Chamber Music Festival 2015

www.bcu.ac.uk/revolutionaries /BirmCons

@BirmCons

Advance tickets available from www.eventbrite.co.uk Venues, Concerts & Events Office: 0121 331 5909

Hello Welcome to this year’s festival celebrating the blossoming chamber music scene at Birmingham Conservatoire.

We present concerts by our Ensembles in Residence who have been such an inspiration to the students, and many concerts by the students themselves. In addition we have recitals by the exciting string quartet, The Odeion, visiting from South Africa, and the everpopular Primrose Piano Quartet.

TUE 9 JUNE

WED 10 JUNE

FESTIVAL TASTER

THE SOLDIER’S TALE

6.30pm Hotel-du-Vin, 25 Church Street, Birmingham, B3 2NR Free entry

4.30pm Adrian Boult Hall £6/£4 (advanced) £6.50/£4.50 (on the door)

Beethoven Quartet in G major, Op.18 no.2 Dvořák Serenade transcribed for 13 Wind Instruments, Op.22

Students from Birmingham Conservatoire and Birmingham School of Acting

In this pre-festival taster, some of the Conservatoire’s best ensembles perform in Hotel-duVin’s welcoming open courtyard.

It boasts a fine acoustic, and is a fantastic setting for listening to fine music while enjoying a fine wine.

Once an eye hospital, this landmark Victorian building built in 1884, makes a grand setting for one of the finest hotels in Birmingham.

The theme, REVOLUTIONARIES, picks up on the recent explosion of chamber music activity and enthusiasm at the Conservatoire.

Beethoven, perhaps the most revolutionary of the great composers, features largely, also two works by Schoenberg, including the wonderful Verklärte Nacht.

We hope that you will join us and enter into the festival spirit.

WED 10 JUNE

LIEDERABEND: REVOLUTION & REVELATION 7.30pm Recital Hall £6/£4 (advanced) £6.50/£4.50 (on the door) Always a festival favourite, this year’s Liederabend brings together a wide variety of songs reflecting freedom of thought and action, devised by Robert Allan and presented by members of the Vocal and Operatic Studies Department.

Programme includes work by Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Liszt and many more.

THU 11 JUNE

STRING QUARTETS PART I, COFFEE CONCERT 10am Recital Hall £5.50 (advanced) £6 (on the door) both including a complimentary tea or coffee.

Students from Birmingham Conservatoire Strings Department Mozart String Quartet No.19 in C Major k465, The Dissonance i Adagio - Allegro Beethoven String Quartet No.1 in F major, Op.18 iv Allegro Brahms String Quartet No.3 in B flat major, Op.67 iii Agitati. Allegro non troppo Mendelssohn String Quartet in E flat major, Op.12 ii Canzonetta: Allegretto iv Molto Allegro e vivace Haydn String Quartet, Op.51, Seven Last Words of Christ iv Sonata vii: Largo – Il Terremoto Shostakovich String Quartet No.4 in D major, Op.83 i Allegretto In the first of the festival’s coffee concerts, enjoy six ground-breaking works for string quartet by six of the greatest composers for the genre. The movement from Brahms’s Quartet in B flat is dominated by the viola – an unheard of idea and Haydn’s Seven Last Words finish with an extraordinary musical depiction of an earthquake.

Robin Ireland Head of Chamber Music, Birmingham Conservatoire Venues, Concerts & Events Office: 0121 331 5909

Join us for the opening of Revolutionaries with Stravinsky’s wonderful and revolutionary work, The Soldier’s Tale, which brings together students from four departments within the Conservatoire and the School of Acting.

The first part of the concert includes the winning piece from the Birmingham Chamber Music Society composition competition, for the provocative combination of trumpet, double bass and percussion, as well as a dazzling display by brass students, making creative use of the space in Adrian Boult Hall.

Many other pieces by less obviously revolutionary composers have been chosen for qualities which make them stand out from the ordinary, or represent a new development, a new combination of instruments, or a new style.

2

Stravinsky Fanfare for a New Theatre Ives From the Steeples and the Mountains BCMS Prize-winning competition piece by Fan Fan Quan Requiem G Gabrieli Sonata Soldier’s No.18 à 14 Stravinsky The Soldier's Tale

Liederabend

www.bcu.ac.uk/revolutionaries

/BirmCons

@BirmCons

Advance tickets available from www.eventbrite.co.uk

3

THU 11 JUNE

THU 11 JUNE

THU 11 JUNE

HOE DOWN!

THE SCHUBERT ENSEMBLE

CHAMBER GUITAR

with Birmingham Conservatoire Saxophone Department 11.30am Recital Hall £3 (advanced) £3.50 (on the door) Directors Naomi Sullivan and Anna Brooks Students from Birmingham Conservatoire Saxophone Department Will Gregory Hoe Down!

Michael Torke July Michael Nyman Songs for Tony Andy Scott Lip Service Andy Scott Time Please Andy Scott Don’t Shoot The Duck Youngblood Brass Band Brookyln (arr. Naomi Sullivan)

1pm Recital Hall £6/£4 (advanced) £6.50/£4.50 (on the door) Beethoven Piano Trio in C minor Op.1, No.3 Short pieces by Conservatoire composition students Joseph Suk Piano Trio, Op.2 The Conservatoire’s most long-standing Ensemble-inResidence, ever-popular with the students and widely admired internationally, perform a particularly stormy early Piano Trio of Beethoven’s, and a romantic gem by Joseph Suk, as well as presenting brand new student compositions.

Enjoy this exciting concert showcasing the works of living composers whose music is influenced by funk, pop, jazz, New Orleans and more.

2.30pm Recital Hall £3 (advanced) £3.50 (on the door) Students from Birmingham Conservatoire Guitar and Strings Departments Leo Brouwer Cuban Landscape with Rumba Giuliani Sonata Castelnuovo-Tedesco Quintet for guitar and string quartet, Op.143 Rodrigo Tonadilla Roland Dyens Rythmaginaires Join players from the Conservatoire’s hugely talented Guitar department for a programme that reflects iconic composers for the instrument throughout history, in the realm of chamber music.

The Conservatoire’s Saxophone Ensemble works on a variety of projects across the year. The students cover a huge variety of repertoire from the Renaissance to the present day, culminating in performances at the Conservatoire and further afield.

Chamber Guitar

THU 11 JUNE

THU 11 JUNE

STRING QUARTETS PLUS, PART II

CHAMBER BRASS

4pm Arena Foyer £3 (advanced) £3.50 (on the door)

5pm Recital Hall £3 (advanced) £3.50 (on the door)

Students from Birmingham Conservatoire Strings Department

Birmingham Conservatoire Brass Department presents

Shostakovich String Quartet No.3 in F major, Op.73 iii allegro non troppo Bartók Duos (selection) Onslow String Quintet No.15 in C minor, Op.38, The Bullet ii Menuetto: Delore, Febre e deliro iii Andante sostenuto: Convalescenza Dvořák Terzetto, Op.74 i Introduzione: Allegro ma non troppo ii Larghetto iii Scherzo iv Tema con variations

Berlin Puttin’ on the Ritz Ewald Brass Quintet No.1 Farnaby Fancies, Toyes and Dreams Vinter Alla Burlesca Ewald Brass Quintet No.2 Andrew Downes Brass Quintet No.2 Penella El Gato Montes

Dvořák’s magnificent Terzetto for two violins and viola, the first piece for this combination, is preceded by a rare performance of Onslow’s Quintet The Bullet in which he depicts the moment he was accidentally shot in the ear during a hunting party! A selection of Bartok’s miraculous folk-derived Duos for two violins and a particularly fiery and defiant Shostakovich quartet movement complete this energetic programme.

A varied and entertaining programme covering three centuries of brass music from original compositions to popular arrangements. Four distinctive chamber groups demonstrate their individuality and the versatility of brass chamber ensembles.

The Schubert Ensemble 4

Venues, Concerts & Events Office: 0121 331 5909

www.bcu.ac.uk/revolutionaries

/BirmCons

@BirmCons

Advance tickets available from www.eventbrite.co.uk

5

FRI 12 JUNE

STRING QUARTETS PLUS, PART IV, COFFEE CONCERT 11am Recital Hall £5.50 (advanced) £6 (on the door) Both including a complimentary tea or coffee.

Students from Birmingham Conservatoire Strings and Piano Departments

The Odeion String Quartet

THU 11 JUNE

THU 11 JUNE

THE ODEION STRING QUARTET

STRING QUARTETS AND PIANO TRIOS PART II

6.30pm Recital Hall £6/£4 (advanced) £6.50/£4.50 (on the door)

8pm Recital Hall £3 (advanced) £3.50 (on the door)

Peter-Louis van Dijk String Quartet Iinyembezi Beethoven String Quartet Op.59 No.2 The Odeion String Quartet join us from South Africa, presenting a superb piece by their fellowcountryman, Peter-Louis van Dijk, followed by one of Beethoven’s most explosive and revolutionary string quartets.

Students from Birmingham Conservatoire Strings and Piano Departments Beethoven Piano Trio in D major, Op.70, No.1, Ghost i Allegro vivace e con brio Mendelssohn String Quintet No.1 in A major, Op.18 i Allegro con moto Kodály Serenade, Op.12 i Allegramente – Sostenuto ma non troppo Ravel Introduction and Allegro for harp, flute, clarinet and string quartet Brahms Piano Quartet in A major i Allegro Beethoven String Quartet No.7 in F major, Op.59, No.1, ‘Razumovsky’ i Allegro ii Allegetto vivace e sempre scherzando iii Adagio molto e mento iv Thème Russe: Allegro A movement from Beethoven’s Ghost Trio opens this titanic concert! It ends with the first Rasumovsky Quartet, which radically increased the length and scale of the quartet over anything ever conceived before. There is also a chance to hear Ravel’s septet - arguably the most sensual piece of chamber music ever written.

6

Venues, Concerts & Events Office: 0121 331 5909

www.bcu.ac.uk/revolutionaries

/BirmCons

@BirmCons

Shostakovich String Quartet No.7 in F sharp minor, Op.108 i Allegretto ii Lento iii Allegro Smetana String Quartet No.1 in E minor, ‘From My Life’ iii Largo sostenuto Bartók Duos (selection) Beethoven String Quartet No.2 in G major, Op.18, No.2 i Allegro ii Adagio cantabile iii Scherzo: Allegro iv Allegro molto, quasi presto Join us for the second of the festival’s coffee concerts.

Shostakovich’s 7th Quartet, after a deceptively mild opening, reveals itself as a revolutionary and shocking work. Smetana's 1st Quartet, titled From My Life, is the first overtly autobiographical quartet and Beethoven’s early G major Quartet, known in Germany as the Compliments quartet is unusual for Beethoven in being almost entirely non-confrontational and good-humoured.

The Primrose Piano Quartet

FRI 12 JUNE

FRI 12 JUNE

THE ODEION STRING QUARTET

THE PRIMROSE PIANO QUARTET

12.30pm Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery Free entry

1pm Recital Hall £6/£4 (advanced) £6.50/£4.50 (on the door)

Mokale Koapeng Komeng Haydn String Quartet in D major, Op.20, No.4 Shostakovich String quartet No.2 in A major, Op.68

Variations on a Burns’ Air

By Yon Castle Françaix String Trio Elgar Piano Quintet in A minor, Op.84 (with Daniel Roberts as guest violin)

For their second concert in the festival, The Odeion Quartet begin with another original piece by a South African composer, this time Mokale Koapeng, that imitates Uhadi bows, followed by a quartet from Haydn’s ground-breaking Op.20 set, and Shostakovich’s unique second quartet, with its wonderful Jewish lament in the first movement.

The Primrose Piano Quartet boasts some of the UK’s most renowned chamber musicians and has had a strong presence at the Conservatoire for a number of years; pianist John Thwaites is Head of Keyboard Studies and Susanne Stanzeleit teaches violin. Hear the quartet perform a fascinating programme which features their commission to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Robert Burns’s birth.

Advance tickets available from www.eventbrite.co.uk

7

FRI 12 JUNE

CHAMBER WOODWIND PART I 2.30pm Recital Hall £3 (advanced) £3.50 (on the door) Students from Birmingham Conservatoire Woodwind department Martinů La Revue de Cuisine Telemann Tafelmusik for three flutes (Andante and Vivace) Bizet Minuet from L’Arlesienne Jacques Ibert Trois pièces brèves Reinecke Octet, Op. 216

Frida

FRI 12 JUNE

CHAMBER WOODWOOD PART II 4pm Recital Hall £3 (advanced) £3.50 (on the door) Students from Birmingham Conservatoire Woodwind department

The Atéa Wind Quintet

Howells Rhapsodic Quintet Bozza Quartet for Woodwind Taffanel Wind Quintet in G minor - 1st Movement Hindemith Kleine Kammermusik

FRI 12 JUNE

THE ATÉA WIND QUINTET

Join us for this wonderful selection of wind chamber music, given by students from all year groups at the Conservatoire. We have music for all tastes, from quintet classics through to serene music for wind and strings opening with the unique Jazz ballet by Martinu about the love life of cooking utensils!

6pm Recital Hall £6/4 (advanced) £6.50/£4.50 (on the door)

Venues, Concerts & Events Office: 0121 331 5909

Harrison Birtwistle 5 distances Cambini Quintet No.1 Danzi Quintet in G minor

www.bcu.ac.uk/revolutionaries

/BirmCons

FRI 12 JUNE

FRIDA

STRING QUARTETS PLUS, PART V

7.15pm Adrian Boult Hall £3 (advanced) £3.50 (on the door)

7.45pm Recital Hall £3 (advanced) £3.50 (on the door)

Students from Birmingham Conservatoire Jazz and Strings Departments Stella Roberts Hope Springs Eternal Stella Roberts Solace Stella Roberts James Stella Roberts Ginny’s Supper Club Stella Roberts Gilbert Grape Björk Joga

Students from Birmingham Conservatoire Strings and Piano Departments

FRIDA is an exciting new 7-piece ensemble led by pianist Stella Roberts. The band combines the sounds of a traditional string quartet with a jazz piano trio and focuses on integrating the two genres of instruments through writing and performance.

Our superb Associate Ensemble-in-Residence present three revolutionary pieces for Wind Quintet. Cambini’s work is probably the first ever written for the combination. Danzi revolutionised the timbre of the wind quintet, and through his influence the genre rivals string quartets for its delicacy and elegance. Birtwistle’s Five Distances shows the extremes to which the Quintet can be pushed.

8

FRI 12 JUNE

@BirmCons

Stella draws influence from an eclectic range of styles and musicians ranging from Bill Frisell and the 858 Quartet, to Bjork’s seminal album Homogenic.

Shostakovich String Quartet No.8 in C minor Op.110, movements 1 and 2 i Largo ii Allegro molto Messiaen Louange à l’Éternité de Jésus from Quartet for the End of Time Brahms String Quintet No.2 in G major, Op.111, ii Adagio Dvořák String Quintet, Op.77 iv Finale. Allegro assai Schubert String Quartet No.14 in D minor, ‘Death and the Maiden’, Finale ii Scherzo: Allegro molto iv Presto Brahms Sextet No.2 in G major, Op.36 Enjoy this dramatic programme which opens with movements from Shostakovich’s 8th Quartet, written in response to the bombing of Dresden. Messiaen’s Louange from the Quartet for the End of Time was composed in a Concentration Camp. Dvořák’s Quintet is the first to use a double bass as the fifth player.

Schubert’s Death and the Maiden Quartet, with its ‘Dance of Death’ last movement, is one of the all-time greats. The concert finishes with Brahms’s visionary masterpiece, his Sextet in G major.

Advance tickets available from www.eventbrite.co.uk

9

1615

SAT 13 JUNE

SAT 13 JUNE

FESTIVAL ENSEMBLE

‘1615’ – SUPERSIZE BRASS

1pm Adrian Boult Hall £6/£4 (advanced) £6.50/£4.50 (on the door)

1pm Library of Birmingham Free entry

Handel Trio Sonata in G minor for Oboe, Violin and Continuo Lutoslawski Bucolics for Viola and Cello Britten 3 pieces from Metamorphosen for Solo Oboe Robin Ireland ‘Bats’ for Solo Viola Stravinsky Three Pieces for String Quartet Mozart Oboe Quartet K.370

Immerse yourself in a 360° audio experience as students from the Conservatoire Brass Department perform music from Giovanni Gabrieli’s monumental collection of instrumental works Canzoni et Sonate, published 400 years ago this year. Originally intended to be performed in St. Mark’s, Venice, in separated groups of players, our performance instead uses the balconies and open spaces of the new Library of Birmingham in Centenary Square.

We are delighted that the Conservatoire’s former Principal, George Caird, is participating in this concert along with his wife, and member of the Schubert Ensemble, Jane Salmon, Robin Ireland, the Festival’s organizer, and the Klee String Quartet, the superb ensemble from Japan. The unusual but accessible programme will certainly never have been presented in this combination before!

10

Venues, Concerts & Events Office: 0121 331 5909

www.bcu.ac.uk/revolutionaries

SAT 13 JUNE

STRING QUARTETS PLUS, PART VI

STRING QUARTETS PLUS, PART VII

4pm Recital Hall £3 (advanced) £3.50 (on the door)

7.45pm Recital Hall £3 (advanced) £3.50 (on the door)

Students from Birmingham Conservatoire Strings and Piano Departments including the Klee Quartet, recent winners of the Intercollegiate String Quartet Competition, with Festival director, Robin Ireland.

E.J. Moeran String Trio in G major i Allegro giovale Vaughan Williams Piano Quintet in C minor i Allegro con fuoco ii Andante Mozart Quintet No.4 in G minor, K516 i Allegro ii Menuetto iii Adagio ma non troppo iv Adagio - Allegro

Mozart Quintet in C major, K515 i Allegro Debussy String Quartet No.1 in G minor i Animé et très décidé Ravel String Quartet in F major i Allegro moderato très doux iv Vif et agité Beethoven Quintet in C major, Op.29, ‘The Storm’ iv Presto Ravel Introduction and Allegro for harp, flute, clarinet and string quartet William Walton String Quartet in A minor i Allegro ii Presto iii Lento iv Allegro

Wrap yourself in the darkness of Mozart’s masterpiece of chamber music: Quintet in G minor, with its ‘revolutionary’ structure of five movements, includes the first use of mutes, in the slow movement. Vaughan Williams’ youthful Quintet is for the same combination as the trout Quintet of Schubert, and is a rarely heard delight.

Directors Susan Addision, David Blackadder, Richard Thomas

George Caird oboe Jane Salmon cello Robin Ireland viola and violin Klee String Quartet Guy Murgatroyd piano

SAT 13 JUNE

SAT 13 JUNE

Mozart’s C major Quintet is a radical and radiant work. Debussy and Ravel created entirely new worlds of sound for the quartet. The last movement of Beethoven’s Quintet in C major well deserves it the nickname The Storm, albeit a playful one. Walton’s unique Quartet is an entirely original masterpiece of the genre.

SUN 14 JUNE

THE EBLANA STRING TRIO

THE SYLVIA CLEAVER PRIZE FOR CHAMBER MUSIC

6pm Recital Hall £6/£4 (advanced) £6.50/£4.50 (on the door)

4pm Recital Hall £3.50 (advanced) £4 (on the door)

Schoenberg String Trio Schoenberg Verklärte Nacht For their farewell concert as Junior Fellows, the Eblana String Trio present a programme that celebrates the work of one of the most important and truly revolutionary of Twentieth Century composers.

Schoenberg’s mesmerising String Trio, his final work, written in the weeks immediately after an almost fatal cardiac arrest is followed by the luscious harmonies of Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night), one of his earliest and best-loved works.

Hear the best ensembles from the Conservatoire compete for this coveted prize, concluding our Revolutionaries Chamber Music Festival.

Birmingham Conservatoire is grateful to Birmingham Chamber Music Society for their generous support of this prize.

Birmingham Conservatoire would like to thank the Eblana Trio for their fantastic work over the past two years. /BirmCons

@BirmCons

Advance tickets available from www.eventbrite.co.uk

11

Taking place during June and July, our Inspired festival is a wonderful opportunity to visit exhibitions, plays, concerts and fashion shows which are a culmination of the ingenuity, hard work and progression of our creative students.

For further event information visit our website www.bcu.ac.uk/inspired.

Stay in touch for details of forthcoming concerts, special offers and our latest news.

To join Birmingham Conservatoire’s mailing list please email bhamcons.concerts@bcu.ac.uk or contact the Venues, Concerts & Events Team on 0121 331 5909. www.bcu.ac.uk/revolutionaries /

BirmCons

@BirmCons

Birmingham Conservatoire Paradise Place Birmingham B3 3HG 12

Venues, Concerts & Events Office: 0121 331 5909

www.bcu.ac.uk/revolutionaries

/BirmCons

@BirmCons