Approaching their thirtieth anniversary, the Schubert Ensemble is established as one of the world’s leading exponents of music for piano and strings. Giving over fifty concerts a year, they have performed world-wide, have curated festivals, including most recently two at Kings Place in London, and have recorded extensively, all to much critical acclaim. This is the ensemble’s second appearance at our Taunton weekends.

Foremost in this carefully crafted programme are five of the greatest piano quintets by early- and late-Romantic composers. Those by Schubert, Schumann and Mendelssohn are well-known and much loved, but performances of the Vaughan Williams and the George Enescu, the brilliant Romanian composer, are rare. These are complemented by three string quartets of the same era and one piano quartet – Mahler’s only chamber work, and surely one of the least-known of great (if unfinished) chamber works.

The musicians give talks and demonstrations, a feature of their concerts for which they are famed and which they do brilliantly. The members of the ensemble – William Howard (piano), Simon Blendis (violin), Alex Wood (violin), Douglas Paterson (viola), Jane Salmon (cello) and Peter Buckoke (double bass) – will be present throughout the weekend and at dinner, providing ample opportunities to talk to them further.

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