Founded by Edward Elgar
Ever since its first concert on 31 October 1903, Malvern Concert Club has been a cornerstone of musical life in Worcestershire. It was founded by Sir Edward Elgar, a resident of Malvern at that time. The Club’s first Secretary (for over 38 years) was his close friend, the local architect, Arthur Troyte Griffith, who was immortalised by Elgar in Variation No. VII, Troyte, of his Enigma Variations.
Over 120 years later, today’s Concert Club is proud to maintain Elgar’s legacy. Whilst grounded in the tradition of the string quartet, each season brings a varied selection of music for small ensemble, with and without keyboard, and voice. The performers are British and overseas musicians of international standing, with a balance of established artists and promising newcomers.
All our concerts are open to members and non-members. The season runs from September to April with concerts currently on Sundays at 7.30 pm, and 3.00pm in the winter months, in the Festival Theatre, Malvern Theatres.
The Club has been able to present at least one concert in every year since 1903, with thanks to Paul Lewis for two greatly appreciated socially distanced recitals of works by Mozart and Schubert on one day in September 2020. Pavel Kolesnikov earned the admiration of all present in May 2021 with two performances of the Goldberg Variations in one day. As recital after recital was cancelled at short notice due to the pandemic, the Club gave its members the opportunity to support the artists by donating their ticket price instead of receiving a refund. Some musicians whose performances were postponed have since said what a great difference this made to them.
The Club has a long history of collaboration with the BBC, starting with a broadcast of the Aeolian Quartet playing Smetana’s From my Life, on the Midland Home Service on 21st October 1959. By coincidence, the same piece was played magnificently when the Pavel Haas Quartet returned to Malvern Concert Club to give their first recital of 2025 on Sunday 19th January. The most recent broadcast on Radio 3 from the Concert Club was of the Brodsky Quartet, with Daniel Rowland (his last appearance as a member of the Quartet) and Martin Roscoe in 2019, performing the three Elgar chamber works, the String Quartet, Violin Sonata and Piano Quintet to commemorate the centenary of their first performances.
Our President – Roderick Williams
The baritone Roderick Williams has been the President of Malvern Concert Club since 2014, when he made a brief but significant address to the Club’s AGM. He has given various recitals at the Club with Susie Allan and Tom Poster, as well as a series of the Schubert Lieder cycles with Iain Burnside between 2017 and 2019. His most recent appearance was with soprano Carolyn Sampson and pianist Joseph Middleton in February 2025 with a programme entitled Sounds and Sweet Airs – settings of the words of Shakespeare.
