RPS Award Ceremony

Last night we were very proud to recieve the Royal Philharmonic Society Award for Ensemble. The award was presented to Britten Sinfonia Leader Jacqueline Shave and David Butcher, the orchestra's Chief Executive and Artistic Director by Dame Janet Baker at a glittering ceremony at London's Dorchester. Here are some photos from the ceremony;

David Butcher, Jacqueline Shave and Dame Janet Baker

Jacqueline Shave and David Butcher with the RPS Ensemble Award

Jacqueline Shave, Caroline Dearnley (Principal Cello) and David Butcher with Beethoven's bust

Read all about our award here

 All photos (c) Simon Jay Price

www.rpsmusicawards.com

The Musically Gifted Campaign

Back in 2011-12 Britten Sinfonia ran a slightly more unusual campaign: A Tenner for a Tenor. The campaign was the first time Britten Sinfonia had tested the ‘crowdfunding’ concept – basically, getting lots of people together giving small amounts, in order to make a project happen. With the Tenner for a Tenor campaign, we were commissioning the acclaimed composer Jonathan Dove for our ‘At Lunch’ concert series, and we needed additional funds to make it happen. By the time of the world premiere, over 300 people had come together, giving £10 or more each. Everyone was a winner: Britten Sinfonia achieved its target for the campaign, and those giving £10 had their name in the front of the full score, which will remain there forever.

We were thrilled with the response, but at the time the Tenner for a Tenor campaign was very much a ‘one off’ thing, and was based solely on the fact that Jonathan Dove’s work featured the world-renowned tenor Mark Padmore, and to participate you just had to give £10. You quite literally got a tenor, for a tenner. It got us thinking though: how can we replicate this success in future? As importantly, how can we enable more people to have a real stake in the new music that they hear Britten Sinfonia perform on stage?

Well, we’re excited to announce that the successor campaign has launched: Musically Gifted. When looking at the charity marketplace, we saw there were various shining examples of excellence out there, especially away from the arts sector, including Oxfam’s famous ‘Unwrapped’ campaign. The beauty of Oxfam’s campaign is that you can buy a unique gift, and that depending on how much you have to spend, you can buy anything from a goat, to safe water for 50 people, to teacher training plus much more. All of the gifts bought enable Oxfam to deliver real change in the communities in which they operate.

With Musically Gifted we’ve taken a similar approach. Instead of goats we have composers, and we’ll have up to eight composers for you to choose from at any one time. You can buy a gift at one of seven different levels, and the more you spend, the more your rewards increase. The basic gift remains at just £10, and for that we’ll give you a hearty shout-out on Twitter and Facebook, plus you’ll get your name in the full score of your chosen work and email updates as the work evolves from commission to premiere. If you have a bit more to spend, then you can have anything from complimentary tickets to the world première of your chosen work, to an invitation for you and a guest to attend our rehearsals. You can even have afternoon tea with your chosen composer and our players.

Visit the website, www.musicallygifted.org.uk, and browse the selection of composers available. Buy a gift for yourself, or for the special someone in your life. Whoever you choose and at whatever level, you’ll be helping Britten Sinfonia create new music.

Finally, there’s one more important bit of information to tell you. As we were planning the campaign, Arts Council England put out a call for proposals, that would enable more people to give to the arts. We’re really pleased to say that the Musically Gifted campaign was one of the chosen proposals, and as a result for the next two years all gifts bought through Musically Gifted will be match-funded by the Arts Council, up to a maximum of £50,000 each year. We can also claim gift aid on your gift too. Your £10 gift could therefore become £22.50; or a £500 gift could become worth £1,125 – at absolutely no cost to you. So, if you’re in the market for a unique musical gift then please do visit the website and help us create new music.

Photos from the Mexico tour

Back in March Britten Sinfonia visited Mexico for the third time. We performed four concerts in Mexico City, Leon and Guadalajara as well as some impromptu string quartet performances at the end of the tour in locations across Mexico City.

On first arrival in Mexico our dedicated team of Britten Sinfonia runners took the opportunity to explore Mexico City;

Our first concert at the magnificent Castillo de Chapultepec in Mexico City. Here's the view from the Castle taken by our Chief Exec whilst the orchestra rehearsed;

This concert celebrated the 70th anniversary of the Anglo-Mexican Foundation. Ariette Armella kindly took some photos during the performance;

When we arrived in Leon we were surprised to come across some giant billboards featuring Britten Sinfonia (photo by Principal 2nd Violin Miranda Dale);

And following the performance in Leon we enjoyed a post-concert meal;

At the end of the tour we performed several pop-up concerts across Mexico City in unusual locations. String quartets from the orchestra performed at the Anthropology Museum, MIDE Museum, Bellas Artes and Pergolas Gardens at the Castillo de Chapultepec. Magaly Palacios Morales kindly took some photos at the Anthropology Museu and Pergolas Gardens;

And Britten Sinfonia Chief Executive, David took some photos at Bellas Artes;

We'd like to thank the Anglo-Mexican Foundation, the British Council (Mexico) and Cambridge English Language Assesment for funding this tour.

Meet Ian Bostridge

Tenor, Ian Bostridge will be joining Britten Sinfonia at the Barbican in May for a programme exploring the themes of sleep and night. Ahead of the concert Ian has managed to find some time in his busy schedule to answer a few questions about himself.

What has been the highlight of your career so far?
Working with Britten Sinfonia ... And playing Aschenbach in Britten's Death in Venice at the ENO.

When are you happiest?

With my wife and children, preferably somewhere hot.

What is your greatest fear?

For my children's future in a world where common decencies are under assault by the scourge of neoliberalism.

What is your earliest musical memory?

Singing the solo in Vaughan-Williams' motet O Taste and See at my local church in Streatham, getting lost, and bursting into tears. I must have been 6 or 7.

Which living person do you most admire, and why?

My wife, Lucasta Miller, for her brilliant mind and brilliant writing; and for keeping things together when I'm away. And when I'm not.

  

What is your most treasured possession?

Score of the Tempest with Tom Ades's dedication

What would your super power be?

Teleportation, so I could get home more often between concerts and rehearsals.

If you were an animal what would you be?

My son, at 2, famously said "Mummy a tiger, Daddy a hen". So there you have it.

What is your most unappealing habit?

Nervous tension. Nail biting.

What is your favourite book?

War and Peace.

What is your guiltiest pleasure?

Oversleeping

Who would you invite to your dream dinner party?

Franz Schubert, Albert Einstein, Dr Johnson, Letitia Landon, Jane Austen, Cleopatra

If you could go back in time, where would you go?

1984 when I met my wife

How do you relax away from the concert platform?

Reading, eating, looking at pictures, watching DVD box sets, walking, playing with the children, talking to my friends. The normal stuff.

What do you consider your greatest achievement?

My two extraordinarily lovely children.

What is the most important lesson life has taught you?

Try and be kind.

In a nutshell, what is your philosophy?

There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in most philosophies

Ian Bostridge performs with Britten Sinfonia on Saturday 4 May 2013 at London's Barbican. For further information click here

Britten Sinfonia Academy - Fitzwilliam Museum residency

 

Last weekend, Britten Sinfonia Academy performed as part of the Fitzwilliam Museum’s Sunday concert series.  Britten Sinfonia Academy is a new ensemble giving young classical musicians from the East of England an opportunity learn and develop their chamber skills alongside some of the UKs top chamber musicians. In addition to performing at the Fitzwilliam, the ensemble were resident in the museum for the weekend, giving more time for the young musicians to explore the museum and to explore the context and relevance of its artifacts to their music.

Britten Sinfonia Academy member, Andrew reports on the weekend:

"Last weekend Britten Sinfonia Academy made their way to the Fitzwilliam Museum for rehearsals, which culminated in a concert on Sunday afternoon. On arrival on Saturday morning, we started to rehearse some small ensemble work in the grand spaces available to us in the museum. We ran through and refined previously rehearsed works during the morning, and progress was greatly enhanced by the discovery of the kettle midway through the morning! We worked especially on Stravinsky’s Suites for Small Orchestra throughout the day, for which we came together as a large ensemble.

 

In the afternoon we were guided on two tours around the museum, in which we studied paintings from the time of the composers of our works, to give us context on the music that we were preparing to perform. I think everyone found that this helped us to find character in our pieces, and I was surprised at how much that I learnt on these tours.

 

 

After battling through hoards of keen participants in the Cambridge Half Marathon on Sunday morning, rehearsals commenced with final tweaks being added to our performances. We made the long trek upstairs to the gallery where we were to perform with our instruments in the early afternoon, after eating far too much cake in our break beforehand! The hall was full for our performance, with spectators even gathering at the back of the hall to get a glimpse of the chamber music that we were presenting. Everyone really enjoyed performing in the concert, and felt that all of the pieces ran smoothly. The concert ended with an arrangement of Piazzolla’s Oblivion, which was rehearsed and performed solely by members of the Academy."

To find out more about Britten Sinfonia Academy click here

Audience Survey Feedback

We recently conducting our 2013 audience survey. A big thank you to all who completed the survey. It is now closed to respondents and we're busy analysing the results. In the meantime we've created a couple of wordles (word clouds) drawn from the responses to a couple of the questions in the survey. Not only are wordles quite pretty they also make for an interesting way of presenting information as they give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text.

Do you have any other comments about the last Britten Sinfonia concert you attended?

Do you have any further comments about Britten Sinfonia and its work? 

 

  

 If you click on the images above you'll be able to see larger versions.

Meet Eamonn Dougan

Britten Sinfonia Voices, formed in 2011, once again join the orchestra for the premiere performances of Eriks Esenvalds new work, Aqua. This new work forms part of concerts entitled Baltic Nights featuring music by fellow Latvian Peteris Vasks alongside works by Bach and Perotin.

Eamonn Dougan, Director of Britten Sinfonia Voices talking about the programme said "So much amazing choral music has come from the Baltic states in recent years and they enjoy such a strong singing tradition that it seemed natural to preface a new work by Eriks Esenvalds with pieces by composers who must surely have influenced him."  Eamonn will be conducting the new work by Esenvalds alongside Bach's motet Komm, Jesu, komm and Perotin's Viderunt omnes. Eamonn took some time out of rehearsals to answer a few questions about himself.

What has been the highlight of your career so far?

Directing The Sixteen at the Concertgebouw in a programme celebrating James MacMillan's 50th birthday with the composer in the audience.

What is your earliest musical memory?

Sitting in my sister's piano lessons thinking I'd like to have a go.

What would your super power be?

To be able to do without sleep periodically so that there really would be enough hours in the day to get everything done.

If you were an animal what would you be?

Probably a small, yapper-type dog (à la Eddie Izzard)

What is your favourite book?

As it is in heaven by Niall Williams. He writes so beautifully - prose which is more like poetry.

Who would you invite to your dream dinner party?

Not sure this would be my dream dinner party, but I have lots of questions for Jarvis Cocker, Bono, Peter Warlock and Brian Patten. However, I think there might be an almighty row.

If you could go back in time, where would you go?

Either to Tudor England to just hear how this incredible music sounded in their time (and in the process find some definitive answers on pitch and voice types) or to Bach's Leipzig to see him at work (and to ask him what his preferred forces would be, given a choice!)

How do you relax away from the concert platform?

Playing with my son is the perfect antidote as there is no chance to think of anything else.

What is the most important lesson life has taught you?
Try to enjoy the here and now as you don't know what might be around the corner.

In a nutshell, what is your philosophy?
Same answer as the previous question really, coupled with if a job is worth doing, it's worth doing well. (Oh, and remember to put the glasses in the cupboard neatly, in height order!)

Baltic Nights performances take place at Cambridge West Road Concert Hall on Monday 25th February, London's Barbican on Wednesday 27th February and Norwich Theatre Royal on Sunday 3rd March. Find out more about the concerts and book tickets here