2023/24 SEASON CONCERT PROGRAMME
DECADES Wednesday 24 January, 7.45pm Southbank Centre’s Purcell Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall
DECADES Wednesday 24 January 2024, 7.45pm Southbank Centre’s Purcell Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall Hannah Kendall Verdala St Ignatius College Pupils, arr Lucy Armstrong We Need to Have a Conversation Lenny, Alderwood Primary School Autumn Tansy Davies Iris Interval Oliver Knussen Coursing George Lewis Celebration Tōru Takemitsu Tree Line Thomas Adès Living Toys I Angels II Aurochs -BALETT III Militiamen IV H.A.L.’s Death -BATTLE V Playing Funerals -TABLETGeoffrey Paterson conductor Lucy Armstrong conductor Simon Haram saxophone Michael Cox flute Helen Tunstall harp Young People’s Chorus of St Ignatius College London Sinfonietta The London Sinfonietta is grateful to Arts Council England for its support of the ensemble, as well as the many other individuals, trusts and businesses who enable us to realise our ambitions. This event is produced by the London Sinfonietta and supported by the Southbank Centre and the Marchus Trust. The work of the London Sinfonietta is supported by the John Ellerman Foundation. The London Sinfonietta would like to dedicate this concert to the late Rosemary Gent who was a long-standing Artistic Administrator of the Ensemble from 1982 to 1993. We also remember Martin Allen who played percussion with the Ensemble on many occasions.
WELCOME TO TONIGHT’S CONCERT. As today is the anniversary of our first ever concert 56 years ago, we decided to celebrate the tradition of commissioning works from composers that is so much part of our history. I’m grateful to our conductor tonight Geoffrey Paterson for helping me to select these works, to Simon Haram for his solo performance and to the young people, Lucy Armstrong and George Lewis who have contributed new works for the programme. This tradition over many years has of course now created a repertoire of music by great composers for ‘Sinfonietta’-sized forces which is being performed by other ensembles around the world. As we plan our future in light of recent reductions in Arts Council funding, we already know we want to both celebrate our past and continue to commission new works for now and the future, to keep our tradition going. A vitally important part of that work is inspiring young people to compose – and the work with St Ignatius College in Enfield, on show tonight in this event, is one example of this. We are also working with thousands of young primary school children around the UK through our Composition Challenges. This concert has the support of the Arts Council, the John Ellerman Foundation and the Marchus Trust, and we are grateful to them. If you are interested in supporting the future of the London Sinfonietta, or the composers and the work we commission from them, we would love to hear from you. Please do go to our website, or be in touch directly. Andrew Burke Chief Executive & Artistic Director andrew.burke@londonsinfonietta.org.uk
Welcome to the Southbank Centre We’re the largest arts centre in the UK and one of the nation’s top visitor attractions, showcasing the world’s most exciting artists at our venues in the heart of London. We’re here to present great cultural experiences that bring people together, and open up the arts to everyone. The Southbank Centre is made up of the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room, Hayward Gallery, National Poetry Library and Arts Council Collection. We’re one of London’s favourite meeting spots, with lots of free events and places to relax, eat and shop. We hope you enjoy your visit. If you need any information or help, please ask a member of staff. You can also write to us at Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX, or email hello@southbankcentre.co.uk Subscribers to our email updates are the first to hear about new events, offers and competitions. Just head to our website to sign up.
LONDON SINFONIETTA: WHAT WE DO Commissioning Making new music is at the heart of what we do, from commissioning pieces from the best emerging and established composers, to collaborating with artists from other genres and disciplines. We have performed this music not only in concert halls but in clubs, factories, art galleries and even underground stations. Our recorded catalogue of these pieces over 50 years and more recently our online films have reached new audiences around the world. Since our founding in 1968, we have commissioned over 470 pieces of new music, and premiered many hundreds more. The London Sinfonietta has held commissioning relationships with some of the great names of the post-war period, at the heart of which
was the life-long partnership with Sir Harrison Birtwistle, who created over 20 new works for the ensemble of different scale for both concert hall and for the stage. This tradition of building relationships with great composers has led to works by Sir John Tavener, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Hans Werner Henze, Luciano Berio, Iannis Xenakis, Peter Maxwell Davies, Elizabeth Lutyens, Oliver Knussen, Sir George Benjamin, Elliot Carter, Tōru Takemitsu, Simon Bainbridge, Simon Holt, MarkAnthony Turnage, Wolfgang Rihm, Witold Lutosławski, Colin Matthews, Hans Abrahamsen, James Dillon, James MacMillan, Tom Adès, Julian Anderson, Gavin Bryars and Gérard Grisey. In the
Harrison Birtwistle in rehearsal with London Sinfonietta
We have just launched the fifth edition of our Writing the Future scheme. By March, four early-career music creators will have been selected and offered a commission with mentoring and feedback, culminating in a main-stage performances of their work in the 2024/25 season and beyond. Our Blue Touch Paper project is exploring the possibilities of commissions for digital platforms, and we are currently working with Trinity Laban, Royal Northern College of Music and the Drake Music Project. Tonight’s premiere by George Lewis is one of our ongoing Sinfonietta Shorts series – pieces for solo instruments which have then been taken up by players and students around the world as study and recital works.
Samantha Fernando and Geoffrey Paterson
Our future ensemble commissions for the 2024/25 season will be announced in the coming weeks and information will be listed at londonsinfonietta.org.uk/commissions-0
21st Century, this tradition has continued to include Judith Weir, Dai Fujikura, Unsuk Chin, Steve Reich, Heiner Goebbels, Tansy Davies, Thomas Larcher, Louis Andriessen, Anna Meredith, Gerald Barry, Samantha Fernando, Michel van der Aa, Karin Rehnqvist, Philip Venables, Tom Coult, Hannah Kendall and George Lewis. As well as our ongoing series of commissions offered to established composers, we have evolved different projects to inspire composition in those who are just starting out or are developing their practice. Composition Challenges teach the rudiments of composition in an engaging and visual manner to school students. This season we are working with schools in person and online around the UK, and performing some of the compositions in our concerts.
Nwando Ebizie’s Fall And Then Rise composed as part of Writing the Future
LONDON SINFONIETTA: WHAT WE DO Work in Schools and the Community The London Sinfonietta was the first ensemble in the UK to launch a dedicated music education programme in the early 1980s. This pioneering spirit has continued and flourished ever since, expanding to include regular performances and workshops with members of the public. One such project includes Composition Challenges, which facilitates groups of
young people to enter the fascinating world of new music and learn more about how to compose, putting it into practice by interacting with London Sinfonietta musicians who seek to encourage and inspire the next generation of creative artists. Schools from around the UK have taken part, extending our reach to over 12,000 young people.
Presenter Patrick Bailey and conductor Lucy Armstrong on stage at our annual concert for schools, Sound Out
St Ignatius College Residency (Enfield) All the rehearsals for this concert were undertaken at St Ignatius College in Enfield, and pupils from the school were invited to sit in and get a ring-side seat during the rehearsal process. Pupils also benefitted from composition workshops (and have written the protest songs you’ll hear during this concert), marketing workshops, and other interactive sessions with our friendly staff and musicians. This is the second year of our partnership with St Ignatius College, and you can watch a film documenting last year’s residency at londonsinfonietta.org.uk/through-lenstown-2023
School children creating a piece of music with workshop leader Yshani Perinpanayagam
London Sinfonietta musicians perform a piece by a St Ignatius pupil
PROGRAMME NOTES Hannah Kendall Verdala The Verdala was one of the ships that brought the British West Indian Regiment (BWIR) from the Caribbean to Europe to fight in World War I. Already knowing that I wanted this piece to highlight the BWIR’s involvement in the war, and thinking about titles around the time that the 2018 ‘Windrush Scandal’ surfaced, it seemed fitting to name it so, as a reminder that there have been many ships long-prior to Windrush interweaved throughout British and British-Caribbean history. I have been particularly drawn to the writings of Caribbean/Guyanese poet and political activist Martin Carter for many years, who expressed his feelings of the BritishCaribbean experience, and military presence through powerful and poignant imagery in his texts. Lines from his O Human Guide inspired the musical material for Verdala: “In the burnt earth of these years... So near so near the rampart spiked with pain... The guilty heaven promising a star... Each day I ride a wild black horse of terror...” Intricate interweaving woodwind lines feature throughout, often punctuated by strong raw chords in the strings, recurring chimes in the harp, and initial beating from the claves. Highly direct and rhythmic activity dominates following the opening section, which foreshadows this, except when biting ‘jabs’ give way to a softer, quieter ‘chorale’ in the low woodwinds and brass, before building-up again, becoming more unsettled, and culminating wildly and piercingly. Hannah Kendall
Hannah Kendall is one of Britain’s most exciting young classical composers. Her music has attracted attention from groups including London Philharmonic Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, BBC Singers, and Philharmonia Orchestra, at the Royal Festival Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room, The Royal Opera House’s Linbury Studio Theatre, The Roundhouse, Westminster, Canterbury, Gloucester and St Paul’s Cathedrals, Westminster Abbey and Cheltenham Music Festival. St Ignatius Pupils arranged by Lucy Armstrong We Need to Have a Conversation During our May 2023 residency at St Ignatius College, Enfield, we worked with young musicians to write their own protest song, inspired by our recent performances of Hans Werner Henze Voices. The pupils worked with workshop leaders Paul Griffiths and Lucy Armstrong, alongside London Sinfonietta players, to put together their own words and music, which Lucy subsequently arranged specially for this concert. Our residency at St Ignatius College is part of our wider In Town programme in the London Borough of Enfield, where we work with local schools, young instrumentalists and the community. The piece is about the frustration the students feel with current world leaders and the state of the world. It’s about wanting governments to listen and to see the scale of global suffering and to start a conversation to change things for the better.
Lenny Autumn Lenny is a Year 4 pupil at Alderwood Primary School. He wrote this piece as part of our Composition Challenges programme, which aims to make musical composition attainable to everyone through online challenges. Here’s what he had to say about his piece: “My name is Lenny, aged 8. I chose a Postcard Piece challenge, and my inspiration was Autumn. I started with a leaf blowing through in the wind, then I had a couple of notes here and there which have blown up in the wind, getting louder in dynamics. A couple of notes at the top stay the same pitch, and then we’ve got birdsong going high and low. I hope you enjoy it!”
his work. The saxophone soloist in ‘Iris’ is the shaman: ‘one who walks between the worlds’. The two most different ‘worlds’ in this piece are a mournful chorale and a spiky, obsessively rhythmic section. The saxophone builds bridges between the two and acts as an intermediary, taking material from one to the other. The saxophone is associated with the percussion, which is largely used to signal change. Percussion instruments (in particular the rattle) are used in shamanic practice to create a transition from one level of reality to another- a bridge between worlds. Iris was created through the London Sinfonietta’s Blue Touch Paper scheme, supported by the Gulbenkian Foundation. The first performance was given by the London Sinfonietta with Simon Haram, conducted by Pierre André Valade, at the Cheltenham Festival on 4 July 2004. Tansy Davies
Tansy Davies Iris In many cultures the bridge symbolises a transformation from one state to another, or change, or the desire for change. Iris, the winged goddess of the rainbow, was the bridge between the heavens and the earth, delivering messages. She would go from one end of the earth to the other, travelling at the speed of wind, to the bottom of the sea or to the depths of the underworld, leaving a rainbow in her wake. Yet another figure linking worlds is the shaman, who travels between ‘lower’ and ‘higher’ realms of subconscious to perform
Borne out of a fascination with nature and shamanism, and a grinding rhythmic energy, the music of Tansy Davies has been described as ‘sleek, hot, earthy’ and ‘transparent, brazenly beautiful’. Her music is championed by ensembles including New York Philharmonic, Ensemble Intercontemporain, and Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and at festivals including Ultima, Présences, Donaueschinger Musiktage and Warsaw Autumn. Between Worlds, an operatic response to 9/11, was premiered by English National Opera in 2015, and in 2018 her chamber opera Cave was premiered with Mark Padmore, Elaine Mitchener, and London Sinfonietta.
Oliver Knussen Coursing Coursing began in July 1978, a preliminary version was given its first performance by the London Sinfonietta under Simon Rattle in April 1979, and the piece was completed in early 1981. The title is intended to suggest at once energy, fluidity and great speed: an initial impetus towards the character of the music was the rapids at Niagara Falls – that is, the immense contained force of the water, despite its surface smoothness, just before it plunges down. What courses through this piece are numerous versions of the long unison melody heard at the beginning. This melody (which require considerable ensemble virtuosity) is in a sense present throughout the work, and all different tempi and harmonic types can be simply related back to it. Like all of my recent scores, Coursing is compact, playing a little over 6 minutes. It is dedicated to Elliott Carter, in admiration for his 70th birthday. Coursing was commissioned by the London Sinfonietta and funds were provided by the Arts Council of Great Britain. Oliver Knussen
One of the great composer-conductors of our time, Oliver Knussen created a body of work characterised by its crystalline concision, complexity and richness. Born in 1952, Oliver Knussen studied composition with John Lambert in London and Gunther Schuller at Tanglewood. He was just fifteen when he wrote his First Symphony (later conducting its premiere with the London Symphony Orchestra) whilst his Third Symphony (1973-9), dedicated to
Michael Tilson Thomas, is now widely regarded as a twentieth-century classic. A number of dazzling ensemble works, including Ophelia Dances (a Koussevitzky centennial commission, 1975) and Coursing (1979), cemented Knussen’s position at the forefront of contemporary British music. George Lewis Celebration A well-known Dutch birthday song, usually performed as a kind of march, goes, “Lang zal ze leven (3x) in de gloria.” In English this translates roughly to “Long may she/they live in glory,” or perhaps in Vulcan, “Live long and prosper.” At the end of the song, the assembled multitude shouts “Hieperdepiep, hoera!” (Hip Hip Hooray). Hieperdepiep seems to my non-Dutch ear totally onomatopoeic – a sound that, in this case, reminded me not only of the piccolo, but also of the still-ongoing African American fife and drum tradition that, probably blended with musical practices from West Africa, marked both the American Revolutionary War and the Civil War, on both the Union and the Confederate sides of that conflict. Celebration provides an opportunity for me to pursue my ongoing fascination with the classic trope of depiction in American classical music, as found in Amy Beach, Charles Ives, Thomas “Blind Tom” Wiggins, Ruth Crawford, Elliott Carter, Duke Ellington, and many others – this time with an onomatopoeic dimension in which the piccolo enacts the sounds of both fife and drum. This work takes its place among my recent works that propose new subjects, histories, and identities for classical music, as part of my ongoing exploration of what the decolonial might sound like. Celebration is dedicated to the London
Sinfonietta and its piccolo performer, Michael Cox, in honor and celebration of the Sinfonietta’s 56th anniversary of its first concert. George Lewis
George E. Lewis is the Edwin H. Case Professor of American Music at Columbia University. A Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy. Lewis’s other honors include a MacArthur Genius Award (2002), a Guggenheim Fellowship (2015), a United States Artists Walker Fellowship (2011), an Alpert Award in the Arts (1999), and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts. Most recently Prof. Lewis received an honorary doctorate from Harvard University and became a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters (2018). Tōru Takemitsu Tree Line Tōru Takemitsu came to musical maturity just after World War II, and for several years rejected the use of Japanese music in any form, probably because of its association with the militarism that brought on that destructive conflict. Later he softened his avant-garde language, turning both to Japanese aesthetics and music and to the music of the French composers Claude Debussy and Olivier Messiaen. By the time this was written, many of his compositions (and this one is a great example) took on aspects of a Japanese garden: they are formally balanced, austere, intended as a reflection of nature, and conducive to meditation. And, above all, subtle.
The “Tree Line” of the title is a row of luxuriant acacia trees lining a gently sloping road along which the composer enjoyed walking. Located near the villa in the mountains where Takemitsu worked, the trees always caused his weary mind to feel rested once he had walked under them. “This work was written as an homage to those graceful yet dauntless trees,” Takemitsu indicates. The piece offers lovely colors, a restful slow harmonic rhythm using chords similarly to Debussy’s, a gentle rising melody in the middle of the piece, and a scattering of glides in strings and woodwinds, as well as some passages with microtones, a Japanese element. Joseph Stevenson
Tōru Takemitsu was born in Tokyo on 8 October 1930. He began attending the Keika Junior High School in 1943 and resolved to become a composer at the age of 16. During the post-war years, he came into contact with Western music through radio broadcasts by the American occupying forces – not only jazz, but especially classical music by Debussy and Copland and even by Schoenberg. He made his debut at the age of 20 with a piano piece Lento in Due Movimenti. Although Takemitsu was essentially a self-taught composer, he nevertheless sought contact with outstanding teachers. Alongside his musical studies, Takemitsu also took a great interest in other art forms including modern painting, theatre, film and literature (especially lyric poetry).
Thomas Adès Living Toys “When the men asked him what he wanted to be, the child did not name any of their own occupations, as they had all hoped he would, but replied: ‘I am going to be a hero, and dance with angels and bulls, and fight with bulls and soldiers, and die a hero in outer space, and be buried a hero’. Seeing him standing there, the man felt small, understanding that they were not heroes, and that their lives were less substantial than the dreams which surrounded the child like toys.” anon. (from the Spanish) The child/hero’s dream-adventures form the five ‘figurative’ sections, offset by three more volatile, dynamic paragraphs: painting versus film, perhaps. First Angels, a long horn solo haloed with gongs and little trumpets. Then, with a change in tempo and the first bass note (a B), into the ring charges an Aurochs (the extinct European bison). He is whipped and goaded by the brutal, elegant matodor-kid until his bellows of defeat (horn again) metamorphose into the first appearance of a ‘hero’s theme’. This rolling, square tune, makes three appearances, immediately preceding each of the three unnumbered sections (BALETT etc.). In these, there is a reordering of shared material (hence anagrammatical titles): three-voice descending chords, each voice restricted to a single interval. Recurring in BATTLE and dominating TABLET, this material is evolved in BALETT from a fragment of the bullfight out of which it flies: descending E-D-C (horn, inversion of the start of the hero’s theme), combined with the angelic horn solo (trombone, this time). The BALETT cadences abruptly on a menacing octave ‘B’ where the hero has a
bad dream – a grotesque army, led by a pair of virtuosi (one is a maniacal drummer, the other has a nightmarish talking bugle), advances on him to the point when – it being forbidden to dream one’s own death – he switches dreams. He is in a film, in deepest space, dismantling a great computer, whose vast intelligence dwindles to a wilting Vicwardian music-hall waltz (contrabasson and double-bass). It is the gentlest of executions, and the little astronaut whistles his tune like the sweet fifing of a tiny recorder. There follows an unstoppable, suffocating BATTLE, in which the monstrous militiamen reappear and (E minor climax) finish their fell work. Our hero dreams himself a full military funeral, with muffled drums and tear-blurred mass humming of his tune; a TABLET is erected, and there is a three-gun salute, or three cheers, or three rockets, or three big puffs of dust as the story book is slammed shut and he drifts off to join his adversaries. Thomas Adès
Thomas Adès is now one of the world’s foremost musicians, renowned as both a composer and performer worldwide. From exquisite chamber pieces to stage works, his diverse body of work immediately connects with audiences, and assesses the fundamentals of music afresh. Born in London in 1971, Thomas Adès studied piano at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, and read music at King’s College, Cambridge. A prodigious composer, conductor and pianist, Adès was described by the New York Times in 2007 as one of today’s ‘most accomplished overall musicians.’
TONIGHT’S SOLOISTS Geoffrey Paterson conductor British conductor Geoffrey Paterson is admired for his impressive grasp of detail, responsiveness to musicians, and his ability to shape and make music from the mostcomplex scores with natural authority. Paterson is praised for his ‘winning combination of assuredness, agility and enthusiasm’ (The Telegraph) as well as his ‘instinct for pace’ (The Spectator) in repertoire ranging from Bach to Birtwistle and beyond. Having built his early career in the opera house and as a contemporary music specialist, in recent years Paterson’s depth of knowledge and stylistic versatility have impressed musicians and audiences in a wide range of symphonic repertoire. Highlights of last season included his Japan debut with the Nagoya Philharmonic in Rachmaninov and Ravel prompting an immediate reinvitation, and his return to the BBC Proms with the London Sinfonietta (a long-standing relationship) in a new commission for jazz saxophonist Marius Neset, as well as concerts with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Musikkollegium Winterthur and at the Bergen Festival. UK engagements included the BBC Philharmonic, BBC Scottish, Red Note Ensemble, London Mozart Players and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Ensemble 10:10 where he returns this season. In 23/24 he also makes his Ulster Orchestra debut in Wagner and Sibelius, leads the Nash Ensemble in their
Birtwistle Memorial Concert at the Wigmore Hall, and conducts a new production of Albert Herring with the pick of the Royal Academy of Music rising star vocalists. Opera has always formed a large part of Paterson’s activity; recent productions have included Britten’s Midsummer Night’s Dream in Frankfurt, Philip Glass’ Orphee at English National Opera and Willem Jeth’s Ritratto at the Dutch National Opera. He has previously conducted at the Bayerische Staatsoper (Menotti’s The Consul, Max Richter and Saariaho ballets), Royal Danish Opera (Die Fledermaus, Porgy and Bess, and Prokofiev’s Cinderella), Opera North (La bohème), Glyndebourne on Tour (Die Entführung aus dem Serail) and Music Theatre Wales (Dusapin’s Passion, Eotvos’ The Golden Dragon). He was a Jette Parker Young Artist at Covent Garden, subsequently conducting productions at the Royal Opera of HK Gruber’s Gloria von Jaxtberg (also at the Bregenz Festival), Massenet’s Le Portrait de Manon (recorded for Opera Rara), Julian Philips’ How the Whale Became, Søren Nils Eichberg’s Glare, and the world premieres of Birtwistle’s chamber opera doublebill The Corridor and The Cure at the Aldeburgh Festival and Holland Festival, and of Tansy Davies’ Cave with the London Sinfonietta. Paterson studied at Cambridge University where he also took composition lessons with Alexander Goehr followed by studies at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. Having won both First Prize and the Audience Prize at the 2009 Leeds Conductors Competition, he went on to participate in the Luzern Festival conducting masterclasses with Pierre Boulez.
Simon Haram saxophone
Michael Cox piccolo
Simon Haram has been the principal saxophone at the London Sinfonietta since 1997. He is a member of the Graham Fitkin Band and plays regularly with the Philharmonia and London Symphony Orchestras. His interest in electronics has led him to play EWI and Moog with the Will Gregory Moog Ensemble.
Michael Cox is one of Britain’s foremost flute-players. Although born in England he spent his childhood in Africa. He studied music at the Zimbabwe College of Music and then the Royal College of Music in London. Early competitive successes led directly to a solo career that has included concerts and recordings in all continents and performances with major orchestras and conductors.
Currently he is Professor of Saxophone at the Royal Academy of Music. He was Professor of Saxophone at the Guildhall for over 10 years, was Visiting Professor of Saxophone at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music, and has given masterclasses at the Royal College of Music and the Birmingham Conservatoire of Music. As a soloist, Simon has appeared with the London Sinfonietta, Philharmonia Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, London Chamber Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra Of St John’s, Soloists of the Royal Opera House, East Of England Orchestra, Johannesburg Symphony Orchestra and Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra. He has released CDs with Black Box Music, Naxos, Virgin Classics, NMC, Cala Records and Sospiro.
As a chamber musician he has performed with many well known British quartets, quintets and ensembles (and worked alongside musicians of the ilk of James Galway and Murray Perahia) as well as being a member, at various times, of the Haffner and Albion wind ensembles, London Symphony Chamber Players and London Sinfonietta. An interest in a wider repertoire led to a concurrent orchestral career, first as coprincipal with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and then as principal flute of the London Symphony Orchestra, London Mozart Players and Britten Sinfonia. He now holds what he considers an ideal portfolio of tenures combining the principal flute chairs of a symphony orchestra, chamber orchestra and a contemporary music ensemble - namely the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Academy of St Martin’s in the Fields and the London Sinfonietta. Through this work he has worked with a great raft of the world’s greatest conductors and soloists.
LONDON SINFONIETTA The London Sinfonietta is one of the world’s leading contemporary music ensembles. Formed in 1968, our commitment to making new music has seen us commission over 470 works and premiere many hundreds more. Resident at the Southbank Centre and Artistic Associate at Kings Place, with a busy touring schedule across the UK and abroad, the London Sinfonietta’s Principal Players are some of the finest musicians in the world. Our ethos is to experiment constantly with the art form, working with the world’s best composers, performers and artists to produce projects often involving film, theatre, dance and art. We challenge audience perceptions by commissioning work which addresses issues in today’s society, including climate change, violence towards women and racial inequality. We work closely with our audience as creators, performers and
curators of the events we stage. We support and encourage musical creativity in schools and communities across the UK, while our annual London Sinfonietta Academy is an unparalleled opportunity for young performers and conductors to train for their future. The London Sinfonietta has also broken new ground by launching its own new digital Channel, featuring video programmes and podcasts about new music. We created Steve Reich’s Clapping Music App, a participatory rhythm game that has been downloaded over 600,000 times worldwide, while our back catalogue of recordings has helped cement our world-wide reputation. Recent recordings include Marius Neset’s Geyser (NMC), Luke Bedford’s In The Voices Of The Living (NMC), Ryan Latimer’s Antiarkie (NMC), and Josep Maria Guix’s Images of Broken Light (Neu).
TONIGHT’S PLAYERS Helen Keen flute/piccolo/alto flute Gareth Hulse* oboe/cor anglais/recorder Mark van de Wiel* clarinet/Eb clarinet/bass clarinet James Gilbert clarinet/bass clarinet Patrick Bolton bassoon/contrabassoon Timothy Ellis french horn Eleanor Blakeney french horn Christian Barraclough trumpet/piccolo trumpet Kaitlin Wild trumpet Ryan Hume trombone David Alberman violin Elizabeth Wexler violin Paul Silverthorne* viola Tim Gill* cello Wallis Power cello Enno Senft* double bass Elizabeth Burley piano/celeste David Hockings* percussion Louise Goodwin percussion Helen Tunstall* harp *London Sinfonietta Principal Player
STAY IN TOUCH Whatever your interest in new music – as a composer, performer, teacher, student, amateur musician, or as an audience member interested in contemporary arts – we welcome you to our community. Sign up to our mailing list to receive: • A fortnightly newsletter with concert information, announcements and digital content • Open calls for composers, musicians and public participants • Advance news of projects, recording releases and commissions To stay in touch, please sign up to our e-list at londonsinfonietta.org.uk/sign-up Or find us on social media by searching London Sinfonietta Did you enjoy this concert? Scan the QR code below or go to uk.culturecounts.cc/s/3CzqsX to fill in a short survey and let us know.
SUPPORT US
We inspire audiences and involve the public in exciting sounds and performances. We spark imaginations and develop young people’s creativity. We train the next generation of performers and composers. We tell people’s stories. We make new music. By making a donation to the London Sinfonietta, you can help create world-class new music projects both onstage and online for audiences to enjoy all around the world. You can help us reach thousands of young people each year through our composition programmes in schools, and you can enable us to provide world-class training to the next generation of performers, composers and conductors. Fundraising accounts for 32% of our annual income. Without the generous support of individuals, sponsors and charitable trusts, we simply would not be able to achieve the scale of work that we are able to deliver with your help – inspiring a wide audience around the UK and internationally with the best music of today.
BECOME A PIONEER London Sinfonietta Pioneers provide a bedrock of support for all the work that we do – supporting all areas of the London Sinfonietta’s new music-making, and enabling us to reach an ever-wider audience with the music of today. And you’ll gain a closer insight into our work, with access to open rehearsals and exclusive behind-the-scenes updates. London Sinfonietta Pioneer membership starts from just £50. Scan the QR code below to visit our website, find out more and join us in pioneering new music today. Londonsinfonietta.org.uk/support-us
CURRENT SUPPORTERS London Sinfonietta would like to thank the following organisations and individuals for their support:
TRUSTS AND FOUNDATIONS Art Mentor Foundation Lucerne Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust Boltini Trust Boris Karloff Charitable Foundation Chapman Charitable Trust Foyle Foundation Garrick Charitable Trust Harold Hyam Wingate Foundation Hinrichsen Foundation Jerwood Arts John Ellerman Foundation PRS for Music Foundation Samuel Gardner Memorial Trust Stanley Thomas Johnson Foundation Steven R. Gerber Trust The Summerfield Charitable Trust Vaughan Williams Foundation HONORARY PATRONS David Atherton OBE John Bird Alfred Brendel KBE Gillian Moore MBE AMBASSADORS Penny Jonas Robert McFarland Philip Meaden Sir Stephen Oliver KC Paul Zisman ENTREPRENEURS Anthony Mackintosh (supporting Enno Senft) Robert McFarland Michael & Patricia McLaren-Turner (supporting Michael Cox) Sir Stephen Oliver KC (supporting Tim Gill) SINFONIETTA CIRCLE Susan Costello Dennis Davis Susan Grollet John Hodgson (supporting
Gareth Hulse) Charlotte Morgan (supporting Helen Tunstall) Andy Spiceley (supporting David Hockings) Fiona Thompson Paul & Sybella Zisman (supporting Jonathan Morton)
Tim Gill cello (supported by Sir Stephen Oliver KC) Enno Senft double bass (supported by Anthony Mackintosh) Helen Tunstall harp (supported by Charlotte Morgan) David Hockings percussion (supported by Andy Spiceley)
ARTISTIC PIONEERS Anton Cox Philip Meaden Stephen Morris Simon Osborne
LONDON SINFONIETTA COUNCIL Fiona Thompson chair Sud Basu Andrew Burke Tim Gill (principal player) Annabel Graham Paul Kathryn Knight Charlotte Morgan Stephen Reid Paul Silverthorne (principal player) Fay Sweet James Thomas Ben Weston
CREATIVE PIONEERS Ian Baker Keith Brown Frances Bryant Andrew Burke Jeremy & Yvonne Clarke Dennis Davis John Goodier Sir Andrew Hall Simon Heilbron Frank & Linda Jeffs Andrew Nash Julie Nicholls Dr David Price Malcolm Reddihough Iain Stewart Plus those generous Artistic and Creative Pioneers who prefer to remain anonymous, as well as our loyal group of Pioneers. PRINCIPAL PLAYERS Michael Cox flute (supported by Michael and Patricia McLaren-Turner) Gareth Hulse oboe (supported by John Hodgson) Mark van de Wiel clarinet Simon Haram saxophone Byron Fulcher trombone Jonathan Morton violin (supported by Paul & Sybella Zisman) Paul Silverthorne viola
LONDON SINFONIETTA STAFF Andrew Burke Chief Executive & Artistic Director Frances Bryant General Manager Elizabeth Davies Head of Finance Susan Evans Finance Officer Natalie Marchant Head of Concerts & Production Alice Kirker Event Producer Evie Jones Development Officer Lily Caunt Head of Participation & Learning Chiara Calastri Participation & Learning Producer Phoebe Walsh Head of Marketing Etta McEwan Marketing Assistant FREELANCE & CONSULTANT STAFF Hal Hutchison Concert Manager Lesley Wynne Orchestra Personnel Manager Tony Simpson Lighting Designer WildKat PR The London SInfonietta is grateful to its auditors and accountants MGR Weston Kay LL
NEXT EVENT: NEW TRADITIONS Thu 22 Feb 2024, Purcell Room London Sinfonietta travels to the future with three UK premieres and a favourite past commission. Sky Macklay’s Microvariations will lull you into a false sense of tonality before whisking you on a whistle-stop, microtonal tour of 19th Century European orchestras, “a fast-forward and transcontinental sonic truncation and fantasy on” the journey of British conductor George Thomas Smart and his tuning fork in 1825. In George Lewis’ lively Tales of the Traveller, the eponymous hero travels the limits of imagination: the piece allows a soloist total free reign to improvise against a notated ensemble part. After the interval, Katherine Balch’s “serenade to lost or wasted time” Waste Knot plays a soprano soloist against four hand-held cassette tape recorders to distort and fragment our memory of the piece even as it is played, while the programme is rounded off by Michel van der Aa’s latest commission for the ensemble, Shades of Red, which illustrates the different perceived properties of the colour red, alongside a soundtrack which confronts the players with their own warped and distorted soundworld. For full details and to book visit londonsinfonietta.org.uk or southbankcentre.co.uk