Meet Allison Bell

In February, soprano Allison Bell performs Louis Andriessen's ethereal Dances with Britten Sinfonia as part of the Barbican's celebration of Andriessen's life and work, M is for Man, Music and Mystery. The concert is part of a BBC Total Immersion day devoted to the music of Louis Andriessen, We caught up with Allison ahead of rehearsals to find out a bit about hat makes her tick...

... highlight of your career so far?

It would have to be a tie between my first Lulu Suite at Tchaikovsky Concert Hall with Vladimir Jurowski and the Russian State Academic Symphony Orchestra (Svetlanov) and singing guest vocals with the Violent Femmes at the Troxy in London as part of their reunion tour in 2014. They were one of my all time favourite bands as a kid and it was so unbelievable to be sharing the stage with not only them but also two more music heroes of mine, Steve Mackay from the Stooges (who sadly passed away recently) and Mick Harvey from the Bad Seeds. Both concerts were surreally within weeks of each other and both equally incredible, pinch-myself moments.

When are you happiest?

Long sunny days, deep in the wilds of Tasmania, with good friends and lots of cheese and wine.

What is your greatest fear?

I have a few. Religious fundamentalism. Xenophobia. Stupid people with guns.

Earliest musical memory?

My mum singing Split Enz 'Six months in a leaky boat', loudly, along with the car radio - I must have been 3 or so.

Which living person do you most admire, why?

My childhood music teacher in Tasmania, Rennie Herbert. She instilled in me not just a curiosity and love for music and culture but literally devoted her life to becoming effectively the surrogate mother to a great many kids, like myself, who came from very poor, dysfunctional backgrounds in rural Tasmania. Rennie gave us not just music but a sense of hope, self-worth and self-discipline. Through her we saw there was a bigger world out there to explore. And she's still there for me today, aged 90, whenever I need advice or moral support.

Embarrassing moment?

I think my embarrassment meter must be faulty, I very rarely get embarrassed. I probably should. I'm sure my friends can give you pages of material. Ok, I guess I did find it pretty uncomfortable having to warm up in my hotel room at the Hôtel de la Tremoille in Paris when I was singing around the corner at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, knowing Jack Nicholson was staying in the room next to me. And I knew he was in - we had come up in the lift together. I was singing Polly in Weill's Threepenny Opera, which involved an unconventional warm up to say the least. One where you have to make really ugly, brutal noises before you make the nice ones. For a huge cinephile and lifelong Jack Nicholson fan, yep, that was actually pretty bad.

 

If you were an animal what would you be?

A high-soaring bird like an eagle. A lyrebird would also be fun.

What is your most unappealing habit?

Impatience. Belligerent when hungry.

What is your favourite book?

There are too many to choose just one but my more recent favourites are Stoner by John Williams and The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers. Both quietly but profoundly beautiful, moving.

What is your guiltiest pleasure?

I only have to get the faintest whiff of lactose to become a congested mess so I have to avoid dairy in order to sing. So it's got to be eating cheese. With an ice-cream chaser.

Who would you invite to your dream dinner party?

Giorgio Locatelli to cook, no question. My ideal dinner party involves getting tipsy and laughing raucously rather than cerebral, challenging conversations. Nothing too high brow. So with that in mind, and narrowing it down to the living, I'd invite Bill Murray, Larry David, Louis CK, Chris Lilley, Susie Essman, Amy Poehler and Amy Schumer.

How do you relax away from concert platform?

I want to say getting out in nature, on a remote coastline somewhere, reconnecting with the elements etc. But it's more likely that you'll find me in my pyjamas, binge-watching any number of TV series and films for days at a time. 

What do you consider your greatest achievement?

Being able to keep a roof over my head as a freelance musician. Also having such wise, loyal and supportive friends.

What is the most important lesson life has taught you?

Don't wait for that moment where you feel 100% ready or 100% secure in yourself and your abilities to go forth and do your thing. That moment never comes. Most of the people you admire are just as scared as you. It's a privilege to be out of your comfort zone most of the time - it sounds cheesy but that's where the magic happens.

In a nutshell, what is your philosophy?

Stay in the moment. Don't sweat the small stuff. Mind your own business.


Allison appears with Britten Sinfonia on Saturday 13 February at 3pm at London's Milton Court Concert Hall in Louis Andriessen's Dances. To find full concert details and to book tickets click here.

For full details of the Barbican's celebration of the life and works of Louis Andriessen, M is for Man, Music and Mystery click here.

Elena Langer on composition

In April/May 2016 we premiere a new work by Elena Langer, commissioned by Britten Sinfonia with support from the William Alwyn Foundation, and the Musically Gifted campaign. Find out more about Elena in this blog post as she answers questions about herself and her music...


How would you summarise yourself in one sentence?
Impulsive

What’s your earliest musical memory?
My granny’s drunken singing at parties

What do you like most about composing?
As a child I preferred composing to playing piano because it was less repetitive and took less time

What inspires you?
Bad weather

When was the last time you experienced writers’ block, and how did you move on from it?
Last block was last week. Moved on from it like all proper composers – with alcohol!

How do you feel about new music and what we’re trying to do with Musically Gifted?
I personally prefer old music, but Musically Gifted sounds like a good idea

What would you like to be recognised for?
For my delicious beetroot salad

What advice would you give to other young composers?
I should quote Sofia Gubaidullina here who said to an overly prolific colleague of mine – ‘don’t pollute the atmosphere!’

What’s your musical guilty pleasure?
Lutoslawki’s Chain 2

If you turned your iPod on now, what would be playing?
I haven’t got an iPod!

The last concert you saw?
Handel’s Saul at Glyndebourne

If you hadn’t been a musician, what might have happened?
I would have become a better and more roundly educated person

Which musical instrument do you wish you could play, and why?
Percussion – because there are so many of them and maybe it would develop my sense of rhythm…

Any plans for the summer?
To swim

Is there anything else you want to share with the world?
I wrote an opera ‘Figaro Gets a Divorce’. It will open at the Welsh National Opera in February of 2016 – I would like the world to come and see it!


Elena's new work, Story of an Impossible Love, will be performed during the Benjamin Grosvenor programme performed on Wednesday 27 April 2016 at Cambridge's West Road Concert Hall, Friday 29 April at Norwich's St Andrew's Hall and on Sunday 1 May 2016 at London's Milton Court. Click here for more info and to book tickets.

My Curves are not Mad

Next week Britten Sinfonia premiere a new work by young composer, Tom Coult entitled My Curves are not Mad. Upon notification of the title of the new work and then receiving the programme note for this piece we discovered that Tom had been influenced by Matisse's approach during his 'cut-out' period. Will, Development Director explores this phase in Matisse's output in this article.

Mes courbes ne sont pas folles. My curves are not mad. So wrote Matisse, in his 1947 limited-edition book ‘Jazz’, published at a time of his life when his health was failing. In 1941 he had been diagnosed with cancer, and although it somewhat dampened his spirits, a successful operation unexpectedly gave him a renewed energy although left him requiring a wheelchair.

With his limited mobility Matisse acquired a new assistant, the beautiful Russian Lydia Delectorskaya, and with her help set about creating a new style. Gouaches découpés – cut paper collages with gouache – have come to be seen as some of the defining works of his entire output. Indeed, Matisse would probably agree with this thought; he wrote at the time “Only what I created after the illness constitutes my real self: free, liberated”.

So, what are these gouaches découpés, Matisse’s cut-out style? Well, Matisse himself referred to it as ‘painting with scissors’. He would cut the shapes out freehand, on prepared paper that had been painted with gouache, and with the help of his assistants would arrange and rearrange their composition until he was satisfied. These cut-outs would then be attached to the wall of his studio, whereupon Matisse would then continue developing their form: adding new cut-outs, moving them around, modifying them. When he was entirely satisfied, they would be transferred to a board or canvas. The walls of his studio would be covered by these cut-outs, and at a time when his mobility was deeply limited, they gave Matisse a way to change and improve his environment. “I have made a little garden all around me where I can walk…” he said. “There are leaves, fruits, a bird...”

The finished works were vividly colourful and striking. In ‘Jazz’ Matisse displayed twenty figurative prints, which took inspiration from the improvisatory nature of jazz music. As he began work Matisse used a brush to write little thoughts to himself – ‘My curves are not mad’, for instance – and he was so taken by their simple visual appearance he suggested to his publisher that they be used in the finished book, juxtaposed against each print.

The resulting publication represents a defining part of Matisse’s ‘cut-out’ style, and some of the individual prints, such as ‘The Fall of Icarus’ are recognised the world over. However, the book is but a small part of the overall output of this period. Many other works were created in this style, including the famous ‘Snail’ which now hangs proudly in the Tate Modern, London, and of course the Blue Nudes of the early 1950s. What the book ‘Jazz’ also doesn’t convey is the sheer scale of some of the cut-out works. The ‘Snail’ is a not-inconsiderable nine square metres of riotous form and colour. ‘La Perruche et la Sirène’ (the parakeet and the mermaid) is a spectacular and triumphant 25 square metres. However, for sheer impact, nothing beats the stained-glass windows of the Chapelle de le Rosaire, which Matisse took on as a tribute to one of his nurses during his 1941 illness, who later became a Dominican nun.

As he thought his life was coming to an end in 1941, Matisse found a new sense of purpose, determination and creativity that over the following fourteen years was to ensure his place as one of the 20^th century’s most revered artists. His works hang on walls the world over: bold and inescapably colourful. “I have the mastery of it”, Matisse wrote in a letter to his friend André Rouveyre. “I am sure of it”.

Will Harriss
Development Director

You can hear the world premiere of Tom Coult’s new work My Curves are not Mad, inspired by the structure of Matisse’s works, in London, Norwich and Saffron Walden, from 20-22 March 2015. For more information click here.

Meet Alasdair Beatson

Pianist, Alasdair Beatson performs Han Abrahamsen's Double Concerto for violin, piano and strings alongside Thomas Gould and Britten Sinfonia this March. He took some time out from his busy schedule to answer a few questions about himself;

What has been the highlight of your career so far? 
A few years ago I was Artist-in-Residence in the new concert hall in Perth, the Scottish town where I grew up.  It was for me a unique opportunity to tie two separate parts if my life together - to bring some of my favourite colleagues, including Pekka Kuusisto and the Doric String Quartet, to a truly excellent hall in my pretty and modest home town.   

When are you happiest? 
Playing the music of Fauré!  I've become quite obsessed with it - the beauty of his perfect scores, the adventure in his harmonies, and the ecstatic sweep of his passion - what joy! 

What is your greatest fear? 
I hate spiders and regularly hoover the ivy outside my kitchen window. 

What is your earliest musical memory? 
Of LPs the Beatsons listened to at home - Harry Nilsson's musical fable "The Point", or "Switched-On Bach" which has a magnificently camp album cover and rather sacrilegious electronic-baroque content. 

Which living person do you most admire, and why? 
I marvel at musicians who at the height of the profession retain their artistic integrity and maintain a balanced ego despite enormous pressures and seductions to the contrary - I might mention András Schiff or George Benjamin. 

What was your most embarrassing moment? 
Probably falling over on stage during a televised performance.   

What is your most treasured possession? 
My music scores, which are well-leafed, quite heavily marked, and companions to my continuing exploration of the repertoire. 

What would your super power be? 
To make spiders go weak at the knees. 

If you were an animal what would you be?
I'd hope to be an eagle, perhaps one of the Sea Eagles living on the Isle of Rùm. 

What is your most unappealing habit? 
I sleep indulgently and copiously, an average of nine hours, which seems so wasteful during waking hours. 

What is your favourite book? 
I love to read, mainly contemporary fiction - current favourites are Ned Beauman Boxer Beetle, John Williams Stoner, Salmon Rushdie Midnight's Children and Dave Eggers What is the What. 

What is your guiltiest pleasure? 
Extravagance with food - eating a bit too well or too often!  I live just a few streets away from Brixton Village - a wonderful indoor market with a vast number of talented, independent, friendly chefs who test my self control on a daily basis. 

Who would you invite to your dream dinner party? 
Perhaps some composers who never met but might have much to talk about - Schumann and Fauré, Haydn and Stravinsky, Satie and John Cage.  One would wish to spend time on the seating plan. 

If you could go back in time, where would you go? 
1920's Paris, as lived by Hemingway in his memoir A Moveable Feast. 

How do you relax away from the concert platform? 
With friends, with books, with whisky, and with walking - around cities, through the countryside and in the hills. 

What do you consider your greatest achievement? 
I don't believe I've achieved anything truly great, but I do think I aspire to it and perhaps someday... 

What is the most important lesson life has taught you? 
That it is possible to strongly hold a belief or desire and simultaneously be open to alternatives.

In a nutshell, what is your philosophy? 
To try to be true to oneself, and true to the music.

Alasdair Beatson performs Han Abrahamsen's Double Concerto at London's Milton Court on Friday 20 March 2015,  Norwich's Theatre Royal on Saturday 21 March 2015 and Saffron Walden's Saffron Hall on Sunday 22 March 2015. Click here for more info and  to book tickets.

2014-15 Britten Sinfonia Academy so far...

Our 2014-15 Britten Sinfonia Academy members have been meeting since September for workshops, courses and performances. Clarinetist, Morgan tells us what he's been up to during his first three months as a Britten Sinfonia Academy member;

I was very excited (but admittedly a little nervous) to be accepted as a member of the Britten Sinfonia Academy as I had never been in a regional orchestra before and I really had no idea what to expect. However, from the moment I first met Natalie, Mateja and (later) Emily, I knew I would have no problems at all!

I really enjoyed our induction day in September, when  I got the chance to meet the other members of the Academy, as well as some of the members of Britten Sinfonia itself. As I play clarinet, I particularly got to know Joy, one of the clarinettists in the main orchestra, who offered me help and encouragement which has improved my playing.  I especially enjoyed the improvisational exercises, including a Japanese compositional technique called shōgi. We sat in a circle and each of us came up with a musical idea and then began playing it. Up to five musicians were playing at a time - as one came in, one dropped out, and as the music continued round the circle, a very interesting and very strange piece of music builds up! Versions of The Rite of Spring and different technical exercises were interspersed with London Bridge and my quickly-made-up attempt at a prepared piano. People also used a variety of small percussion and their own bodies to create some interesting patterns - it was imaginative, to say the least. A particular highlight was Joy and her more-than-persistent spoken contribution ("Hey, you guys...") in a variety of styles.

Our first weekend course comprised a heady mix of new and old - Now, that we all knew each other - we concentrated on learning to play together as an ensemble. We covered Mozart's Idomeneo, Debussy's Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune, Kabalevsky's The Comedians and Finnissey's Plain Harmony, with the afternoons dedicated to chamber music including Ravel's Mother Goose suite. All of these pieces allowed each of the sections of the ensemble their own moments to shine and presented each of us with a few meatier bits to sweat over a bit! But that is a good thing!

As the courses progressed, we in the Academy continued to get to know one another more through the lunchtime football  and some particularly fascinating conversation during the breaks - made more enjoyable by the seemingly endless supply of mini brownies and rocky road bites courtesy of the very important snack rota!

In November, the course weekend focused on preparing for two pre-concert events where the Academy was playing as a "warm-up" act to Britten Sinfonia.  We were all very excited - a gig! These two concerts were retrospectives of John Woolrich (a good friend of Britten Sinfonia) and some of his influences. The Academy as a whole played Woolrich's Stealing a March (dedicated to Frank Zappa) and a quintet played In the Mirrors of Asleep. Woolrich's style is wildly eclectic and very interesting (that much we all agreed) - what we couldn't agree on was whose part was the most difficult (I still think I win).

The next time we met as an orchestra was on November 20th at Milton Court Concert Hall (next door to the Barbican) for the first of the two pre-concert events - the following day, we were back in Cambridge for the second. Nerves were high and we were brimming with excitement. The quintet went first and was received brilliantly. Then the full Academy (with one or two loan instrumentalists from various sources) took to the stage. We triumphantly stormed through Stealing a March, and the applause was rapturous. It was in all honesty, one of the best experiences of my life!

I am sure, if the first 3 months are anything to go by, more fantastic experiences await! I am so grateful for the chance to be a part of the Academy. I hope I can continue for many years!

Morgan
Clarinet, Britten Sinfonia Academy

For more information about Britten Sinfonia Academy click here

Meet Clare Finnimore - viola

Clare Finnimore studied at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama where she co-founded the prize-winning Guildhall String Ensemble. Her musical career has included multifarious appearances as a soloist in a variety of festivals, venues and continents. She has been Principal Viola of Britten Sinfonia for the past 12 years, plays regularly with her chamber group, Britten Oboe Quartet, and can be heard on many a cinema soundtrack including Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, the latest James Bond film, Skyfall, and The Hobbit. She has also performed live with such artists as Kylie Minogue, Sting, Bjork and Florence and the Machine.

In this blog post Clare discusses various highlights of her musical career so far (as well as the odd embarrassing moment), her favourite pastimes and super-power of choice.

What has been the highlight of your career so far?

When you play music you love with people you love playing with it's always a high!

When are you happiest?

Swimming.

What is your greatest fear?

A world controlled by multi- nationals and the diminishing of the dawn chorus.

What is your earliest musical memory?

Trad Jazz at home and my parents jiving...The Beatles: Rubber Soul....Dukas: The Sorcerer's Apprentice....Holst: The Planets.

Which living person do you most admire, and why?

Camilla Batmanghelidjh- her big heart, determination and tireless work for vulnerable children...and of course her style!

What was your most embarrassing moment?

Asking a very famous singer/songwriter: 'Is this your son?' His reply: 'No, she's my wife.'

What is your most treasured possession?

A goodbye letter from my sister Jan.

What would your super power be?

I would like to be multi-lingual.

If you were an animal what would you be?

A cat in a loving home- what a life of luxury they have! But I would NOT kill birds.

What is your most unappealing habit?

At home, being unnecessarily fussy about recycling. But if everyone did it......

What is your favourite book?

Middlemarch, Pride and Prejudice, Lost London 1870-1945.

What is your guiltiest pleasure?

Freshly baked almond croissants.

Who would you invite to your dream dinner party?

My husband, 2 sons and 2 nephews and my best female friends.

If you could go back in time, where would you go?

To the 60's - I would inject all the giant Elm trees so that they would still be here now.

How do you relax away from the concert platform?

Wine, tapas and friends.

What do you consider your greatest achievement?

Stepping up as soloist at a few hours notice for a live broadcast.

What is the most important lesson life has taught you?

To make every day the best you can.

In a nutshell, what is your philosophy?

I saw this recently on a park bench: "Love, be loved and never stop learning."

John Woolrich's piece for viola and orchestra, Ulysses Awakes, was written for Clare, and she will be performing this work with the orchestra on 20 & 21 November in London and Cambridge as part of the musical celebrations of Woolrich's 60th birthday this year. 

She will also be performing as part of our At Lunch 3 concert in February 2015, which will feature a new composition by Ben Comeau and string chamber pieces by Vaughan Williams and Beethoven.

Tom Coult on composition

Composer Tom Coult is writing a new work for Britten Sinfonia, which will be premiered in March 2015 in London followed by performances in Norwich and Saffron Walden. Tom is on the rosta of composers individuals can support through the Musically Gifted campaign. In this blog Tom answers questions about himself and his music;

How would you summarise yourself in one sentence?
‘Tom writes music, lives in London, and is amazed at the difficulty of this opening question.’

What’s your earliest musical memory?
Being played Jimi Hendrix in the car by my dad.

What do you like most about composing?
The occasional bursts of feverish excitement and productivity. And hearing my music performed well, although by then all the ‘composing’ is hopefully done…

What inspires you?
At the moment I can’t stop gazing at Oliver Byrne’s 1847 edition of Euclid’s Elements – it’s a beautiful publication using beautiful coloured, proto-Mondrian diagrams instead of words. There’s something in the boldness, geometry and simplicity of the illustrations that I wish I could imitate in music.

When was the last time you experienced writers’ block, and how did you move on from it?
I experience writer’s block every day – still haven’t found a satisfactory remedy…

How do you feel about new music and what we’re trying to do with Musically Gifted?
A commitment to performing and commissioning music by living composers is one of the marks of an intelligent and relevant ensemble (Britten Sinfonia certainly comes under both of those categories). It’s also essential that composers’ considerable work be valued and remunerated. Any scheme that raises money for new work to be written (and repeated) is well worthwhile, and this type of funding hopefully creates an extra level of engagement with the piece for those that are able to contribute.

What would you like to be recognised for?
Excellent sideburns.

What advice would you give to other composers?
Try to compose every day, listen to several orders of magnitude more music than you write, and get some good pencils.

What’s your musical guilty pleasure?
Sentimental spoken-word verses in songs – cf. Porter Wagoner’s Green Green Grass of Home, Elvis Presley’s Are You Lonesome Tonight?, and the granddaddy of them all, the Everley Brothers’ Ebony Eyes.

If you turned your iPod on now, what would be playing?
The Everley Brothers’ Ebony Eyes.

Favourite five tracks of all time?
Interpreting ‘tracks’ extremely liberally; Bach’s Brandenburgs no.s 1, 2, 5, 6 and the Everley Brothers’ Ebony Eyes.

The last concert you saw?
Rachel Podger directing the English Concert at Wigmore Hall – doing Vivaldi 391 with its scordatura violin… mind-bendingly good piece.

If you hadn’t been a musician, what might have happened?
I’d be making and repairing clocks.

Which musical instrument do you wish you could play, and why?
The tenor viol – viols are far more beautiful instruments than anything in the modern symphony orchestra.

Is there anything else you want to share with the world?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQOjxA8rrks

Hear Tom Coult's new work on Friday 20 March 2015 at London's Milton Court and then on Saturday 22 March 2015 at Norwich Theatre Royal and Sunday 23 March 2015 at Saffron Walden's Saffron Hall. Click here for full information on the concerts and to book tickets.

Tavener's Kaleidoscopes - memories of the premiere

Britten Sinfonia Chief Executive describes the premiere and rehearsals of John Tavener's Kaleidoscopes back in 2006 which we once again perform in the coming weeks;

Over its relatively short history, Britten Sinfonia was fortunate to maintain a warm and productive partnership with John Tavener, one of this country’s most original and celebrated composers who so sadly died late last year.  Alongside performing his last major concert work, Flood of Beauty, at the Barbican on Sunday 28 September we were hugely honoured to take part in his memorial service at Westminster Abbey in June which was such an evocative and uplifting occasion.  These two events remind me that it was back in in 1994 - only the orchestra’s second year - that we first worked with John Tavener.   We premiered his large orchestral work Let’s Begin Again in Norwich Cathedral and from this point regularly commissioned and performed a good number of works over the years, including his oboe concerto Kaleidoscopes.  It’s one of my favourite pieces of John’s and written for our very own Nicholas Daniel, who is the inspiration and (literal) centre of the piece.  The premiere was back in 2007, and I recall the rehearsal well for a number of reasons: sitting next to John following the score with his publisher and close friend Gill Graham; hearing  the music for the first time (so obviously a special piece) with the opening transparent harmonies of the four quartets, so beautifully calibrated with the oboe rising to ever higher registers… and also being plunged into darkness towards the end of the piece, with Gill and I pooling our respective Nokias to shed light on the score, much to the amusement of the composer.

Kaleidoscopes is a piece which makes effective use of staging and movement to enhance the music, with the oboist circling around the four quartets placed like attendant planets at the far edges of the stage.  We’ve tried to continue these antiphonal, spatial and chamber music themes throughout the rest of the programme: The Mozart quartet, also a nod to Tavener’s musical inspiration; the thrilling Adams Shaker Loops in its original sextet form, but perhaps most notably in Kurtag’s two miniatures,  which has the musicians placed around the hall and the audience at the centre.  Many thanks to Georgy Kurtag and Thomas Adès who have allowed us to perform Tom’s arrangement tonight, originally written for a one-off private performance in Dartington, and is heard tonight for the first time in public.  

David Butcher

Chief Executive, Britten Sinfonia

Kaleidoscopes will be performed in London's Milton Court on Monday 29th September, Cambridge's West Road Concert Hall on Friday 3 October and Norwich's Theatre Royal on Sunday 5 October. Click here for full details.

Mark Simpson on composition

Britten Sinfonia will premiere Mark Simpson's new work, Geysir in February. Through the Musically Gifted scheme you can help support Mark's new work - donations close at 5pm on Friday 31st January. Mark won both the BBC Young Musician of the Year and BBC Proms/Guardian Young Composer of the Year  in 2006. Since then he has been commissioned and had his works premiered by ensembles including the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Aronowitz Ensemble and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.  We asked Mark a few questions about himself and his inspirations;

How would you summarise yourself in one sentence?
Passionate, ambitious, a dreamer, full of energy, wanting to be moved, wanting to move people, inspire people, be inspired by people, a perfectionist, constantly searching for those rare musical moments when time seems to stop.

What do you like most about music and composing?
The duality between the head and the heart, which for me as an emotional person who enjoys thinking, is the perfect match. Music encompasses everything. I can experience things that I would not have otherwise have been exposed to, ideas about philosophy, literature, poetry, biology, language, politics, physics, art, psychology. But I also FEEL music coursing through my body. The greatest pieces of music stimulate a part of my brain in way that is both exciting and hyper-emotional.

What inspires you?
Great literature, great poetry and art, things that move me, people who awaken a passion within me and share the intense passion I have.

How do you feel about new music and what we’re trying to do with Musically Gifted?
I feel a lot of things about 'New Music'. That question is quite broad and possibly too big for discussion within this short interview. But what I would like is for young composers (I'm including myself in this!) to be more daring. Embrace the future of our art form and do something amazing with it. Influences are hard to shake off, but when we reach for ideas that seem impossible, great art happens!

What was your reaction when Britten Sinfonia commissioned you?
I was honoured. It will be such a privilege to work with musicians that I've looked up to since I was a teenager starting out.

What would you like to be recognised for?
Writing great music, inspiring as many people as possible and bringing classical music to as wide an audience as possible without ever patronising them or distilling the great art form we have.

What’s your musical guilty pleasure?
I'm not sure I like the idea of a 'guilty pleasure'. It presupposes a hierarchy of style with classical at the top which I don't necessarily buy into.  I like listening to things that aren't classical, as much as I listen to 'classical' music, as long as it's good: the music of Jason Robert Brown, Beyoncé, 80's music, folk music, German indie bands, house and techno music, Indonesian funeral music. There's nothing I'm really embarrassed to say I listen to, because I wouldn't listen to it if it wasn't worthwhile!!

At the end of a long day, how do you relax?
A quiet drink with friends, in a local pub, in bed before midnight.

If you hadn’t been a musician, what might have happened?
I probably would have done something with Art or German. I had two very inspiring teachers in both subjects at High School who awoke a real passion for both.

Is there anything else you want to share with the world?
I have been a question on The Weakest Link and University Challenge, and once appeared in an episode of Grange Hill!

Mark Simpson's new work will be performed by Britten Sinfonia's wind principals on Thursday 13th February at Cambridge's West Road Concert Hall and on Friday 14th February at London's Milton Court Concert Hall. Click here for more info.

You can support Mark Simpson's new commission through Musically Gifted. Donations must be received by 5pm Friday 31st January. Click here for more info.

Meet Emma Feilding

This February Britten Sinfonia oboist, Emma Feilding  performs alongside the orchestras wind players and regular collaborator, Imogen Cooper in a concert featuring Mozart's towering masterpiece, the Gran Partita and Beethoven's Quintet for Piano and Winds in E flat. She took some time out from her busy schedule to answer a few questions;

What has been the highlight of your career so far?
There have been so many Britten Sinfonia concerts that have been highlights for me but I remember the first time I played at the Wigmore Hall with the Guildhall strings and Nicholas Daniel as being particularly memorable as my beloved granny was there waving her handkerchief at me. Working with the theatre company Punch Drunk and performing Mozart’s wind serenade with the Haffners are also favourite highlights.

When are you happiest?
Pure happiness can strike at any time and with anyone but giggling in the bath with my 5 year old daughter never fails to bring it on.

What is your greatest fear?
Heights

What is your earliest musical memory?
Spinning around on my granny’s piano stool aged about 5.

Which living person do you most admire, and why?
My daughter, for her ability to live so completely in the moment, and her carefree passionate nature.

What was your most embarrassing moment?
Fainting during a recital at the Royal Academy of Music!

What is your most treasured possession?
Two pictures- one of my grandmother’s house in Norfolk where I was so happy as a child, and another painted by a good friend.

If you were an animal what would you be?
I Like to think it would be a tiger or something dynamic,but think a sloth is probably more realistic.

What is your most unappealing habit?
Interrupting people when they are speaking.

What is your favourite book?
I love reading and could never choose a favourite but J.D Salinger’s short stories, For Esme – with love and squalor,  are just heartbreaking.

What is your guiltiest pleasure?
My tendency to watch rubbish television, is a bit embarrassing but I don’t think I
feel guilty about any pleasure.

Who would you invite to your dream dinner party?
Me, Woody Allen and Gerard Depardieu would be fun for me, oh and someone to
cook!

If you could go back in time, where would you go?
A particularly glorious childhood summer in Norfolk in the 1970s spent riding and sailing.

How do you relax away from the concert platform?
Like most people I imagine, laughing with friends, watching films, playing with my daughter, reading and practising yoga.

What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Returning to playing the oboe after nearly 9 years not playing at all and producing my gorgeous daughter.

What is the most important lesson life has taught you?
The bad times never last.

In a nutshell, what is your philosophy?
You are never too old to dance and ‘a messy house is better than a life unlived’.

You can catch Emma performing with Britten Sinfonia on Thursday 13th February at Cambridge's West Road Concert Hall and on Friday 14th February at London's Milton Court Concert Hall. Click here for more info.