Welcome to the West Wight Arts Association
West Wight Arts Association
February Concert
The next concert of West Wight Arts Association's 2025/26 season will be held on Saturday February 7th in Freshwater Memorial Hall, starting at 7.00pm.
It will be given by the soprano Sarah Gabriel and pianist Viv McLean. Appearing as a regular duo in recital halls throughout the UK, and on BBC Radio 3’s In Tune, both also have distinguished solo careers. Sarah is an acclaimed actor as well as a singer. Viv is an in-demand recitalist and soloist, who has received accolades for his previous performances on the Island with the IOW Symphony Orchestra and at the Memorial Hall.
“Magic of the highest order... absolute sorcery” – The Guardian (on Sarah)
“Exceptional…he astonished us with his musical maturity and extraordinary sonority” Le Monde (on Viv)
The programme for their Memorial Hall concert includes songs by Fauré, Hahn, Ravel, Duparc and piano music by Debussy, along with a selection of Gershwin’s songs and his Rhapsody in Blue.
Tickets at £17.00 (£3.00 for students and children) which includes the £1.00 booking fee, are available from our ticket page or Totland Parish Office on 756028.
Please note the concert starts at 7.00pm.
Where There’s Muck There’s Brass
We are pleased to share a recording from our December concert featuring A4 Brass performing Where There’s Muck There’s Brass, a piece commissioned by West Wight Arts Association from Pam Wedgwood.
The performance was filmed by Alan Benns and captures this lively and characterful work beautifully.
A4 Brass have also asked us to share details of their newly released CD, now available from their website:
https://www.a4brassquartet.co.uk/shop/albums
Dementia Carers’ Friendship Group
The collection at the end of the concert by Amiri Harewood for the Dementia Carers’ Friendship Group raised £518.62!
We'd like to take this opportunity to thank the audience for their great generosity.
Thomas Luke releases debut album - See Me Now
The pianist Thomas Luke is having his first album See Me Now released on January 16th and has asked us to let his loyal audience on the Isle of Wight know.
CDs are now available for pre-order at this link: https://www.thomasluke.co.uk/shop
All CDs will be shipping as soon as the album releases in a couple of weeks.
See Me Now, Thomas Luke's debut album, features eight original compositions. The album was recorded in September 2025 at Studio Falkland Lodge on a Venables & Son Custom-218 grand piano, affectionately known as “Maurice.”
The music moves between intimate solo piano and expansive, multi-tracked sound worlds, with subtle production and natural textures woven throughout. Resisting easy genre definition, the album draws freely from classical, jazz, ambient, minimalist, and other influences, whilst not being confined by them.
Deeply personal in nature, See Me Now stands as a statement of intent and a reconciliation of identity, shaped through curiosity, honesty, and a desire to create something deeply human.
Do support our young IoW star!
End of Season concert May 10th 2025
The End of Season concert in May was given by six recipients of West Wight Arts Association’s winners of the 2024 Bursary.
The next Bursary will be held in the spring of 2026 and details will be posted on to this website.
Steinway Grand Piano
The Steinway ‘B’ grand piano in the Memorial Hall, Freshwater, which belongs to West Wight Arts Association, is available for hire by arrangement with WWAA.
Please check the availability of the Memorial Hall with the administrator Debbie McAteer on memohall1960@gmail.com or 01983 752956 in the first instance and then email Richard Wilkins on wilkins.r@btinternet.com for further details.
West Wight Arts Association Bursary
West Wight Arts Association has a long tradition of promoting promising young musicians through our bursary scheme, which we run every two years. The next one will be held on February 28th 2026 .
To encourage talented and aspiring local music students who would welcome financial support to further their studies, a sum is set aside every two years to provide bursaries for young Islanders aged between 11 and 21 years at the time of auditioning.
“The concert was one of the best I have been to anywhere, the gut stringing added to their brilliant interpretation of the Mozart which was thrilling.”
“Absolutely wonderful that music of this quality is available in (dare I say it) sleepy old Freshwater. I wish WWAA every success in the future.”
“I thought it absolutely fabulous and their interpretation masterful and magical – I thought Amadeus himself would have been smiling.”
Previous Concerts
