Here is the Programme which  Suzanne Clare (clarinet), accompanied on the piano by Russell Lomas, will bring to us on 15th February:

Time Pieces    Muczynski
    Allegro risoluto        Andante espressivo          Allegro moderato        Andante molto -Allegro moderato

Pièce en Forme de Habanera    Ravel

Three Études on Themes of Gershwin    Paul Harvey
    I got Rhythm               Summertime                     It ain’t necessarily so

Five Bagatelles Opus 23    Finzi
    Prelude                   Romance          Carol        Forlana          Fughetta

Suzanne Clare was born in West Bromwich in the West Midlands and began playing the clarinet at the age of 8. From 2004 she studied clarinet with Sally Harrop, Michael Harris and Timothy Lines at the Birmingham Conservatoire where she graduated in 2008 with a First Class Honours Bachelor of Music degree. Whilst studying at the Birmingham Conservatoire she was awarded the 2008 Birmingham Conservatoire Woodwind Prize and was a finalist in the Symphony Hall Recital Prize 2008, Doris Newton Club Prize 2008 and Sylvia Cleaver Chamber Music Prize 2006. Whilst studying in Birmingham she also regularly played with the Birmingham Philharmonic Orchestra.
In 2009 Suzanne was awarded the Giles Thomas Lyth Scholarship to continue her studies at Postgraduate level at the Royal Northern College of Music where she graduated with a Master of Music at Distinction level in Solo Performance. During this time she studied with Nicholas Cox, Linda Merrick and Antonio Salguero Montesino. Since commencing her studies in Manchester she has played with the Hallé Orchestra and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. She was also selected for the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme in 2010, performing with the Britten-Pears Orchestra. Her studies in music so far have enabled her to perform in such prestigious venues such as London’s Wigmore Hall and Royal Festival Hall, the Symphony Hall and Town Hall in Birmingham and further afield in America and Italy, and since graduating, whilst pursuing a career in orchestral playing, Suzanne continues to give solo recitals, and workshops and chamber music performances for Live Music Now.

Russell Lomas was born in Manchester and began piano lessons at an early age. When he was fifteen, he won a scholarship to study with Gordon Green, Clifton Helliwell and Franz Reizenstein at the Royal Manchester College of Music from where he graduated with a Distinction in both Performers and Teachers Diplomas and was awarded the Ricordi Prize for Accompaniment.
He has given piano duet concerts and accompanied chamber music and vocal recitals throughout the UK, Europe, Jordan and Lebanon, and has made several visits to the United Arab Emirates where he has given concerts in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah. He has broadcast for the BBC, Classic FM and a number of European and local radio stations and has also performed on television for the BBC and several ITV channels.
Until his retirement in 2003, he was a member of the Music Department of Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester for over thirty years, and Head of Accompaniment for the final twelve, and he was the only accompanist to appear on at least one televised programme in every series of the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition between 1978 (the year of the first competition) and 2004. Since then he has given many concerts in the UK and abroad, accompanied auditions for the National Youth Orchestra and National Youth Orchestra of Scotland, and been an accompanist at the Oxford Flute Summer School and several Music Festivals