Astraeus Ensemble

Piano and wind ensemble based in London and Brighton.

2012 concerts


17 January at 1.05pm Lunchtime Concert at the Chapel  Royal, 164 North Street  Brighton, 

  Beethoven Four movements from the Septet Op 20, arr. for piano and wind quintet
  Nielsen Wind quintet Op43: First movement - Allegro ben moderato

 9 March  Brighton Unitarian Church

  Lunchtime concert. Programme to include Ludwig  Thuille Sextet for piano and    wind in Bflat, Op6.

20 July   Charlton House, Charlton 

   Programme tbc

About astraeus

The Astreus Quintet was formed after a bar room discussion between Steve and Jeremy following one of Steve’s performances at the Sussex Musicians’ Club in November 2007. We decided it would be a good thing to play Mozart’s K452 Quintet for piano, oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon, and thought there must be some more repertoire for the same ensemble to justify a regular group. If there wasn’t, we resolved to get arranging. Since then we have performed at the Sussex Musicians’ Club, St Mary’s Bramber and the Brighton Festival Fringe. We’ve also added a flute.

As well as the Mozart quintet, our repertoire includes Beethoven’s quintet Op 16, an arrangement of Mozart’s G minor Quartet K475 , the Nielsen wind quintet, Poulenc’s Sextuor and works by Milhaud, Ibert and Piazzolla.

The name of the group has a classical origin. Astreus was the god of dusk and husband of Eos (known by the Romans as Aurora), the goddess of the dawn. His original Greek name, Astraios (Ἀστραῖος), translates as “dawn of the stars” ( from astra “stars” and  eos “dawn”), the time when the stars come out, or simply dusk. Together as nightfall and daybreak they produced many children including the winds and the planets. So the Quintet is named after the father of the winds. We have no known connection with the American airline of the same name.

Haydn Quintet

5 October at 12.30pm St Nicholas, Dyke Road, Brighton, BN1 3LJ

  Haydn  Quintet for piano, two horns, violin and cello in E flat HobXIV:1

WieskeWynniatt-Husey (vn), Alice Hawkes (cello), Bryn Coveney, Matthew
Sackman (horns), Steve Carroll-Turner (piano)


Amnesty benefit 2011

Our benefit on 16 July raised £556.87 for Amnesty. Thanks to everyone who came along and contributed so generously.

St Nicholas, Brighton20  July 2011

St Nicholas, Brighton
20  July 2011

A big wind piece of quite an exceptional kind composed by Herr Mozart

Sunday 18 September

Note change of start time

2pm at the Half Moon Tavern, Half Moon Lane, Herne Hill, London SE24 9HU
Astraeus Ensemble 

Conducted by Ben Palmer

Bach Toccata and Fugue in D minor (arr. for four horns)

Mozart Gran Partita for 13 wind instruments K361

Dan Elson, Jo Houghton (oboes), Roland McCabe, Alex Fleming (clarinets), Brendan O’Neill, Mark Welling (basset horns), Jeremy Crump, John Wallace (bassoons), Andrew Ross (contrabassoon), Matthew Sackman, Bryn Coveney, Martin Priestland, Daniel Coghill (horns)

Part of the first Herne Hill Festival

Admission £5 concessions £3

Benefit Concert for Amnesty International 16 July, Sydenham Hill

Janacek  Mladi*
 Beethoven  3 movements from the Septet in E flat Op 20
(arr Carrol Turner)
Albeniz  Pieces from Suite Espanola Op 47 (arr Carrol Turner)
Poulenc
Sextet for piano and winds (1932)

flute Hanna Barriga
oboe Dan Elson
clarinet Roland McCabe
bass clarinet Brendan O’Neill 
bassoon Jeremy Crump
horn Matthew Sackman
piano Stephen Carroll Turner 
*conductor  Ben Palmer

Saturday 16 July at 7.30pm
St Stephen’s Church,
Sydenham Hill, SE21 7HN 

Entry free
Collection for Amnesty International



Amnesty benefit

The benefit event on 6 March raised £371.01 on the day and £440.01 with subsequent donations. Thanks to everyone at the concert and to those who donated afterwards.

Forthcoming performances

2010

1 May Sussex Musicians’ Club
         Milhaud Scaramouche
         Albeniz   Catalunya,Asturias

31July-1 August Vann Festival (wind quintet)

23 October private function