Liz Meyer and Raymond Wui Man Yiu

Performers

Notes on the performers

Liz is a current masters student at Trinity Laban College of Music and Dance, and completed her undergraduate degree at Birmingham Conservatoire. Liz is already a successful freelancer including working with the Heart of England Chamber Orchestra, Blatherskites Folk Group, Ulmus Woodwind Trio. Liz has been principal flautist of several orchestras including the Birmingham Conservatoire Symphony Orchestra and City of Birmingham Youth Symphony Orchestra. Other work includes working with the Pheonix Theatre Company. Liz has also been a finalist of the Young Artist Competition in Harrogate, and won a Powell Solid Silver Headjoint and flute.

Born in Hong Kong, Raymond Wui-Man Yiu began piano lessons aged four. He moved to Aberdeen, Scotland in 2008 and attended the Aberdeen City Music School, studying with Peter Evans. He made his concerto debut
performing Mozart Piano Concerto No. 20 with the Meadows Chamber Orchestra in Edinburgh in 2010. Since winning the title of Aberdeen Young Musician of the Year, he performed concertos by Schumann, Prokofiev,
Rachmaninoff and Grieg with orchestras in Scotland. He went on to study at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, obtaining his Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees with Distinction. Notable prizes include 3rd Prize at 2019
Norah Sande Awards, Highly Commended Prize at 2019 Bromsgrove International Musicians’ Competition and 3rd Prize at 2018 Windsor International Piano Competition, which led to an invitation to join the KNS Classical Label. He is currently on the Artist Diploma programme at Trinity Laban Conservatoire as a Trinity College of Music scholar. He is grateful for support by the Leathersellers’ Company, Deena Shypitka Music Award, Dewar Arts Awards, Phyllis Simons Award, the Guildhall School Trust and Christine Brown Trust. Raymond teaches for London Youth Conservatoire, Encore Piano Tuition, Greenwich Music School, and THAMES.

Catriona and Raymond performed together in the Final of the Carne Trust Chamber Competition at St. John’s Smith Square on 22nd June 2022, in addition to recent recitals at St. Mary’s Banbury as part of Festival 200, Leatherhead Concert and Arts Society and St. George the Martyr. They have received coaching from the Linos Trio.

Programme

Programme notes

Gaetano Donizetti

Sonata in C for flute & piano, A. 503

1. Largo
2. Allegro

Gaetano Donizetti’s Sonata in C minor consists of two parts, a slow Largo
in C minor and a lively Allegro in C major. It was composed in 1819 in the early Romantic era which can be heard in the slow melody at the beginning. The sonata is dedicated to Marianna Pezzoli Grattaroli who believed in the promise of young musicians and bought their exemptions from military service.

Georges Hüe

Fantasie for flute and piano

This work was originally written in 1913 with a flute and orchestra version written later in 1923. The piece was dedicated to virtuosic flautist Paul Taffanel. He was also a flute professor at the Paris Conservatoire and subsequently the composition was used as the examination piece at the conservatoire in 1913. A fantasia is a musical composition that is free in form with roots of improvisation

Raymond Wui Man Yiu

Fugue for solo piano

The Prelude came about when I was improvising during a rehearsal. It was very much inspired by J.S. Bach’s famous Prelude in C and I experimented with different voice leadings and harmonic development. As Bach wrote 48 Preludes and Fugues, which are highly regarded in the piano literature, I added a Fugue where the subject contains a major 7th, which is taken from the first chord of the Prelude.

Clara Schumann

Three romances for violin & Piano, Op.22

1. Andante molto
2. Allegretto
3. Leidenschaftlich schnell

Originally written for violin and piano the three romances consists of three movements: Andante Molto, Allegretto and Leidenschaftlich schnell. It was composed in 1853 and dedicated to Clara Schumann’s long term friend and renowned Hungarian violinist Joseph Joachim.

Lennox Berkeley

Sonatina for flute and piano

1. Moderato
2. Adagio
3. Allegro Moderato

This very well known sonatina is also played regularly on the treble recorder. This modern work was written in 1939 and consists of three movements: Moderato, Adagio, Allegro Moderato

Adina Izarra

El Amolador for solo flute

Adina Izarra wrote this for the Venezuelan flutist Luis Julio Toro. The work portrays thestreet cries of the knife grinder, a Spanish tradition still alive in Venezuela today. Also known to many other Latin American countries, El Amolador or the Knife Grinder is a street vendor whose job, as the title suggests, is to sharpen dull knives. The vendor usually roams the streets calling out “amolador”, and uses a harmonic flute to announce his services. The work is divided into two parts–El Amolador resembles the call of the knife grinder, while Luvina resembles the sound of the blades on the grindstone

Louis Ganne

Andante et scherzo for flute and piano

This is another composition dedicated to flautist Paul Taffanel in 1901 and also another examination piece at the Paris Conservatoire. However the work was used as a test piece for several years: 1901, 1915, and 1939. The piece consists of two parts, a slow lyrical Andante and then finishes with a lively Scherzo.