The Assembly House Trust
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Amabile – clarinet, cello and piano trio
Assembly House Classical presents
Amabile – clarinet, cello and piano trio
Programme
Robert Muczynski – Fantasy Trio, Op. 26 (1969)
Ludwig van Beethoven – Trio, Op. 11 (1797)
Robert Kahn – Trio, Op. 45 (1905)
“This accomplished score was heard to full advantage in the
Amabile Trio’s glowing & committed performance.”
Paul Conway / The Musical Opinion Magazine
Amabile has established a reputation for imaginative programming and dynamic performances. As well as performing much-loved classics, Amabile highlights some surprisingly neglected composers, bringing unknown works to their audiences, and also enjoys expanding the repertoire with newly commissioned music.
Lesley Schatzberger (clarinet) was principal clarinet with orchestras including the English Baroque Soloists and Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique. For 12 years she was a member of Stockhausen’s own ensemble. Now focussing on chamber music, Lesley also teaches at the University of York, which conferred on her an honorary doctorate in 2006, and in 2020 she was awarded Honorary Membership of the Royal Northern College of Music. In 2025 she was awarded an OBE.
Nicola Tait Baxter (cello) started her career with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields chamber orchestra and performed regularly with many of the London orchestras. For several years she was cellist in the Fitzwilliam String Quartet, performing & giving masterclasses worldwide. Nicola is often invited to give concerto performances and is passionate about chamber music. She holds teaching posts at Harrow and Merchant Taylors’ schools and runs Leading Notes chamber music courses for young string players.
Paul Nicholson (piano) has enjoyed a diverse musical career as an accompanist, chamber musician, soloist and director. Following early experience as coach and accompanist at the Britten-Pears School at Snape, Paul became an increasingly eminent Early Keyboard specialist, playing in many leading period instrument ensembles. He has been Associate Musical Director of the London Handel and Tilford Bach Festivals, and is also an Anglican Priest.
“The opening Allegro [of the Brahms Trio] had a lovely flow here and a delicate ending. In the heat haze conjured by the Adagio, the cello of Nicola Tait Baxter came into its own, entwined closely with Lesley Schatzberger’s idiomatic clarinet. Paul Nicholson’s piano neatly underpinned the lilting Viennese waltz.”
Martin Dreyer / York Late Music Series
Trio Incendio
Assembly House Classical presents
Trio Incendio - piano, violin, cello
Programme
B. Martinů - Piano Trio No. 3, H. 332
V. Novák - Piano Trio No. 2, Quasi una ballata
D. Shostakovich - Piano Trio No. 2, Op. 67
“Here is a group to take note of, and count on for the future.”
— Alfred Brendel on Trio Incendio
Founded in 2016, Trio Incendio has quickly established itself as one of the most distinctive young European ensembles, having already performed in some of the finest European venues such as Wigmore Hall, Philharmonie Berlin and the Rudolfinum in Prague.
Trio Incendio is recognized for its delicacy and stylistic sensitivity in classical works, warmth of sound in Romantic repertoire, and its captivating approach to contemporary music.
Trio Incendio was founded in 2016 in Prague by pianist Karolína Františová, violinist Filip Zaykov and cellist Vilém Petras.
The trio is a laureate of several competitions, including the Joseph Haydn Competition in Vienna, Joseph Joachim Competition in Weimar, Gianni Bergamo Classic Music Award in Lugano, Coop Music Awards in Cremona, Concorso Musicale “Marcello Pontillo” in Firenze, Kiejstut Bacewicz Competition in Łódź, Concorso “Massimiliano Antonelli” in Latina and the Bohuslav Martinů Competition in Prague, where they also received the Special Prize for the best interpretation of a work by Martinů.
Recently, the trio has been awarded the Hans Gál Prize by the Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur Mainz and the Villa Musica Foundation.
Trio Incendio took part in the Verbier Academy, where they had the pleasure of working with members of Quatuor Ébène, Nicolas Altstaedt, Amihai Grosz, Mihaela Martin and Gábor Takács-Nagy.
As a member ensemble of the European Chamber Music Academy, Trio Incendio has had the opportunity to work regularly with distinguished artists and professors such as Hatto Beyerle, Johannes Meissl, Julius Berger, Alexander Lonquich, Karla Haltenwanger, Avedis Koyoumdjian, Marianna Shirinyan, Boris Berman, Itamar Golan, Jan Talich, Petr Prause, Vida Vujić, Patrick Jüdt, Minna Pensola, Dirk Mommertz and Hyung-ki Joo. In 2019, the trio was also invited to join the Le Dimore del Quartetto organisation.
Trio Incendio took part in a masterclass with Rainer Schmidt and participated in two public masterclasses with Alfred Brendel on Schubert piano trios at the Rudolfinum in Prague. One of these masterclasses, on Trio No. 1, has been released on DVD by the Supraphon label.
The trio regularly participates in the International Summer Academy in Reichenau, organised by the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. There they have been awarded the Wiener Klassik Prize, Bohuslav Martinů Prize and AHUV Prize for the best interpretation of Czech contemporary music, as well as the Chamber Music Prize for best ensemble of the academy and the Audience Award.
Trio Incendio performs both in the Czech Republic and abroad. The ensemble has appeared in major European venues including Philharmonie Berlin, Wigmore Hall and the Rudolfinum in Prague, and has been invited to festivals such as Ticino Musica, Davos Festival, Ohrid Summer Festival and the chamber music series of the Prague Spring Festival.
Sabi Ensemble - string quintet
Assembly House Classical presents
Sabi Ensemble: string quintet
Programme
Louise Farrenc (1804–1875) – Nonet in E-flat major, Op.38 (arranged by the composer for string quintet)
George Onslow (1784–1853) – String Quintet No.26 in C minor, Op.67
Sabi Ensemble
Catherine Martin – Violin I
Persephone Gibbs – Violin II
Clifton Harrison – Viola
Sarah McMahon – Cello
Carina Cosgrave – Double Bass
Sabi Ensemble is an ensemble based in London dedicated to exploring and sharing the rich sound worlds of chamber music through historic instruments and practices.
Founded by double bassist Carina Cosgrave in 2024, the ensemble delves into the musical traditions and stories of composers, bringing their works to life for audiences. Central to the groups mission is celebrating brilliant yet often overlooked or marginalised musicians and their work.
Their debut album, FROM THE HEART, is due for release in October 2025 on Penny Fiddle Records with launch events in Kings Place and South East London.
This latest project, BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT, has been made possible with the support of the Continuo Foundation.
Roman Simovic, violin Milena Simovic, viola David Cohen, cello
Assembly House Classical presents
Virtuoso Masters: LSO Principals in Concert
Roman Simovic, violin
Milena Simovic, viola
David Cohen, cello
Programme
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) String Trio in C minor, Op. 9, No. 3
Mieczysław Weinberg (1919–1996) String Trio, Op. 48
Alfred Schnittke (1934–1998) String Trio (1985)
Virtuoso Masters: LSO Principals in Concert
Roman Simović, Violin Roman Simović is the leader of the London Symphony Orchestra and is celebrated as one of the foremost violinists of his generation. A first-prize winner of the "Premio Rodolfo Lipizer" and laureate of the Wieniawski Competition, he has performed as a soloist on the world’s most prestigious stages, including Carnegie Hall, the Barbican, and the Mariinsky Theatre. He has collaborated with legendary conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle, Antonio Pappano, and Valery Gergiev. His extensive discography includes a 2024 release of Bartók and Rózsa concertos with the LSO. He is a visiting professor at the Royal Academy of Music and performs on a 1709 Antonio Stradivari violin.
Milena Simović, Viola Praised for her "innate musicality" and "rare artistic sensibility," Milena Simović enjoys a distinguished career as a soloist and chamber musician. She has performed at iconic venues including Wigmore Hall, the Berlin Konzerthaus, and Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie. A versatile artist, her performances have been broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and Medici TV. Formerly Nigel Kennedy's "recording artist," she is currently releasing a new concerto for Signum Records. She holds a professorship at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance and performs on a 1740 Paolo Antonio Testore viola.
David Cohen, Cello David Cohen is the Principal Cellist of the London Symphony Orchestra and one of the most charismatic musicians of his day. At age 20, he was appointed Principal Cello of the Philharmonia Orchestra, becoming the youngest in its history. His international career as a soloist has seen him perform with the BBC Symphony and NHK Symphony under the batons of masters like Mstislav Rostropovich and Lord Menuhin, who described him as an "altogether remarkable" performer. A winner of over 25 international prizes, he is also a renowned conductor and Artistic Director of the "Les Sons Intensifs" festival. He performs on a 1735 Dominicus Montagnana cello.
Alinea Quartet
Assembly House Classical presents
Alinea Quartet
Programme
Joseph Haydn - String Quartet C Major, Op. 20 No. 2
Ludwig van Beethoven - String Quartet C sharp Minor, Op. 131
Alinea Quartet
Fanny Anaïs Schell, Violin I
Mario Sögtrop, Violin II
Justus Schümmer, Viola
David Fuchs, Cello
“Extraordinarily beautiful, refined, expressive and completely technically assured (…) this was musicianship of a very high order, and it was a thrill to be there to hear it (….). They reward the audience with a treat of the rarest music-making.” – Jeremy Thurlow
In typography, the “Alinea” symbol means the beginning of a new thought. The Alinea Quartet, based in Munich and founded in 2020, has set out to rethink the meaning and relevance of chamber music for our time.
On this search, they are looking to establish a dialogue with their audiences in conversational recitals, constantly striving to engage with different artforms and experimenting with innovative concert formats. This approach has led to performances in places as diverse as the Prinzregententheater Munich, Musikverein Graz, MAAT Museum Lisbon, Cambridge University and the Venice Biennale – but they also bring their music to elementary schools, retirement homes and children’s clinics.
The ensemble is studying with Prof. Alexander Pavlovsky (Jerusalem Quartet) at Kunstuniversität Graz. They also received valuable impulses from renowned musicians such as Jörg Widmann, Valentin Erben (Alban Berg Quartett), Heime Müller (Artemis Quartet), Gregor Sigl (Artemis Quartet), Ida Bieler (Melos Quartet), Oliver Wille (Kuss Quartet), the Jerusalem Quartet, the Cuarteto Casals, the Schumann Quartett and the Goldmund Quartet.
At the XI. International Competition “Annarosa Taddei” 2023, the Alinea Quartet won the First Prize. At the XII. Concorso Internazionale Musica Classica in Filadelfia, Italy, the Alinea Quartet won first prize as well as the special prize “Paolo Serrao”. In 2024, they won Second Prize in the “Da Vinci Young Sounds” Competition. They received scholarships from the Brahmsgesellschaft Baden-Baden and Jeunesses Musicales. In 2021 they were nominated for the special prize “Ton & Erklärung” by the Federation of German Industry and selected for the network “Le Dimore del Quartetto”. Since 2024, they have held a scholarship from “Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now”.
By combining their instrumental skills with their individual backgrounds in fields such as musicology, literature and philosophy, they seek to create new and exciting interpretations. In addition to their passion for the traditional quartet repertoire, the Alinea Quartet strives to explore further by creating their own arrangements of both classical and jazz music. The Alinea Quartet has performed as part of festivals around Europe, including Germany, Italy, Austria, Portugal, France, Switzerland, Great Britain and the Netherlands. Their debut album “Le temps perdu” will be published by DaVinci Classics in 2025.
“Besides their outstanding technical abilities, the four musicians are characterized by a great passion, freshness and straightforward will, paired with thorough knowledge of the pieces they play.” – Taunus Nachrichten
“an intricate performance (…) a magical night of music making.” – The Cambridge Critique
Maxim Calver, cello & Kumi Matsuo, piano
Assembly House Classical presents
Maxim Calver, cello
Kumi Matsuo, piano
Programme
Claude Debussy — Cello Sonata
Robert Schumann — Adagio and Allegro, Op. 70
Dmitri Shostakovich — Cello Sonata in D minor, Op. 40
Maxim Calver first gained public recognition as a Grand Finalist and Strings Category winner of BBC Young Musician 2018. Since then, he has been in high demand across the UK and Europe, appearing in many of Europe’s leading venues including Wigmore Hall, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Tonhalle Zürich, and Symphony Hall, Birmingham, amongst others.
In recent seasons, he has appeared as a concerto soloist with the Bath, Plymouth, Stockport, Ipswich, Maidstone, and Young Musician Symphony Orchestras, and performed debut recitals at the King’s Lynn Festival, Hay Festival, Oranjewoud Festival, Cambridge Summer Music Festival, and Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, amongst others.
A passionate chamber musician, Maxim has recently appeared at the Verbier Festival, Pau Casals International Music Festival, Edinburgh International Festival, and IMS Prussia Cove Open Chamber Music Seminar, as well as in live radio broadcasts from the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Berlin Konzerthaus, and Royal Holloway Chapel. In May 2024, he was invited to the prestigious Kronberg Academy for their Chamber Music Connects the World Festival, performing alongside Lawrence Power, Gidon Kremer, and Antje Weithaas.
Originally from Gorleston-on-Sea in Norfolk, Maxim began learning the cello at the age of four before moving to the Yehudi Menuhin School aged eight. He is currently an Artist in Residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel, studying with Gary Hoffman and Jeroen Reuling. He has also received guidance from many of the world’s leading musicians, including Steven Isserlis, Gábor Takács-Nagy, Nicolas Altstaedt, Frans Helmerson, and Ilya Gringolts.
Maxim is very grateful for the support of the Amaryllis Fleming Foundation, Geoff and Val Richards, the Countess of Munster Musical Trust, the Drake Calleja Trust, and the Hattori Foundation.
Kumi Matsuo is a versatile solo pianist, chamber musician, and accompanist. She has won numerous competitions, including First Prize in the 6th Isidor Bajić Memorial Piano Competition in Serbia and First Prize in the 5th Louisiana International Piano Competition, USA. She is now on the staff at the Royal College of Music (RCM), working as Duo Coach to the String Faculty and accompanying across other departments.
Kumi studied at the Toho Gakuen College of Music in Tokyo, and later at the Royal College of Music in London with John Blakely and Ashley Wass, completing both an Artist Diploma and a Master of Music in Performance with Distinction. She also held the Anthony Saltmarsh Junior Fellowship in Accompaniment. Her studies were generously supported by the Charles Napper Award, the Russell Gander Award, and the Rohm Music Foundation.
During her time at the RCM, Kumi twice won the RCM Concerto Competition, performing Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand at Cadogan Hall with the RCM Sinfonietta conducted by Peter Stark, and Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3with the RCM Symphony Orchestra under Martin André in the Amaryllis Fleming Concert Hall. She also performed Schnittke’s Concerto Grosso No. 1 with the RCM Chamber Orchestra under Vladimir Jurowski at the Queen Elizabeth Hall.
As a soloist and chamber musician, Kumi has performed extensively throughout the UK, as well as in the USA, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, the UAE, India, Korea, and Japan. She made her New York debut at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall and undertook an extended concerto and recital tour across Louisiana.
Tom Poster - piano and Rosalind Ventris - viola
Assembly House Classical presents
Tom Poster - piano and Rosalind Ventris - viola
Thursday 18th December at 1:00 pm
The Assembly House, Norwich
A lyrical journey for viola and piano featuring works by Fleury-Roy, Clarke, Gurney, White, Gipps, Delius & more
Programme
Hélène Fleury-Roy Fantasie (1910)
Luise Adolpha Le Beau Drei Stucke
Rebecca Clarke Morpheus
Ivor Gurney Sleep (arr. Ventris)
Clarence Cameron White Twilight (arr. Ventris)
Ruth Gipps Lyric Phantasy
Frederick Delius Violin Sonata No.2 (arr. Tertis)
Rosalind Ventris
Violist Rosalind Ventris leads an international career as a soloist and chamber musician, and has given recitals at the Royal Festival Hall, Wigmore Hall, Dublin International Chamber Music Festival, Purcell Room, Bozar, Flagey, Slovak Philharmonic, Aldeburgh Festival and Het Concertgebouw. She has performed with orchestras such as the European Union Chamber Orchestra, Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra, Sinfonia Cymru, l’Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie and the Belgian National Orchestra. Rosalind’s debut album (Delphian Records, 2023), featuring music by leading women composers of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, was ‘Instrumental Choice’ in BBC Music Magazine and subsequently nominated for the BBC Music Magazine Premiere Award, and The Sunday Times hailed the recording as ‘rich and illuminating…a uniformly engrossing disc'. She will be performing a solo recital of works from the album at the Wigmore Hall on International Women's Day next year. Highlights of the forthcoming season also include Walton Viola Concerto with the Orchestra of St John's and appearances at the Dublin International Chamber Music Festival.
As a chamber musician, Rosalind frequently performs as part of the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective (Associate Ensemble, Wigmore Hall), and Trio Anima. She has collaborated with artists such as Mitsuko Uchida, Llŷr Williams, Tabea Zimmermann, and Nicola Benedetti. She has been invited to perform at prestigious venues and festivals internationally, including the West Cork, Marlboro, Salzburg and Båstad Festivals, IMS Prussia Cove Open Chamber Music, the Auditorium du Louvre, Paris, and the Beethoven-Haus, Bonn. Praised for her ‘beguiling’ (Gramophone) and ‘gorgeously full-bodied playing’ (The Guardian), Rosalind is a professor of Viola at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and, from September 2025, is the Director of Music at the Yehudi Menuhin School. Alongside her husband, she is one of the Artistic Directors of the Cowbridge Music Festival in Wales. She was formerly the Director of Musical Performance and Performance Studies at the University of Oxford.
Tom Poster
Tom Poster is a musician whose skills and passions extend well beyond the conventional role of the concert pianist. He has been described as “a marvel, [who] can play anything in any style” (The Herald), “mercurially brilliant” (The Strad), and as having “a beautiful tone that you can sink into like a pile of cushions” (BBC Music).
Tom has performed over forty concertos from Mozart to Ligeti with Aurora Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony, China National Symphony, Hallé, London Philharmonic, Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic and Scottish Chamber Orchestra, collaborating with conductors such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Nicholas Collon, Robin Ticciati and Yan Pascal Tortelier, or sometimes directing from the piano. He has premiered solo, chamber and concertante works by many leading composers, made multiple appearances at the BBC Proms, and his exceptional versatility has put him in great demand at festivals internationally.
Tom is co-founder and artistic director of Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective, appointed Associate Ensemble at Wigmore Hall in 2020. With a flexible line-up featuring many of today’s most inspirational musicians, and an ardent commitment to diversity through its creative programming, Kaleidoscope is particularly renowned for its championing of unjustly neglected gems alongside deservedly celebrated classics. Kaleidoscope broadcasts regularly on BBC Radio 3 and has enjoyed residencies at the Aldeburgh, Cheltenham, Lammermuir and Ischia festivals. Its albums for Chandos Records have been shortlisted for BBC Music Magazine and Gramophone awards, while recent performance highlights have included concerts with Hilary Hahn, a debut at the BBC Proms, and two extensive tours of the USA. In 2024, Kaleidoscope was shortlisted for the Royal Philharmonic Society Ensemble Award.
During the 2020 lockdown, his #UriPosteJukeBox series with Elena Urioste - featuring Tom as pianist, arranger, multi-instrumentalist, writer, backing dancer and snowman - brought a staggeringly eclectic selection of music to audiences across the world through 88 daily online performances, for which the duo won the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Inspiration Award. Their subsequent recording, The Jukebox Album, received glowing reviews and a BBC Music Magazine Award.
Tom has recorded albums for BIS, Champs Hill, Chandos, Decca, NMC, Orchid and Warner Classics, appearing as soloist and in collaboration with Elena Urioste, Alison Balsom, Guy Johnston, the Aronowitz Ensemble, Aurora Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia and London Symphony Orchestra. He regularly features as soloist on film soundtracks, including the Oscar-nominated score for The Theory of Everything. He studied with Joan Havill at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and at King’s College, Cambridge. He won First Prize at the Scottish International Piano Competition 2007 and the keyboard section of the BBC Young Musician of the Year Competition in 2000.
Tom’s compositions and arrangements have been commissioned, performed and recorded by Alison Balsom, Matthew Rose, Yo-Yo Ma, Kathryn Stott and Roderick Williams. His chamber opera for puppets, The Depraved Appetite of Tarrare the Freak, received an acclaimed three-week run at Wilton’s Music Hall in 2017. He is a lifelong fan of animals with unusual noses.
Laurel McCallum
Laurel McCallum
September 2025 – January 2026
Laurel McCallum (b.1999, Scotland) is an interdisciplinary textile artist based in the UK. Combining relatable subject matter with bold colours, soft textures, and intimate framing, McCallum aims to celebrate the subtle sweetness of everyday existence. Drawing from mundane moments and ordinary objects creates a feeling somewhere between comfort and unfamiliarity.
Each piece is made by blending terry cloth with oil paint and chalk. This process fosters a labour of love, creating a texture that further feeds into the work’s themes.
Instagram @laurel_mccallum_
Heritage Sounds with Iridescence Ensemble
Iridescence Ensemble takes its audience through an exploration of 20th and 21st century chamber music.
Johnny White Really Really - AM/PM
This show was one of my highlights at the Edinburgh Fringe, a mixture of absurdist storytelling, observational comedy, and poetic ruminations, a sharp witted but soft delivery flowing through surreal original takes of jobs, life, and the mundane. This event is made possible through the support of The Assembly House Trust.
Johnny White Really-Really is an alternative comedian, writer and musician from Sheffield. Described by Chortle in their five-star review of his 2023 stand-up hour Catland, as “a truly singular mind and talent”, his unique brand of comedy is “taking the artform in a genuinely modern direction”.
His most recent show am/pm earned him a nomination for the Malcolm Hardee Award at the 2025 Edinburgh Fringe. He has appeared on Starstruck (BBC), The Paddock (Channel 4), Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared (Channel 4), and cult web series Year Friends (Blink Industries). He hosts the podcast Lunchwatch from Hattrick. As a musician and composer, Johnny has composed film soundtrack work for the National Gallery, The National Theatre, The Old Vic Theatre, the Guardian, Vice, and on the feature films How To Be (2007), and Hide And Seek (2014), which won the Michael Powell Award at the Edinburgh International Film Festival.
www.johnnywhitereallyreally.substack.com
@johnnywhitereallyreally
A review of the 2023 show Catland
Doors 7:30pm
Event starts at 8pm (1hr approx)
Pay What You Can - please bring some cash to go in the bucket at the end of the performance, all money goes straight to Johnny.
The Pierce Room, The Assembly House, NR21RQ
This event is on the first floor, there is a lift available.
We're limited to 40 cap, so if you can't make it please let us know so we can give your space to someone else. Drinks service at The Assembly House can be slow so please allow time to buy drinks before.
Laurel McCallum
Laurel McCallum
September 2025 – January 2026
Laurel McCallum (b.1999, Scotland) is an interdisciplinary textile artist based in the UK. Combining relatable subject matter with bold colours, soft textures, and intimate framing, McCallum aims to celebrate the subtle sweetness of everyday existence. Drawing from mundane moments and ordinary objects creates a feeling somewhere between comfort and unfamiliarity.
Each piece is made by blending terry cloth with oil paint and chalk. This process fosters a labour of love, creating a texture that further feeds into the work’s themes.
Instagram @laurel_mccallum_
Chris Riddell: A Celebration of Childhood Reading
Join us on Saturday 25th October for an evening of conversation and live drawing with writer, illustrator and Children’s Laureate Chris Riddell, discussing the importance of childhood reading.
Chris Riddell: A Celebration of Childhood Reading
Saturday 25th October 2025
The Assembly House, Norwich
Doors 6:30pm for a 7:00pm start
Adults: £10 | Children 13 and under FREE | TNRP Volunteers FREE
Made possible by the generosity of the Assembly House Trust.
Chris is an author, illustrator and the political cartoonist for the Observer. He was appointed the UK’s Waterstones Children’s Laureate in 2015, and alongside many famous collaborative projects with authors, poets and artists, he also writes and illustrates his own books. These include the Ottoline series, the Costa Award winning Goth Girl series, and most recently, Mermaid’s Diary. Chris has won many awards for his work, including the Nestlé Gold Award, the UNESCO Award and two Kate Greenaway Medals. He’s been described as Britain’s greatest living illustrator…
We’re thrilled to be welcoming Chris to The Norwich Book Festival. He’ll be talking about the importance of childhood reading and how books have shaped his life and career, live drawing as he speaks. His creations will be visible to the audience via a projector and screen — an enthralling experience not to be missed.
After the talk, Chris will take questions from the audience and then be available to sign books (his latest release, Mermaid’s Diary, will be on sale along with a selection of his other titles.)
The Book Hive is presenting this event in partnership The Norfolk Reading Project (TNRP). TNRP is a vital charity improving literacy standards across the county by training volunteers to support children’s reading on a one-to-one basis within Primary Schools. Volunteers are trained to help children decode words with phonics — but also encourage reading for pleasure by talking attentively about books, stories and characters. Since 2015, TNRP has trained over 400 volunteers and now works with more than 50 schools throughout the county. Their efforts are more important now than ever, with recent studies showing 1 in 4 children in England leave primary school unable to read well — a figure that rises to over a third here in Norfolk.
This event will also serve as a 10th anniversary celebration for TNRP. All proceeds from public ticket sales will function as a donation, going directly to TNRP to support the incredible work they do.
Free Tour of The Assembly House
We hope you are able to join us for a free tour of The Assembly House curated by guide Roxanne Matthews, funded by The Assembly House Trust.
Tickets are required to attend these limited space tours.
You can register for up to four tickets - if the tour is fully booked please join the waiting list on the event page. If tickets come available we will contact you. If you realise that you are unable to attend the tour please contact us on info@assemblyhousetrust.org.uk
Please Note
* Tours begin at 10am and are 1.5 hours long. Please meet Roxanne in the Grand Hall, which is the hall with our reception desk, she will take your name from the bookings list
* If this tour needs to be cancelled for any reason, you will be emailed on the address you book under. We cannot guarantee there will not be circumstances in which a tour may need to be cancelled if, for example, there are safety concerns or illness: please check your mail before travelling
* Tickets for this tour will NOT be rolled over to the next tour in the case of cancellation
* Due to changes in access restrictions the tour group cannot visit the crypt
* Tours may not involve all rooms at the House if they are booked for private events
* Tours are not suitable for children under the age of 10.
Laura MacDonald - cello & Anastasia Kulikova - piano
Commemorating the 50th anniversary of Dmitry Shostakovich's death with a program of cello/piano sonatas by Shostakovich and Benjamin Britten
Laurel McCallum
Laurel McCallum
September 2025 – January 2026
Laurel McCallum (b.1999, Scotland) is an interdisciplinary textile artist based in the UK. Combining relatable subject matter with bold colours, soft textures, and intimate framing, McCallum aims to celebrate the subtle sweetness of everyday existence. Drawing from mundane moments and ordinary objects creates a feeling somewhere between comfort and unfamiliarity.
Each piece is made by blending terry cloth with oil paint and chalk. This process fosters a labour of love, creating a texture that further feeds into the work’s themes.
Instagram @laurel_mccallum_
Heritage Open Days - Launch of New Guide
Heritage Open Days
Chestnut's Guide - Launch Event
Sunday 14 September, 11:00–13:00
The Noverre Ballroom, The Assembly House
All ages welcome, free entry
Come and see The Assembly House through the eyes of 8-14 year olds and find out who Chestnut is. Our young guides have worked & played hard to find the juiciest details from the House's past, and are launching their own free foldout paper guide and timeline. For one day only, come and hear it from them.
We have long wanted to make the fascinating, gruelling, uplifting stories of the Assembly House more accessible. So we teamed up with some children and a designer to do just that.
We've worked together to immerse ourselves in tales and the remaining physical structures of the House, through drama, play and design and we're here to tell you all about it. Come and meet our young guides alongside our regular art historian, Roxanne Matthews, in this drop-in event of talks, chats and wonder.
Don't forget to pick up your very own free copy of their work!
Summer Workshop for 8-14yrs
Are you 8-14? A budding history detective, designer or actor? We have long wanted to make the fascinating, gruelling, uplifting stories of The Assembly House more inviting for kids and WE NEED YOUR HELP.
Join our tour guide, art historian (arts producer and forest school leader) Roxanne Matthews, and a local designer to come up with a new foldout guide to be launched at this year’s Heritage Open Days. You get to design the plot twists, the look, the delivery, it’s over to you. After the launch event the guide will be available from the flyer racks at The Assembly House.
The details:
You’d need to be free for 3 workshops on 19th, 20th and 21st Aug, 11am–2pm
Then again on 14th September 10am–1pm to launch the guide, this will be a drop-in day for visitors.
It’s free to take part but numbers are limited so we do need commitment on attendance.
The workshop will mainly be taking place in a room on the first floor at The Assembly House, there is a lift available. Please let us know any access requirements on the form.
The workshop is now full, all spaces have been allocated.
A Free Tour of The Assembly House
We hope you are able to join us for a free tour of The Assembly House curated by guide Roxanne Matthews, funded by The Assembly House Trust.
Tickets are required to attend these limited space tours.
You can register for up to four tickets - if the tour is fully booked please join the waiting list on the event page. If tickets come available we will contact you. If you realise that you are unable to attend the tour please contact us on info@assemblyhousetrust.org.uk
Please Note
* Tours begin at 10am and are 1.5 hours long. Please meet Roxanne in the Grand Hall, which is the hall with our reception desk, she will take your name from the bookings list
* If this tour needs to be cancelled for any reason, you will be emailed on the address you book under. We cannot guarantee there will not be circumstances in which a tour may need to be cancelled if, for example, there are safety concerns or illness: please check your mail before travelling
* Tickets for this tour will NOT be rolled over to the next tour in the case of cancellation
* Due to changes in access restrictions the tour group cannot visit the crypt
* Tours may not involve all rooms at the House if they are booked for private events
* Tours are not suitable for children under the age of 10.
The Arts Society Wensum: Palmyra, Bride of the Desert
In this talk, lecturer Paul Roberts looks at one of the most beautiful cities of the ancient world, the fabled city of Palmyra, in the Syrian desert. Palmyra arose on a trade route that brought silk, spices and other luxuries across the desert from the east.
Her wealth and power are displayed in gorgeous monuments, while her people, wealthy, sophisticated and cosmopolitan, are preserved in their hauntingly beautiful funeral portraits. Palmyra became so powerful during the Roman empire that its warrior queen Zenobia challenged Rome itself.
We’ll see Palmyra’s meteoric rise and its dramatic fall, its rediscovery by English lords, its influence on art and architecture, and then its desecration by Isis. But we finish with the hope that beautiful Palmyra will rise again…
Dr Paul Roberts is Head of the Department of Antiquities at the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, Oxford University.
He studied Classics at the University of Cambridge, and Classical Archaeology at the Universities of Sheffield and Oxford. He then lived in Italy for several years, teaching and researching. He has travelled throughout the former lands of the Roman Empire, from Britain to Syria, and has excavated in Britain, Greece, Libya, Turkey and in particular Italy, where he is currently working on a Roman Villa in the Molise region of the Central Apennines. His research focuses on the daily life of ordinary people in the Greek and Roman worlds, and he has written books and articles on Greek and Roman daily life, Pompeii and Herculaneum, Sicily, Roman Emperors, mummy portraits, and Greek and Roman ceramics and glass. He is now writing a guide to the monuments and Emperors of ancient Rome.
All Arts Society Wensum members are welcome to attend this event without booking.
Arts Society Wensum normally holds nine monthly lectures (September-November; January- June) and a Christmas lecture. The lectures are held at the Assembly House in the centre of Norwich.
It also arranges Special Interest Days and day visits to places of interest. Each autumn it organises a 3-4 day visit to another UK destination.
The society has room for a few additional members. If you are interested please contact the Membership Secretary: taswensum.membership@gmail.com
A Free Tour of The Assembly House
We hope you are able to join us for a free tour of The Assembly House curated by guide Roxanne Matthews, funded by The Assembly House Trust.
Tickets are required to attend these limited space tours.
You can register for up to four tickets - if the tour is fully booked please join the waiting list on the event page. If tickets come available we will contact you. If you realise that you are unable to attend the tour please contact us on info@assemblyhousetrust.org.uk
Please Note
* Tours begin at 10am and are 1.5 hours long. Please meet Roxanne in the Grand Hall, which is the hall with our reception desk, she will take your name from the bookings list
* If this tour needs to be cancelled for any reason, you will be emailed on the address you book under. We cannot guarantee there will not be circumstances in which a tour may need to be cancelled if, for example, there are safety concerns or illness: please check your mail before travelling
* Tickets for this tour will NOT be rolled over to the next tour in the case of cancellation
* Due to changes in access restrictions the tour group cannot visit the crypt
* Tours may not involve all rooms at the House if they are booked for private events
* Tours are not suitable for children under the age of 10.
Opening Event: The Summer Open Exhibition. All welcome
The Assembly House Summer Open 2025
Exhibition Open: Wednesday 4 June–Tuesday 10 June, 11–5pm
Opening Event: Wednesday, June 4, 6–9pm, all welcome
The exhibition will be held in The Noverre Ballroom and Noverre Cabinets at The Assembly House.
The open call received 1300 works from 500 artists working across the UK.
There was no theme set or submission fee taken, and there is no commission on the sales of works.
The Summer Open Exhibition 2025
The Assembly House Summer Open 2025
Exhibition Open: Wednesday 4 June–Tuesday 10 June, 11–5pm
Opening Event: Wednesday, June 4, 6–9pm, all welcome
The exhibition will be held in The Noverre Ballroom and Noverre Cabinets at The Assembly House.
The open call received 1300 works from 500 artists working across the UK.
There was no theme set or submission fee taken, and there is no commission on the sales of works.
A Free Tour of The Assembly House
We hope you are able to join us for a free tour of The Assembly House curated by guide Roxanne Matthews, funded by The Assembly House Trust.
Tickets are required to attend these limited space tours.
You can register for up to four tickets - if the tour is fully booked please join the waiting list on the event page. If tickets come available we will contact you. If you realise that you are unable to attend the tour please contact us on info@assemblyhousetrust.org.uk
Please Note
* Tours begin at 10am and are 1.5 hours long. Please meet Roxanne in the Grand Hall, which is the hall with our reception desk, she will take your name from the bookings list
* If this tour needs to be cancelled for any reason, you will be emailed on the address you book under. We cannot guarantee there will not be circumstances in which a tour may need to be cancelled if, for example, there are safety concerns or illness: please check your mail before travelling
* Tickets for this tour will NOT be rolled over to the next tour in the case of cancellation
* Due to changes in access restrictions the tour group cannot visit the crypt
* Tours may not involve all rooms at the House if they are booked for private events
* Tours are not suitable for children under the age of 10.
A Free Tour of The Assembly House
We hope you are able to join us for a free tour of The Assembly House curated by guide Roxanne Matthews, funded by The Assembly House Trust.
Tickets are required to attend these limited space tours.
You can register for up to four tickets - if the tour is fully booked please join the waiting list on the event page. If tickets come available we will contact you. If you realise that you are unable to attend the tour please contact us on info@assemblyhousetrust.org.uk
Please Note
* Tours begin at 10am and are 1.5 hours long. Please meet Roxanne in the Grand Hall, which is the hall with our reception desk, she will take your name from the bookings list
* If this tour needs to be cancelled for any reason, you will be emailed on the address you book under. We cannot guarantee there will not be circumstances in which a tour may need to be cancelled if, for example, there are safety concerns or illness: please check your mail before travelling
* Tickets for this tour will NOT be rolled over to the next tour in the case of cancellation
* Due to changes in access restrictions the tour group cannot visit the crypt
* Tours may not involve all rooms at the House if they are booked for private events
* Tours are not suitable for children under the age of 10.
Brook Street Band: Handel
Kitchen Conversations - a rich baroque diet to nourish mind and soul
Are you hungry? Join us in our imagined 'kitchen' to prepare and cook dinner for friends; there’ll be free-flowing food and wine* leading to deep conversations, mystery ingredients providing sustenance and spice, a rich baroque diet to nourish mind and soul. *NB You’ll have to imagine that bit!
The kitchen is the heart of the home. It was hidden away in Handel’s time but no less lacking in drama and passion, servants and cooks working hard to ensure a smooth-running household. Today’s kitchens are positioned centre-stage, shared spaces for preparation, eating and drinking. Convivial food, free-flowing wine ... some juicy gossip... perfect ingredients for an enticing, entertaining, thought-provoking evening.
Musical ingredients from: Telemann, Handel, JS Bach, CPE Bach, Rameau, Purcell, Errollyn Wallen.
Rachel Harris & Kathryn Parry - violins, Tatty Theo – cello, Carolyn Gibley – harpsichord, Simon Schatzberger – narrator
Noverre Cinema: Donnie Darko
Donnie Darko (15)
Thursday 13 March, 7.30pm at The Assembly House
In partnership with The Assembly House Trust, we’re reviving one of Norwich’s beloved and long-lost cinemas for two special screenings in the beautiful ballroom of The Assembly House.
Seating will be unreserved
Tickets Pay What You Can £6/£8/£10
Doors and bar will open at 7pm. Event starts at 7.30pm including a short introduction from Reel Connections and a programme of archive film from the East Anglian Film Archive.
Donnie Darko (15)
Director: Richard Kelly / Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Jenna Malone, Drew Barrymore, Patrick Swayze / 2001 / 113mins
This 2001 cult classic follows Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal) as a troubled teenager in late 1980s America, who narrowly escapes a bizarre accident. He begins to experience unsettling visions of a mysterious figure in a rabbit costume, who guides Donnie through a series of events challenging his perceptions on time, reality and fate. Written and directed by Richard Kelly, the film was listed No. 2 in Empire‘s “50 Greatest Independent Films of All Time”.
Noverre Cinema: Amélie
Amélie (15)
Wednesday 26 February, 7.30pm at The Assembly House
In partnership with Reel Connections, we’re reviving one of Norwich’s beloved and long-lost cinemas for two special screenings in the beautiful ballroom of The Assembly House.
Seating will be unreserved.
Tickets Pay What You Can £6/£8/£10
Doors and bar will open at 7pm. Event starts at 7.30pm including a short introduction from Reel Connections and a programme of archive film from the East Anglian Film Archive.
Amélie (15)
Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet / Starring: Mathieu Kassovitz, Audrey Tautou / 2001 / 123mins
French with English subtitles
Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s quirky and charming romantic comedy The Fabulous Destiny of Amélie Poulain tells the story of Amélie (Audrey Tautou), a young waitress on a quest to spread joy that leads her to true love. Surrounded by a cast of fellow eccentrics, the film explores the curious lives of those around her whilst set against the backdrop of Paris. Bruno Delbonnel’s vivid cinematography presents the city with a heightened sense of colour, magic and romance. With an unforgettable score by composer Yann Tiersen.
A Quiet Landscape (exhibition)
A Quiet Landscape
Including paintings of East Anglia by: James Colman, Tor Falcon, Kate Giles, Tom Lamprell, Chloe Mandy, Alfred Munnings, Mary Newcomb, and Tessa Newcomb.
Exhibition open 13–17 February 2025
Opening evening 12 February 5-7pm (All welcome)
The Hobart Room & The Noverre Cabinets, The Assembly House, Norwich
Curated by Caroline Fisher and Henry Jackson Newcomb
A Free Tour of The Assembly House
We hope you are able to join us for a free tour of The Assembly House curated by guide Roxanne Matthews, funded by The Assembly House Trust. Tickets must be pre-booked.
Tickets are required to attend these limited space tours, these are allocated from a draw using the form below.
• Enter your details and select the dates of interest, you can apply for up to four tickets.
• Two weeks before the tour we draw 20 places and will contact those selected.
• Due to the number of people applying, we are unable to contact everyone who hasn't been selected.
Please note:
• Tours begin at 10am and are 1.5 hours long. Please meet Roxanne in the Grand Hall, which is the hall with our reception desk, she will take your name from the bookings list
• If this tour needs to be cancelled for any reason, you will be emailed on the address you book under. We cannot guarantee there will not be circumstances in which a tour may need to be cancelled if, for example, there are safety concerns or illness: please check your mail before travelling
• Tickets for this tour will NOT be rolled over to the next tour in the case of cancellation
• Access to the undercroft involves steep stairs and uneven flooring and is not suitable for anyone with any form of mobility problem: guests enter the undercroft at their own risk. Areas of the undercroft are dark and potentially slippery. Please do not go into the undercroft if you feel you will not be safe.
• Tours may not involve all rooms at the House if they are booked for private events
• Tours are not suitable for children under the age of 10.
A Quiet Landscape (exhibition)
A Quiet Landscape
Including paintings of East Anglia by: James Colman, Tor Falcon, Kate Giles, Tom Lamprell, Chloe Mandy, Alfred Munnings, Mary Newcomb, and Tessa Newcomb.
Exhibition open 13–17 February 2025
Opening evening 12 February 5-7pm (All welcome)
The Hobart Room & The Noverre Cabinets, The Assembly House, Norwich
Curated by Caroline Fisher and Henry Jackson Newcomb
A Quiet Landscape (exhibition)
A Quiet Landscape
Including paintings of East Anglia by: James Colman, Tor Falcon, Kate Giles, Tom Lamprell, Chloe Mandy, Alfred Munnings, Mary Newcomb, and Tessa Newcomb.
Exhibition open 13–17 February 2025
Opening evening 12 February 5-7pm (All welcome)
The Hobart Room & The Noverre Cabinets, The Assembly House, Norwich
Curated by Caroline Fisher and Henry Jackson Newcomb
A Quiet Landscape (exhibition)
A Quiet Landscape
Including paintings of East Anglia by: James Colman, Tor Falcon, Kate Giles, Tom Lamprell, Chloe Mandy, Alfred Munnings, Mary Newcomb, and Tessa Newcomb.
Exhibition open 13–17 February 2025
Opening evening 12 February 5-7pm (All welcome)
The Hobart Room & The Noverre Cabinets, The Assembly House, Norwich
Curated by Caroline Fisher and Henry Jackson Newcomb
BookHive event with Eimear McBride
Please join us on the evening of Thursday 13th February to celebrate the publication of multi-award-winning author (and great friend of the shop) Eimear McBride's brand new novel The City Changes Its Face.
‘Day. Another. London city and world. There before me as you were. I still see you as I saw you and long to be you, as I was you, all the way over again.’
1995. London. Outside the filthy window, the city rushes by. But up in the flat, there is only Eily and Stephen, nineteen and thirty-nine. The total obsession of new love.
Eighteen months later, a rainy Camden night. Eily and Stephen retrace the course of their two-year romance now their world is merging with the common place and ties from the past are intruding. Stephen has reconnected with his long-lost teenage daughter Grace. Eily thinks about the future and their flat feels different.
The city changes its face.
Intimate, experiential, and immersive, The City Changes Its Face explores a passionate love affair tested to its limits.
Eimear will be in conversation with Henry Layte of The Book Hive — who, as some of you may know, discovered and published Eimear's first book, A Girl Is A Half-formed Thing.
Eimear McBride's first novel A Girl is a Half-formed Thing took nine years to find a publisher and subsequently received a number of awards, including the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction, Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year, and the Goldsmiths Prize. Her second novel The Lesser Bohemians won the 2017 James Tait Memorial Prize, and was shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize and the International Dublin Literary Award. In 2017 she was awarded the inaugural Creative Fellowship of the Beckett Research Centre, University of Reading. In a 2018 Times Literary Supplement poll of 200 critics, academics and fiction writers, McBride was named one of the ten best British and Irish novelists writing today.
This event is made possible by the generosity of the Assembly House Trust.
The City Changes Its Face: Eimear McBride in conversation
Thursday 13th February
The Noverre Ballroom
The Assembly House, Theatre Street, Norwich
6:30pm for a 7:00pm start
£5
