The Simorre String Quartet will give a concert at the Spire Church in Farnham on May 16 at 7.30pm.

Farnham violinist Sophie Langdon will team up with Anna Szabo (violin), Paul Martin (viola) and Emma Vidgeon (cello).

The quartet, formed by Paul Martin in 2022, has featured for four years at Musique dans Le Gers, a French festival held near Toulouse every August.

This year will see its fifth appearance at Musique dans Le Gers - and its first in Farnham.

Its repertoire includes the classics - Haydn, Beethoven, Borodin, Debussy, Ravel and Mendelssohn - plus modern commissions by Gary Carpenter and, this year, by a talented British composer, Ruvi Meda.

Sophie Langdon is one of Britain’s leading violinists. She has enjoyed 45 years of performing and teaching in Britain and abroad, active as soloist, chamber player, orchestral leader and teacher.

As a soloist, she has appeared with many of Britain’s major orchestras, all the BBC orchestras, and the Berlin Radio Orchestra.

Sophie has been professor of violin and academic lecturer at the Royal Academy of Music for 35 years. Her past students are active all over the world.

In 2020, during lockdown, Sophie ran an informal concert series from her studio in the garden - this resulted in the formation of her UK string quartet, the Ardenti Quartet, which has since recorded tracks for silent films written by Stephen Horne.

Sophie has led the Bath Philharmonia for 25 years, and has enjoyed living in Farnham for 28 years.

Violinist Anna Szabo is a busy freelancer, playing with the BBC Concert Orchestra, BBC NOW, and regularly doing film and television recordings.

She studied at the Royal Northern College of Music, afterwards joining the Hallé Orchestra at the age of 21. Later she toured with Leonard Bernstein in the first orchestra allowed to play Shostakovitch in Moscow in 1988.

Anna and Paul both studied with Elizabeth Turnbull, and Anna met Emma on the Pro Corda chamber music course aged nine or ten.

Viola player Paul Martin lives in Simorre and his experience ranges from Top Of The Pops to the BBC Symphony Orchestra. He has recorded music from Harry Potter and toured the world for ten years with the Balanescu Quartet.

Before moving to France he was much in demand in London for film and television work, including Lord of the Rings, James Bond, Harry Potter and The Talented Mr Ripley.

Emma Vidgeon grew up in Weybridge and started playing chamber music from an early age at Pro Corda - The National Association of Young String Players - forging a passion for the genre.

After studying at the Royal College of Music she has enjoyed a career spanning nearly 40 years, playing with leading orchestras and ensembles in the UK and abroad, from the Star Wars in Concert World Tour to the Royal Opera House Covent Garden.

Among others, she plays regularly with the English National Ballet Philharmonic, Bath Philharmonia and The Alina Chamber Orchestra.

Entry to the concert at the South Street church is free, with a suggested donation of £15 on the door.