A musical showcase

The Elgar Birthplace Museum, Lower Broadheath, presents a series of inspirational concerts from Thursday, April 15, featuring Elgar's work as well as pieces by Brahms, Dvorak and Schumann.

They will be performed every third Thursday of the month until September by talented musicians from across Worcestershire and the West Midlands, including the internationally acc laimed young musicians of the Kungsbacka Trio.

The group will open the series with Brahms' and Dvorak's Trios and Elgar's Salut d'Amour, which was dedicated to his future wife Alice and is often regarded as one of his most popular small pieces.

A Worcestershire landscape company was also inspired by this romantic music to create a dramatic garden at this year's Malvern Spring Gardening Show.

"Throughout the 1870s, Elgar learnt his craft through studying the scores of the great composers, which he had unrestricted access to in his father's shop," museum spokeswoman Carmen Shipway said.

"This extremely exciting and cunningly contrived concert cycle is a 'must' for every music lover.

"Equally, it is very attractive and alluring for those who would like to discover the beauty of the music, written by one of Britain's greatest composers and his musical idols."

In May, the museum plays host to violin and piano duo Louis Carus and Richard Pearson, who will perform a Brahms Sonata, Dvorak's Sonatina and some of Elgar's early pieces.

The following three concerts include pieces by Schumann, which Elgar enjoyed during his first visit to Leipzig in Germany in January 1883, and will be performed by The Broadheath Ensemble, pianist Euodia Jordan and the Arioso String Quartet.

The series ends on September 16 with piano duo Adrian Partington and Donald Hunt, performing Brahms' Variations on a theme of Schumann, Dvorak's Slavonic Dances and Elgar's Enigma Variations, transcribed for piano duo.

For tickets or more information, call 01905 333 224.