Chopin, Champagne, and Chortles

On October 14 at the 1901 Arts Club in Waterloo, Cyrill gave an intimate concert of high-quality and elegant music. 

Among the attendees at Cyrill Ibrahim’s event were known figures from within the music, fashion and arts scene, including photographer Alistair Guy, owner of Grand Passion Pianos, Muzz Shah, Influencer Mathias Zopras, Ballet-dancer Eric Underwood, Adventurer James Aiken, conductor John Frederik Hudson, organist Richard Pinel, influencer Bola Odusina, actor Mark Ebulué, and photographer Kristian Sinclair.

The 1901 Arts Club is known as one of the premiere intimate performance spaces in London, housed within a converted schoolmaster’s residence. After being built at the start of the Victorian 1900s, it was first adapted into a world-class venue by Joji Hattori, the conductor and violinist. In May 2015, it was taken on by the Hattori Foundation and remains a beautiful and elegant space designed with one thing in mind, the enjoyment of music. 

The talented concert pianist played notorious works of art such as Chopin’s Sonata No.3 and Debussy’s Pour Le Piano for his close family and friends, before hosting a reception full of champagne, celebration, and laughter. 

Chopin’s Sonata No.3 was the last of the composer’s piano sonatas and was finished back in 1844. A dedication to Countess Emilie de Perthuis, it is rather suitably referred to as the most challenging Chopin composition to play. Much like the Arts Club itself, Debussy’s Pour Le Piano was completed in 1901 and is known as the musician’s first mature piano composition, with three movements each composed individually, the prelude, the Sarabande, and the Toccata. 

photographer: Henry Kincaid