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Woolf String Quartet & Duncan Honeybourne, Chamber Music Weymouth lunchtime concert, Wednesday 25 February 2026

Woolf Quartet are: Zosia Herlihy-O’Brien (violin), Emily Harrison (violin), Beatrice Slocumbe (viola) and Hoda Jahanpour (cello)

When the audience comes out of a concert with words like “incredible!”, “brilliant” and “that was absolutely superb”, you know the musicians, and the music, has touched them. And that is what happened on Wednesday, 25 February, when the Woolf Quartet returned to Weymouth to impress the lunchtime concert audience once again. This London-based string quartet was formed at the Royal Academy of Music, and they take their name from author Virginia Woolf, as they often rehearse in Bloomsbury, close to where she lived.

They made their Chamber Music Weymouth debut in 2025 and wowed the audience with an engaging programme that featured Debussy and a piece by the quartet’s cellist, Hoda Jahanpour. This time they were joined by pianist and CMW Artistic Director Duncan Honeybourne to perform just one piece – Brahms’ Piano Quintet in f minor. A big-boned work of symphonic textures and narrative breadth, it has the expansiveness of Schubert in its four movements, and is one of the most challenging and important works in the chamber music repertoire. It asks of all the musicians virtuosity, stamina and cohesion, and an ability to navigate many modulations, complex rhythmic shifts, and fugal passages. It’s a monumental work, emotionally intense and physically demanding, and a challenge for any ensemble – and one which the Woolf Quartet rose to with commitment, maturity and musical insight.

It’s rare to feel a thread of concentrated energy through an entire concert – not an easy feat for musicians to achieve – but the Woolf Quartet, with Duncan Honeybourne, succeeded in doing just this. It’s a credit to them – and a mark of the infectiousness of their concentration – that the audience was almost completely silent for the entirety of the concert, listening intently to Brahms’ shifting soundworld and the emotions it suggests.

The Woolf Quartet, both individually and together, brought much colour and nuance to the music. Brahms’ writing gives each player a chance to shine. The ensemble playing was precise and committed, amply matched by Duncan Honeybourne, who made light of Brahms’ rather unforgiving piano textures. Most engaging, though, was that the musicians clearly enjoyed themselves. It’s always a pleasure to see performers truly immerse themselves in music that they love.

Catch the Woolf Quartet if you can – you won’t regret it! They will be at London’s Wigmore Hall on Saturday, 2 May, where, I’m told, they will be performing a piece they have written together, as well as music by Shostakovich.

Chamber Music Weymouth’s lunchtime series continues on Wednesday 11 March with a recital by distinguished pianist Margarat Fingerhut. Find out more

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The fifth Young Artist Showcase concert, hosted by Chamber Music Weymouth (formerly Weymouth Lunchtime Chamber Concerts) took place at St Mary’s Church, Weymouth, on Sunday 6 July.

Devised by CMW Artistic Director and concert pianist Duncan Honeybourne and Concerts Manager Frances Wilson, these events offer young musicians who are still in full-time education or are just embarking on a professional career the opportunity to perform in a formal concert setting. They also offer audiences a chance to enjoy a range of music, performed by these talented young people.

This year’s concert included a varied and impressive range of music and talents. Opening with Michael Howell, a composer and singer from West London who was a finalist in Channel 4’s The Piano (season 2), the audience were treated to Michael’s own compositions, which blend influences from both classical music (especially Bach) and jazz, together with his extraordinary, other-worldly countertenor voice.

The Alma Trio from Poole/Bournemouth impressed with their confidence and musical maturity in Rachmaninoff’s Trio élégiaque No. 1. It was especially fitting that this work, written when the composer was just 18, yet already showing immense talent and emotional depth, was performed by a trio of very poised young musicians of a similar age and equal talent. All three are heading to music college in the autumn.

Edie Wells, a pianist studying with Duncan Honeybourne at the University of Southampton, treated us to her Diploma programme, which presented a range of music, from Bach to Gershwin, and allowed Edie to showcase her ability to handle works of different styles and eras. I particularly enjoyed her Beethoven (Piano Sonata in E major, Op 14, No 1), but the highlights were the two pieces by George Gershwin: the romantic The Man I Love followed by I Got Rhythmn, which got the audience’s feet tapping!

Finally, Lia Matos Wunderlich, a prize-winning teenage cellist who performed in the CMW Young Artist Showcase in 2024, gave a vibrant, heartfelt performance of Schumann’s Adagio and Allegro op.70, accompanied by Duncan Honeybourne (with whom she studies piano at the Junior Royal Academy of Music). Ending with a spirited flourish, Lia brought this splendid recital to a close.

Michael Howell
Lia Matos Wunderlich

Chamber Music Weymouth was founded in 2002 by Duncan Honeybourne. Monthly lunchtime concerts take place in St Mary’s Church in the centre of Weymouth, together with a short summer season of Sunday concerts. Find out more here

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Weymouth Lunchtime Chamber Concerts (WLCC), which celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2022, is undergoing a ‘rebrand’ to reflect exciting expanding plans to bring more high-quality classical music and musicians to the popular Dorset seaside resort.

The series, founded by Weymouth-born pianist Duncan Honeybourne on his return to his hometown at the age of 25, has become well known as a platform for young professionals and established artists, and is now taking its activities up a gear. Last year’s summer concert, featuring chamber musicians coached by Duncan at the Royal Academy of Music Junior Department, was such a success that this year a special summer series of four extra Sunday afternoon concerts is being presented under the organisation’s new name CHAMBER MUSIC WEYMOUTH.

In addition to two Young Artist Showcase events on 9th and 16th July, Chamber Music Weymouth will also present a special concert of sea shanties and music inspired by or evocative of the sea and coastal landscapes with Lyme Bay Moonrakers and Duncan Honeybourne (14th July). The summer series will conclude on 28th July with a song recital given by baritone John Barker and pianist Helen Cawthorne.

Artistic Director Duncan Honeybourne says, “We’ve always made a point of welcoming young musicians, and last year’s young piano trio thoroughly enjoyed their trip to the seaside, eating ice cream on the beach after playing Mendelssohn to a large, supportive and enthusiastic audience. Everyone loved the event, and there were calls for a repeat, so this year we decided to expand the enterprise.”

Frances Wilson, herself a major voice in the piano world through her blog ‘The Cross-Eyed Pianist’, joined Duncan in 2019 as Concerts Manager, and together they plan to put their stretch of the Jurassic Coast firmly on the musical map. Frances says, “We have enjoyed record audiences since we returned to our regular monthly concerts following the challenges of the covid lockdowns, and we look forward to capitalising on this enthusiasm for what we do here with an expanded programme of concerts and other related events as we approach our 25th anniversary in 2027.”

Thanks to a generous donation from the Weymouth Music Club, which closed in 2023 after presenting concerts in the town for almost 80 years, Chamber Music Weymouth will, in addition to the regular monthly lunchtime concert series, offer further opportunities to young musicians at the start of their professional careers. Future plans also include a music festival, piano competition and masterclasses/piano courses.

The first Young Artist Showcase concert, presented by Chamber Music Weymouth, takes place on Sunday 9th June at 3pm at St Mary’s Church in central Weymouth. Students of Duncan Honeybourne from the Royal Academy of Music Junior Department and the University of Southampton will perform music by Mozart, Lalo, Paganini, and Beethoven. Tickets cost just £5, available online or on the door.

Book tickets

Full details of all concerts/events and a detailed history of the series can be found at weymouthchamberconcerts.com

“a really special concert series” – Joseph Tong, pianist

“Weymouth is truly fortunate to have a concert series that benefits both local people and the wider musical community…..this is a valuable initiative that deserves continuing support and celebration.” – James Lisney, pianist

Launched in 2002 by concert pianist and Weymouth resident Duncan Honeybourne, Weymouth Lunchtime Chamber Concerts presents high-quality chamber music in the heart of Weymouth and offers a platform for musical partnerships with friends and colleagues. The concerts also give young musicians, often recent graduates from conservatoire or university, valuable performing experience to a friendly, loyal audience.

Programmes are varied and imaginative, mixing well-known works with lesser-known repertoire and composers, and all concerts take place in the attractive surroundings of St Mary’s Church, an early 19th-century church in central Weymouth, built of Portland stone.

Since its return to normal concert-giving following the covid lockdowns, the series has enjoyed record audience numbers with concerts by, amongst others, pianists Margaret Fingerhut, Joseph Tong, Allan Schiller and John Humphreys, Viv McLean, Penelope Roskell, James Lisney, Matthew Schellhorn and Katharine Lam, cellist Joseph Spooner, bass-baritone Timothy Dickinson, violinists Peter Fisher, Christopher Horner and Leora Cohen, and clarinettist Poppy Beddoe, as well as talented young musicians or recent graduates from conservatoire. Featured contemporary composers include Sadie Harrison, Adam Gorb, Ben Gaunt, Liz Dilnot Johnson and Fazil Say.

The series receives no funding or sponsorship, and all artist fees and other costs are met through ticket sales alone.