ILKLEY Concert Club has announced the programme for the 73rd season, which will run from October 2018 to May 2019.

Presenting music from the 17th to the 21st century will be internationally-celebrated artists, such as Nicholas Daniel (oboe), Alban Gerhardt (cello), Stephen Hough (piano) and Roderick Williams (baritone).

One special occasion out of many will be the second concert at which the Concert Club plays host to not one but two quartets each with their own repertoire but combining to play Mendelssohn’s sparkling youthful Octet!

The season starts on October 10 with a visit from the Leonore Trio. Members of the Sheffield-based group Ensemble 360, Benjamin Nabarro (violin), Gemma Rosefield (cello) and Tim Horton (piano) have branched out as a successful trio and met with an enthusiastic response. They will be playing Trios by Haydn and Sir Hubert Parry, who died in 1918, as well as Beethoven’s famous ‘Archduke’ Trio.

They are followed on November 14 by the Elias and Navarra Quartets, which both emerged from the Royal Northern College of Music and have gone on to gain international reputations. The Navarra will play Schubert’s ‘Rosamunde’ Quartet and the Elias a piece written for them by contemporary British composer, Sally Beamish, before they combine for the highlight of the evening, the Octet by the 16-year-old Mendelssohn.

Virtuous oboist, Nicholas Daniel, and three string co-principals from the Britten Sinfonia make up the Britten Oboe Quartet. Their concert on December 12 features Oboe Quartets by Mozart and EJ Moeran and a Cor Anglais Quartet by Jean Françaix, a 20th-century French composer whose works display a great sense of fun.

The January concert celebrates the Debussy centenary with three of his sonatas – for violin and for cello, both with piano, and one for that very French combination of flute, viola and harp. The players on January 16 are members of the Pixels Ensemble, a group from Manchester with a shared passion for performing the best of chamber music.

The peak of the season will be reached on February 13 when the Concert Club welcomes to Ilkley for the first time, Stephen Hough, one of the most sought-after pianists in the world. His programme celebrates the composer-pianists with works by Chopin, Liszt and Busoni, giants of the 19th and 20th century, as well as his own fourth piano sonata.

March sees a return visit from Kammerphilharmonie Europa, a chamber orchestra from Germany whose first appearance was one of the hits of the 70th season. Their concert on March 13 contains a mixture of baroque concertos for violin and trumpet and delightful string works from the late 19th century.

Another welcome return to the King’s Hall will be that of Roderick Williams and his accompanist Iain Burnside on April 10. Their fascinating programme – A voyage around Hardy – combines Schubert lieder with songs by British composer, Gerald Finzi, to texts by Thomas Hardy.

The season’s final concert on May 6 will highlight the virtuosity of German cellist Alban Gerhardt accompanied by the Scottish pianist Steven Osborne in works by Schumann and Brahms. The second half of their programme has a Spanish flavour with a mixture of works De Falla, Debussy and Ravel which should send concertgoers on their way with their feet tapping!

All Concert Club concerts are held in the King’s Hall on Wednesdays at 8pm.

The brochure and application form for the 73rd season is now available from local libraries, Ilkley Tourist Information Office and, from July 1-8, at Booth’s in Ilkley; or you can call 01943 608585 for a copy. Season tickets are always popular so you are advised to get your application in fast. There are always a few tickets available for individual concerts which can be reserved in the month before each concert.