News from our members

We welcome your brief news (max. 150 words) and high-res images. Please email mj@ism.org The next deadline for copy is 1 April for the May/June 2021 issue.

Right: Catherine Ennis Photo: Clive Barda / ArenaPAL Catherine Ennis FISM

20/1/1955-24/12/2020 ISM member since 2002

The organist Catherine Ennis, who died of breast cancer on Christmas Eve, had a distinguished career as a recitalist and recording artist. She had been Director of Music at the City of London guild church of St Lawrence Jewry since 1985 and played for 35 Lord Mayors. As a teacher, she was involved with three London conservatoires and with St Giles International Organ School; she gave masterclasses throughout the UK and abroad and was a frequent examiner and adjudicator. Passionate about providing a platform for young artists, she was a Trustee of the Nicholas Danby Trust for Young Organists and a director of the John Hill Memorial Recital Series.

Ennis was President of the Royal College of Organists (RCO) in 2014 and was awarded the RCO Medal in 2018; she was also a past President of the Incorporated Association of Organists and an enthusiastic supporter of the Society of Women Organists, which was launched at her Royal Festival Hall recital in February 2019. She had a rich fund of stories about the early days of her own career, when female organists were rare and she faced both misogyny and confusion (choristers addressing her as ‘sir’, audience members assuming she had been the page turner when she emerged from organ lofts after her recitals). She was also honest about the challenges of juggling professional commitments with family life. As a fundraiser and organ consultant, Ennis helped to create four London organs: the Rieger at St Marylebone Parish Church, where she was also Director of Music for a time; the Klais at St Lawrence Jewry; the Mander in the Lady Chapel of Westminster Abbey; and the William Drake at Trinity College of Music, Greenwich. She was a Patron of Orford Organ Project and a recording which she made on the Peter Collins organ recently moved from the Turner Sims Concert Hall, Southampton University, to St Bartholomew’s Church, Orford, was released by Priory Records a few weeks before her death. She was also involved in a project to restore the 1911 Hill organ of Shrewsbury Abbey. Tributes to Catherine Ennis from colleagues and friends have emphasised her sense of fun, her energy and her sheer joie de vivre. In his address at her funeral at her local church in Shropshire the Revd Richard McLaren, who worked with her at St Marylebone Church, spoke for everyone who knew her when he expressed his shock and sadness at the loss of such a ‘luminous, lively, lovely figure’ who was both a gifted solo performer and a very natural team player, who was ‘brilliant at interpreting the liturgy with her particular combination of discipline and spontaneity’. Eric Wetherell FISM

30/12/1925 – 31/1/2021 ISM member since 1955

Conductor, composer, arranger, producer and pianist Eric Wetherell gained a music degree at Oxford, where he studied with Bernard Rose, Thomas Armstrong and Egon Wellesz, and then studied composition with Herbert Howells and orchestration with Gordon Jacob at the Royal College of Music. Though trained originally as a pianist and organist, he left the college to become a horn player in the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, as well as freelancing with other London and provincial orchestras. Later, he became a repetiteur at the Royal Opera House, Assistant Musical Director with Welsh National Opera, Music Director with HTV, Chief Conductor of the BBC Northern Ireland Orchestra and up to retirement was Senior Music Producer for Radio 3. His profound enthusiasm for jazz also led to a close involvement with the BBC Big Band, for whom he both arranged and produced. In particular, he was a regular conductor and arranger for the popular ‘Friday Night is Music Night’ on BBC Radio 2 in the early 1970s. Eric Wetherell was also a keen jazz pianist and played regularly with his quartet, until recent years. His compositions covered many genres – film music, orchestral suites, concertos for saxophone and for flute, music for wind band, choral works both accompanied and a cappella, songs, music for children and jazz. His opera The Snow Child was staged at the Redgrave Theatre in Bristol in 2014.

Kenneth Alwyn FISM, FRAM

28/7/1928-10/12/2020 ISM member since 1974

Conductor Kenneth Alwyn’s long career included regular appearances with Sadlers Wells Ballet company and the Royal Ballet at Covent Garden, being musical director for many West End musicals, and conducting the BBC Concert Orchestra in the long-running radio programme Friday Night is Music Night. He was Principal Conductor of the BBC Northern Ireland Orchestra from 1969 to 1976, coinciding with the worst era of the Troubles which posed major challenges for live performing, but he recorded a broad range of repertoire for the BBC. Alwyn’s many commercial recordings included the classic 1958 release of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 overture and Capriccio Italien with the London Symphony Orchestra which was the very first stereophonic LP to be issued by Decca. Born in Croydon, Alwyn was a keen champion of the music of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, who shared his birthplace. He included some of Coleridge-Taylor’s works in his concert programmes whenever he could, and played his music often at the Fairfield Halls, Croydon, from where he broadcast the first complete performance of The Song of Hiawatha since the heyday of the work in the 1930s. Alwyn was also an enthusiastic promoter of British music when touring overseas with various orchestras.

A friend of the comedian and pianist Dudley Moore, Alwyn worked with him on his final concert tour in 1992. He had recently published two volumes of autobiography: A Baton in the Ballet and Is Anyone Watching? In the latter he wrote: ‘In the beautiful garden of music, I am but a gardener. A lowly servant of an art that can touch us like no other.’

Organs of Finedon

Jonathan Harris has produced a CD of The Organs of St Mary’s, Finedon, Northamptonshire, featuring the historic c.1704 Father Smith organ built for Queen Anne which was restored in 2014, and their Peter Collins chamber organ. Music includes works by J.S. Bach, Clérambault, Croft, and Stanley, alongside contemporary works such as two by Robert Page FISM, best known for his sacred choral works (rpmusic.org.uk). Copies to ISM members are available for £5 to cover costs. To purchase contact Jonathan at jonathan.harris1717@gmail.com.

The Organs of St Mary’s, Finedon, Northamptonshire

Played by Jonathan Harris

Remembering Peter Wishart

Composer and publisher Richard Carder (pictured below) has been reflecting on the legacy of the composer Peter Wishart (pictured above), whose centenary falls this year. ‘Wishart was my harmony teacher at the Guildhall from 1961-64,’ says Carder. ‘Very little of his music has been recorded, apart from one famous carol, “Alleluya”, so I hope to encourage performances this year.’ Another of Wishart’s pupils was Geoffrey Burgon, most famous for composing the signature tune for the television series Brideshead Revisited; and he was married to the singer Maureen Lehane, who founded the Jackdaws Music Education Trust at their home Great Elm, near Frome in Somerset, after Wishart’s sudden death in 1984. What is available of Wishart’s output is published by Stainer & Bell.

mynstrallsy.co.uk

Making friends with Zoom

‘Zoom has been my best buddy for the past 12 months and it has allowed me to reach a worldwide audience. I have presented more than 20 solo recorder recitals, performing music from ancient China via early to contemporary pieces, both original works for recorder and arrangements,’ writes recorder player Andrew Collis. ‘I have combined this with talks about the composers, styles and the recorders being used. It has been great to interact with the audience and inspire them to continue their own musical activities – also to focus on my own playing whilst putting together different programmes. A recent project was to perform the 40-minute cycle The Signs of the Seasons by Markus

Zahnhausen alongside a discussion by the composer. This was followed up by a series of workshops on the music. I am now planning to do similar presentations with composers from the USA, Canada, Australia, England and Europe.’ andrewcollismusician.com

andrewcollis@tiscali.co.uk

Calling young composers

Introducing Compose Yourself! – an online composition festival created by established composers Alison Mathews (pictured) and Lindsey Berwin, to reflect their passion in encouraging composition from an early age.

They are inviting submissions from pianists aged five to 18, to be received by 31 May 2021, in both the competitive and non-competitive categories. Entrants submit a video of themselves playing their composition, along with an accompanying score for competitive entrants. All entrants will receive an encouraging comment sheet by the adjudicator, June Armstrong, with a certificate and a piece of music specially written by a leading contemporary composer. Winners in the competitive category will receive a selection of inspiring music books at their playing level. The website has resources to help support teachers introduce composition in a simple and engaging way. For full information on how to enter and to register your interest please visit composeyourself.net

Online vocal jazz workshops

Jazz and world music vocalist Andria Antoniou is leading an online jazz workshop for four consecutive Saturdays, starting on Saturday 27 February.

This workshop is for intermediate or advanced level singers of any musical style and training. Through the study of two jazz standard songs you will be taught the unique characteristics of jazz singing. You will develop an understanding of 2-5-1 progressions – one of the most commonly used chords progressions in jazz and learn how to improvise on the above sequence using the appropriate tools and licks. No prior knowledge of jazz is required. For detailed description please visit andriaantoniou.com/jazzworkshop Promo video: youtu.be/S8VghQVc8Rk Dates and times: Saturdays at 15.00-16.00 UK time 27.2.21 | 6.3.21 | 13.3.21 | 20.3.21 COST: £50 (British pound) in total for four one-hour sessions About Andria: bit.ly/bioandria

Record your vocals at home

Mother and son ISM members Gillian Wormley and Ryan Walker join forces to create a new short online course for singers: Recording Vocals at Home. Gillian and Ryan are professional musicians but in very different spheres. Both studied at Dartington College of Arts. During 2020, Gillian, seeing a significant rise in singers wishing to find a way to be involved with music-making online, began creating virtual initiatives to feed the need and to ensure her business, Little Soprano & The Voice School could continue to flourish.

Ryan, who has first-hand knowledge and experience of recording studios and associated tech needs, is stepping up in partnership with Gillian in March 2021 to create a neat, simple, and userfriendly recording guide for singers, with guaranteed lifetime access for those who opt-in. Further details and news updates about the status of this joint venture can be found at littlesoprano.co.uk/ thelearningcurve

Old and new operas on disc

As with London buses, it takes an age to organize an opera recording, and then two come out on the same day! John Eccles’ Semele and Stephen

Dodgson’s Margaret Catchpole both dramatise the eternal story of Forbidden Love – albeit in different ways. While Semele tells of Jupiter’s affair with Semele that ends in her agonizing death, Margaret Catchpole expresses the woes of Catchpole’s g misguided love for a smuggler. gg Conducted here by Julian Perkins, both pieces magnify life experiences and attest to the uplifting qualities of music by two composers writing 270 years apart. Semele is on AAM Records and is Recording of the Month in BBC Music magazine and was Record of the Week on BBC Radio 3. Margaret Catchpole is on Naxos, has been described as ‘…impeccable both in quality and balance between singers and orchestra’ in David’s Review Corner, and features on Gramophone magazine’s blog. For further details, please see julianperkins.com

Lockdown composing marathon

While 2020 has been a year like no other, it has a particular significance for Dr Robert Howard for reasons beyond the global pandemic. 2020 marked 30 years of composing, and just over 300 live performances of Robert’s compositions both within the UK and further afield.

For Robert, lockdown facilitated the publication of over 130 compositions. Most pieces are now available via Sheet Music Plus (sheetmusicplus. com/publishers/robert-a-howardsheet-music/3014369?ac=1) with several flexibly scored pieces published this year by COMA (Contemporary Music Making for All; coma.org/catalogue/). In both cases, works can be purchased and downloaded or printed. Lockdown also provided the opportunity to complete two new compositions – God So Loved the World, a new setting of words familiar to many, and Tantara, an extended piece for solo trombone which explores various themes linked by fanfare motifs.

Just prior to Christmas, Robert was delighted to receive a Certificate of Appreciation from the Board of British Mensa for his services to Classical Music (Special Interest Group). All in all, an exceptional and productive year!

OBITUARIES, we are sorry to announce the deaths of the following members: Ms Cynthia M Aird of Horley Miss Sheila Desson FISM of Edinburgh Mr Kenneth Alwyn FISM , FRAM of Miss Catherine Ennis FISM of Shrewsbury Billingshurst Miss Lorna Fensome FISM of London Miss Jean Anderson FISM of Harrow Mr John Henry FISM of London Mr Arne Brattland FISM of Waterlooville Mr Kenneth V Jones FISM of Seaford Miss Janet Tinbergen FISM of Oxford Mr Eric Wetherell FISM of Bristol

Mr David A Wright FISM of Winchester

MEMBER COMMENTS

I would just like to thank all at the ISM for your work and support at this time. It is much appreciated, and I am so glad be a MISM.

Nicola Billington, ISM member since 2018

Thank you so much for the ongoing support and excellent resources that the ISM is continuing to provide, despite the huge challenges at the moment. Please know that you are all very much appreciated Jill Colton, ISM member since 1995 I’d like to say thank you for all the information and support from the ISM over the past months. Your advice, from risk assessments and working online to interpretation of confused government diktats, and much more has been invaluable and has kept me almost sane. Keep up the good work ISM member since 1991

Congratulations to the whole team at ISM for the fantastic work that you are doing currently for musicians in general. It is greatly appreciated. Meinir Heulyn, ISM member since 2003 A massive shout of thanks for your continued support over the pandemic, with advice, guidance and support. You are amazing. I have never subscribed to any membership of more worth than the ISM. Ben Matthews, ISM member since 2018 The ISM has been such a tremendous support to musicians over the past year – always ahead of the curve and ready to get new information out to members in record time. Thank you for all you do – it’s hugely appreciated by the musicians in this household!

Lauren Goldthorpe MISM, ISM member since 1994