Alex Postlethwaite (violin 1)
Abbie Davis (violin 2)
Adrian Gordon (viola)
Emma Baldock (cello)
Martin Johnson (double bass)
Claire Baughan (clarinet)
Melanie Eyres (bassoon)
Andy Feist (french horn)
Franz Schubert Octet in F major, D. 803
This recital is presented in memory of Tom Butler, who programmed the lunchtime concerts at Blackheath Halls for over twenty years, in celebration of what would have been his 90th birthday.
Blaze Ensemble was established in 1997 and aims to give high-quality chamber music concerts featuring a diverse range of works: from the baroque to the contemporary, from trios to large ensemble works, from popular mainstream repertoire through to the less familiar. Their inaugural concert included Ernst Dohnanyi’s Sextet and Mozart’s ‘Kegelstatt’ Trio at St. James’s, Piccadilly.
Blaze Ensemble is enjoying a very busy 2025-2026 season performing at a variety of venues
including St Bride’s Church, Blackheath Halls, Milton Court, The Old Hall at Lincoln’s Inn, All Saints, Fulham, St Peter & Paul’s Church, Edenbridge and St Peter’s Church, Berkhamsted. Programmes so far have included works by Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Strauss, Poulenc and the premiere of Adrian Sutton’s Dectet ‘Montana Peaks’.
Blaze Ensemble was delighted to perform David Matthew’s arrangement of Prokofiev’s ‘Peter and the Wolf’ last year at Blackheath Halls with Beatrice Prokofiev as our narrator. Tom Butler curated the performance, and we are honoured to return to Blackheath Halls to perform one of his favourite works, Schubert’s ‘Octet’, in his memory. Forthcoming concerts include a programme of Mozart’s Coronation Mass and Beethoven’s ‘Choral Fantasia’ with Eclectic Voices at Milton Court on 15th March and a programme of Mendelssohn, Delius, Mozart and Beethoven at the Chiltern Arts Festival on 16th May.