Britten Sinfonia News

Digital Music Stands

info@brittensinfonia.com (Britten Sinfonia) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:45:00 +0000

Britten Sinfonia, is adding a hi-tech element to its upcoming Dialogues concerts. In lieu of traditional paper sheet music, three of the soloists will read their music on a Sahara NetSlate™ Tablet PC by TabletKiosk that is running MusicReader software from Leoné MusicReader.

MusicReader and TabletKiosk developed a special solution for Britten Sinfonia using the Sahara NetSlate a230T Tablet PC on a custom music stand. For page turning the AirTurn AT-104 wireless foot pedals will be used. This combination gives the soloists the flexibility they need for a seamless and uninterrupted performance.
The three "Dialogues" concerts will be performed on November 6, 7 and 9 in Norwich, London and Cambridge respectively and feauture pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard.

Family Music Day - Years Ahead of it Time

info@brittensinfonia.com (Britten Sinfonia) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:58:00 +0000

Hannah Ellis, Family Music Day Co-ordinator talks about this year's Family Music Day;

With Back to the Future replays filling our screens, echoes of ‘Let’s do the Time Warp again’ ringing in our ears and Hollywood inviting us to meet the ‘Time Traveller’s Wife’, Britten Sinfonia has jumped on the time travelling bandwagon as this year’s Family Music Day promises to take you on a journey through the centuries. Our Creative Learning department is busy excitedly planning the day taking place at West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge, on Sunday 1 November, this year directed by Tim Steiner from CBBC’s Clash, who boasts a wealth of experience in family concerts.

This event has been hugely popular over the past few years (and we’ve nearly sold out for this year, so get your tickets fast!), and it provides the ideal opportunity for families to learn more about how music is played and composed in a fun and informative way. What’s more, you don’t need any prior musical knowledge to be able to enjoy the day!

As well as the usual fantastic workshops – percussion, gamelan, instrument building, and strings, wind and brass workshops – we’ve listened to what you have told us in previous years and as a result this year also sees the addition of singing and guitar!! There’s also lots of other activities going on throughout the day and at the moment we are putting together our Composers’ Time Machine (collective ‘ooooooooooohhhh’ please!), to be unveiled on the day! Not forgetting face painting, the Boomwhacker challenge and various competitions with fab prizes!

So as you can see, this year looks set to be even bigger and better than previous years, and with Tim Steiner captaining the (space)ship, you can guarantee everyone will enjoy themselves.

Forget the X Factor and even Britain’s Got Talent, Britten Sinfonia’s Family Music Day is the place to showcase your musical talent.

So grab your nearest flux capacitor and come and join us for a fun filled day!

Christopher Hogwood conducts Martinu

info@brittensinfonia.com (Britten Sinfonia) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 11:53:00 +0000

Rehearsals are currently taking place for two performances conducted by Christopher Hogwood. The programme includes works by composers who are all celebrating significant anniversaries during 2009 including Czech composer Boshulav Martinu (see the full programme here). Not as well known as many fellow 20th century composers, Martinu engaged with a large variety of forms (from a myriad of chamber combinations to symphonies and concerto to opera and oratorio) and also embraced the tides of inspiration that flow through much classical music in the 20th century (including jazz, folksong and neo-classicism).

I own a disc of Martinu's chamber works performed by the Dartington Ensemble which I have tresured (and listened to frequently) for a number of years and I'm looking forward to hearing Hogwood's interpretation of one of Martinu's larger scale works - the Sinfonia Concertante. Inspired by Haydn the work is scored for solo violin, oboe, bassoon and cello with orchestra giving a chance for some of our principal players to shine under the spotlight.

The concerts take place on Thursday 22 October at West Road Concert Hall Cambridge (Box Office 01223 357851) and on Monday 26 October at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre, London (Box Office 0871 663 2500).

Golf

info@brittensinfonia.com (Britten Sinfonia) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:39:00 +0000

Last week we said goodbye to our Marketing & Development Assistant, Frances who is off to live in the big smoke, London and start a new job at Sing Up. We gave Frances a good send off - which involved doing some of the things she has never got around to doing in Cambridge. In the afternoon most of the Britten Sinfonia team went for a game of golf at our local club.

David (Chief Executive) had the best round - however the rest of us did well for complete novices! This was followed by drinks in the Elm Tree and a lovely meal at Mai Thai overlooking Parker's Piece in Cambridge.

We will all miss Frances at Britten Sinfonia but wish her all the best on her new job.

Latitude Video

info@brittensinfonia.com (Britten Sinfonia) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 09:30:00 +0000

In July 2009 Britten Sinfonia were the first orchestra to perform at Latitude Festival in Suffolk. Here is a video which brings to life what it was like to perform at this brilliant festival.

Britten Sinfonia at Latitude from washmedia on Vimeo.

A view from a student on work experience

info@brittensinfonia.com (Britten Sinfonia) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 12:24:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago David Allen, a student at Cambridge University visited us on a two-week work experience placement. Here he talks about what it was like;

Ah, the life of a student. Lazy days spent doing very little indeed, the occasional lecture if you remember to get out of bed in time, no responsibilities and the drinks bill to match. In between the sessions spent watching reruns of The West Wing on DVD, however, thoughts occasionally turn to the future.

Which is why I’ve spent the last two weeks on work experience at Britten Sinfonia. For me, there’s no better prospect than helping to produce great music with a wonderful orchestra. I’ve been working in the marketing department, so there have been plenty of envelopes to stuff with promotional material for our new season, alongside the odd bit of filing and database updating.

There’s been more exciting stuff. My big project has been working out how to get more of my peers at Cambridge University to Britten Sinfonia concerts: hours of lateral thinking later, and I’ve come up with a cunning plan… Best of all, though, was the afternoon I spent with the Creative Learning department. We ran a workshop for Essex County Council showing how music could teach teamwork and leadership skills. I even made my conducting début in a quickly improvised piece for untuned percussion, chime bells, and viola (not a common combination, granted).

It’s been a brilliant two weeks, and I can’t wait to come back!

David Allen

We are pleased that David had such a positive experience (despite a lot of envelope stuffing) and are grateful for his hardwork particularly his suggestions on how to get more of his fellow students to our concerts. He's also promised to come back and help with some ushering (and maybe a bit more envelope stuffing!)

A couple of pictures from Colchester

info@brittensinfonia.com (Britten Sinfonia) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 10:53:00 +0000

Here are two pictures from our weekend in Colchester as part of National Heritage weekend. They show Oliver Cox and Owen Gunnell getting a few tips on tabla playing from Kuljit Bhamra.

Colchester Heritage Weekend

info@brittensinfonia.com (Britten Sinfonia) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 10:45:00 +0000

The orchestra have just spent the weekend in Colchester as part of the National Heritage Weekend. Performing in historic buildings in Colchester throughout Saturday and Sunday to create a unique musical tour which included five new commissions inspired by the buildings (Colchester Town Hall, Tymperleys Clock Museum, Castle Museum, Bourne Mill and Hollytrees Museum) the new works were performed in. I was based at Bourne Mill with two percussionists, Owen Gunnell and Oliver Cox who performed a new work by Colchester based composer, Michael Spearman. Bourne Mill is a beautifully preserved 16th century watermill set in tranquil grounds beside a stream and millpond. The weather was fine for the weekend making it a lovely place to sit and watch the ducks and geese playfully skimming the water in between the short performances. As well as performing the new work Owen and Oliver also played some jazz and classical music to the delight of audiences and the local allotment society who were having a fayre at the mill on Saturday as well (Oliver also took the opportunity to buy some weird shaped vegetables for his dinner that night).

On Saturday evening all the musicians came together for a concert at Colchester Arts Centre. The first half gave audiences the opportunity to hear the new works afresh and an audience favourite was tabla player, Kuljit Bhamra’s new work for violin and tabla performed at the Castle Museum earlier in the day. The evocative combination of violin and tabla thrilled the audience with many wanting to hear the piece again. During the rehearsal for the evening concert Owen and Oliver had a go at trying to play the tabla under Kuljit’s instruction – one of them definitely got the hang it better than the other (I won’t say which!) and we’ll have some photos of them giving it a go here on the blog tomorrow. In the second half of the evening Jacqueline Shave led the orchestra in performances of Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, Arvo Part’s moving Fratres and Rautavaara’s The Fiddlers.

Claire (Marketing Director)

Blog sign off

info@brittensinfonia.com (Britten Sinfonia) — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 07:49:00 +0000

Today is my last at Britten Sinfonia, and what a great way to finish - I'm off to Glyndebourne this morning to see The Yellow Sofa. Way back in April 2007, when we were getting our digital act together, we thought Britten Sinfonia should have a blog and, for reasons I don't clearly remember, I took on the writing. Well, it's been brilliant fun trying to give a wider perspective on the orchestra's work, starting with our tour of South America (the very first proper entry being uploaded from Madrid airport at vast expense (it was pre-wi-fi)). Umpteen visits to Krakow, promotional visits to Spain and Asia, blogs on many of the multifarious composers we have commissioned, the tours around the UK, our collaborations with the Michael Clark Dance Company and the Royal Opera House, London Jazz Festival concerts, concerts in some of the most beautiful buildings in the country (not least our reegular haunts of Ely and Norwich Cathedrals and King's College Chapel here in Cambridge): it is a rich vein from which to draw, and I know the blog will continue to illuminate our work. I'm off to The Sixteen as Acting General Manager, so paths will cross...........

John Bickley

The Yellow Sofa

info@brittensinfonia.com (Britten Sinfonia) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 08:11:00 +0000

There are two more performances of Julian Philip's new opera The Yellow Sofa at Glyndebourne, tomorrow and on Friday. I haven't seen it yet, but reports from colleagues and members of the orchestra suggest it is well worth trying to see. The libretto, by Edward Kemp, is adapted from a novella by one of Portugal's best loved writers, Eca de Queiros. It tells the story of Godofredo Alves, a small businessman who comes home from work one day to find his wife in the arms of his best friend and business partner. He determines at once to seek revenge. A tale of sex, a city and the seductive power of furniture.

Cricket result

info@brittensinfonia.com (Britten Sinfonia) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 17:47:00 +0000

Closest match yet, but we still lost our third cricket match against Aldeburgh Music. Even with a brilliant wicket keeper (one of the Buddhist monks on our team from the Tashi Lhunpo Monastery). It was a Twenty Five/25 match, and Aldeburgh scored 96 in their alloted overs, before getting us out for 72. Brilliant Suffolk afternoon, as light rain gave way to warm sunshine. There are some pictures of the Snape mandala on On an Overgrown Path, the cricket being a short break from the intensive work its creation takes. I'll add some cricket photos in a day or two.

Monks of the Tashi Lhunpo Monastery return for a cricket match

info@brittensinfonia.com (Britten Sinfonia) — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 07:40:00 +0000

We welcome back our friends the Monks of the Tashi Lhunpo Monastery for our annual Britten Sinfonia vs. Aldeburgh Music cricket match, taking place this afternoon at Sudbourne, nr. Orford, in Suffolk. You can see them above at last year's match in Cambridge. The Monastery was founded in Tibet in the 15th century and re-established in exile in South India three decades ago.
Whilst here for the match the monks are also giving a concert in Snape Maltings tomorrow evening: 'the sacred world of Tibet is filled with the chanting of Buddhist texts, the recitation of mantras, the ringing of bells and cymbals, the blowing of long horns and the beating of drums.' There is also a programme of workshops, and on Sunday they will perform the Sand Mandala Striking Ceremony. My photo below shows the equivalent event outside King's College Chapel, a few days after last year's match.

Pianos Day: first reviews

info@brittensinfonia.com (Britten Sinfonia) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 20:35:00 +0000

Geoff Brown in The Times on yesterday's Proms. I'll add more reviews as they emerge. Here's The Guardian one, just published.

Our BBC Prom

info@brittensinfonia.com (Britten Sinfonia) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 15:14:00 +0000

The sound (and view) might not have been perfect from my seat in our Loggia Box yesterday, but there was a fantastic atmosphere at our Prom yesterday. You can't really beat a sold out Albert Hall, especially when there are alot of family groups, excited children, and a packed Arena. All three pairs of piano soloists were good, but the Labeque sisters have that little extra star quality. Time was when admitting to enjoy their performances was akin to liking Girls Aloud; but that inverted snobbery seems to have waned - their experience and delight in entertaining shone through. Anyway, you can judge for yourself if you missed the live transmission: a few clicks via our website news pages will take you to the BBC iPlayer link to the broadcast.

A breath of fresh air?

info@brittensinfonia.com (Britten Sinfonia) — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 08:22:00 +0000

Conductor Charles Hazlewood's article in the Guardian the other day certainly seems pretty ironic here, when last month we actually played to more people outdoors than inside concert halls. It is, I realise, the silly season, but as there is increasingly limited coverage of serious music in the press, you would think editors could commission better-researched pieces. Traffic on our twitter feed overwhelmingly disagrees with him, too.

Morlot and Meredith on In Tune

info@brittensinfonia.com (Britten Sinfonia) — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 08:12:00 +0000

Conductor Ludovic Morlot, who joins Britten Sinfonia for our BBC Prom on Sunday afternoon, will be on In Tune on BBC Radio 3 on Thursday evening at around 7pm, discussing with composer Anna Meredith her new work Left Light which receives its first performance in the concert.

Lidija and Sanja Bizjak

info@brittensinfonia.com (Britten Sinfonia) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 10:00:00 +0000

It is the week of our BBC Prom, when we are performing with three pairs of piano soloists, including Lidija and Sanja Bizjak. Full details are here.

Latitude Festival 2009

info@brittensinfonia.com (Britten Sinfonia) — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 13:45:00 +0000

John, BS's usual blogger, was unable to attend Latitude Festival, so today's blog is from me, Frances (Marketing Assistant). The orchestra should, by now, have recovered from the intensely exhilarating and very tiring experience of being the first orchestra to perform a classical set at Latitude Festival. The festival itself is an ambitious undertaking - over 700 different artists performing over a variety of stages and arenas throughout Henham Park Estate, to an audience of around 25,000 people.

BS was performing on the Waterfront Stage - an uncovered area - which was beautifully positioned on the edge of the lake, while the audience encrouched on the shades of the woodland nearby. It was one of my favourite spots at the festival. Deck chairs lined the lake shore opposite the stage whilst the festival-goers streamed across the main bridge adjacent to the stage, connecting the festival entrance to the world of activity beyond. Giant flowers floated by, and multi-coloured sheep contributed an occassional bleet to our performance.

The whole Latitude experience is about openness, acceptance, and free abandon to try absolutely anything you can think of. Artists and performers are no longer so bound by genre and audiences seem happy to mingle between styles and artforms. Musical highlights from here in the office, to name but a few (!!) included Icelandic band Hjaltalin, Bat for Lashes, Fever Ray, Nabokov Theatre, The Irrespressibles, Sadler's Wells and of course Nick Cave!

Lizzie Ball made an excellent point in her video diary about audiences at a festival, and in particular the audience we met at Latitude. They're noticeably more relaxed, in no hurry to shoot off, or having to beat people (not literally!) out of the car park. Audiences could wander freely in and out and were readily showing their appreciation for our performance. Increasingly, but certainly not the same as in a festival environment, we see a more open response from audiences in concert halls, they don't feel so bound by the serious environment of our classical music venues.
Sadly, we didn't get to do an encore at our first set, time slipped away from us, but I think generally encores are always expected at gigs. But are they expected at our usual concert hall concerts? Does the nature of the works generally mean playing an extra piece could be overly lengthy, mood breaking from the carefully structured programme, or simply not in the frivolous spirit one envsiages for an encore. Nick Cave, interestingly, did not do one. The audience cheered in delight and wolf whistled approval but only the techies appeared to tacitly signal us out of the arena.

Playing outdoors (acoustics, wind, rain!) certainly makes for a more challenging environment, and I was pleasantly surprised by how well the balance and nuances of the orchestral performance were transmitted. Other highlights were the Loch Fyne food stalls (mussels!), compost loos (!), the random artwork dotted around and generally the cleanliness - people seemed much more considerate than normal festivals/gigs...perhpas due to the £2 cup deposit! I highly recommend Latitude for next year! See more pictures from Latitude

Fen Soundscape

info@brittensinfonia.com (Britten Sinfonia) — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 09:23:00 +0000

Here's a video from our Fen Soundscape project. Since March 2009, children at Ramsey Spinning Infants School and young people from the nearby village of Yaxley have been working with professional musicians and composers to write, record and edit music inspired by the Great Fen.

On Tuesday 21 July, the results of all their hard work were displayed to the public for the first time at St Thomas a Becket church in Ramsey. On entering the church, visitors were greeted by the sounds of birdsong and a series of signs and arrows taped to the floor. Following the arrows around the church, they came across doormats concealing "trigger pads" which, when stepped on, triggered a series of sounds to be played from the speakers attached to the church's pillars. Sounds ranged from the peaceful (birds twittering - both real and as interpreted on flutes and violins) to the more startling (geese flying overhead, a simulated storm). The whole thing added up to a magical experience brilliantly recreating the sounds and atmosphere of the Great Fen.

A series of performances included young children from Ramsey singing some of the Little Songs for the Great Fen which they have written with composer Jane Wells, followed by a Britten Sinfonia flute quartet playing Mozart and Rossini. Speeches, including a polished performance from Yaxley teenager AJ Mulley, set the scene and explained how the Soundscape had been put together.

The exhibition continues at St Thomas a Becket Church, Ramsey, until Sunday 26 July. Entry is free, and the exhibition is open daily from 8.30am to 5.30pm, except during Sunday services.

Lizzie Ball's Latitude BBC video diary

info@brittensinfonia.com (Britten Sinfonia) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 09:08:00 +0000

Check out Lizzie Ball's video diary, made for the BBC on Saturday at Latitude.

Tango meets Vivaldi

info@brittensinfonia.com (Britten Sinfonia) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 11:31:00 +0000

Astor Piazzolla's take on Vivaldi's ever-popular Four Seasons is - like all his music - very clever, but not in an arch or arcane way. It's hugely enjoyable and we look forward to playing two of the movements (Autumn and Summer) during our sets at Latitude this weekend. We are scheduled to be on the Waterfront Stage at 18.00 on Saturday and then again at 11.00 on Sunday morning (but look out for any last minute changes: we'll tweet any changes).

Platforms

info@brittensinfonia.com (Britten Sinfonia) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 10:30:00 +0000

Being based in Cambridge, we know the platforms at King's Cross pretty well. But those other types of platforms - the digital ones - are becoming increasingly vital to what we do. Our own digiSpace has created considerable interest, but we are always exploring new outlets for our digital material. Yesterday I went to the launch reception for Plushmusic Live's website Plushmusic.tv. It is still in beta but it's worth a look. The competition for this type of channel is increasing rapidly as more and more audio and video platforms are established, and different financial models are tested. One of my favourites is MonteVerdi.

Updates, multifarious

info@brittensinfonia.com (Britten Sinfonia) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:20:00 +0000

There has been so much interest in our appearances at Latitude Festival on 18 and 19 July that I thought you might like to know what we are planning to play:

BACH Brandenburg Concerto no. 3
PIAZZOLLA Autumn from Four Seasons in Buenos Aires
REICH Duet
VIVALDI Concerto for Four Violins in B minor from L’estro armonico
PIAZZOLLA Summer from Four Seasons in Buenos Aires
BACH Concerto for Two Violins
with, as a possible encore,
RAUTAVAARA The Fiddlers

Perfect, whatever the weather!

*********************************************************************

'It is Ibragimova's ability to pick out those melodies and shape them with deceptively unfussy nuance that makes her mesmerising.' Erica Jeal in the Guardian the other day, reviewing Alina Ibragimova's two concerts of bach's solo repertoire, part of the City of London Festival, in which we are playing tonight.

Esa-Pekka Salonen's Stockholm Diary

info@brittensinfonia.com (Britten Sinfonia) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 08:45:00 +0000

The virtuosic Stockholm Diary for string orchestra was commissioned by the Stockholm Concert Hall Foundation for the Stockholm Phiharmonic Orchestra and Stockholm Chamber Orchestra to mark the occasion of Esa-Pekka Salonen's Composer Portrait at the Konserthuset in Stockholm October 2004. Salonen's work receives its UK premiere in our concert tomorrow night at the Mansion House in London. You can see the full programme here.

Not one, not two, but six pianists

info@brittensinfonia.com (Britten Sinfonia) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 10:03:00 +0000

Anna Meredith has written Left Light for two pianos and Britten Sinfonia; commissioned by BBC Radio 3, it will receive its world premiere at our Prom on 9 August. We will be joined by no fewer than six pianists: Katia & Marielle Labèque, Simon Crawford-Phillips & Philip Moore, Lydia & Sanya Biziak. Full repertoire here, but as well as Anna's new piece, there are works for two pianos by Mozart and Lutosławski.

The afternoon of 9 August seems many hot, lazy days away, but I am flagging this concert up now because it is selling fast and I don't want you to miss out on tickets!