Mark Simpson & Richard Uttley

Mark Simpson brings dual talents as composer and clarinettist to an intimate programme featuring Johannes Brahms and his own works.

A virtuoso clarinettist with a glittering composing career’ (The Arts Desk), Mark Simpson is joined on stage by Richard Uttley, Piano Professor at the Royal College of Music. Together, they perform a selection of Simpson’s own compositions alongside works by Brahms.

Since becoming the first-ever winner of both the BBC Young Musician of the Year and BBC Proms/Guardian Young Composer of the Year competitions in 2006, Simpson has forged a dual career, championing new music while delivering insightful, nuanced interpretations of the clarinet repertoire. Uttley is celebrated for the integrity and breadth of his musicianship as a soloist, chamber musician and recording artist.

Simpson’s performances of Brahms have been praised for their real sense of shape and flow’ and cathartic’ emotion (The Guardian), qualities that will bring out the warmth and richness of Brahms’s contemplative music.

Sir James Macmillan After The Tryst Mark-Anthony Turnage Cradle Song Jay Capperauld So My Tears Flow Mark Simpson Echoes and Embers Brahms Clarinet Sonata in F minor, Op.120 No.1 Zoë Martlew Pyrrhos Mark Simpson Lov(escape) Gavin Higgins Three Broken Love Songs Brahms Clarinet Sonata in E flat, Op.120 No. 2