London Sinfonietta Van der Aa: Here
2013/14 season @Ldn_Sinfonietta facebook.com/londonsinfonietta londonsinfonietta.wordpress.com londonsinfonietta.org.uk
Van der Aa: Here Wednesday 30 April 7.30pm Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre, London Michel van der Aa Memo for solo violin and portable cassette recorder Hysteresis (world premiere) Interval Michel van der Aa Here Trilogy (UK premiere of complete work) Here [enclosed] Here [in circles] Here [to be found] Post-concert drinks with Michel van der Aa and the players at Hayward Gallery’s Concrete Bar (turn left as you leave the Queen Elizabeth Hall) Baldur Brönnimann conductor Thomas Gould solo violin Claron McFadden solo soprano Mark van de Wiel solo clarinet Sound Intermedia sound projection London Sinfonietta
The London Sinfonietta is grateful to Arts Council England and the PRS for Music Foundation for their generous support of the ensemble’s Music Programme 2013/14, to the John Ellerman Foundation for their support of the ensemble and to the Ammodo Foundation and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands for their support of this concert.
Welcome Welcome to tonight’s concert. Michel van der Aa is one of a new generation of composers who embraces the possibilities of new technologies and other art forms. As well as writing his music, he is famously fluent in creating film, sound and theatrical elements for his pieces. We are very pleased to be performing the UK premiere of the complete Here Trilogy, and welcome Claron McFadden and Baldur Brönnimann to perform it with us. We are also very honoured to be giving the world premiere of Michel’s new clarinet concerto, Hysteresis. We have co-commissioned this with other European ensembles, and typical of Michel’s nature, he has taken the trouble to work with each solo clarinettist to tailor the part to their style of playing. Tonight, our Principal Mark van de Wiel steps forward to give his first performance of the solo line. Michel’s collaborative and supportive nature helped one of our Blue Touch Paper projects happen in 2012. Michel mentored a collaboration between composer and artists in a project which then went on beyond its trial period to be produced and performed in three different UK festivals. We are grateful to him. This concert starts a busy summer period for the London Sinfonietta. Our 2014 Blue Touch Paper night of new work takes place in May, and our public participation performance Assemble takes place in June. We are performing at Sounds New Festival, Canterbury and are performing the world premiere of Bryn Harrison and Tim Head’s London Sinfonietta commission Passing Light at Spitalfields Summer Festival. We follow this with an extended run of Luca Francesconi’s opera Quartett at the Royal Opera House. Our own London Sinfonietta Academy (the sixth edition) trains the next generation of musicians in July. I hope we will see you at one of these events.
We will also be holding post-concert drinks at Hayward Gallery’s Concrete Bar this evening with Michel van der Aa and our players. Do join us if you can. We continue to be proud partners with Arts Council England in their ongoing important mission to make great art and culture for everyone. We also thank the PRS for Music Foundation for their support, and tonight particularly the Ammodo Foundation and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands who have helped make the commission and this performance happen. Andrew Burke @ab2102 Chief Executive, London Sinfonietta
We hope you enjoy your visit to Southbank Centre. We have a Duty Manager available at all times. If you have any queries please ask any member of staff for assistance. Eating, drinking and shopping? Southbank Centre shops and restaurants include Foyles, EAT, Giraffe, Strada, YO! Sushi, wagamama, Le Pain Quotidien, Las Iguanas, ping pong, Canteen, Caffe Vergnano 1882, Skylon, Concrete, Feng Sushi and Topolski, as well as cafes, restaurants and shops inside Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Hayward Gallery. If you wish to make a comment following your visit please contact Visitor Experience Team at Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX, phone 020 7960 4250 or email customer@southbankcentre.co.uk. We look forward to seeing you again soon.
Michel van der Aa (b. 1970)
Photo © Marco Borggreve
Michel van der Aa is a truly multidisciplinary figure in contemporary music. A unique voice, he combines composition with film, stage direction and script writing. Classical instruments, voices, electronic sound, actors, theatre and video are all seamless extensions of his musical vocabulary. Before studying composition with Diderik Wagenaar, Gilius van Bergeijk and Louis Andriessen, Van der Aa trained as a recording engineer at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. In 2002 he broadened his skills with studies in film direction at the New York Film Academy, and in 2007 he participated in the Lincoln Centre Theater Director’s Lab, an intensive course in stage direction. Van der Aa’s musical materials are hard to tease apart, constantly switching between stasis and high energy, concrete and abstract, acoustic and electronic, ‘pure’ and processed, brand new and half-remembered. Many of them are as visual as they are aural. The possibilities of digital and audio-visual technology often feature, not as a surface gloss to his work but at the core of his artistic outlook.
Another important aspect of Van der Aa’s work is collaboration and interdisciplinarity. He has worked with leading classical performers such as Sol Gabetta, Barbara Hannigan, Janine Jansen, Christianne Stotijn and Roderick Williams, as well as the Portuguese fado singer Ana Moura, pop acts Kate Miller-Heidke and These New Puritans, and well-known European actors like Klaus Maria Brandauer and João Reis. His most recent partnership was with novelist David Mitchell, with whom he wrote his fourth work for music theatre, Sunken Garden. His music has been performed by ensembles and orchestras worldwide, including musikFabrik, Ensemble Modern, BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Avanti! Chamber Orchestra. In 1999 Michel Van der Aa was the first Dutch composer to win the prestigious International Gaudeamus Prize. Subsequent awards include the Matthijs Vermeulen Prize (2004), a Siemens Composers Grant (2005), and the 2013 Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition for his multimedia work Up-Close. In 2007 the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra commissioned the song cycle Spaces of Blank, and since 2011 he has been a ‘house composer’ with the orchestra. This is an association that will lead to several major new works, including a violin concerto for Janine Jansen. Over the last few years he has also developed strong ties with the Barbican Centre, with performances of his operas After Life and Up-Close, which led to the premiere of Sunken Garden in April 2013. In 2010 he launched Disquiet Media, an independent multimedia label for his own work, and in 2012 developed Disquiet TV, an online virtual auditorium for contemporary music events. © Tim Rutherford-Johnson
Memo (2003) Michel van der Aa’s fondness for high-spec technology is well known. Nearly all his works, including tonight’s new clarinet concerto Hysteresis, use electronic soundtracks. To synchronise the electronics with the live performers, he has written his own bespoke software. Often there are videos too, creating another layer of technological complexity. His most recent opera, Sunken Garden, added 3D film to the mix. So what happens when he replaces the laptops and digital workstations with a portable tape recorder and a solo violin? Van der Aa composed Memo for the Dutch violinist Maaike Aarts, a member of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. She gave its first performance in June 2003 in The Hague and has played it many times since. Although it is short (about nine minutes), and its lo-fi approach makes it unusual in Van der Aa’s output, Memo shines a light on several of its composer’s preoccupations. Many of his favoured sounds are there: clicks, shudders, scrapes of indistinct noise. In other pieces these echo the shapes and methods of digital sound editing and processing. Here they reflect the mechanics of the tape recorder. The clicks are the buttons, the scrapes and shudders are the sound of the tape being rewound. As always, there is a close correspondence between a visual element and a sonic one: in this case, the sounds you get when you press buttons on a tape player. The violinist begins playing solo. First a slow series of isolated two-note chords. These are followed by faster but no less enigmatic figures. After the first chord she presses record on the tape machine. After a page of music, she rewinds the tape to the beginning and presses play. She
continues to play her own part, but now she is in a duet with herself from just a minute or two ago. A strange and hesitant dialogue begins between her and her recording. It isn’t always clear who is leading. Of course the tape is a shadow of her playing. But on occasion the violin sounds more like the tape than itself – the fast arpeggios that come later are an eerie echo of the tape rewinding. This is a complicated dance between performer and technology, between art and real life. Which comes first? Is it all a trap? In the end, and despite the violinist’s pyrotechnic efforts to break free, a sort of reconciliation takes place. The slow chords return, and the music ends in a closed loop between violin and tape. ©Tim Rutherford-Johnson
Hysteresis (2013) Hysteresis refers to the way in which a system depends both on its current environment, and its past. That is, the idea that non-living things can have a sort of ‘memory’ of previous states, which they carry into their present. It was originally used in material science – to describe, for example, how certain metals become magnetized when brought into contact with a magnetic field, and stay magnetized after that field has been removed. In his clarinet concerto – his first major work for the instrument – Michel van der Aa extends this idea into more speculative realms: can musical material (note sequences, rhythms, chords) retain some ‘memory’ of itself even after it has been worked with? Is it identifiably the same stuff, does it behave similarly, even when the magnet has been taken away? Indeed, are musical notes ‘material’ in the same way that a strip of iron is? By combining acoustic instruments with recorded and digitally processed mirrors of themselves – sometimes just as a soundtrack, sometimes, as in his cello concerto Up-Close and his recent opera Sunken Garden, also as video – Van der Aa is familiar with thinking of music in terms of physical stuff. His works are full of the sounds and procedures of music editing and sound design; loops and layers, clicks and cuts. Music may only be intangible soundwaves or digital bits, but software and compositional technique mean it can be virtually stretched, cut, squashed and transformed just as much as a piece of clay. Hysteresis introduces the idea of musical memory from its very first sound – the nostalgia-inducing pop and crackle of static from a record player (played via electronic soundtrack). At the same time the percussionist rubs sandpaper in circles over a table surface, imitating the noise and
movement of the spinning record. In spite of its digital sheen, Van der Aa’s music stays in touch with the analogue and the physical roots of music making. As the clarinet unfolds a line of wide leaps and slow phrases, occasional notes and intervals reverberate back from the soundtrack. Live tones morph into digitally manipulated chords. The transformations continue to bounce between instruments and media types: the vinyl pops become percussion taps, which in turn become stuttering strings and digital clicks. In the shorter, second movement, analogue synthesiser sounds (used for the first time by the composer) bubble out of a complex rhythmic texture and another transformation is hinted at, as the soundworld briefly flips from angular atonality towards the fringes of acid house. The point is less the identifiable moments on such a trajectory, than the multi-dimensional space of interlocking sounds and suggestions that is opened up. ©Tim Rutherford-Johnson Hysteresis was co-commissioned by the London Sinfonietta, Ensemble musikFabrik and Kari Kriikku, with support of the Ammodo Foundation, London Sinfonietta Pioneers, Kunststiftung NRW, and Fonds Podiumkunsten. Written for Mark van de Wiel, Carl Rosman and Kari Kriikku.
Here Trilogy (2001-2003) A branch snaps with icy confidence. It seems like an everyday occurrence, an everyday sound. But within the oeuvre of Michel van der Aa, the snap of a branch means more than just that. In a musical context removed from the ‘everyday’, the gesture suddenly suggests loneliness, insanity, anger. And while the crisp noise a breaking branch makes is indeed pure nature, with closed eyes it also carries an electric charge. The gesture and the sound carry more layers and more weight than one might think. That breaking branch is a symbol for Michel van der Aa’s oeuvre in general and the Here Trilogy in particular. The interaction between natural and electric sounds and a visual-theatrical component are recurring themes in the Here Trilogy. The cycle is thematically related to the chamber opera One (2002). In One an anonymous female character (soprano) undertakes an obsessive search for herself, and enters into a dialogue with her alter ego on film. In the second and third sections of the Here Trilogy the soprano returns in the same vain quest for herself and for a connection with the world around her. One and – in a more abstract, purely musical way – the Here Trilogy both owe their confrontational dramatic effect to the theme of loneliness verging on insanity. The drama is not an imposed extramusical idea, but rather a product of the musical structure. It is not surprising that Michel van de Aa’s piece is often referred to as the musical equivalent of the artwork of M.C. Escher. Escher’s perspectivist suggestions and spatial manipulation find a musical parallel in Van der Aa’s equally intriguing play of acoustic distortion. ‘I am fascinated by the contradiction between what is and what seems,’ says the composer. ‘The sculpture When I am Pregnant (1992) by the English sculptor Anish Kapoor appears, seen from the front, to be a solid wall. You only see the belly by looking at it sideways. In all its simplicity, this is an extremely dramatic effect. I strive to create
a similar kind of drama in my music.’ In the Here Trilogy as well, the dramatic content is an organic consequence of the poetics in Van der Aa’s music. Tension is aroused by the audible failure of the music itself, in which the musical present (live ensemble) clashes with the past (soundtrack). As a whole, that failure of the musical progress leads to the sensation of chilling, detachment and disunity that, after the purely instrumental first movement Here [enclosed], is given a voice in Here [in circles] and Here [to be found]. Here [enclosed] A black plexiglass cabin the size of a telephone booth is set up on stage as a dominant yet silent partner. What does this object mean? What secret does it contain? The conductor tentatively inspects the black box but the music from the chamber orchestra forbids him to reveal its contents. The visual revelation is delayed as long as the process of musical enclosure is not complete. Only at the end of the piece does the cabin become illuminated, revealing – as a deus ex machina – a female figure. The mystery has been exposed – but not solved. In his Here Trilogy, Van der Aa draws the listener into the musical exploration of the clash between the individual and his surroundings. A recognisable harmonic signature is evidence of his economical use of material. The harmonic DNA of the Here Trilogy consists in each of the three sections of the same eleven chords, both in the orchestra and the soundtrack. The opening work Here [enclosed] is, in its scoring for chamber orchestra and soundtrack, the most abstract of the triptych: the dramatic ‘ego’ is only visually present (in the cabin). While the individual and her surroundings encircle each other in Here [in circles] and attract and repel one another in Here [to be found], Here [enclosed] is entirely about an instrumental process of containment that happens on various levels.
The soundtrack hems in the orchestra by repeating sampled notes as chords in an evertightening texture. But the tension also tautens on a micro-level, in the approach to timbre and the development of individual instrumental lines – until the acoustic enclosure reaches a visual as well as musical climax with the disclosure of the cabin’s contents. The sound is audibly confined, and the individual is visibly imprisoned. Van der Aa resolves the resulting vacuum by turning the music inside out in the epilogue. Foreshadowing the role of the soprano in Here [in circles] and Here [to be found], the first violin emerges from the muted string orchestra as an individual dramatic entity. The lone protagonist rises above the collective to which she once belonged, and wages war on the surging and increasingly threatening white noise emitted from the soundtrack. The interaction between the live sounds (man) and the electronic sounds (machine) is consistently and noticeably marked by the sound of clicks and snipping that cut cruelly through the music. In this way Van der Aa reveals his compositional skeleton as in an X-ray, or as a blueprint that is permanently illuminated behind the music. Here [in circles] Here [in circles] is the heart of theTrilogy, and in its instrumentation (five strings, trumpet, clarinet and bass clarinet, percussion and soprano) it is the most fragile and intimate section. The role of the soundtrack has been reduced to the most basic and spontaneous form possible. The soprano operates a cassette recorder on which she records herself and the ensemble in real time; she rewinds, fast-forwards and plays back, illuminating the cyclical hopelessness of the music on a small scale. It is worth noting that Van der Aa is the author of the texts sung by the ‘dramatis persona’ (the soprano) for Here [in circles] and Here [to be found]. An existing text would never be able to reflect the musical progress as organically as words the composer writes himself. And that very organic indivisibility of drama (text) and structure (music) is characteristic of Michel van der Aa’s compositional style, one that avoids ‘imposed emotionality’ at all costs. Both in Here [in circles] and Here [to be found], the soprano undergoes a certain development. In their content, Van der Aa’s texts are intentionally murky, strengthening the intended ambiance of disengaged derangement. Words are employed as figurative colouring of the sound, not as literal transmitters of a particular message. ‘Music has the potential to be unspecific,’ says the composer.
‘It can suggest an ambiance and still leave room for the listener’s own imagination. The more concrete the text, the less three-dimensional the music.’ In Here [in circles] the dramatic ‘ego’ attempts to break loose from the cyclical progression of the music. The contact between the extremely virtuosic, harried soprano, the live ensemble, the soundtracks and the incisive snip and click sounds (a percussionist flicking fake electric switches) are alternately alarming and internalised. The music only reaches a kind of repose at the end, where the soprano enters into an emotional, schizophrenic dialogue with the shadows of her own voice on tape. Here [to be found] Here [to be found] is officially the closing section of the Here Trilogy, but it was in fact the first to be composed. The density of the ideas present clearly suggests that Van der Aa realised that he could expand the theme of the individual vs. her surroundings in two additional sections. Here [to be found] sketches, using a minimum of harmonic means, a thoroughly oppressive mood, introduced by wispy chords in the strings. The inevitable sense of drama of Here [to be found] comes primarily through the process of attraction and repulsion between the soprano, chamber orchestra and soundtrack. Just as in Here [in circles] the composer penned the tranquil yet ornate texts himself; words that express the meandering reveries of the emotionally wayward dramatic ‘ego’ (the soprano). She searches for – and finds – contact with the orchestra and soundtrack, but thereafter only sinks deeper into her own musical microuniverse. The soprano drifts ever further from the elements around her, the text as well as the music. The soprano’s icy disengagement is reflected in Van der Aa’s music. He manipulates the music’s linear progression by snipping it up and reintroducing these fragments on the soundtrack in altered form. In doing so – rewinding and fastforwarding – he creates an additional dimension of time. The sensation of a vacuum that arises when the music ‘freezes’ and then ‘thaws’ parallels and reflects the isolation felt by the soprano, and at the same time acts as an abstract expression of her mood. The singer, together with the orchestra and the soundtrack, searches for a new departure point. In that respect, drama and structure in the Here Trilogy are constantly indivisible. © Mischa Spel, translated by Jonathan Reeder
Tonight’s performers Photo © Julieta Schildknecht
As a guest conductor, Baldur Brönnimann performs at the highest level with orchestras such as the BBC Symphony, Oslo Philharmonic, Helsinki Philharmonic, Royal Scottish National, Copenhagen Philharmonic, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Seoul Philharmonic and the Britten Sinfonia who he conducts as part of the Barbican Centre’s Birtwistle celebrations next month. As well as working regularly with the London Sinfonietta, Brönnimann is a regular with Klangforum Wien, who he conducted in a performance of Romitelli’s Index of Metals with Barbara Hannigan at Theater an der Wien this season. He is also Artistic Director of Norway’s contemporary music ensemble BIT20 where his focus is on building projects with the cultural community and creating new avenues for the ensemble, through a varied programme of concerts and events. In the opera house, Brönnimann has conducted three productions at English National Opera, including the highly acclaimed La Fura dels Baus production of Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre and Tom Morris’s new Death of Klinghoffer by John Adams. He made his debut with Komische Oper Berlin last season with Le Grand Macabre and earlier this season he conducted Saariaho’s L’Amour de Loin at Norwegian Opera. Born in Switzerland, Brönnimann trained at the City of Basel Music Academy and at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester.
Thomas Gould solo violin
Photo © Mira Stout
Baldur Brönnimann conductor
Thomas Gould performs as a soloist with major orchestras worldwide including the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Hallé Orchestra and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, collaborating with conductors such as John Adams, Nicholas Collon and Robin Ticciati. In January 2008, Thomas gave the world premiere of Nico Muhly’s concerto for six string electric violin Seeing is Believing. Since then he has performed the work on numerous occasions, giving national premieres in Australia, Belgium, France, Latvia, the Netherlands and the United States. His 2011 debut recording of Seeing is Believing with Aurora Orchestra and Nicholas Collon for Decca Classics received widespread critical acclaim. Thomas has held the positions of leader of Aurora Orchestra since 2005 and associate leader of Britten Sinfonia since 2006. He also appears as guest leader with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields and Mahler Chamber Orchestra. Thomas is an associate of the Royal Academy of Music where he studied with György Pauk, and a former YCAT artist. He plays a 1782 J.B. Guadagnini violin and a six string electric violin made by John Jordan.
Sound Intermedia sound projection Sound Intermedia - alias Ian Dearden and David Sheppard - is dedicated to realising visionary new art works through live performance and cuttingedge technology. Alongside their role as Principal Players of the London Sinfonietta, they collaborate with many of the world’s most influential artists and organisations as internationally respected composers and performers.
Photo © Tara Moore
As principal clarinet of the London Sinfonietta (since 2002), the Philharmonia Orchestra (since 2000), and as a well-known soloist, Mark van de Wiel performs at major venues throughout the world. As a soloist he has performed with the Philharmonia, London Sinfonietta, London Chamber Orchestra (at La Scala, Milan), Thames Chamber Orchestra, Mozart Festival Orchestra (on a major UK tour), Welsh National Opera Orchestra, Arhus Orchestra, Belgrade Strings and the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group. He is particularly well known for his performances of contemporary music and has given many premieres, including the UK premieres of Elliot Carter’s Clarinet Quintet, Taverner’s Cantus Mysticus at the Proms, and the Spanish premiere of Elliot Carter’s Clarinet Concerto. Having held principal positions with Welsh National Opera and Glyndebourne Touring Opera, Mark is also principal clarinet with the London Chamber Orchestra, and has been principal with the Endymion Ensemble since its formation. Chamber music highlights have included appearances with Pascal Rogé and Michael Dussek, and performances of Bartok’s Contrasts with Yefim Bronfman and Zsolt Tihamer-Visontay as part of the Philharmonia’s Bartok series. Mark was born in Northampton and educated at Merton College, Oxford and the Royal College of Music. His services to music have been recognised with an Honorary Associateship from the Royal Academy of Music, where he is a Professor, and with an Honorary Doctorate from Northampton University.
London Sinfonietta Mark van de Wiel clarinet * Timothy Lines bass clarinet Meyrick Alexander bassoon Christian Barraclough trumpet Byron Fulcher trombone Thomas Gould violin Miranda Fulleylove violin Daniel Pioro violin
Claron McFadden soprano
Claron McFadden studied voice at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. Her celebrated opera roles include the title role of Lulu conducted by Sir Andrew Davis and The Controller in Jonathan Dove’s Flight, both performed at Glyndebourne, and Zerbinetta in Graham Vick’s production of Ariadne auf Naxos at the Dutch National Opera. Claron is also in demand for her interpretation of modern and contemporary music, in particular the music of Wolfgang Rihm and Harrison Birtwistle. She performed in the world premiere of Birtwistle’s The Woman and the Hare at Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall and in August 2009 at the BBC Proms with the Nash Ensemble. Claron made her debut as a theatremaker with her monodrama Lilith which was premiered at the 2012 Holland Festival. Her many recordings include Birtwistle’s Paul Celan Songs, Haydn’s Orfeo and Gluck’s Paride ed Elena with La Stagione Frankfurt and as Aspasia in Handel’s Alexander Balus with the King’s Consort for Hyperion Records. Recent engagements include performing Sunken Garden by Michel van der Aa as part of the Holland Festival 2013 as well as with English National Opera. Claron also sang as part of the coronation of the King of the Netherlands, King Willem Alexander last year. Future engagements include performances of Sunken Garden at the Opera de Lyon and the world premiere of Shell Shock by Nicolas Lens at Opera de la Monnaie. In August 2007 Claron McFadden was awarded the Amsterdam Prize of the Arts.
Photo © Sacha de Boer
Mark van de Wiel solo clarinet
Joan Atherton violin * Elizabeth Wexler violin Rebecca Eves violin Paul Silverthorne viola * Supported by Nick and Claire Prettejohn
Elizabeth Butler viola Bridget Carey viola Sally Pendlebury cello
Adrian Bradbury cello Enno Senft double bass * Supported by Anthony Mackintosh
Owen Gunnell percussion Oliver Lowe percussion Simon Hendry electronics *London Sinfonietta Principal Player
London Sinfonietta Making new music The London Sinfonietta’s mission is to place the best contemporary classical music at the heart of today’s culture; engaging and challenging the public through inspiring performances of the highest standard, and taking risks to develop new work and talent. Founded in 1968, the ensemble’s commitment to making new music has seen it commission over 300 works, and premiere many hundreds more. Resident at Southbank Centre with a busy touring schedule across the UK and abroad, its core is 18 Principal Players, representing some of the best solo and ensemble musicians in the world. The group also works with talented emerging players, to ensure the unique expertise of its Principals is passed on to the next generation of performers. Having held a world-leading position in education and participation work for many years, the London Sinfonietta continues this with a belief that arts participation is transformational to individuals and communities, and new music is relevant to people’s lives. The ensemble has an extensive back catalogue of recordings made over 46 years, which have been released on numerous prestigious labels as well as its own London Sinfonietta Label. Most recently, a CD of music by Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen has been released on Dacapo Records.
Events In autumn 2013, our events at Southbank Centre were important closing chapters in their year-long The Rest Is Noise festival, bringing the story of 20th-century music from postwar to the present day. This spring we have forged ahead into music of the 21st, focusing on commissions and premieres that have grown out of close relationships forged with partners in Denmark and Holland.
New music We have commissioned over 20 pieces of new music for the 2013/14 season. Nine form part of our Writing the Future scheme, which pairs emerging composers with Principal Players to develop new chamber compositions, and were premiered at The New Music Show in December 2013. A series of other commissions are being released as Sinfonietta Shorts downloads. This year we also expand the Blue Touch Paper programme, in order to further experiment with interdisciplinary art. On Wednesday 21 May we’ll explore the results in our annual new work night at the Institute of Contemporary Arts.
Take part This season there are concerts for schools to inspire pupils and teachers with the music of today, and original public performances by teenagers from Kings Cross as part of the KX Collective. Last month, 600 secondary school pupils explored Black Box Music with Simon Steen-Andersen, as part of a matinee concert illustrating different methods of composing through contemporary repertoire. The London Sinfonietta Academy continues into its sixth year this summer, giving the UK’s most talented young players the chance to learn sideby-side with our Principal Players. This is now the foremost route into our new Emerging Artists Programme, giving professional musicians at the start of promising careers working opportunities alongside our Principals on stage. Then there are open calls to the public (that’s you!) to take part across the season in person and online, culminating in a mass participation event at Southbank Centre on Saturday 7 June called Assemble.
Take Part Assemble: Music with People New music made with you. On Saturday 7 June, the London Sinfonietta collaborates with the public as performers and creators at Southbank Centre.
Whether you want to perform on your own instrument, play percussion or sing, if you are curious and able to commit we want to hear from you.
We’re calling all musicians and ‘non musicians’ to join the London Sinfonietta in performing legendary minimalist piece Les Moutons de Panurge by experimental composer Frederic Rzewski and a brand new commission by British composer Emily Hall.
Programme to include:
The project will involve London Sinfonietta Principal Players, London Sinfonietta Emerging Artists, London Sinfonietta Academy alumni, the KX Collective, young musicians from local schools and members of the wider public.
KX Collective New set Louis Andriessen Workers Union Frederic Rzewski Les Moutons de Panurge Emily Hall New work (world premiere of London Sinfonietta commission) Visit londonsinfonietta.org.uk/assemble for more information and to apply to take part.
Touring This season our touring takes us across the UK and beyond as we continue to champion new music at home and abroad. Sounds New Festival, Canterbury Monday 5 May 2014 We explore politics in music in a programme featuring the music of Louis Andriessen, Johannes Kreidler and Frederic Rzewski. We will also be working with Canterbury Christ Church University students in a series of rehearsals and workshops as part of a residency at St Gregory’s Music Centre. Bergen International Festival, Norway Thursday 29 May 2014 Following the world premiere performance and UK tour of the London Sinfonietta commission Radio Rewrite by Steve Reich last March, we bring the work to the Grieghallen in Bergen in a performance also featuring Reich’s Clapping Music, Double Sextet and Electric Counterpoint.
Photo © Kevin Leighton
Rich Mix, Spitalfields Summer Festival Sunday 15 June 2014 Sound and image interplay in the world premiere of London Sinfonietta commission Passing Light, a collaboration from Bryn Harrison and Tim Head. Music and visuals evolve in subtle transformations of textures, colours and harmonies, while the audience is free to move around, suspending their sense of space and time. Passing Light is generously supported by the London Sinfonietta Pioneers. Visit londonsinfonietta.org.uk/events for more information.
London Sinfonietta London Sinfonietta Romitelli: An Sir Harrison Index of Metals Birtwistle at 80
A magma of sounds, shapes and colours
Celebrating a lifelong creative partnership
Wednesday 8 October 2014 8pm Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre
Friday 5 December 2014 7.30pm Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre
From our friends the Riot Ensemble
On record Sinfonietta Shorts
CD releases
Sinfonietta Shorts are pieces by today’s leading composers, commissioned, recorded and released by the London Sinfonietta.
The London Sinfonietta’s recordings continue to offer world-class performances of new music on disc and digital download, delivered in partnership with different labels. Recent and upcoming releases are:
The series started in 2008 to celebrate the ensemble’s 40th birthday, and the works created for it have enduring relevance as bite-sized introductions to the best new music of our time. Five years on, the series is back with five more. They have been released as downloads on NMC Recordings and were performed live by London Sinfonietta Principal Players as part of The New Music Show on Sunday 8 December 2013 at Southbank Centre. The works are: Romitelli: An Harrison Birtwistle Duet 3 Index of Metals Mark Bowden Parable
Philip Cashian Piano Concerto (contributor) NMC Recordings (out now) Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen Mixed Company with Theatre of Voices Dacapo (out now) Larry Goves Debut Disc NMC Recordings (summer 2014) Ben Foskett Debut Disc (contributor) NMC Recordings (summer 2014)
supported by Nick & Claire Prettejohn
Future releases include:
Dai Fujikura es
Dai Fujikura Double Bass Concerto
supported by Robert Clark and Susan Costello
Jonathan Harvey Little Duo
supported by Sir John and Lady Tusa
Anna Meredith Axeman
George Benjamin Into the Little Hill Nicolo Castiglioni Previously unissued recordings
Download now from NMC Recordings nmcrec.co.uk/sinfonietta-shorts
A magma of sounds, shapes and colours
Celebrating a lifelong creative partnership
Wednesday 8 October 2014 8pm Main Event Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre
Friday 5 December 2014 7.30pm Main Event Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre
Support us
We make new music. You make new music happen. Entrepreneurs The London Sinfonietta Entrepreneurs programme seeks to build partnerships with passionate individuals who share our vision for making new music, and can help us in supporting and shaping future projects. Through the Entrepreneurs, we aim to raise £500,000 in new support over the next five years to mark the ensemble’s 50th birthday in 2018. Our target is to enlist 50 individuals or groups to initiate 50 entrepreneurial projects, that support the programme and the core activity of the organisation.
London Sinfonietta Pioneers
Pioneers are vital to the success of the London Sinfonietta and enjoy a close relationship with the ensemble. Become a Lead Pioneer and support our world-class Principal Players and Emerging Artists or put yourself at the forefront of new music as a Creative Pioneer and help fund works by composers such as: Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Laurence Crane, Mica Levi, Tom Coult
Entrepreneurs will enjoy a close involvement and open dialogue with the ensemble through their chosen area of support. Individual Entrepreneur membership starts at £10,000 and can be payable over a maximum of five years (i.e. £2,000 per year). We also welcome corporate and syndicate members to support projects and commit to the same level of support.
PIONEER £35+ per year
Entrepreneurs can direct their support to different areas of the London Sinfonietta’s work:
CREATIVE PIONEER £200+ per year or £16.67+ per month
Performance & Touring Commissioning Young Talent & Community Digital & Audiences For more information contact Claire Barton, Development Manager: claire.barton@londonsinfonietta.org.uk or visit londonsinfonietta.org.uk/entrepreneurs
LEAD PIONEER £1,000+ per year or £83.33+ per month Visit londonsinfonietta.org.uk/pioneers for more information.
Trusts and Foundations
London Sinfonietta would like to thank the following organisations, which have supported us over the last year: Arts Council England The Aaron Copland Fund for Music Ammodo Foundation The Angus Allnatt Charitable Trust The Boltini Trust The British Council The BrittenPears Foundation The Danish Arts Council The Danish Composers’ Society The Derek Butler Trust The City of London Corporation’s City Bridge Trust Columbia Foundation Fund of the London Community Foundation The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands The Ernest Cook Trust The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust The John Ellerman Foundation Esmée Fairbairn Foundation Fidelio Charitable Trust The Garrick Charitable Trust The Goldsmiths’ Company Charity Lord Harewood’s Charitable Settlement Help Musicians UK The Holst Foundation Jerwood Charitable Foundation The Stanley Thomas Johnson Foundation The Leche Trust The Leverhulme Trust The Marple Charitable Trust PRS for Music Foundation RVW Trust The Harold Hyam Wingate Foundation Youth Music
London Sinfonietta Honorary Patrons John Bird Sir Harrison Birtwistle Alfred Brendel KBE Sir George Christie CH
London Sinfonietta Entrepreneurs
Anthony Bolton Annabel Graham Paul Penny Jonas Robert McFarland Michael & Patricia McLaren-Turner Anthony Mackintosh Sir Stephen Oliver QC Nick & Claire Prettejohn Richard Thomas Paul & Sybella Zisman The London Sinfonietta Council
Lead Pioneers
Sir Richard Arnold Trevor Cook Susan Grollet in memory of Mark Grollet Leo and Regina Hepner Penny Jonas Anthony Mackintosh Belinda Matthews Robert & Nicola McFarland Michael & Patricia McLaren-Turner Andrew Mitchell Sir Stephen Oliver QC Nick & Claire Prettejohn Richard Thomas & Caroline Cowie Paul & Sybella Zisman
Creative Pioneers
Ian Baker Andrew Burke Robert Clark Jeremy & Yvonne Clarke Rachel Coldicutt Susan Costello Anton Cox Dennis Davis
Patrick Hall Nicolas Hodgson Andrew Hunt Frank & Linda Jeffs Walter A. Marlowe Alana Petraske Stephen Morris Julie Nicholls Simon Osborne Patricia O’Sullivan Ruth Rattenbury Lord Stevenson of Coddenham Iain Stewart Anne Stoddart Sally Taylor Barry Tennison Antonia Till David & Jenni Wake Walker Fenella Warden Estela Welldon John Wheatley Jane Williams Stephen Williamson Michelle Wright Plus those generous Lead and Creative Pioneers who prefer to remain anonymous. Thanks also to the London Sinfonietta Pioneers.
London Sinfonietta Council Paul Zisman Chairman Andrew Burke Ian Dearden David Hockings Penny Jonas Alana Petraske Belinda Matthews Philip Meaden Matthew Pike Paul Silverthorne Sally Taylor Elizabeth Davies Company Secretary
London Sinfonietta Staff
Andrew Burke Chief Executive Sarah Tennant Head of Concert Production Natalie Marchant Concerts & Touring Administrator Tina Speed Participation & Learning Manager Shoubhik Bandopadhyay Participation & Learning Assistant Claire Barton Development Manager Amy Forshaw Marketing Manager Claire Lampon Marketing & Development Officer Elizabeth Davies Head of Administration & Finance James Joslin Administrative Assistant Viktoria Mark Finance Assistant Mark Prentice-Whitney Projects Intern (Surrey University Professional Training Placement) Freelance and Consultant Staff Hal Hutchison Concert Manager Lesley Wynne Orchestra Personnel Manager Ric Mountjoy Lighting Designer (for 30 April) Tony Simpson Lighting Designer Michelle Wright for Cause4 Fundraising Consultant Julie Nicholls Consultant Accountant sounduk Public Relations Fraser Trainer KX Collective Musical Director Paul Griffiths KX Collective Musical Director The London Sinfonietta is grateful to its accountants Martin Greene Ravden LLP and its auditors MGR Audit Limited for their ongoing support.
New/Inspiring/Free Concert Season 2013/14
Unsuk Chin Artistic Director
All concerts start at 6pm at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall
SUPPORTED BY
www.philharmonia.co.uk/mot