Rivers of the World... Creative Learning Project in Buenos Aires

Getting ready for rehearsal!
Next week Britten Sinfonia is going to South America. We’ll play 6 concerts in 3 different countries. It’ll be a bit of a whistle-stop tour – we’re going to Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, then back to Sao Paulo and then home! Phew.

La semana próxima, Britten Sinfonia visitará a Suramérica. Presentaremos 6 conciertos en 3 distintos países. Será una gira relámpago por Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, São Paulo y por fín a casa!

On their day off in Buenos Aires, 3 members of the orchestra and our soloist Pekka Kuusisto will be spending a day with talented young string players who have been especially chosen by the British Council Argentina to take part in a concert at the Instituto Bernasconi.

Tres miembros de la orquesta, más nuestro soloísta Pekka Kuusisto, pasarán un día libre en Buenos Aires junto con un grupo de jovenes instrumentistas de cuerda talentosos, escogidos por el Consejo Británico en Argentina. La culminación del proyecto será un concierto al Instituto Bernasconi.

The concert will be inspired by the theme of Rivers of the World and during the day, the string players will compose a new piece inspired by perhaps, Rio de la Plata in Buenos Aires, the River Thames in London and perhaps some of the many lakes and rivers in Finland (Pekka’s homeland). The string players who we will work with on the 9th August have already started rehearsing other repertoire which they will perform in the concert, under the baton of the amazing music teacher Humberto Lopez from Northlands School, Buenos Aires. All of the pieces are inspired by water, so the students are practicing Scott Joplin, The Cascades, Argentinian Tangos called Orillas del Plata (Silver Shores) and Leyenda del Río (Legend of the River) and Claudio Griggio has composed a new piece called H20 especially for our visit.

La inspiración del concierto sera ‘Los Ríos del Mundo’ y durante el día, los instrumentistas escribirán una nueva pieza, tal vez con la inspiración del Río Plata en Buenos Aires, o quizás el Río Thames en Londres, o los ríos y lagos de Finlandia (la tierra natal de Pekka). Los instrumentistas con quienes trabajaremos el día 8 de agosto, ya empezaron ensayando otro repertorio, que se presentará al concierto, bajo la batuta de Humberto López, distinguido profesor de música de la escuela Northlands en Buenos Aires. Todas las piezas son inspiradas por el agua, asi que los estudiantes estan practicando Las Cascadas de Scott Joplin, los tangos Argentinos Orillas de Plata y Leyenda del Río, y además Claudio Griggio ha compuesto una pieza nueva, H2O, especialmente para nuestra visita.

We can’t wait to meet the students in 2 weeks time and to hear the result of their hard practice!
If you are taking part in this project, please tell us what you are doing, so we can learn about it before we arrive!

Anticipamos con mucho placer conocer a los estudiantes en dos semanas, y a disfrutar el resultado de toda la práctica dura.

Best wishes
Britten Sinfonia Creative Learning Team

Saludos de Britten Sinfonia
Equipo de Educación Creativa

This project is taking place through a partnership between the British Council and Britten Sinfonia. Special thanks to the Instituto Bernasconi who have let us use their fantastic concert hall.

A new work by Luke Bedford

Will (Development Director) went to see a performance of Luke Bedford’s new opera, Seven Angels, at the Linbury Theatre recently.

“The opera shows glimpses of Luke Bedford’s stunning grasp of musical texture and colour. There are wonderful passages, with some fantastic singing too from the seven-strong cast (Rhona McKail, Emma Selway, Louise Mott, Christopher Lemmings, Joseph Shovelton, Owen Gilhooly and Keel Watson). I think we’re going to be in for a real treat when we give the world premiere of Luke’s work for our ‘At Lunch’ series as part of our 2011-12 season. His ability to control and nurture shades of light and dark will really work well in the hands of our players, and I’m particularly looking forward to hearing how it sounds when set against the Franck Piano Quintet, with all its passion and emotion – it’s a work I’ve never heard live before.

More generally, I’m looking forward to hearing all of our new commissions across 2011-12, from the likes of Elspeth Brooke, Charlie Piper, Piers Tattersall, and Jonathan Dove. Nurturing the future of music is vital so that we keep our repertoire fresh, relevant and alive. It’s no overstatement to say that hundreds of donors are helping us make our ambitious commissioning programme a reality, and helping Britten Sinfonia lead the way. It’s going to be quite a season!”

You can hear Luke Bedford’s new work for Britten Sinfonia in Brighton, Norwich, Cambridge, and London from 03 March 2012. The concert will also be recorded for broadcast on BBC Radio 3.

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