Celebrating its 79th year the Nadsa concert season for 2025/26 will bring the expected prize-winning national and international ensembles and soloists when is commences next month.

And over the whole season at Newton Abbot’s Courtenay Centre, which starts on September 19, Beethoven and Schubert are the only composers to feature twice!

Opening the season will be the Carducci String Quartet - who are replacing the original billing of early music ensemble Passamezzo who have had to opt out due to unexpected circumstances.

Although enthusiasts of early music will be disappointed, Carducci will be a joy for lovers of the string quartet genre. No strangers to prestigious venues in Europe and the USA, the Carducci are an ensemble in high demand. Their programme will be far from the usual: they’ll perform early Schubert, Fanny Mendelssohn and Shostakovich.

The Cret Trio, hailing from the USA, take to the stage on October 19. The trio was formed by three virtuosi friends to explore masterpieces in the relatively unheralded string trio repertoire.

David Yang loves to share his passion for Schoenberg with his audiences: illustrations from it will be played before the whole piece is performed. Along with Schoenberg’s late work, the trio will play a World Premiere by Greg Sandow and Beethoven’s String Trio in C Minor, Opus 9.

Another groundbreaking concert on November 16 will be brought by pianist Clare Hammond who makes a very welcome return to Nadsa: her delicacy of touch delighted the 2018 audience.

Choosing mainly French pieces, she will also play Michael Betteridge’s Internal Victories (2025). Incidently, Clare will be performing Rachmaninov’s 2nd Piano Concerto at a sell-out BBC Prom this September.

The new year sees the Heath String Quartet play on January 18. Established in 2002, the Heath enjoy collaborations with various established soloists: Stephen Osborne, Tom Poster and Ben Goldscheider to name a few. They will be performing Beethoven, Matthew Locke, Grazyna Bacewicz and Schumann.

Then, on February 13- something totally different concert hits the stage. Saxophonist, Trish Clowes, and pianist, Ross Stanley, are regarded as one of the most agile and original jugglers of improv and adventurous composition to have appeared in the UK in recent times.

Trish is currently Associate Artist at Wigmore Hall, London, and Ross, a former organ scholar, studied classical and jazz piano at the Guildhall School of Music. Their varied programme defies description.

And what can be said about Kosmos? This stunning trio (violin, viola and accordion) wowed the Nadsa audience back in 2019 and they make a return on March 20.

The season closes on April 17 in the safe hands of Mozart, Brahms and Beethoven played by John Paul Ekins, a 19 times international prizewinner. He has chosen the last solo piano work of each composer to communicate the power of music to his audience.

These concerts only take place thanks to the fusion of a hard-working committee, membership, audiences and financial support. Nadsa thanks its recurring sponsors Austins Department Store, C and M Pike Trust and Rathbone Investment Management Ltd. Kerry and Graham Collins will be joining them this season. TDC Councillor’s Community Fund also provides welcome financial support.

Tickets must be booked in advance - for more details visit www.nadsa.co.uk