Beare’s Chamber Music festival review: string supergroup dazzle with Schubert, Strauss and Schoenberg

Cadogan Hall, London
The likes of Janine Jansen, Timothy Ridout and Kian Soltani were part of a starry lineup giving this London audience a taste of heaven on earth

This week’s Hodge Report has formally identified problems that have long been anecdotally evident. Arts in the UK are underfunded and overburdened with bureaucracy to gain what little money there is in a contracting industry. It’s heartening, then, to see a major new charity step into the breach.

Veteran London-based violin dealers J&A Beare have supported students and professional players with loan-instruments for nearly five decades. Now they up the ante with a new Cultural Trust, founded to supply masterclasses, scholarships and practical support for string players. A biennial mini festival, featuring Beare’s instruments and their international players, launched last night at a sold-out Cadogan Hall, with a second concert at the Wigmore Hall this evening.