Geoff Thomason (2016)

Adolph Brodsky and his circle:  European cross-currents in Manchester chamber concerts, 1895-1929

Prior to his appointment as Principal of the Royal Manchester College of Music in 1895, the Russian violinist Adolph had developed a career as a soloist and chamber musician in Europe and the USA.

Geoff’s research focused on Brodsky’s ability to draw on the contacts he had thereby made with contemporary composers, and the repertoire he had championed, in shaping a chamber music culture in Manchester, which in turn continued that which had begun to emerge under Charles Hallé.

It aimed additionally to address the impact on that culture, itself reliant on a predominantly Austro-German repertoire, effected by the First World War.