As we approach our 20th Birthday season we've been looking back at some of the highlights over the past twenty years. We've selected a highlight a year (but you can also read what else we were up to each year here).
1992
Britten Sinfonia launches following an initiative from
Eastern Arts and a number of key figures including Nicholas Cleobury, who
recognise the need for a world class orchestra in the East of England.
1993
Britten Sinfonia’s part in Jonathan Miller’s
production of Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos
provides the orchestra’s first critical success.
1994
The number of concerts increases from 12 in 1993 to 27
in 1994, including the orchestra’s first foreign tour, a residency at the
Wratislava Cantans Festival in Poland.
1995
Britten Sinfonia’s debut CD is released to critical
acclaim, featuring David Pyatt in the Strauss Horn Concertos and the
Duet-concertino and Serenade for Wind Op.7. It wins a Gramophone Award.
1996
Orchestra works with tenor Ian Bostridge for the first
time, with a young Daniel Harding conducting. This successful collaboration
leads to other concerts and an EMI recording of Britten repertoire including Our Hunting Fathers.
1997
Britten Sinfonia awarded £150,000 from the Arts
Council’s Arts for Everyone scheme for the development of its work in the East
of England.
1998
Landmark concert series Frank Zappa and the Fathers of
Invention, setting Zappa’s music against Bach, Stravinsky, Varese, Ives and
Steve Reich
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| Proms debut |
1999
Britten Sinfonia makes its BBC Proms debut, featuring
a new symphony by David Matthews.
2000
Britten Sinfoina’s first tour to Germany includes
performances at Munich’s Gasteig and Frankfurt’s Alte Oper.
2001
Joanna MacGregor directs a 10 date tour – Light and
Shade - featuring music by Arvo Pärt, Lou Harrison, Schnittke and a new work
from Nitin Sawhney. The tour is featured in a Joanna MacGregor South Bank Show
profile for LWT.
2002
Celebrations for the orchestra’s 10th Anniversary
begin with a national tour featuring Evelyn Glennie.
2003
Following a national review of the chamber orchestra
sector, Arts Council England announces 100% increase in Britten Sinfonia’s
funding.
2004
A major tour with Nitin Sawhney takes the ensemble to
Brussels and around the UK in the autumn, including a debut at the Royal
Festival Hall.
2005
We launched our first ever lunchtime series, Britten
Sinfonia at Lunch, at West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge.
Jacqueline Shave was appointed leader in September.
2006
Lux Aeterna, our Hyperion recording of music by Morten Lauridsen,
was nominated for a Grammy award.
2007
The
‘Britten Sinfonia at Lunch’ tour continued to be recorded for broadcast by BBC
Radio 3 and the tour expanded to include Krakow (Poland), Aldeburgh, Cambridge
and Norwich.
2008
In a truly unique production that attracted a great
deal of press and attention, Britten Sinfonia joined the Michael Clark Company
for the Stravinsky Project at the Barbican.
2009
Britten Sinfonia appears at the Latitude Festival in
Suffolk , the first classical group to appear at the festival.
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| Latitude Festival 2009 - photographer: Rebecca Walsh |
2010
Nico Muhly was in residence with Britten Sinfonia
throughout January and February 2010. A new work by the composer featured as
part of Britten Sinfonia’s award-winning lunchtime series in January, and Impossible Things, a major
commission for voice and violin, premiered as part of an acclaimed 14 date
European tour which brought together Mark Padmore and Finnish violinist Pekka
Kuusisto.
2011
The
orchestra launched a new residency at Brighton Dome and Festival and founded
its own choir, Britten Sinfonia Voices.
2012
2012
Britten Sinfonia became Associate Ensemble at the Barbican.
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