A concert of celebration to recognise a man’s contribution to arts in the area will take place in Presteigne

The evening of classical music will recognise Ernie Kay and his significant contribution to Mid Border Arts and Presteigne Assembly Rooms. 

It will take place at the Assembly Rooms on Saturday, December 6 at 7.30pm with doors open at 7pm.

Ernie lived in Presteigne and set up the Kay Trust in memory of his late wives Kathy and Margaret to help various organisations, during the 1990s he was part of the committee that ran Mid Border Community Arts, playing a major role in the leasing of the Assembly Rooms from Powys County Council. He was also involved in running the Presteigne Festival of Music and the Arts in the 1980’s. 

He made a generous donation to Mid Border Arts, served on the Trustees and helped them obtain and refurbish a really beautiful piano that will be one of the instruments played in the concert

The arts were not Ernie’s only passion. In 2001 he received an MBE for his services to the development of Offa’s Dyke Path.  The culmination of their work was the opening of the Offa’s Dyke Centre in Knighton in 1999.

Ernest Kay MBE died on 4 January 2019, aged 87, after a life time of enthusiasm and financial support to many projects.

The central work at the concert will be The Roses of Heliogabalus by Andrey Rubtsov with additional pieces by Lutoslawski, Debussy, Mozart, Schubert, Chopin and Spohr. 

The concert of celebration will feature Ruth Watson on oboe, Peter Cornish on clarinet and Leila Basletić on piano 

Originally from Hampshire, Ruth came to live in the Welsh hills nearly 30 years ago via York University, the Banff Centre in Canada, London and Portugal. 

She has played in various orchestras including the National Youth Orchestra, Scottish Opera, Scottish Chamber Orchestra , Ulster Orchestra and Bournemouth orchestras, WNO, London Sinfonietta and five years as principal oboe in the Orquestra do Porto. 

She is known locally for forming the Marches Oboe School and as one of the former co-owners and operators of the popular Presteigne restaurant, The Hat Shop which ran for 15 years. 

In 2018, she set up the Old School Community Hub in New Radnor which serves up food, beer and music.

A native of Herefordshire, Peter studied clarinet as a teenager with Michael Saxton at the Welsh College of Music and Drama and then with Alan Hacker. 

He completed an Arts and Humanities Research Council funded PhD in Musicology at Royal Holloway University of London and has given numerous lecture-recitals at UK universities focused on the conception and performance of twentieth century music for clarinet. 

Local composer Adrian Williams is currently composing a clarinet sonata for him, so perhaps the audience will be lucky enough to hear from him again.

Born in Croatia, Leila has lived in Presteigne since 2013. 

She started playing piano at the age of seven and studied Theory of Music and Keyboards (piano, organ, harpsichord) at Music Academy of Zagreb. 

She has given recitals in various countries including Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, Italy and the US. 

Since she moved to the UK, she has been performing with Ruth Watson and other musicians and is currently working as a piano teacher in John Beddoes School.

This event is not ticketed, but any donations to Mid Border Arts will be gratefully received.