From time to time, we like to chat with the artists who perform at the Festival to get some personal insights and background that we can share. In April 2026, we spoke to Fenella Humphreys, who will be appearing on 22nd June and asked about her partnership with Martin Roscoe, and their programme.
Martin and I first met a little before Covid when we were both invited to play in a sextet concert together. I’d loved listening to him and performing together. Shortly after this I was really delighted when cellist Jessica Burroughs got in touch to ask me to join them in a concert of piano trios. That was the start of the Roscoe Piano Trio, and also led to my collaboration with Martin as a duo.
For me, music is most fun when it’s a conversation between players – not with words but with notes. It’s always a joy working with Martin because those musical conversations happen really naturally, whilst at the same time he opens my ears to new ideas.
We love performing the amazing core repertoire there is for piano/violin duo, but we also really enjoy exploring music that perhaps hasn’t historically received its fair share of attention and love. Our programme for Bradfield Festival this year shows both of these worlds, with two of the best known works, Beethoven’s Spring Sonata and Vaughan Williams’ Lark Ascending (in its original version for violin and piano) nestled amongst works by Boulanger, Clarke, Coleridge-Taylor and Prokofiev that may be new to some. We’re also looking forward to bringing you a fabulous new work written for us by the wonderful Sally Beamish. It’s a programme that’s full of colour and character – and includes every emotion there is!
We thank Fenella for taking the time to chat with us.