Night Music SinfoniaCast

Fiona Talkington introduces our latest SinfoniaCast in which Mark Padmore and Kate Kennedy consider the importance of text in our Night Music project. The first concert is in Cambridge tonight at 8.00pm: Kate and Mark will discuss the ideas in the podcast in greater depth before the concert at 7.00pm.

Ulysses Awakes

John Woolrich's note on his piece 'Ulysses Awakes' belies what, to me, is one of his finest works: 'There are two great arias at the beginning of Monteverdi’s opera II ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria: one for Penelope, and this one for Ulysses, waking on the shore of his homeland. In this retelling the viola sings Ulysses.'

We are joined by Maxim Rysanov as soloist in our Night Music project.

Night Music

Mark Padmore joins Britten Sinfonia for a programme exploring the theme of night, with music by Birtwistle, Stravinsky, Britten, Woolrich and Handel. Full details are here. The concerts are in Cambridge on Thursday, Norwich on Friday, London next Monday, and Southampton next Tuesday. The literary delights equal the musical ones, with texts by Milton, Shelley, Tennyson, Coleridge, Middleton, Wordsworth, Owen, Keats and Shakespeare. Watch out for Mark's own analysis of the programme in next Saturday's Guardian Review.

Family Music Days on two continents

Our new season is getting going, and what a brilliant (if exhausting) start: two Family Music Days on consecutive days. The children in Cambridge get the special opportunity of taking part in gamelan workshops. Having just come back from Korea, where I witnessed a similar event in Jeonju, I can't resist some photos from each continent. The fascination with percussion instruments is universal, and I suspect UK children would love the chance to learn dragon dances as well. More news later this week on our Night Music project with Mark Padmore, and do check our newly revamped website.

On An Overgrown Path: Who needs a music director?

On An Overgrown Path: Who needs a music director?

Oxford English Dictionary: a quick read?

I heard a fascinating item during the night on The Word, the BBC World Service programme about books and writing. Ammon Shea revealed why he chose to spend a year of his life holed up in a library in New York reading all twenty volumes of the Oxford English Dictionary from cover to cover. It is worth a listen. I have been wondering what the musical equivalent would be? Reading the whole of Grove I suspect would be a revelation; listening to all recorded music would probably be impossible. Any ideas?

Pawel Lukaszewski on Hyperion

A new recording of choral music by Pawel Lukaszewski has recently been released on Hyperion. Performed by the Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge, and conducted by Stephen Layton, it makes a brilliant precursor to our recording with Polyphony of Pawel's Via Crucis, due out in the first part of 2009. BBC Music Magazine said: 'Layton's affinity with this radiant, accessible music is clear as he guides the Trinity College Choir, which sings with passion and purity throughout the programme.'