Simon Russell Beale takes part in Beloved Clara, a HIPCC fundraiser (photo: HIPCC).

Famous musical love triangle featured in HIPCC outreach fundraiser

On Sunday 10 November Beloved Clara – A Tale of Love and Loss will be presented at St Mary in the Castle with award-winning British actors Lesley Sharp and Sir Simon Russell Beale and  pianist Lucy Parham. The event is a fundraiser for the ambitious outreach programme planned by the organiser of Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition, as HOT’s music correspondent Brian Hick explains.

Lucy Parham’s Beloved Clara – A Tale of Love and Loss – amalgamates letters and diaries with solo piano works to present the compelling and tragic story of the passionate yet volatile relationship between Robert Schuman, his pianist wife Clara Wieck and Johannes Brahms.

Lucy Parham, who wrote the composer portrait (photo: HIPCC).

Lucy Parham was in Hastings during the concerto competition earlier this year and willingly agreed to bring her original composer portrait to Hastings as a fundraising boost to the competition and its exciting plans for the future.

“We need to ensure we can carry through our planned outreach programme to bring music to ever more children in the 1066 area,”  said the competition’s managing director Ian Roberts.

“This will be a focus of the inaugural piano festival planned for next year, but realistically any outreach costs money, and we are absolutely delighted that the three internationally famous performers are willing to give their time at a greatly reduced fee to enable us to put as much of the profit as possible towards our educational programme.

Lesley Sharp (photo: HIPCC).

“The new festival, based on a wider range of music – classical, jazz and pop – will run from 24 February to 8 March 2020 across a wider range of venues than has previously been the case. We hope, this way, to get as many young people involved as possible.”

HIPCC aim to raise £10,000 on the day of the fundraiser.

Beloved Clara – A Tale of Love and Loss With Lesley Sharp, Simon Russell Beale and Lucy Parham. Sunday 10 November, 3pm, St Mary in the Castle, 7 Pelham Crescent, Hastings TN34 3AF. Tickets at £25-£80 are available online and from the Tourist Information Office, Muriel Matters House, Breeds Place, Hastings TN34 3UY.

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