SIDETRACKS & DETOURS 12th April 2026: Music In Portsmouth, Karen Kingsley, pianist and The Free Radicals, a capella + classical music at The Camel House, pianist Eladda Pavlou

As the owner / editor of Sidetracks & Detours I am incredibly grateful to its team of wonderful volunteer contributors such as Peter Pearson, our Americana correspondent and Michael Higgins the occasional folk historian writer. I am always pleased by the integrity of their comments and the different styles of their writing. The three of us are supplemented by other frequent contributors from our UK colleagues at all across the arts. The editor there is Steve Cooke who covers a miscellany of arts, stories and people and Dr. Joe Dawson submits excellent reviews of his Toad Lane Classical Concert performers, and there are frequent poetry reviews by the excellent poet Seamus Kelly.

We try to bring you a medley of all these art forms but we cannot possibly review all the gigs we would like to. However we can point you in the direction of where you could find reviews elsewhere.

So today we direct you not only towards all across the arts in Rochdale UK but also to Music In Portsmouth, another on line site you can tap into. The space is a treasure chest of previews, reviews and personal profiles of musicians playing in the area. One of our favourite reviewers from Music in Portsmouth is David Green. His pieces are littered with gemstones and gelatine. (see his comments on the ´new music of the seventies´), and he has the breadth of awareness to reference the best music of other genres, as shown by his nod below to There But For Fortune, which I assume is the Phil Ochs composition that was a chart hit for Joan Baez.

We are sure you will enjoy the writing of David Green and Steve Sargent, who also features below. If so, subscribe to Music From Portsmouth in the same way as you l regularly tap into Sidetracks & Detours every Sunday.  

Today we take a rare opportunity to link Music From Portsmouth to a concert at The Camel House On Lanzarote. We do so because two of our best freinds are coming over again to their house on Lanzarote, from their UK home in Portsmouth.

These friends are intrepid gatherers of news ,previews and reviews of music events in Portsmouth and when in residence here on Lanzarote they attend as many classical, folk lore and artistic events as pòssible. We have to use a psuedonym for our friends because they like to work incognito as they follow their arts. They (let´s call them Bonnie and Clyde) are likely to be here shortly, so we take this opportunity to share news from Portsmouth in the UK and from places in Lanzarote, like The Camel House ! This is a particularly favourite venue for Bonnie and Clyde, so we are sure they´ll be happy to read this piece today telling them that a concert is to be held at this venue next week, by which time the travellers will have arrived. The concert will be a piano recital by a Greek-born player, living in Switzerland. She performs all over Europe and studied and graduated at the Royal Northern College Of Music in Manchester UK, and has played at The Bridgewater Hall, one of Manchester´s finest concert venues. The city of Manchester is only a few Sidetracks & Detours from Rochdale, where Dee and I lived for fifty years before retiring here to Lanzarote, and we enjoyed many concerts, inclding a special Eric Bibb performance.

So why not follow these sidetracks & detours that today link the British Isles to The Canary Islands. Along the route you will meet at least two pianists, a group of free radicals and,…. possibly Bonnie and Clñyde inviting you to a midnight at the oasis.

introducing

KAREN KINGSLEY :New Music From Brighton

Portsmouth Cathedral, February 2026

Karen Kingsley studied piano with Jean Harvey and piano accompaniment with David Willison at the Royal Academy of Music , gaining prizes and commendations for both solo and ensemble performances. Enjoyable highlights from her time at the RAM include playing the Gershwin Concerto and the Shostakovich Second Concerto, both of which Karen later played with the SSO. Other Concerto performances include works by Beethoven, Chopin, Gerhardt, Grieg, Haydn, Mozart, Poulenc ( again, thanks to SSO!), Rachmaninov, Rubinstein and Saint-Saens. In the sphere of contemporary music, Karen joined Rob Blanken and Steve Tanner for the premiere of John Webber’s Triple Concerto with the Portsmouth New Music Orchestra, and gave the world premiere of the Concerto for Piano and Wind by Paul Carr. 

  Karen loves chamber music, and has joined the Anemos Wind Quintet on several occasions to perform quintets and sextets by Mozart, Poulenc and others. She is a member of the Monington Duo with clarinettist Rob Blanken, their repertoire numbering over 200 works, several of which have been composed especially for them. With bassoonist Richard Moore, they gave the world premiere of Three Humours by Antony Hedges as part of Radio 3’s Light Fantastic Festival. 

  Karen is a busy accompanist, playing for numerous festivals, masterclasses and summer schools. She also accompanies students at Chichester and Southampton Universities for their degree recitals. 

KAREN KINGSLEY: New Music From Brighton

Portssmouth Cathedral 2026

review by David Green

Some musicians have composers they specialize in while others range across many and various. Few more so than Karen Kingsley (left) and she adds new music to her curriculum vitae with these programmes of premieres from the Brighton New Music group. A recent innovation, it has quickly become an item on Portsmouth’s calendar to look forward to. 

In the 1960’s and 70’s, any journey into ‘new music’ was in danger of proving to be an intrepid misadventure but by now one can approach with more confidence. 

On much of the programme, the titles told us what it was we were listening for. Not necessarily in Temptation of Doubt by Martyn C. Adams in which a gentle song led to a lively variation or two. More so in Unfolding-Forming-Dissolving, the first of Three Meditations by Barry Mills. Gradually becoming less abstract, There But For Fortune and Mysterious River were slow moving, the latter in an unsettled way.

Chris Gander’s two haiku, for Spring and Summer were full of short, sharp

shocks, the latter opening with a right hand reminiscent of Jerry Lee Lewis before resolving more quietly. Then The Monkey And The Raincoat definitely conjured mischief and precipitation.

David M. Hoyle’s Sketches of Childhood mixed playground chants with daydreams before its vigorous ending. In contrast, Marion Maidment-Evans’s Two Night Pieceswere in turn one of fitful sleep and then a more restful encroachment on nothingness.

But there was not much ostensibly Egyptian in Basil Richmond’s Nefertiti. Technically the most challenging pieces, the leitmotif in the first part was elaborated into an involving freize, The Priests Of Amun had the two hands embarked on different rhythms and Atenwas an insistent outpouring and a good choice on which to finish.

Karen’s versatility and virtuosity in bringing these pieces to life is impressive. As with chess, there are endless patterns that can be made out of the limited number of black and white resources but most people can’t find many of them. It takes a rare talent, and considerable application, to make the most of them.

THE FREE RADICALS: Passiontide

April 2026

Let´s Start With What It´s Not

by Steve Sargent

On Wednesday 1 April 2026, Petersfield’s a cappella singers, The Free Radicals, (left) once again performed a wide-ranging set of music for Passiontide  the final days of Holy Week, before the Crucifixion.

This has been a firm favourite in the choir’s repertoire for nearly 20 years because of the high-quality music which this season has inspired composers through the centuries to write.

This year’s offering included works written between 1611 and 2024 by composers as diverse as Gesualdo, Part, Byrd, Messaien, Morley, Joanna Forbes L’Estrange, Stainer, Lotti, Michael Haydn and Karensa Briggs…along with some composers you’ve never heard of.  All this was interspersed with a handful of readings of short poems by modern (but not whacky) writers.

That’s all very well, but what was it actually  like?  Let’s start with what it was not. Well, It was not a concert and it was not a church service. You don’t have to be a believer to enjoy the top quality music from all ages…but you might miss out on the agony, and the hope.Although the performance was deep, emotional, penitential and full of sin, there was also hope, forgiveness and quite a bit of wonder towards the end. There was no noisy applause to ruin the atmosphere after each song, but there was plenty of clapping and cheering at the end. Therewas no admission charge, but an opportunity to donate to charity as you left. 

How long? One hour in total, but the sensible brought a cushion,fearing the chairs might be almost as penitential as some of the subject matter

(c) Steve Sargent

MORE MUSIC FROM THE CAMEL HOUSE

piano recital by Eladda Pavlou

previewed and profiled by Norman Warwick

Whenever I write that phrase, ´more music from the camel house´, I am put in mind of the hit songrecorded by Maria Muldaur

Midnight at the Oasis is a song from her eponymous 1973 debut album and remains her best-known recording. It charted well and entered the top ten of the American Billboard pop charts in June 1974, but couldn´t  quite hit the UK  top twenty singles chart, peaking at number 21. The song, written by David Nichtern, was nominated for a Grammy Award as single of the year.

The song is an offer of a desert love affair in a fantasy setting. Reviewer Matthew Greenwald,  in AllMusic, described the song as ´sensual and evocative´,  

It is certainly true that it was a ubiquitous factor at all the best parties I can remember from my mis-spent youth !

There is, though, more to the song than that .It includes an instrumental section that features Amos Garrett delivering intriguing guitar work.

In 2008, Muldaur recalled that she wanted to add the song to her album as an “afterthought” at the last minute. She has acknowledged that many people approached her at her concerts or events throughout her long career claiming that this song had inspired ´little love affairs´.

Nevertheless that sultry overnight desert-stop for the Muldaur´s camel train, surely cannot be compared to the rarified elegance and tranquillity of The Camel House, turned unique musical venue, here on Lanzarote.

The story of this beautiful place begins with an English businessman, passionate pianist, and composer: Sir Ernest Hall. He not only loved his homeland of England but also held the Spanish island of Lanzarote close to his heart. Shortly after the turn of the millennium, he fulfilled a dream. He purchased some ruins with an old camel stable in the charming village of Macher and envisioned transforming these ancient walls into a magical property. Together with his wife, Sarah, and the German architect Heidi Hupe, he transformed the dilapidated estate into a haven of well-being and the neighboring camel stable into a concert hall.

Sir Ernest Hall loved music. So in 2010 he began hosting concerts at his newly renovated property. CAMEL HOUSE became a venue for art concerts and classical music. But over time, the events became less frequent, and Sir Ernest Hall felt it was time to find a successor for this very special place.

In 2022, Danielle Baumgartner and Roland Urech took over CAMEL HOUSE. Now, music can be heard regularly in the former camel stable, and art and music lovers are once again flocking to Macher.

On August 3, 2024, Sir Ernest Hall passed away peacefully at the age of 94. His obituary appeared in The Guardian and the Telegraph & Argus .

Now, on 17 April, 2026, The Camel House, a unique and beautifully situated classical music venue on Lanzarote will welcome the wonderful pianist, Eladda Pavlou, (left) from Vienna. She will enchant us with COULEURS DE LA NUIT (between Earth and Myth) ,music ranging from the Baroque era to the modern day.

Based in Switzerland, Ellada was born in Xanthi, Greece in 1995. She started piano lessons at the age of five under the guidance of Giannoula Papazoglou and graduated from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London in 2019 with a BMus in Performance studying with Gabrielle Baldocci.

At The Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester UK, she pursued her Master’s Degree (MMus in Performance) in 2021 and Artist’s Diploma in 2022 with distinctions, studying with scholarships by Niarchos Foundation and RNCM under the tutelage Murray McLachlan. 

She has won awards and prizes in several piano competitions including 2nd prize at Gubitosi International Competition 2025,  1^st prize and a scholarship at Kozani International Music Festival 2014, 2^nd prize at the 4^th Pan-Hellenic Competition Maria Cherogiorgou-Sigara 2012. 

She was a finalist in the 2017 intercollegiate John Longmire Beethoven Piano Competition. Ellada received the 3rd prize at Semi-Annual Philadelphia International Music Festival and a scholarship to the 2022 Philadelphia International Music Festival. During her studies, Ellada had master-classes and lessons with Giorgia Alessandra Brustia, Nikolai Demidenko, Peter Donohoe, Barry Douglas, Margaret Fingerhut, Stephen Hough, Leon McCawley,  Hamish Milne, Pascal Nemirovski, Ilya Poletaev, Pascal Roge, Jerome Rose, Martino Tirimo and Vassilis Varvaressos. 

Ellada is a piano professor at the Musik School of Viamala, CH. She is an active soloist and a dedicated chamber musician. She recently performed at the, at Maison Heinrich Heine in Paris and at MdW in Vienna Bösendorfer Salon at Musikverein with the flutist Vanessa Gasser.

She also regularly performs with soprano Eleni Charalambous including recent concerts in Rome, Vienna and Lower Austria. Together with Christos Fountos, they formed a duo performing repertoire for piano 4-hands and two pianos around the UK and Europe.   

Her interest in new music led her to collaborate with the composer Athanasia Kontou (Greece), including the premiere and recording of her work After The Sundown, the composer Philipp-Manuel Gutmann (Austria), whose work, Memento,  she premiered in Paris, and the composer Thomas Aitken (Scotland) for his work, Spatter, for 2 pianos – 4 pianists.

Upcoming collaborations in the contemporary scene, include the composers Dror Binder, Hannah Eisendle and Thomas Larcher. 

Her performances inter alia, include the Bösendorfer Salon at Musikverein, Bechstein Centrum in Vienna, Ehrbar Saal, the Alte Schmiede, Austria; Athens Concert Hall, the ‘Musical Odyssey,’ Festival in Nafplio Greece; the “Giovani in Musica” Festival in Grosseto, Teatro di Marcello in Rome, Monteverdi Conservatory in Bolzano, Italy; the Bridgewater Hall, the Chetham’s School of Music, the Old Royal Naval College Chapel, the Jacqueline du Pre Music Building in Oxford, the Royal Academy of Arts, and the Pushkin House, UK and the Paderewski Music School in Tarnòw, Poland.

Elleda´s (right) latest performances include Maison Heinrich Heine,(German House) in Paris, Amphithéâtre Richelieu at Sorbonne University where she was invited by OeAD, and a piano tour on 4 hands with Christos Fountos. 

The Camel House looks forward to welcoming many visitors to Ellada´s performance on Lanzarote.   

In fact, the proprietors at this venue are also delighted to announce the expansion of The Camel House and its offerings: (see right) 

Under the direction of pianist and music teacher Natalia Nikolaeva, The Camel Housel is launching the  ‘Academia Musical’ with the aim of creating a centre for a wide range of musical activities such as workshops, master-classes, ensembles and other projects.

First, they are planning a series of workshops aimed at making music accessible to everyone. These invite participants to explore their inner sounds and express them through the voice or instruments, either individually or in groups.

Please keep an eye on the website (www.camelhouse-lanzarote.com), where you will find a detailed announcement of the first workshop in May.

Tickets for the concert through our website

camelhouse-lanzarote.com or by email 

info@camelhouse-lanzarote.com or phone 

0034 658 268 942

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Sunday 19^th April 2026

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Sunday 26th April 2026:

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The Incredible String Band

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