Toad Lane Concerts, Rochdale
12th November 2025

Midweek Musical Delight at St Mary in the Baum!

Every Wednesday at 12:30pm, enjoy the Queen’s Award-winning Toad Lane Concerts at the stunning Grade I listed St Mary in the Baum church, Toad Lane, Rochdale, OL16 1DZ.

Admission is just £6. As a “not for profit” initiative, your entry fee and donations directly support talented musicians, the historic venue, and music resources.

For details, contact Dr. Joe Dawson: 01706 648872.

Note: There have been 1,162 concerts since taking over the council’s Music at Lunchtime in 2001. Justifying continuity in Rochdale’s year as the Greater Manchester Town of Culture.

Doors open 12noon, concert starts 12.30pm – 1.30pm.

Wed 19/11/2025 – The Kell Wind Trio: Alastair Roberts flute, Geoffrey Smith clarinet & Ian Harvey bassoon

Here are the next events to whet your appetite.

- Nov 26 – Notability mixed voice choir – piano Lesley Cavanagh

Previous Performance Reviews.

Wednesday 12th November 2025 -Liana Storey piano

On Monday at 7:02 am I received an email from the scheduled artiste for the coming Wednesday saying that she had to cancel because of Covid.

However, she was professional enough to arrange for a stand-in, one of her fellow masters-graduates at the RNCM, Japanese British pianist Liana Storey. Emails ensued through the morning between myself and Liana, who was on a train from Glasgow.

Born in Kansas City, USA in 2002 to a family of musicians, Liana began playing the piano at the age of four and studied at the International Center for Music at Park University, Missouri, performing from an early age.

After moving from Kansas City to Glasgow in 2010, Liana studied at the Junior Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. She passed her ABRSM Grade 8 piano exam at the age of twelve, winning a bursary for the highest mark for piano in Glasgow. Other awards included Young Pianist of the North International Piano Competition in 2014 and numerous piano categories at the Glasgow Music Festival. Most recently, she has won the RNCM Concerto Competition.

In 2020, she moved to Manchester and the RNCM where she completed her Undergraduate & master’s degrees and is now doing her Postgraduate Diploma and will perform at the Bridgewater Hall later next year. In the last six years she has given multiple performances of concertos with various orchestras, solo and chamber concerts, attended several international piano courses and performed in masterclasses with top class pianists.

With such a glittering c.v. it is perhaps no surprise that at two days’ notice she could produce a top-quality recital in a range of styles (completely from memory!) introduced and performed with mature aplomb.

Scarlatti’s Sonata in F sharp was a glittering start; a fitting celebration of the piano emerging as the dominant keyboard instrument over the harpsichord family. Liana clearly relished the heritage 1935 Challen Grand in St Mary’s acoustic.

This was followed by the three vividly contrasted movements of Pour le Piano by Debussy; an intelligent and passionate interpretation of Beethoven’s Sonata in E, Op. 109; and two of Rachmaninoff’s Moments Musicaux Op 16 – the profoundly sombre No 3 and insanely brilliant and bravura No 4. Not for the first time in this recital this appeared like a concerto minus the orchestra.

A glorious recital from a gifted and engaging performer.

With thanks to Dr. Joe Dawson for permission to publish his article.

Wednesday 5th November 2025 -Madeleine Brown piano (Cambridge University & RNCM)

Rochdale’s weekly lunchtime concerts at St Mary in the Baum provide a platform for local talent, choirs, schoolchildren as well as visiting star performers like today.

Prize winning Cambridge graduate (where she won the university Concerto competition) and RNCM (where she won the Gold Medal), Madeleine Brown captivated the audience with a marvellous piano recital. With her impressive list of past and present tutors and mentors and several international prizes, she looks set for great things. Indeed, the distinguished pianist Peter Donohue described her as having ‘the potential to become a major voice in the classical music world.’

With a charming and engaging manner, Madeleine introduced a fascinating programme containing some pieces which are seldom performed. The overall theme could be said to be about invention and variation on a number of levels.

Haydn’s classical Variations in F minor were delightfully played with agility and fluency. In contrast Janacek’s Sonata of 1905 took us on an emotional journey built on nationalistic elements such as speech rhythms. Three Preludes by Debussy were impressionistic variations with an improvisatory feel such as adapting Spanish guitar rhythms to evoke the story of an ‘Interrupted Serenade’.

The crowning glory of this sumptuous and varied recital was Franck ‘s monumental Prelude, Chorale and Fugue. Based on the forms of JS Bach, as one might expect from an eminent organist, Franck explored his equally impressive pianistic prowess to develop a masterwork in keyboard variations. Initial musical ideas expressed in the prelude, fantastical pianistic expansion of the chorale chords culminated in an extended fugue that linked everything together and made us feel that variation could be infinite. All this handled superbly by Madeleine and totally from memory.

But most significant of all was Madeleine’s brilliance at taking risks on the instrument to explore variations in technique and dynamics. Rarely do we hear such exquisite soft playing, which in turn added greater power to the crescendos and climaxes … and all of this on an unfamiliar heritage piano that she only had minutes to engage with before the concert.

A stunning and inspirational performance, well on the way to fulfilling Peter Donohue’s prophecy.

With thanks to Dr. Joe Dawson for permission to publish his article.