Original Coverage & Source Attribution: www.penarthtimes.co.uk
St Augustine’s Autumn Chamber Concert Series 2026 will feature three performances of song and chamber music at St Augustine’s Church on Sundays, October 11, November 1, and November 29, each starting at 3pm.
The series is the result of a collaboration between Penarth residents and musicians, including string players Martin Gwilym-Jones and Nancy Johnson, bass-baritone Thomas Coltman, and composer Robert Fokkens.
Rob Court, director of music at St Augustine’s, invited the group to curate the concerts following the success of a similar series in 2025.
Mr Fokkens said: “We are really thrilled to return to St Augustine’s for this second series performed by excellent musicians from Penarth and Cardiff.
“We had such a lovely response from the local community to our varied, appealing programmes last year, we are very excited to return with a similarly wide-ranging, enjoyable set of three hour-long concerts that will be engaging and entertaining for everyone.”
Bass-Baritone Thomas Coltman (Image: Supplied)
The first concert on October 11, titled In the Dimmed Hours, will feature Mr Coltman and pianist Catherine Milledge performing songs and arias full of humour, brooding romance and tragedy by Handel, Rachmaninov, Tchaikovsky, and Richard Rodney Bennett.
The November 1 concert, Elegie: Finding Light and Peace, will include haunting and vibrant music for string quartet, with highlights such as Puccini’s Cristantemi.
The series will conclude on November 29 with A Cry of Joy, featuring Mozart’s vibrant Flute Quartet and other pieces ‘to lighten darkening wintering days’.
Audience members praised last year’s concerts, saying it was ‘amazing to hear musicians of that calibre. Great stuff!’ and a ‘lovely varied programme with fabulous players’.
Tickets are £10 on the door, with a reduced rate of £5 for under-18s and students.
