Brightest talent in chamber music heralds the return of the Harrogate International Sunday Series

Japanese violinist Coco Tomita is included in the Harrogate Sunday Series programme

Hosted by Harrogate International Festivals and staged in the Old Swan Hotel, the Sunday Series coffee concerts had been, before Covid, an annual fixture on Harrogate’s classical music calendar since 1991.

And after two challenging years, it is back with a programme of talented musicians, including the return of a Festival Young Musician alumnus.

The series opens on Sunday January 29 with the director of music at the Yehudi Menuhin School, Ashley Wass. The pianist, who graced the Festival stage back in 2007, won the London International Piano Competition in 1997, made his first recording two years later and was a prize winner at the Leeds International Piano Competition.

His programme will include works by Bach and Franck and he appears thanks to the support of the European Foundation for Support of Culture.

New chamber ensemble Trio Balthazar – pianist Iain Burnside, violinist Michael Foyle and cellist Tim Hugh – play on February 12.

Since its aunch this year at Wigmore Hall, it has appeared at the City Music Foundation’s Wigmore Hall Gala, the Rye Festival and Petworth Festival. At the Sunday Series, the Trio present a programme where central masterpieces sit alongside diverse repertoire.

On February, 26,Jeneba Kanneh-Mason will be making her Harrogate debut – three years after her cellist brother, Sheku, wowed the spa town audience, performing with their sister, Isata, on piano.

She made her BBC Proms debut with the Chineke! Orchestra.

Jeneba will perform a chamber programme which will include a work for solo piano by Price, Beethoven’s Piano Sonata in D major and an exclusive performance for the Sunday Series.

Sunday March 26 is the turn of Japanese violinist Coco Tomita, hailed by critics and audiences alike, who first gained recognition after winning the BBC Young Musician 2020 Strings Category.

She will be accompanied by pianist Simon Callaghan, who performs internationally as a soloist and chamber musician in parallel with his career as a recording artist.

Regular collaborators, their programme will include music from Coco’s debut album plus works by Ravel and Beethoven.

Sharon Canavar, Harrogate International Festivals Chief Executive, said: “At the heart of the programme is the idea that innovation goes hand-in-hand with tradition and we are proud to present this diverse and exciting series, designed to captivate both established and new audiences.

“We are joined by a previous Young Musicians, have two of the fastest rising stars in the business making their Harrogate debut – plus it features a new ensemble project, A key aim of ours is to introduce classical music to new audiences, and I believe the line-up we are bringing will help achieve that.