Welcome to the West Wight Arts Association
West Wight Arts Concert
Saturday 10 October 2026
The next concert in West Wight Arts Association's 80th-anniversary season takes place on Saturday 10 October 2026 and will be given by cellist Petar Pejčić and pianist Nour Ayadi.
Selected at the 2025 YCAT International Auditions at Wigmore Hall, Petar was named an ECHO Rising Star for 2026-27, which will see him perform on some of Europe’s biggest stages, such as the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and Elbphilharmonie Hamburg. After training in Morocco, Nour continued her piano studies at the École Normale and the Conservatoire de Paris. Her accolades include the Cortot Prize and a nomination for the Victoires de la Musique.
‘a wonderful musician with a compelling sense of storytelling’
Le Soir, on Petar
Tickets at £17.00 (£3.00 for students and children), which include 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.
End of Season concert May 9th 2026
One of the musical events of which West Wight Arts Association is most proud is its biennial Bursary Award Scheme for young music students on the Island, the culmination of which took place in a concert on Saturday May 9th at the Memorial Hall, Freshwater.
Nine out of the 20 young Island musicians who had been given an award gave an appreciative audience a real treat. Their ages ranged from 12 to 18 and they included two singers, William Kent and Jazzmin Salter, three pianists, Joseph Pontin, Toby Temple and Kayleigh Tran, two violinists, Angelina Ortega and Keziah Brown, one cellist, Isaac Hood and one alto saxophonist, Jack Kilby.
The concert was introduced by WWAA Trustee Pam Wedgwood, who had organised the Bursary, and three of them were accompanied on the piano by fellow Trustee Richard Wilkins.
West Wight Arts Association then served wine and cheese, and the audience, the musicians and their families had an opportunity to socialise.
The next season, WWAA’s 80th, starts on September 12th 2026. Tickets for individual concerts at £17.00 (£3.00 for students and children) are available after August 4th from our ticket page or Totland Parish Office on 01983 756028. Details of all the concerts are on the website.
Annual Report of the West Wight Arts Association 2025/6
Yet again a highly successful season with near capacity audiences at almost all concerts, a record breaking Bursary both in terms of the range of talent and the amount we were able to donate, the première of a commission (a first for WWAA) and most importantly eight excellent concerts much enjoyed by all present. It would be fair to say that West Wight Arts Association continues to thrive.
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!
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 in February/March 2028.
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.
Some comments about previous concerts
“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
