Meet Henning Kraggerud

For the opening concert's of Britten Sinfonia's 2011-12 season the orchestra will be joined by violinist Henning Kraggerud. In this edition of our occasional series of Q and A's with soloists, musicians and staff, Henning answers a few questions.


What has been the highlight of your career so far?
Hard to single out, but probably Beethoven with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra in Carnegie Hall, but I also loved Tchaikovsky at the Proms in 2010.

When are you happiest?
With my family at Christmas.

What is your greatest fear?
You think I will tell?

What is your earliest musical memory?
Listening to Beethoven symphonies as a toddler.

Which living person do you most admire, and why?
Haruki Murakami, because he is like Beethoven in the way that he didn’t give up before he became a genius through hard work, rather than born a genius like Mozart.

What is your most treasured possession?
My violin.

What would your super power be?
Controlling the flow of time.

If you were an animal what would you be?
Pan-dimensional being, partly mouse, as described by Douglas Adams.

What is your favourite book?
At the moment 1Q84 (Haruki Murakami), but is has been Lord of the Rings, Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy, Never Let Me Go, The Corrections…

What is your guiltiest pleasure?
Peshawari naan and Madras curry with Cobra beer.

If you could go back in time, where would you go?
To listen to Chopin play maybe?

How do you relax away from the concert platform?
Reading lots of books.

What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Having 2 children

What is the most important lesson life has taught you?
Not believing in easy answers you can write in one sentence.

In a nutshell, what is your philosophy?
Those who have both legs firmly planted to the ground go nowhere.

Henning will be directing and performing with Britten Sinfonia in Mozart's 4th Violin Concerto, Mahler's arrangement of Schubert's Death and the Maiden and a new work by Piers Tattersall. Concerts take place at Norwich Theatre Royal on Sunday 2 October, Cambridge's West Road Concert Hall on Wednesday 5 October and in London at the Southbank Centre's Queen Elizabeth Hall on Friday 7 October. For more info click here

Celebrating Chopin

2010 is Chopin year – to be precise the 200th anniversary of his birth.With nearly 9 months of 2010 gone, Britten Sinfonia have so far not performed any of Chopin’s music in celebration of this significant event. And in actual fact we had not planned to do so, not as a snub to Chopin and his wonderful music, but just couldn’t be fitted into our schedules or programming.

Then a couple of days ago Peter Maxwell Davies sent us his new work which we had co-commissioned with Wigmore Hall for our award-winning At Lunch series. His new work is entitled Nocturne No. 1 and is his immediate ‘hats off’ reaction to Chopin’s piano works, songs and cello music.

Many of Chopin’s works involve the piano and all demand considerable technical expertise and expressive depth. I’m sure Max’s piece, which is scored for Piano Quartet will be no different and our players Huw Watkins (piano), Jacqueline Shave (violin), Martin Outram (viola) and Caroline Dearnley (cello) are looking forward to discovering the nuances of this new piece.

So in typical Britten Sinfonia style the orchestra will be celebrating Chopin’s anniversary with music inspired by him. You can come and enjoy these concerts at London’s Wigmore Hall on 6 October, Norwich’s Assembly House on 8 October, Cambridge’s West Road Concert Hall on Tuesday 12 October and Birmingham’s Town Hall on Friday 15 October.
The programme will also include Shostakovich’s Piano Quintet which is acknowledged as a masterpiece and probably his best known chamber work alongside a set of miniatures from James MacMillan, each dedicated to important figures in his life. You can find out more about this concert here