HEXHAM Abbey Festival presented two young musicians’ recitals in the Great Hall, both to capacity audiences.

On Monday, Magdalena Loth Hill (from Low Row) and Nathaniel Mander, both junior fellows at the Royal College of Music in baroque violin and harpsichord respectively, performed music by Corelli, Bach and Biber.

Magda’s rich-toned, 18th century Venetian violin soared through the hall and Nat’s imaginative realisation of bass lines was a joy throughout.

The various moods of the Corelli were beautifully captured; the Bach Chaconne – a pinnacle of the solo violin repertoire – was given a superb rendition; the palette of colours was extraordinary and the moment at which the music turns to the major key, breathtaking.

After the added drama of Magda’s E string breaking as she was introducing Biber’s Sonata Representativa, she returned to the stage, completely unruffled, to entertain us with the croaking of frogs, the miaowing of cats and trilling of nightingales!

Leah Nicholson (from Lanercost) gave Wednesday’s recital. Leah, 15, is a piano student at Chetham’s Music School in Manchester and already a seasoned performer and competition winner.

She opened her programme with Bach, the Toccata from Partita 6, which had great clarity of phrase structure and well- judged tone quality.

The rest of the programme was a repertoire from the Romantic period or later and the level of technical virtuosity demanded by the music got higher and higher!

Chopin’s Ballade No 1 in G minor is a great favourite of young pianists and Leah characterised the different episodes, ranging from bravura to exquisitely tender, with great sensitivity.

Rachmaninov’s Etude tableau in E flat minor and Melodie contrasted well, and Prokofiev’s Sonata No 3, with its more acerbic qualities and driving rhythms, raised the roof.

The piece de resistance was an arrangement of three movements of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite by Mikhail Pletnev; spectacular in their use of the instrument and also music well- known and loved by the audience – they were a perfect finale – a delicate encore by Liadov was the icing on the cake.

With the stunning vocal concert by Renaissance on Friday evening led by Ben Rowarth, formerly a chorister at the Abbey, it has been a tremendous week for showcasing young musicians with North-East roots.