Visceral, emotionally charged... thoughts on Seven Last Words

Ahead of our performances of James MacMillan's Seven Last Words our Artistic Planning Director describes why she has a particular 'soft spot' for this emotionally charged piece.

Friends often ask me about the concerts we have coming up here at Britten Sinfonia, and I’m in the enviable position of always being able to wax lyrical about the next thing we’re about to do, since my role allows me to have a hand in planning all our events.  I’m never going to give the green light to anything I don’t want to hear in a concert, so the seasons are always chock full of wonderful works and spectacular artists.  I don’t generally have “favourite" concerts, as each one is so very different, with its own back story and compelling drama.  However, I have to admit to an enormous soft spot for our forthcoming event over Easter, since it features one of my Desert Island Disc pieces (er, should Kirsty ever invite me on the programme):  James MacMillan’s Seven Last Words from the Cross.

I first met James MacMillan whilst I was working at the Philharmonia Orchestra, where one of my roles was planning the orchestra’s new music series, Music of Today.  I loved managing this series (which is still going strong, incidentally), with its bite-sized concerts offering staggeringly good performances of brand new music, all for free. The real creative brain behind the series at that time was James MacMillan, who held my hand and guided me throughout, shaping the content of the series, introducing me to a whole host of composers from across the globe, always so generously and with great care to offer balance and variety.  Since that time I’ve been lucky enough to have worked on several of Jimmy’s new works over the years, here at Britten Sinfonia, but his Seven Last Words has always remained a really special work for me.

MacMillan’s vocal writing is always incredibly effective, and as a choral scholar, I would’ve dearly loved to have got my teeth into singing this; sadly it wasn’t composed until after I’d left college and had well and truly hung up my vocal chords.  Of course, the subject matter is emotive in itself, but the vocal writing is so visceral, contrasting  with the beautiful string lines so painfully at times that it moved me to tears the first time I heard it; and the heavy silences that occur throughout the work are so emotionally charged that I always find it impossible not to be affected.  In our world of what can seem like ceaseless over-emoting on a daily basis, I am more than grateful for that.

Nikola
Artistic Planning Director

Performances of Seven Last Words from the Cross take place on Sun 20 Mar at Birmingham Town Hall, Wed 23 Mar at Cambridge's King's College Chapel and Fri 25 Mar at London's Barbican Centre. For full details and to book tickets click here.

Musically Gifted - An Update

This time last year, we were busy setting up our newest fundraising campaign: Musically Gifted. In case you’ve missed it (and we hope you haven’t!) the aim of the game is to enable people from all walks of life to be a part of something special and timeless - the opportunity to help us commission a new piece of music and be credited in the score forever.

With composers ranging from Sally Beamish, James MacMillan and Nico Muhly (plus many more), we’re delighted to offer such a wide range of musical worlds and we know that there is something to please every ear.

We’re also extremely pleased to be able to include lesser known composers in the roster, which gives them a real chance of gaining exposure and creating an emotional link with listeners right from the very start of their careers.

The varying benefits received by donors depending on the size of their gift is also something we are thrilled with. All donors are credited in the score forever, although you can opt out if you wish to remain anonymous (and many do). There is then a wide range of gifts going from a signed front page of the score to the possibility of having Afternoon Tea with the composer and musicians (which we hear through the grapevine is quite a lot of fun!).

Our first commission received the support of 24 donors, our second had 35. We’re liking this trend and hoping that each commission will get increasingly popular.

Let’s not forget that Arts Council England will match-fund pound for pound each gift that we receive until 31 March 2014, which is an incredible fundraising opportunity for us. Of course, we believe it is vital for our orchestra to perform new music, and all money we raise through this campaign will permit us to commission yet more emerging and well-known composers.

I am the person who sends you the thank you card, wraps your scores in purple ribbon and makes sure that the adventure is worth it, and I must say it’s been a real pleasure this far. I love having a close connection with the composer as well as with the donors, and I really hope that we’ll be able to develop this campaign into a staple of what Britten Sinfonia offers to their followers.

Right, I think it’s time for you to discover it yourself. Get stuck in at www.musicallygifted.org.uk and get inspired.


Gabrielle Deschamps
Development Assistant

20th Birthday Concert in Pictures

In late October Britten Sinfonia celebrated its 20th birthday with celebratory concerts in Cambridge, Norwich and London. The London concert launched the orchestra's association with the Barbican and photographers Benjamin Ealovega and Rhydian Peters captured the day.

 

Stephen Williams and Andy Sheppard in rehearsal  (c) Ben Ealovega

Andy's sax (c) Ben Ealovega

Joanna MacGregor rehearsing Moondog (c) Ben Ealovega

Tom Herbert rehearsing Moondog (c) Ben Ealovega

Sound Engineer, Matt Fairclough (c) Ben Ealovega

Kuljit Bhamra rehearsing Moondog (c) Ben Ealovega

Seb Rochford rehearsing Moondog (c) Ben Ealovega

A smile during rehearsal (c) Ben Ealovega

Pekka Kuusisto & Mark Padmore in rehearsal (c) Ben Ealovega

Pekka & Alina Ibragimova rehearsing the Bach Double (c) Ben Ealovega

Nico Muhly multi-tasking during the rehearsal of his piece  (c) Ben Ealovega

Eamonn Dougan conducting the rehearsal of Nico's piece (c) Ben Ealovega

Britten Sinfonia Voices rehearsing (c) Ben Ealovega

The 'running board' backstage - a busy day! (c) Ben Ealovega

Backstage (c) Ben Ealovega

Birthday Cake! for the musicians to share! (c) Ben Ealovega

Claire, Marketing Director & Nico Muhly sharing a drink (c) Rhydian  Peters

Will (Development Director) talking to a guest at the reception (c) Rhydian Peters

Alexandra Reid introducing the Britten Sinfonia Academy performance (c) Rhydian Peters

Britten Sinfonia Academy (c) Rhydian Peters

Britten Sinfonia Academy performing on the free stage (c) Ben Ealovega

Backstage before the concert (c) Ben Ealovega

Backstage before the concert (c) Ben Ealovega

Orchestra and choir on stage (c) Rhydian Peters

Pekka & Alina performing the Bach Double (c) Rhydian Peters

Mark Padmore performing Les Illuminations (c) Rhydian Peters

Pekka performing his birthday tribute, OMG HBD (c) Rhydian Peters

Joanna MacGregor performing Bach (c) Rhydian Peters

 

Post concert performance on the Club stage (c) Ben Ealovega

Jackie Shave (c) Ben Ealovega

Post concert party time (c) Ben Ealovega

James MacMillan and David Butcher after the concert (c) Ben Ealovega

James (Creative Learning Assitant) and Gabrielle Deschamps (Development Assistant) enjoying the party (c) Ben Ealovega

Pekka gives the night a thumbs up! (c) Ben Ealovega

Nico enjoying a glass of vino (c) Ben Ealovega

Smiles all round (c) Ben Ealovega

BBC Radio 3 Live

Do you love the live concert-going experience but can’t always get to the concert hall? In early May BBC Radio 3 introduced a vastly increased evening programme of live concert broadcasts from venues across the country – capturing the energy and excitement that surrounds live pertformance. Previously the radio station pre-recorded almost all concerts. BBC Radio 3 controller Roger Wright said when announcing the change said "Live is always good, which is why we do so much of it…Live is the essence of music-making. It has a real excitement, and means we can give audiences the best seat in the house."


This evening (Wed 25 May) Radio 3 will broadcast the opening performance of the Bath International Music Festival live from Bath Abbey with pianist (and director of the festival) Joanna MacGregor, jazz trumpeter Arve Henriksen and Britten Sinfonia all on stage. They will perform music by James MacMillan and Joanna MacGregor, to see the full programme click here. The excitement starts with presenter Petroc Trelawny at 7.30pm.

So if you can’t get to Bath why not enjoy the excitement of live music-making tonight from the comfort of your favourite arm-chair, as you drive home from work, from the kitchen as you cook your supper or even in the bath!

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.

Parthenogenesis at ROH: last two performances

'...but most of MacMillan’s score, which is superbly played by the Britten Sinfonia under the composer’s direction, is much more jolting, visceral and jittery: harsh, quickfire bursts of instrumental dissonance, or sweet, smeary consonances that are, if anything, even more disconcerting.' Richard Morrison in the Times on James MacMillan's Parthenogenesis (you can read his full review here). It is a dark tale, but with those searing moments which MacMillan creates with such intensity. Some critics have suggested the work is not really an opera; I disagree - it is certainly cerebral, but Katie Mitchell's production unpicks an 'unrealistic' story to make you think carefully about its central issues: the conflict between genetic science and virgin birth, what is a contemporary angel, and the uncomfortable mother-daughter relationship.
Amy Freston and Stephan Loges are the singers, and James MacMillan conducts.

Some tickets are still available for tonight and for the final performance tomorrow, 18 June.

Katie Mitchell talks to Andrew Marr

Katie Mitchell joined Andrew Marr on his 'Start the Week' programme on BBC Radio 4 this morning to discuss her production of James MacMillan's Parthenogenesis. This opens on Wednesday at the Linbury Theatre in our co-production with ROH2. Listen again on iPlayer. Tickets for some performances are still available.

James MacMillan: Parthenogenesis

Back now from half-term holidays, just as we gear up for our next project, a collaboration with the Royal Opera House. James MacMillan's Parthenogenesis opens in the Linbury Theatre on 11 June, with further performances on 13, 15, 17 and 18 June. You can book tickets here. I'll be writing more about this production in the coming days, but do listen to James discussing his work on our latest SinfoniaCast.

Polyphony and Britten Sinfonia on Radio 3

We next work with Stephen Layton's Polyphony at the end of March, but you might like to listen to yesterday's The Choir on BBC Radio 3, which was exclusively devoted to them. It features several tracks from CDs Britten Sinfonia has recorded with Polyphony, including works by MacMillan and Lauridsen, and previews our next joint Hyperion release, of works by Poulenc.

James MacMillan in Cambridge

Britten Sinfonia is always keen to promote new talent, and on Saturday 2 February we are holding a special event showcasing work from the best student composers at the University of Cambridge. The Composers’ Workshop, which will be held in the Recital room at West Road Concert Hall, is a superb opportunity for you to hear new works by up-and-coming young composers, performed by an ensemble comprising Britten Sinfonia musicians and talented students. The group will be conducted by one of the UK’s most respected composers, James MacMillan, who will also be giving advice to the young composers about their work.

The Composers’ Workshop runs from 10.30 to 15.00 and you are welcome to turn up at any time to watch the fascinating process of rehearsing these new pieces. Audience members will also be able to listen to, and join in with, discussions between James MacMillan, Britten Sinfonia musicians and the composers about strengths, weaknesses and improvements which could be made to the music. This should be an intriguing opportunity to eavesdrop on, and perhaps even influence, the compositional process.

At 15.30 there will be a concert performance of these new works by Britten Sinfonia and the student musicians. James MacMillan will introduce each piece and discuss any particular issues which were uncovered during the rehearsal process. The concert will finish at approximately 16.30 and audiences will be able to ask questions of James and the student composers at the end of the concert.

Tickets for both the workshop and concert are free of charge however numbers are limited so we advise you to book should you wish to attend. For further information, please call Sophie Dunn, Creative Learning Director at Britten Sinfonia on 01223 300795 or email info@brittensinfonia.co.uk.