Matinée: Alison Loram & Christopher Symons | Violin & Piano Recital

Classical Lunchtime Concerts

Wednesday | August 27th | 1pm to 2pm

Free Entry | Donations Welcome

Our new programme of lunchtime classical and contemporary concerts kicks off on Wednesday August 27th and features live music performances from a diverse range of musicians and genres. You can attend these concerts spontaneously on your lunch break, the programme lasts 45 to 55 minutes and often showcases chamber music, piano recitals, folk music, classical guitar and classical duos. Performances are every other Wednesday between 1pm and 2pm in our Performance Space, entry is via donations. As you would expect of a lunchtime concert, our food court will be open serving a variety of delicious food and drink offerings. You also might want to make time to visit the gallery before or after the concert.

We welcome Alison Loram & Christopher Symons on Wednesday the 27th of August who will perform a Violin and Piano recital.

Alison Loram began playing the violin through Shropshire’s County Music Service going on to study at the Royal College of Music with Hugh Bean, John Ludlow and Rodney Friend. Musculoskeletal problems led her to the Alexander Technique which she has taught at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire since 1993. After gaining a BSc, MSc and PhD, Alison also developed a career as an independent research scientist and is a practitioner with the British Association of Performing Arts Medicine.

Since returning to the violin in 2011, Alison has regularly appeared as soloist, recitalist and chamber musician at St Johns’ and Wesley Centre, and other venues in Cheshire, Staffordshire and Shropshire. Based in Crewe, she also works as a freelance orchestral player and has guest-led the Stockport Symphony and St John’s Festival Orchestras, with which she has also performed concertos by Mendelssohn and Bruch and, Vaughan Williams’ “Lark Ascending”. Alison’s violin was made by Francesco Emiliani of Rome in 1736.

Christopher Symons was born in Penzance, where his early love of music was fostered in the parish church choir. His first teaching job was at Canterbury Cathedral Choir School, where he was helped through his ARCO by Allan Wicks, Philip Moore and Alan Ridout. He then moved to Oswestry as Head of Classics at Oswestry School, where he taught for nearly 40 years.

Chris is well-known in the Shropshire area, in different guises – as conductor, organist, pianist and as the Director of the Oswestry School Recital Series. These six major annual recitals attracted large and loyal audiences and featured nationally and internationally renowned musicians (with some of whom Chris himself has been fortunate enough to perform, including Tasmin Little, Lawrence Jackson, John Lill, Martin Roscoe, Guy Johnston, James Gilchrist, Stephen Varcoe, Carlo Curley, the Skampa and Allegri String Quartets, the European Union Chamber Orchestra, and the Manchester Camerata).