12th November 2012

Brompton’s inaugural recital a complete success

Brompton’s Auctioneers’ first recital, featuring the Heath Quartet, attracted over 300 people to the intimate confines of Sir Michael Faraday’s famous theatre at The Royal Institution, “a superbly intimate setting for a string quartet.” (Gramophone)

As Europe’s leading auctioneers for musical instruments, the ‘Brompton’s Recital’ acts as a performance platform for the best young classical musicians as they emerge on the concert platform. In partnership with the Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT), the inaugural ‘Brompton’s Recital’ featured one of the UK’s brightest young talents in a programme of Haydn and Tchaikovsky, in a high quality and inexpensive post-work experience.

“The Heath gave us all the wit and mercurial inventiveness you’d expect from Haydn and they played with a really engaging sense of interplay and they didn’t overprotect in this ideal space. It was lovely to hear playing that had a genuine intimacy about it.” (Gramophone)

The ‘Brompton’s Recital’ brings live classical music to the extraordinary setting of the Royal Institution, affectionately known as Britain’s home of science. Open to the public year-round, it is most famous for the Christmas Lectures, broadcast on BBC television annually.

Some of the most illustrious names in British science have passed through the doors of The Royal Institution, however the presence has also been felt of musical luminaries such as Hubert Parry and Yehudi Menuhin, who gave ‘Friday Evening Discourses’ to highlight the link between science and music. Still, this was one of the rare occasions live classical music has been heard in the intimate acoustic of the Ri’s amphitheatre, the Faraday theatre.

This latest move from Brompton’s is a continuation of its benevolent activities outside the auction room, which have included offering free downloadable recordings of great string players of the past on its website, as well as free access to its Reference Library, an exceptional tool for researching instruments from over 26,000 auction results. Proceeds will go to the National Children’s Orchestra, to which Brompton’s recently donated a fine half-sized cello.

Peter Horner, Director of Brompton’s Auctioneers says: “We were delighted to see such a strong turnout for the first Brompton’s Recital. The Heath Quartet were sublime and it was a rare treat to hear them in such an intimate acoustic. I very much look forward to the next recital as we continue to support future generations of world-class musicians.”