Ruby Howells is seventeen years old and studies flute under the Hungarian flautist Noémi Győri at the Junior Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester. Ruby is a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and has performed in venues in the UK and abroad, including Birmingham Symphony Hall, the Barbican, Southbank Centre and the Royal Albert Hall with NYO, and at the Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest, as a soloist. Awards and achievements include the British Flute Society’s Young Performer of the Year 2018, woodwind winner of the National Eisteddfod of Wales 2019, and the recipient of the Laura Marco Prize from the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music for the highest grade 8 flute exam result of 2017. She is accompanied by local pianist and organist Harry Hitchen, the former Director of Music for Stoke-on-Trent.

Fantaisie – Gabriel Fauré

Gabriel Fauré was born in 1845 and was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher at the Paris Conservatoire. He is considered to be one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his work has influenced many contemporary composers. The Fantaisie was composed in 1898 for Paul Taffanel, a colleague and flute teacher at Paris Conservatoire. The opening andante of the Fantaisie is a sicilienne with a lyrical melody and towards the end, a cadenza, linking into the allegro. The allegro displays not only the player’s dexterity, with fast runs and leaping passages, but also their ability to play beautiful melodies.

Syrinx – Claude Debussy

Syrinx has been described as the first significant composition for solo flute since the late Baroque period (the mid-18th century). The piece tells the story of the god Pan’s love for the nymph Syrinx. As Pan’s love is unrequited, Syrinx turns herself into a water reed to hide in the marshes. Pan unknowingly kills his love when he cuts these reeds to make into pipes. It is believed that Syrinx was originally written without bar lines and breath marks to allow the flautist freedom for interpretation and emotion. The mysterious nature of Syrinx can be heard in many of Debussy’s later compositions.

Concerto in D Minor (3rd Movement) – Carl Philippe Emmanuel Bach

C.P.E Bach came from a family of musicians, and as the youngest son of Johann Sebastian Bach, it was expected that he would follow in his father’s footsteps. One of the early Classical period (approx. 1750-1810) composers, C.P.E Bach was an influential figure for some of the music world’s most well-known and respected composers, including Mozart, Beethoven and Haydn. This Concerto in D Minor for flute was composed in 1747 and is an adaptation of a harpsichord concerto that he had previously written. The third movement is a fitting showcase for the flute, which is an instrument that has long been recognised for its brilliance and virtuosic capabilities.

Suite Paysanne Hongroise: Five Old Songs – Béla Bartók (trans. Paul Arma)

Béla Bartók is best known for his contributions to the study of folk music. Over many years, Bartók and his contemporary, Zoltán Kodály, travelled around Hungary and nearby regions collecting folk songs, and these tunes greatly influenced Bartók’s compositional style. In Suite Paysanne Hongroise, which translates from French to “Hungarian Peasant Suite”, these folk songs can be heard in what Bartók thought of as an appropriate concert setting. Originally for solo piano, the songs were transcribed by Bartók’s pupil, Paul Arma, for the flute in 1952. Despite the shortness of the tunes, each is full of character and colourful harmony that highlights Hungarian traditions.

Cantabile et Presto – Georges Enescu

Georges Enescu was a Rumanian composer and a pupil of Gabriel Fauré. At just seven years old, the young Enescu left his homeland to study violin and piano in Vienna, and then in 1894 he travelled to Paris to study at the conservatoire. Cantabile et Presto was written as an examination piece for the conservatoire to use for its flute students, as requested by Paul Taffanel. The aim of the piece was to demonstrate expressiveness of tone in the cantabile and articulation and technical prowess in the presto. The cantabile begins with a gentle and sonorous melody in the lowest register of the flute, an extraordinary and unconventional idea for the time.

The Lark Ascending – Ralph Vaughan-Williams

The Lark Ascending was composed in 1914, originally as a romance for violin and piano. When Vaughan-Williams was enlisted in the army during World War One, he cast aside the piece. Returning from the war in 1919, Vaughan-Williams fine-tuned his The Lark Ascending and wrote a transcription for violin and orchestra. The experience of serving in the war seemed to make Vaughan-Williams hark back to a simpler time and a world that no longer existed. With beautifully pastoral writing, The Lark Ascending showcases the untroubled joys of nature and genial music of olden times. The title is taken from a poem by George Meredith.