Coffee, cake and concerts – as festival’s spring series starts

King’s Lynn Festival’s popular Spring Coffee Concert series starts on Friday, February 7.The series of mid-morning concerts showcase virtuoso musicians, from established names to those at the outset of their international careers. All the concerts take place in the Assembly Room at Lynn Town Hall at 11am after coffee and cake in the Stone Hall from 10.30am.The series kicks off with the De Beauvoir Piano Trio when visitors can enjoy Beethoven’s masterpiece, the ‘Archduke’ alongside a miniature by Lili Boulanger and Mozart’s late trio in C Major.

The Trio are winners of prestigious awards in Italy, Lithuania and the UK. They have performed in the Wigmore Hall in London, and in France, Germany for Jeunesse Musicales, as well-being Ensemble in Residence for the Britten Pears Young Artists’ scheme in Aldeburgh and having attended the International Musician’s Seminar in Prussia Cove.This will be followed on March 7 with Lithuanian pianist Rokas Valuntonis. Beethoven’s Pathétique (Piano Sonata No.8. Op. 13) sets the tone for a concert of stirring emotions, followed by Chopin’s series of four Mazurkas Op.33, and Carnaval Op.9, Schumann’s vibrant representation of a masked ball.Rokas has drawn admiration for his imaginative interpretations. Praised for his “liquidity of sound” and “devilish performances”, he is a prize winner of 20 international competitions including those in Sweden, Spain and Italy, and has performed widely across Europe, recently in Mexico’s prestigious Festival Cervantino. In London he was made City Arts Foundation Artist in 2017. Benjamin Baker (violin), Daniel Lebhardt (piano) perform in the third concert on March 28. The duo opens with Schubert’s Rondo in B minor, followed by Brahms’ A major Sonata and concludes with a Respighi rarity.Benjamin regularly performs in the Wigmore Hall and on BBC Radio 3 and internationally as a soloist and chamber musician. Alongside his debut this season with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, recent tours have taken him to the USA, Argentina, and back home to New Zealand for his festival At the World’s Edge Equally at home in the Wigmore Hall, Benjamin’s regular duo partner, Hungarian pianist Daniel Lebhardt, has appeared as a soloist with Royal Philharmonic, the Konzerthaus Orchestra in Berlin, the National Orchestra of Ukraine as well performances in the USA and Aldeburgh.Festival artistic director Ambrose Miller said: “These daytime classical music concerts are as much bustling social occasions as brilliant musical ones, which is why they sell out quickly. People catch up with friends over coffee, then enjoy high calibre artists delivering impressive performances.“It’s such an honour that these talented and in-demand musicians are choosing to perform in King’s Lynn in between their other UK and international tour dates.”Tickets cost £16 (50% off for under 25s), available from the Corn Exchange box office. Call 01553 764864 or online at www.kingslynnfestival.org.uk