Programme:
- Valerie Coleman: Umoja
- Samuel Barber: Summer Music
- Amy Beach: Pastorale
- Paul Taffanel: Wind Quintet
- Gyorgy Ligeti: Six Bagatelles
- Carl Nielsen: Wind Quintet
Ensemble Renard was founded in 2018 by musicians and friends from the Royal Academy of Music and the Guildhall School. A wind quintet at its core, Ensemble Renard puts on exciting and varied performances for audiences of all backgrounds. In their first six months playing together, Ensemble Renard won the Royal Academy of Music's Nicholas Blake Prize for wind chamber music, and from there have gone on to give regular recitals and workshops across the country, to much acclaim.
Ensemble Renard carefully curate compelling and contrasting programmes tailored to each audience, aiming to take repertoire rarely given the light of day to audiences from London to the Hebrides and beyond. From Gershwin to Knussen, each piece they play demonstrates the kaleidoscopic versatility of the ensemble.
Ensemble Renard have quickly emerged onto the scene as one of the UK's most promising young chamber ensembles. To date, they have been made Tunnell Trust awardees, Britten-Pears Young Artists, Stoller Hall Young Artists, and awardees of the Countess of Munster Musical Trust's Recital Scheme. Performance highlights of the ensemble's career so far include their European debut at the Dinard Opening Festival in Brittany, a recital at the Aldeburgh Festival, and an appearance on BBC Radio 3's 'In Tune' with Sean Rafferty.
The 2023/34 season will see Ensemble Renard continue to take their work across the UK, with performances at Snape Maltings as Britten-Pears Young Artists for the second year running; recitals at venues including St John's Smith Square and the Stoller Hall, and a return for the third year running to the Llanfyllin Music Festival in Wales.