Not even one month into my new
job as the Development Assistant at Britten Sinfonia I got the chance to see
them play live at the Film and Music Stage at the superb Latitude Festival,
accompanying Van Dyke Parks.
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| Gabrielle Deschamps (Development Assistant), Isobel Timms (Creative learning Director) and Will Harriss (Development Director) |
I had never been to a British
festival, I had never seen the orchestra perform yet nor had I ever heard of Mr
Parks so it promised to be an exciting day! Luckily the heavens looked kindly
upon on us and the torrential rain we’d known all week stayed at bay. The
festival was wholly mine to enjoy.
Upon our arrival at 12.30pm I was
disappointed to have missed Lang Lang play on the Lake Stage but I knew there
were many other treats awaiting me. Indeed I got to see the whole Saddler’s
Wells performance including two of their own soloists, legendary Jonzi D whose
work I’ve been following for years and Candoco who inspired many with their
great technique and passion.
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| Matthew Bourne's dancers |
After wandering through the
different tents (poetry, literature, comedy, cabaret, etc…) we settled at the
Lake Stage once more to see Matthew Bourne’s dancers perform excerpts of
Spitfire. Their show quickly became the highlight of my day, and not just
because of the muscles, I swear!
We tired a bit after that as the
relentless bass from the main stage could be heard from all sides of the camp,
disrupting other stages’ performances. We were ready to see what we came for:
Britten Sinfonia and Van Dyke Parks!
Being a French child of the late 80’s,
I don’t feel completely at fault for having never heard of him before. But I
had a done a bit of research about him before their Barbican Performance and
was quite surprised to discover such a hefty discography. Upon reading reviews
and articles, I decided to keep the mystery alive and not to listen to any of
his music.
I went to the concert completely
unprepared, intrigued and eager
It was enchanting
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| Thom Gould (c) Rhydian Peters |
The music managed to transport me
fully although I didn’t recognise any of the songs. The orchestra played as
one, Thom Gould leading them in graceful, dramatic sweeps. Parks’ singing voice
was charming; he owned the songs completely and played the piano without a hint
of hesitation, in true American showman style.
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| Van Dyke Parks (c) Rhydian Peters |
I was pleasantly surprised to
find the lyrics politically charged, engaging and full of humour. Overall the
whole concert had a lot more depth than I expected and I loved the fact each
and every song had a distinctive style and colour.
It was delightful to notice the
whole audience were enjoying it as much as I did, with people bopping from
their seats and erupting into raucous applause at the end of each song. They
also clearly appreciated his numerous anecdotes and political speecheswhich
transformed the show into more than just a concert and into a personal
retrospective and entertaining history lesson.
A standing ovation completed the
performance, which was absolutely appropriate for both the orchestra and Parks
himself. I felt like I had spent an hour with my mad yet loveable uncle.
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| Britten Sinfonia (c) Rhydian Peters |
All in all my day at Latitude was
fantastic. I thoroughly enjoyed Britten Sinfonia’s performance. I look forward to seeing them
again and discovering what they have in store in the next season.
Gabrielle Deschamps
Development Assistant
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