Patricia Hammond (mezzo) and Andrea Kmecova (seated) (piano)

It’s A Woman’s World

To celebrate International Women’s Day, Kino-Teatr are including in their series of Sunday Coffee Concerts, a performance of women’s music and songs from 1890 to 1930, as Adrienne Hunter explains.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, barred from positions in universities, symphony orchestras and cathedrals, creative women turned to the simple song at the piano as the most natural means of musical expression. Most well known today of these songs is Bless This House.
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Patricia Hammond (mezzo) and Andrea Kmecova (piano) are celebrating the music and songs written by women during the 1890s – 1930s, which will result in the publication next year of a book and accompanying CD. As well as performing the songs, Patricia will relate the fascinating background to them and the women who wrote them.

Described by the Sunday Times in 2012 as ‘a leading lady of the retro party scene’, Patricia Hammond is a singer who can go from cathedral to cocktail bar and change from Handel to hot jazz in the same night.

Her album of Belle Epoque French Salon songs was chosen by the editor of American Record Guide as one of his favourite classical vocal albums of 2007, and in 2011, Sir Michael Parkinson praised her CD of 1920s, 30s and 40s pop songs as “a music-box of vintage treasures, beautifully sung by a remarkable woman.”

It’s A Woman’s World at Kino Teatr. Tickets only £10 including coffee and croissants. Tickets available from the box office open from 12 noon – 9pm Wednesday – Friday, 11 am – 9pm Saturday and 10.30am Sunday. Or online.

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