Barnstorming With Ole Bull - Maverick Virtuoso

Music from the celebrated Norwegian violinist, inspiration to a century's writers and musicians

Ole Bull was the true pioneer of 19th Century violinists. Mainly self-taught, he was catapulted to international fame almost by chance after an appearance in Bologna in 1834. He went on to conquer audiences on both sides of the Atlantic, quite literally giving concerts where no one had gone before, knife-fighting in the old west, playing on the top of the Pyramid of Cheops and bringing classical music to previously excluded audiences, dovetailing popular songs of the time with classical compositions. Bull was acclaimed by Liszt, Mendelssohn and Chopin to name a few and Schumann rated his playing alongside that of Paganini. He launched the careers of Edvard Grieg and Henrik Ibsen and inspired writers such as Hans Christian Andersen, Mark Twain, George Sand, Harriet Beecher Stowe and Longfellow.

Ole Bull aficionado, Peter Sheppard Skӕrved, is delighted to bring the work and unique style of this massively influential musician to the venue in which the old fiddler would have revelled. This special Wilton's performance will recreate those which Bull loved to give in salons and small theatres, weaving together his transcriptions of Nordic folk music, virtuoso works and music by his favourite composers such as Mozart, Gounod and Bach . Peter will also present the British premiere of his reconstruction of Bull’s American Fantasy, a ‘barnstorming’ piece incorporating Home Sweet Home, Pop! Goes the Weasel, Arkansas Traveler and Hazel Dell; Peter first performed this to great acclaim at last year’s Bergen Festival.

The concert also includes ‘…and love..’ by Sadie Harrison, based on poetry by Danish writer, Malene Skӕrved, with the brilliant young Soprano, Eve Daniell.

Programme to Include:
Ole Bull/Peter Sheppard Skӕrved - American Fantasy
Ole Bull - A Visit to the Saeter, Aurora, Fanitullen, Quartet for One Violin, Hallings and Springdances, Guitar Serenade
Mozart - G Major Sonata K.301
Gounod/Bach - Ave Maria
Gaetano Braga - Angel Serenade
Wilhelm Ernst - Elegy
Edvard Grieg - Andersen Songs
Sadie Harrison - …and love…, Return to Lysøen

Performers
Peter Sheppard Skӕrved (Violin, Amati 1647 ‘Ole Bull’)
Roderick Chadwick (Piano)
Eve Daniell (Soprano)

Peter Sheppard Skӕrved is acclaimed in Norway as an advocate for Bull, he has given many concerts at Bull's extraordinary house, ‘Lysøen’ near Bergen, and has travelled widely seeking out his manuscripts and the memories of his performances. Peter Sheppard Skӕrved's work led to the rediscovery of one of Bull’s most precious instruments, a 1647 Amati which he called ‘my pearl’. This instrument has not been heard in public since Bull’s death and Peter has been given the extraordinary honour of performing and recording on it this year. This is one of the great violins and it has an amazing link to Wilton's (and Peter Sheppard Skӕrved's) local area of Wapping and the London Docks. The evening's pre-concert talk will focus on the history of this extraordinary instrument.