Professional musician from Harrogate returns to give recital

A professional musician who grew up in Harrogate will return to the town in eight days to give a lunchtime recital.

The London Horn Duo will play at the Wesley Centre on January 9 as part of the venue’s monthly concert series.

The duo consists of Kerin Black and Jo Withers, nee Greenberg, who went to school in Harrogate and whose family still live in the town.

Jo began playing the violin aged four and the piano aged five before learning the French horn almost by chance In her final year at St Peter’s Church of England Primary School.

Her sister, Sarah, played the clarinet in Harrogate Grammar School’s orchestra and band. The school’s head of music at the time, Brian Hunt, told Sarah he had lots of violinists but was short of brass players and if Jo would learn French horn to a reasonable standard he would take her on the band’s foreign tour when she joined the grammar school.

So she took lessons with Stephen Price, which proved to be the start of her career as a professional musician.

After attending the Guildhall School of Music and Drama she freelanced in London for 10 years before taking an extended sabbatical to home-educate her children.

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Jo now plays for film and TV sessions, orchestras including the LSO, RPO and London Chamber Orchestra and is a regular guest principal for the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.

For the past 18 years she has been a member of the orchestra of English Touring Opera, and travelling round the UK with her children, Charli and Nathan and their grandparents Mike and Maureen Greenberg.

The London Horn Duo was created in 2020 when Ms Black and Ms Withers formed a lockdown bubble two decades after meeting as students in the Britten-Pears Orchestra. Ms Black grew up near Washington DC.

Their programme at the Wesley Centre includes:

Otto Nicolai – Sonata in A Minor

Bernhard Krol – Laudatio (Kerin solo)

Mozart – selection from Twelve Pieces for Two Horns K.487

Catherine Likhuta – I Threw a Shoe at a Cat: Theme, Waltz, Yazz,
Finale (Jo solo)

Tickets cost £10 on the door or in advance from Andrew Hitchen on 01423883618 or email a.hitchen81@gmail,com