Creative Learning in Abu Dhabi

In the Creative Learning department, we’re used to early starts. After all, school begins at 8.50 and there’s no changing that, even if a musician has to drive 100 miles to get there. But 4.30am on a Sunday morning was a little painful even to us hardened souls, and as the taxi drew up to take me to Heathrow I did begin to wonder what we’d let ourselves in for.

On the other hand, lovely though it is to visit schools around the country, Abu Dhabi did sound a little more glamorous. After all, if they devoted an entire Sex and the City film to the state, there had to be a bit of glitz. And as we pulled up to the Beach Rotana hotel at the other end of a seven hour flight, the team (workshop leader Fraser Trainer, flautist Sarah O’Flynn, violinist Nickie Goldscheider, viola player Kate Musker, and me) realised we would definitely be in for a comfortable, if brief, stay. It might not have been the Emirates Palace (Abu Dhabi’s best, and reputedly the world’s most expensive hotel to build, which apparently has a vending machine selling gold bars in the lobby) but it looked pretty luxurious to us.

The purpose of our trip to Abu Dhabi was to run a Creativity workshop there. The workshop is part of the Cambridge Judge Business School’s LEAD (Leadership Excellence Applied Diploma) programme that it runs in collaboration with ALDAR, a real estate development company. This programme gives UAE nationals the opportunity to learn from some of Cambridge University’s top academics. Having worked with the Cambridge Judge Business School on several occasions, they invited us to take part in the LEAD programme to explore with the participants how musicians work together and communicate.

After a swim in the hotel pool on Monday morning (well, in 40 degree heat, we needed to cool down before we could concentrate on planning a workshop) we were whisked off to the training centre of ALDAR Properties, the company responsible for much of the building work in the city, and for hosting the LEAD programme. We were to work with a group of around 20 participants, and the plan was to get them involved in making their own music, using percussion instruments, so that they could experience what it felt like to perform in an ensemble, before watching the Britten Sinfonia trio do the same. We were curious to see whether the group would get involved in the workshop in the same way as our participants in the UK do, given the cultural differences in a strict Muslim country, but absolutely delighted when they took to the activities with great enthusiasm, and quickly got involved in fascinating conversations about the differences and similarities between the music world and the business one.

The working day concluded, the team rounded off the trip with a delicious meal at a local restaurant, and then a quick paddle in the (still bath-temperature) sea. We left on Tuesday feeling intrigued by our brief glimpse into Abu Dhabi’s business culture, hopeful that our workshop had left the participants with something new to bring to their working lives…and looking forward to a good night’s sleep.

Except, of course, that with a schools workshop bright and early on Wednesday morning, there wasn’t going to be a lie in for a little while…

Sophie Dunn

Creative Learning Director

MacMillan's Oboe Concerto - A Personal View

On Friday 15th October oboist Nicholas Daniel will give the premiere James MacMillan's new oboe concerto at Birmingham Town Hall before performances at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall, Norwich's Theatre Royal, West Road Concert Hall in Cambridge and Chelmsford's Civic Theatre. Here Nicholas Daniel gives a personnel view of the piece and how it was developed.

Sometimes important new pieces emerge after a long 'courtship' with a composer, sometimes they come out of the blue. With the James MacMillan Oboe Concerto it has been born out of a long, happy and fruitful working relationship and friendship between both James and myself and between the Britten Sinfonia and this great man.

It is quite clear from his writing that in this time he has come to understand my playing profoundly both as conductor and composer, and, very importantly for the new piece, he understands the important relationship between me and my colleagues in of the Britten Sinfonia. This, after all, is the orchestra I am a founder member of, who I adore more than any other, and keep a watchful eye on at all times, and for whom, uniquely, my wind ensemble, Haffner Winds, is the wind section.

Luckily for us the Concerto has come at a time when he seems to have found terrific ease and confidence, and even fun in his music. One instruction in the music is 'laughing', for instance, over a cascade of trilled notes!

I was lucky enough to perform 'The World's Ransoming', part of his massive and impressive Easter work- Triune, for Cor Anglais and large orchestra with Jimmy in my favourite Polish city, Wroclaw, 2 years ago. It was in one of the astounding churches on an island in the city centre where there are several of them- a very special calm and serenity descends on one there.

At one moment in the piece where the Cor Anglais enters on a high D# adorned with what sounds like a glitter of starlight in the percussion and I just remember looking up at Jimmy at that point and being so inspired to see the music so visible in his face that the high D# just floated out exactly as I wanted it to. Its a great gift he has to make it so easy to understand his music just by his manner and physical expression, as well as by what he says.

On that visit to Poland we discussed some general points about the Concerto, and I believe I may have made the slight mistake of asking him not to limit in any way what he wanted to write! I say mistake but I don't mean it, of course, but the piece is really quite hard! Its arguably the most technical concerto in an oboistic sense that has been written since Elliot Carter's. In fact I have found it harder to learn than the Carter.

When I got the music a short while ago it looked to me rather like Nielson's Clarinet Concerto in terms of the Oboe writing, by which I mean flowingly virtuosic and needing an effortlessness to the technique. It also has a very exciting soloistic and supportive role for the wind, brass and timps inside the orchestra. There is no operatic aspect of this in terms of peripatitetic requirements, but the calling across the orchestra of various groups of instruments will be a stand out feature of the work, as is palindromic writing.

The slow movement is a total re-write of a solo Oboe piece Jimmy wrote after the 9/11 atrocity in America, In Angustiis ii. The original piece is desolate, lost, post-nuclear, horrifying, but the concerto to me seems to have more companionship in it and more hope, and maybe more beauty. In a way its hard to write about it because I haven't heard it all yet and haven't put it with the audience, and that changes everything.

I'm finishing this little insight for you on the train on the way to the first rehearsal, and I am so excited and nervous, and honoured to have such a fine, confident piece written for me.

For more information on each of performances click here

James MacMillan's Oboe Concerto is co-commissioned by Britten Sinfonia and Birmingham Town Hall.

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

Current Funding Situation

by Will Harriss, Development Director

Along with some 880 other arts organisations across England, Britten Sinfonia is an RFO – one of Arts Council England’s Regularly Funded Organisations. The funding, which for Britten Sinfonia is worth some £341,000 for the current financial year, enables the orchestra to plan and present its award-winning concerts and productions. It enables us to present guest artists of world-class calibre to audiences who may otherwise not get the opportunity to hear them live. It also gives us the ability to plan further ahead, a crucial factor when commissioning and engaging artists and composers who are much in demand by orchestras across the world.

The support we receive from Arts Council England is longstanding and important. It means much more than just money too; the Eastern region ACE office (through whom we are funded) provide advice, ideas, and support when we need it, and their core funding is the basis on which much other funding (for instance from trusts, foundations, and individual donors) can be leveraged.

Things are changing however. The spectre of public funding cuts is looming, and on 20 October, when the government’s spending review is announced, we (and every other RFO) will discover just what the future is likely to hold. Current forecasts differ depending on what you read, but cuts of around 25% could be on the cards for Arts Council England-funded organisations.

On the one hand this all sounds quite bleak, with funding cuts having the potential to do real damage to the culture of innovation and quality that has been fostered over the last decade. For Britten Sinfonia, the impact of such a cut would be significant, although we believe there are also many positives to take from the situation.

As an organisation one of our key principles has always been that we should be ‘fleet of foot’ – able to respond quickly, proactively, and innovatively to changes as they occur. The same principles apply to how we treat the new and emerging funding landscape. The reduction in public funding challenges us to do something different and to think creatively about how we respond to what is undoubtedly going to be a tough few months and years.

Despite the funding challenges our artistic vision and standards of world-class excellence remain undiluted. As we approach our 20th birthday in 2012 we’re planning ever more thrilling concert programmes, matched by an increasingly adventurous Creative Learning programme. We’ll be performing more concerts, in more venues than ever before. From chamber recitals to performances at the Royal Opera House, there’s a lot going on.

A compelling artistic programme needs resource to make it happen. We’re actively planning how to increase our financial support from individual givers (watch out for the fundraising campaign in the autumn, or click here to join us right now as a Friend, from just £50), as well as from trusts and foundations, and from corporate donors. We consider ourselves to be an efficient, well-governed organisation with great ideas and an important case for support.

What can you do to help? Well, please do consider joining us as a Friend, from just £50 per year. Whatever £4.16 a month means to you, it certainly means a whole lot to us. Come and establish your own musical legacy by supporting our groundbreaking commissioning programme, or even support the chairs of one of our virtuosic Principal Players.

If there’s ever a time that we need our Friends it’s now. Pledge your support and in return we will give you unforgettable performances, excellent new commissions, and the chance to meet some of the artists who are shaping the musical landscape of today.

It’s a brave new funding world, but we’re looking forward to the future. Come and be part of it and make a difference.

A Continuing Relationship

by James MacMillan

This October Britten Sinfonia and Nicholas Daniel will premiere James MacMillan's new Oboe Concerto in a series of concerts (which he will also conduct) in Birmingham, London, Norwich and Cambridge. The orchestra will also be performing a number of his tribute pieces during the first concert in our At Lunch series. In this article James describes his ongoing relationship with Britten Sinfonia and how it has grown over the years.


As a composer and conductor it is wonderful to have an ongoing relationship with a particular orchestra like the one I have with Britten Sinfonia. It allows you to really get to the heart of an ensemble; to get to know the players well and what their strengths are, to understand their philosophy and vision, and to see an orchestra develop and grow.

Britten Sinfonia have performed my music since their inception but our relationship really took off when the orchestra performed (and I conducted) the world premiere of my opera, Parthenogenesis in 2000 in Cambridge and at the Edinburgh International Festival that same year. Last year we revived this at the Royal Opera House in a new version directed by Katie Mitchell which was particularly thrilling. There have been a number of other collaborations, notably a tour of the UK and Netherlands featuring the concert premiere of my Second Piano Concerto and I’m delighted to see is featured again in Britten Sinfonia’s 2010/11 season in May 2011.

This season I am closely involved in several exciting projects with Britten Sinfonia. Their award-winning Lunchtime series features a number of my ‘tribute’ pieces – these are a selection of short works that I have dedicated to people I have known or admired. I am incredibly touched that Peter Maxwell Davies is to write a new piece for this series of concerts. His influence has pervaded the UK and international music scene and I have admired his work for a number of years. I can’t wait to hear what he has written!

In October my new work, an Oboe Concerto for Britten Sinfonia and Nicholas Daniel will premiere at Birmingham Town Hall, who have also co-commissioned the work, before touring the UK. The concerto is written specifically for Nick, and is the result of a number of years knowing and working with him. The work will be a little over 20 minutes, and is in three movements. The really hard work on it has been in the last six months, and in the work are some allusions to another solo piece of mine – ‘In Augustiis’ – which is also in Nick’s repertoire. I will also be conducting this concert which includes music by two composers that are particularly close to my heart, Shostakovich and Beethoven.

I am sure these projects will only deepen already fruitful relationship with Britten Sinfonia and we are already planning some exciting collaborations for the future – watch this space!

James MacMillan

Summer Festivals

With the nights getting longer and the sun shining (between the usual British downpours) summer is here. And as always at this time of year there are a raft of festivals to enjoy. Whether you are a fan of classical, rock and pop, opera, dance or folk music the explosion in the number of festivals in the UK over the past few years means that all tastes are catered for.

Britten Sinfonia performs in a number of festivals each year. Perhaps a highlight of recent years was last summers performance at Latitude. Although not performing at Latitude this year Britten Sinfonia are still hitting the festival circuit with a performance later this week at the Aldeburgh Festival, next month during the City of London Festival and also performances during the worlds famous BBC Proms and Glyndebourne.

The staff here at Britten Sinfonia will also be enjoying a variety of music at various events they’re planning on attending;

Will (Development Director) has just returned from Norway where he saw some events at the Bergen Jazz Festival including Gwilym Simcock who performed with Britten Sinfonia in April.

Hannah (Marketing & Development Assistant) will be going on tour with Leicestershire Chorale to the smallest city in the UK, St David’s. It sounds idyllic and she’s hoping the sun will shine gloriously for a week in July over this little Welsh city. The Chorale will be performing services at St David’s cathedral throughout the week and the tour culminates with a concert at the Fishguard International Festival. The Festival has been going for over 40 years and hosts a variety of events from 22 July to 2 August. Hannah is looking forward to a week of music making and a nice long walk or two along the Pembrokeshire coastline.

Rebecca (Finance Director) is really looking forward to the Cambridge Folk Festival, the lovely mixture of world folk music, sunshine (hopefully) and a cold beer. This year she is particularly looking forward to the showcase of Scottish folk performers, plus a young British band called Coco Lovers who Rebecca recently saw busking in the centre of Cambridge.

Hannah (Concerts Director) is excited about seeing the John Wilson Orchestra during this years BBC Proms. She saw his prom last year and can’t wait to hear his celebration of the music of Rogers and Hammerstein.

I will be attending the Ely Folk Festival and look forward to seeing the Oysterband again as well as discovering some new groups. I’ll also be trying to get along to a few proms and possibly the Secret Garden Party (a dance festival – but shhh - it’s a secret where it is) which I went too last year and danced the weekend away!

As you can see all of us are looking forward to discovering something new and unusual and Festivals are a great way to find that next favourite band or artist.

Claire (Marketing Director)

Creative Learning & Wordle

We’ve discovered a great new app for generating some lovely visuals regarding feedback we receive from our Creative Learning projects. Called Wordle it is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. And give a great visual representation of what participants thought of our projects.

To complement Britten Sinfonia's award-winning At Lunch series, the Creative Learning department has put on a number of workshops and projects designed to introduce young audiences to the repertoire. In association with the Wigmore Hall's Chamber Zone programme, we have held pre-concert workshops exploring Copland's Sextet and Ravel's Piano Trio, and visited Marlborough Primary School in Harrow to explore a new piece of music by Christian Mason. After they came to the concert, we asked the children at Marlborough to tell us what they thought of it and whether the workshop beforehand had helped them to understand the music better: Here is what the wordle cloud looks like from their feedback;



Workshop leader Rachel Leach and musicians from Britten Sinfonia also spent time with pupils at Witchford Village College near Ely and Handsworth Grammar School in Birmingham exploring the Copland Sextet. Here’s what the pupils from Witchford said;



You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends.

Give it a go - its great fun! www.wordle.net