Neary duo keep it in the family at church recital

Father and daughter pairing, Martin and Alice Neary, are putting on a cello and organ recital in St Albans next Saturday, April 18.

It is being held at 5.30pm in St Peter’s Church and starts with one of J S Bach’s rarely heard Gamba Sonatas and ends with the premiere of a new arrangement made by the duo of Max Bruch’s Kol Nidrei.

In between is a performance of Prière for cello and organ by Saint-Saëns and two solo works - Martin plays Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor (Dorian) and Alice will play a Suite for solo cello by Benjamin Britten.

Martin Neary is a former organist and Master of the Choristers at Westminster Abbey and a prizewinner at the first St Albans Organ Festival Competition in 1963.

His musical career started early when he was a chorister at the Chapel Royal – he remembers singing Zadok the Priest in Westminster Abbey. In later years he has been an organ recitalist and choral conductor throughout Europe and the USA and an occasional composer and writer.

Alice is the cellist of the Gould Piano Trio who have been regular performers at St Albans Organ Festival.

She is a professor at the Royal College of Music and has appeared as soloist with many leading orchestras as well as touring the world with the Gould Trio and the Ovid Ensemble.

Entry to the recital is free with a retiring collection in aid of the International Organ Festival Society.

Full details of all the concerts in the 2014-2015 recital series can be found at www.organfestival.com