MBA: Ernie Kay Concert of Celebration
Saturday, 6th December 2025, 7:30pm; Doors Open 7:00pm
The Assembly Rooms, Presteigne
An evening of classical music to recognise Ernie Kay and his significant contribution to Mid Border Arts and Presteigne Assembly Rooms. The central work will be The Roses of Heliogabalus by Andrey Rubtsov with additional pieces by Lutoslawski, Debussy, Mozart, Schubert, Chopin and Spohr.
Ruth Watson on oboe; Peter Cornish on clarinet; Leila Basletić on piano
Ruth Watson: Originally from Hampshire, Ruth came to live in the Welsh hills nearly 30 years ago via York University, the Banff Centre in Canada, London and Portugal. She has played in various orchestras including the National Youth Orchestra, Scottish Opera, Scottish Chamber Orchestra , Ulster Orchestra and Bournemouth orchestras, WNO, London Sinfonietta and five years as principal oboe in the Orquestra do Porto. She is known locally for forming the Marches Oboe School and as one of the former co-owners and operators of the popular Presteigne restaurant, The Hat Shop which ran for 15 years. In 2018, she set up the Old School Community Hub in New Radnor which serves up food, beer and music.
Peter Cornish: A native of Herefordshire, Peter studied clarinet as a teenager with Michael Saxton at the Welsh College of Music and Drama and then with Alan Hacker. He completed an Arts and Humanities Research Council funded PhD in Musicology at Royal Holloway University of London and has given numerous lecture-recitals at UK universities focused on the conception and performance of twentieth century music for clarinet. Local composer Adrian Williams is currently composing a clarinet sonata for him, so perhaps we will be lucky enough to hear from him again.
Leila Basletić: Born in Croatia, Leila has lived in Presteigne since 2013. She started playing piano at the age of seven and studied Theory of Music and Keyboards (piano, organ, harpsichord) at Music Academy of Zagreb. She has given recitals in various countries including Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, Italy and the US. Since she moved to the UK, she has been performing with Ruth Watson and other musicians and is currently working as a piano teacher in John Beddoes School.
This event is not ticketed, but any donations to Mid Border Arts will be gratefully received.