THE brochure is now available for the 72nd season of concerts of Ilkley Concert Club. For the eight concerts from October 2017 to May 2018 a host of national and international star musicians will be visiting the Kings’ Hall.

The highlights of the programme include Alina Abragimova and Cédric Tiberghien, the foremost violin and piano duo, playing all of Brahms violin sonatas and the unusual appearance of a brass ensemble at the Club. Brass soloists from London orchestras, Septura, will play a programme of music from the sixteenth to twentieth centuries, arranged specially for them.

October 11th will see the launch of the season by the charismatic French pianist, François-Frédéric Guy, one of the most fascinating pianists of his generation. His programme of German Romantic music contains the Pathétique and Moonlight sonatas of Beethoven and Brahms’ third piano sonata.

The second concert on November 8th is by the Trio con Brio Copenhagen. This award-winning piano trio consists of a Danish pianist with two Korean sisters on violin and cello. They will play trios by modern Swedish composer, Sven-David Sandström, Smetana and Beethoven, his less-well-known Ghost trio.

December brings a song recital by Dutch mezzo-soprano Christianne Stotijn, former BBC New Generation Artist, accompanied by her longstanding duo partner, Julius Drake. She shows her versatility by singing German lieder by Brahms and Mahler, followed by the Czech Love Songs of Dvo?ák and Italian songs by Respighi.

The first concert in 2018 features the up-and-coming Ruisi Quartet with a programme of string quartets by Haydn and Debussy and twentieth century string music by Britten and Pavel Fischer. This is on January 10th and is followed on St Valentine’s day by the concert by brass septet, Septura, entitled Bridging La Manche in which they will offer music from English composers and their continental contemporaries through the centuries.

In March, Ilkley Concert Club welcomes back to Ilkley the Schubert Ensemble in their final season after 35 years of performing. They bring a programme of music for piano and strings by Bruch and Dvo?ák and a recently premiered piece by British composer, Charlotte Bray, inspired by a visit to Greenland.

On April 11th long-standing duo partners Alina Ibragimove (violin) and Cédric Tiberghien (piano) will perform all Brahms violin sonatas – works in which the main aim is to allow the violin to sing.

The final concert in May will be a bit of show-stopper, bringing together old friends of Ilkley, Trio Apaches, with the sensational percussionists of O Duo in a programme of music which showcases their separate talents and then combines them in a rare performance of Shostakovich’s 15th Symphony arranged for these forces. This work, with its prominent references to earlier works by Rossini, Wagner and others is sure to end the season with a bang.

The full programme for Ilkley Concert Club 2017/18 can be seen at www.concertclub.ilkley.org. Brochures with application forms are available at local libraries, Ilkley Tourist Information Centre and for a week (July 3 to 9) at Booth’s store Ilkley: or you can call 01943 608585. Season tickets are always popular so you are advised to get your applications in fast. There are always a few tickets available for individual concerts which can be reserved in the month before each concert.