbreakable bonds, grows heavier as the work unfolds, revealing how separations — whether by distance, conflict, exile, or death — leave behind echoes that shape who we become.

    The Chinese idiom 生離死別 lends the pivotal third, sixth, ninth, and twelfth movements their titles, dividing the suite into four arcs. The hopeful exhilaration of the first culminates in parents’ blessings as a child leaves home, before giving way to the slow realisation of absence, where drifting apart ends in the heartbreak of a missed final farewell. The suite then turns political, tracing disagreements and ruptures that culminate in exile, and through the uncertainty of reunion shaped by the new and fragile identity of the migrant, it ultimately finds solace in love that endures even unto death.

  • Moments: Set 1 (Chan)
    i Afternoon on My Bed (Sleeping still), ii Morning in Sion (Awakening), iii Breakfast by the Window (Cafe talk), iv The Same Moon (When you were here), v Afternoon on Your Sofa (The cat on the sofa), vi Under the Railway Arch (Railway Arch), vii Brighton Sea (As the sea glistens), viii Good night

    Sze Ying Chan is a Hong Kong-born composer based in London, and a dear friend of Lance’s. Chan was a BAFTA Scholar (2018-2019), a first prize winner of the Japan International Choral Composition Competition (2024), and an LSO Soundhub Member (2025-2026). Chan’s music has been exhibited, aired and performed in Ecuador, Japan, Hong Kong, Glasgow and London. Moments: Set 1 is the first set of a collection of meditative and introspective piano solo pieces reflecting on the tranquil moments in life, written with a simplistic and minimalistic approach. The whole set was written during the Covid lockdown, with most of the time spent by oneself in a room, recalling distant memories.

  • Portobello Road Showpiece (Chan)

    Drawing inspiration from the complex rhythms of jazz music and minimalists, Portobello Road Showpiece is a short piano solo piece that captures the liveliness and vibrant colours of the Portobello Road market. The piece is dedicated to Lance, who premiered another one of the composer’s solo piano works, Confession, on Portobello Road.

Performers

  • Lance Mok

    Piano

    Pianist, Lance Mok, is noted for his mastery of a wide repertoire of diverse styles and advocacy for under-performed composers and works.

    Read More

Key information for concert goers

When

Every Thursday at 12:45pm (except August & over Christmas). Performances last around 60 minutes. Please enter quietly as there is a noon service in the Lady Chapel.

How much?

Entry is £7 per adult (card or cash), under 18s and carers are free. The price includes a programme. Donations are welcomed to subsidise the larger ensembles.

Where?

Performances are at St Mary’s Church in the heart of Aylesbury Old Town. See directions for further details.

Do I need to book?

No, just turn up. Doors open at 12:15 pm. Make sure you arrive in good time to get a seat.

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