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An intimate evening celebrating music, friendship and the special connection created through playing together. In the elegant surroundings of London’s 1901 Arts Club, violinist Leora Cohen and pianist Duncan Honeybourne will perform some of the music featured in Frances Wilson’s debut novel Facing the Music, where the musical partnership between two close friends lies at the heart of the story.
This is an opportunity to enjoy beautiful music in good company in a convivial setting, followed by a relaxed drinks reception, with copies of Facing the Music available to purchase. Meet the artists and author after the concert. |
ProgrammeLudwig van Beethoven
Violin Sonata No.5 in F major, Op.24 Franz Schubert Four Impromptus Op.90 Edward Elgar Sospiri, Op.70 |
Leora Cohen |
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British-American violinist, Leora Cohen, enjoys a diverse career performing as a recitalist, soloist and ensemble musician around the world. She holds a double first-class degree from the University of Cambridge and two postgraduate Diplomas from the Royal College of Music. Leora is regarded as a prominent concertmaster of her generation; she is an ex-leader of the NYO, RCM Symphony Orchestra and Cambridge University Orchestra. Having led concerts in major concert halls globally, and concert series such as the BBC Proms, she now plays alongside professional orchestras but has recently gravitated towards solo work. During her studies at the RCM she toured internationally with the LGT Young Soloists, and was chosen as soloist to perform to Liechtenstein Royalty, open the 2022 Heidelberg Festival, and participate with the RCMSO in a public masterclass with Maxim Vengerov. Currently, Leora appears as a regular soloist with the Piccadilly Sinfonietta and the Albion Chamber Orchestra and performs recitals across the UK, USA and Germany.
Leora plays a Vincenzo Panormo violin on loan from the Harrison-Frank Family Foundation and is grateful for the support she has received from the University of Cambridge, the Royal College of Music, Talent Unlimited, Help Musicians, the Countess of Munster Musical Trust, the Yorke Trust, the Craxton Memorial trust, the Stephen Bell Trust, the Honourable Society of Knights of the Round Table and the MCSC/H.S. Barlow Charitable Trust.
Leora plays a Vincenzo Panormo violin on loan from the Harrison-Frank Family Foundation and is grateful for the support she has received from the University of Cambridge, the Royal College of Music, Talent Unlimited, Help Musicians, the Countess of Munster Musical Trust, the Yorke Trust, the Craxton Memorial trust, the Stephen Bell Trust, the Honourable Society of Knights of the Round Table and the MCSC/H.S. Barlow Charitable Trust.
Duncan Honeybourne
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Duncan Honeybourne enjoys a diverse profile as a pianist and in music education. Reviews have commended his “gripping performances” (The Times), “glittering performances” (International Piano), “fine, sensitive playing” (Gramophone) and “great technical facility and unfailing imagination” (Musical Opinion).
Honeybourne made his debut as concerto soloist at Symphony Hall, Birmingham, and the National Concert Hall, Dublin, in 1998, and gave recital debuts in London, Paris and at international festivals in Belgium and Switzerland. Since then he has toured extensively in the UK, Ireland and Europe as solo and lecture recitalist, concerto soloist and chamber musician, appearing at many major venues and leading festivals. His solo performances have been frequently broadcast on BBC Radio 3 (including live recitals from Broadcasting House, London, and St David’s Hall, Cardiff) and more than 20 networks worldwide, including French, Belgian, Austrian, Swiss and German radio, ABC (Australia) and Radio New Zealand. He has premiered over 100 solo piano works written for him by composers including John Joubert, John Casken, Cecilia McDowall, Adam Gorb, John McLeod and Sadie Harrison, plus the Andrew Downes Piano Concerto at Birmingham Town Hall. He has also revived many forgotten scores by composers of earlier generations, and his discography of 40 albums includes premiere recordings of piano music by Baines, Bainton, Gurney, Pitfield, Greville Cooke, Christopher Edmunds, Armstrong Gibbs, Walford Davies and Imogen Holst, as well as many contemporary works. Duncan Honeybourne teaches at the Royal Academy of Music Junior Academy, the University of Southampton and Sherborne School. He has adjudicated and given masterclasses at conservatoires and universities in the UK and Ireland, and has written and published widely on music and musicians. At home in Dorset, he is Founder/Artistic Director of Chamber Music Weymouth |
Frances Wilson
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Frances Wilson is a publicist, pianist and writer. She is the creator and editor of The Cross-Eyed Pianist, one of the UK’s leading websites devoted to classical music and the piano. Since founding the site in 2010, she has written extensively on music, performance and musicians for an international readership, and in 2012 she launched Meet the Artist, a popular series of interviews with musicians and composers. Her writing has also appeared in Pianist, Classical Music, International Piano, The Schubertian, and InterludeHK, and from 2011 to 2018, she was a concert reviewer for Bachtrack.
She writes programme notes for leading UK concert venues, has appeared on BBC Radio 3’s Music Matters to discuss the effect of the internet on music criticism, and is co-editor, with Michael Johnson, of Lifting the Lid, a collection of interviews with leading international pianists of today. An advanced amateur pianist, Frances returned to the instrument after an absence of some twenty years, gaining professional performance diplomas with distinction in her late forties. She taught piano for twelve years while living in London, and her lifelong love of classical music, together with her experience as a pianist and piano teacher, inspired her first novel, Facing the Music, published in 2026. |