Seeing this headline for the very first time may well cause you to do a bit of a double take.
You are probably aware of the Musica Viva series of concerts and recitals that the Arts Institute at the University of Plymouth has been running on campus since Robert Taub took over from Simon Ible as the Institute’s Director of Music, and where Bob – a highly-acclaimed concert-pianist in his own right – has taken part on a number of occasions. If you were fortunate to have attended any of the events, you will most surely have visited the university’s Sherwell Centre, on the top floor, which, while very good in many respects, still wasn’t the most ideal venue, for a variety of reasons.
Levinsky Hall
You may well be asking yourself where the aforementioned ‘Levinsky Hall’ actually is. We are all aware of the new buildings and facilities seemingly appearing on the campus almost every few months. But a ‘Levinsky Hall’ isn’t one of them, even though there is a large building named in honour of Professor Roland Levinsky, whose last post, which he held at the time of his tragic and untimely death in 2007, was as the university’s Vice-Chancellor.
Hand picked
Levinsky Hall has always been part of the Roland Levinsky Building, where it was originally known as Theatre One, and I recall attending a number of orchestral concerts and other events there when Simon was Director of Music. It has rows of nice, comfy seats – on which I might even have nodded off a couple of times during the then-annual Contemporary Music Festivals – is on the ground floor, and is overall far-more-spaciously appointed than the Sherwell Centre. It does have its own grand piano in situ, and while I had greatly enjoyed concerto performances then, featuring British concert pianist Ben Frith, and Arta Arnicane from Latvia, it’s not in the same world as the Sherwell Centre instrument, hand-picked by another British pianist, John Lill, many moons ago.
Showcase concert venue
Bob writes: ‘Musica Viva is pleased to welcome you to our inaugural season in Levinsky Hall. Levinsky Hall (previously Theatre One) has been upgraded to become a showcase concert venue, complete with new on-stage adjustable acoustic panels and associated improvements, and is also now home to our wonderful Steinway Model C grand that formerly resided in the Sherwell Centre.
This autumn, two concerts – Romantic Piano and Virtuoso Violin – highlight both compositional and instrumental virtuosity in works ranging from the Romantic era to present day that are fresh and daring in their expressive qualities.
We hope you will enjoy these two exciting, compelling concerts in our new home!’
Romantic Piano
The first event, Romantic Piano with Robert Taub takes place next month on Saturday October 15. Bob continues: ‘Romantic Piano is a special programme of music comprising works by three composer/pianists. The stormy Pathétique Sonata of Beethoven is followed by a set of highly-personalised musical characterisation of an imaginary society by Schumann, his Davidsbündlertänze. The concert concludes with the thundering sonorities of Chopin’s mighty Sonata in B minor’.
As we’ve come to expect, and enjoy, the evening starts with a pre-concert talk at 7.00pm, with the performance following directly on at 7.30pm.
Click here for further details, and to book tickets.
Virtuoso Violin
The second event, Virtuoso Violin, takes place on Saturday November 12. Bob adds: ‘The brilliant young London-born violinist Mathilde Milwidsky is performing with pianist and composer Huw Watkins in expressive, stirring and demanding works by Ravel, Bartók, Walton, and Watkins himself. And ever an adventurous virtuoso, Mathilde is also playing two solo-violin works, one of which being Paganini’s 24th Caprice – a veritable violin showstopper’.
As with the previous concert, the evening starts with a pre-concert talk at 7pm, and the performance follows directly on at 7.30pm.
Click here for further details, and to book tickets.
A campus Carnegie
Bob Taub was, in fact, raised in Metuchen, New Jersey, some twenty miles or so southwest of New York’s Manhattan District. While the city’s iconic Carnegie Hall is over three thousand miles away, on the other side of the Atlantic, it’s really significant that Bob has had the fortitude of mind and single-minded sense of direction – as well, of course, the support of the University – to allow him to create his own ‘Carnegie Hall’ on campus, both for the ultimate benefit of the student population, and the number of music aficionados in the city and its environs.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you….’The Levinsky Hall in the Roland Levinsky Building’.
Philip R Buttall
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