Welcome to the British Clavichord Society website
- NEW: For a repertoire guide to composers whose anniversaries fall this year, click here.
- For forthcoming clavichord events, including Paul Simmonds’ recital on 11 July, click here.
- For information on joining the Society, click here.
- For details of the BCS Bookshop (open to all), click here.
- The BCS website is hosting a project offering updates to clavichord information in ‘Boalch 3’: for details, click here.
- If you’re interested in advertising with us, click here.
- For a contents list and index to our Newsletter, click here.
- For details of the International Clavichord Directory, click here.
- MORE: For more reports, links and clavichord-related information, click here.
The British Clavichord Society encourages the understanding and enjoyment of the clavichord. It promotes recitals, workshops and lectures on the history, construction and repertoire of the instrument. Our Newsletter, published three times a year, offers interesting and informative articles, reviews of recitals, conferences, books and recordings, and news of events in Britain and other European countries. Members also have the option to subscribe through the BCS to the journal Clavichord International, published twice yearly by the Dutch Clavichord Society; and they receive a discount on tickets for our events and a free copy of our International Clavichord Directory. We are preparing a series of publications (including clavichord music and a clavichord tutor) and already have a well-stocked mail-order shop for books, music, CDs and DVDs - this is open to non-members too.
Events and activities
Since its first meetings in 1994, the British Clavichord Society has included a clavichord recital in all its events. Members (and the public) have heard some exceptionally fine music-making, ranging from the earliest centuries of keyboard repertoire through to Mozart, then from Herbert Howells and Bartok to Stephen Dodgson and Gary Carpenter in the twentieth and twenty-first century, played on both modern and historic clavichords. Performers who have already played for the society or are scheduled to do so include many with international reputations: Derek Adlam (the society’s president), Susan Alexander-Max, Steve Barrell, Andrew Benson-Wilson, Bernard Brauchli, John Butt, Carole Cerasi, Terence Charlston, Neil Coleman, John Cranmer, Steven Devine, Andreas Erismann, Sally Fortino, Bruce Glenny, Pierre Goy, Alfred Gross, Siebe Henstra, Jacob Heringman, John Kitchen, Francis Knights, Gustav Leonhardt, Byron Mahoney, Anthony Noble, Julian Perkins, Virginia Pleasants, Timothy Roberts, Micaela Schmitz, Paul Simmonds, Miklos Spanyi, Joel Speerstra, Colin Tilney, Kasia Tomczak-Feltrin, Menno van Delft, Geoffrey Webber and Ilton Wjuniski.Conferences, lecture-recitals, informal workshops and visits to instrument collections and clavichord-makers are another important part of our programme. We have held five highly successful clavichord weekends at the Russell Collection of Early Keyboard Instruments in Edinburgh; and events linking recitals and talks have taken place in Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, Haslemere, Lewes, London, Milton Keynes and Oxford.
In line with our aim to share the pleasures of the clavichord more widely, we visit exhibitions and organize educational events to introduce the clavichord to students, young people and other musicians as well as BCS members and the general public.
We plan to expand this programme, and suggestions for events and activities are always welcome. For details of our next event, click here.
BCS Bookshop (open to all)
The BCS Bookshop aims to help you obtain books, CDs and music which may be difficult for other sources to locate or supply. For full details and an up-to-date price list, click here.
Subscriptions, and how to join the Society
| UK and all Europe | Rest of the world | |
|---|---|---|
| Individual membership | £18 (£33) | £24 (£42) |
| Joint membership* | £30 (£45) | £36 (£54) |
| Students and under 18 | £9 (£24) | £14 (£32) |
*Joint membership is for two persons at one address, one mailing.
For more information about how to join the Society, write to David Griffel, BCS Membership Secretary, 75 Redland Road, Bristol, BS6 6AQ, England; or click here for a membership form which you can print out. All payments must be made in pounds sterling. The following are acceptable: cheques drawn on a UK bank account; travellers’ cheques with a face-value in sterling; bankers drafts in sterling; sterling banknotes. Regrettably we cannot accept foreign currency (cheques or cash) or credit-card payments.
Clavichord events, summer 2009
Saturday, 11 July, 4pm: Garden Room, Grosvenor Chapel, South Audley Street (Mayfair), London W1K 2PA
Clavichord recital by Paul Simmonds
The BCS AGM at 2.15pm will be followed at 4pm by a clavichord recital, open to all, given by Paul Simmonds. The programme will focus on composers with anniversaries falling in 2009: Purcell, Handel, Haydn, Kittel and Mendelssohn. Please contact us for more details.
Monday-Wednesday, 13-15 July, 10pm each evening
St Albans Abbey Lady Chapel
Julian Perkins plays Book 1 of J. S. Bach’s Well-tempered Clavier in three late-night clavichord recitals which are part of the International Organ Festival at St Albans.
Wednesday, 15 July, noon
Hatchlands Park, East Clandon, near Guildford
Clavichord recital by Carole Cerasi (replacing Timothy Roberts, who is indisposed), played on the Cobbe Collection’s 1784 Hoffmann clavichord . Prompt booking recommended: click here to check ticket availability and booking arrangements.
Friday, 21 August, 1.15pm, 2pm and 2.30 to 4.30 onwards
Friends Meeting House, Sansome Place, Worcester WR1 1UG
1.15: Handeling Purcell, a concert on harpsichord and clavichord by Micaela Schmitz, followed at 2 o’clock and 2.30 by a short try-it workshop and a longer, informal masterclass, all on early keyboards. Pre-booking advised: telephone 01905 611427. For information phone 01386 898162 or e-mail worcesterfestival@earlymusica.org
The British Clavichord Society’s autumn events include, on 31 October, a visit to Christopher Hogwood’s keyboard collection in Cambridge (members of the BCS and the British Harpsichord Society only). Ask us for details if you would like to go.