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| Britten Sinfonia with sitarist Anoushka Shankar and percussionist Manu Delago at Barbican Corridor, 2022 (Photograph: Mark Allan |
The Britten Sinfonia’s 2024/25 season launches on 8 October with a trio of concert events (on the Barbican, and in Saffron Walden and Basingstoke) with Will Gregory’s Moog Ensemble, an occasion which guarantees a fusion of maths, music, and retro-futurist synths together with tributes to digital music pioneers Delia Derbyshire and Wendy Carlos, and the premiere of Gregory’s Archimedes Suite. Different cross-genre partnerships within the season embody Irish folks singer Lisa O’Neill, jazz-giants Tim Garland’s Lighthouse Trio and the American bluegrass singer and mandolin virtuoso Chris Thile.
The ensemble can be marking 80 years because the finish of World Conflict II, the fiftieth anniversary of Shostakovich’s demise and Arvo Pärt’s ninetieth birthday. Performances will embody Shostakovich’s Chamber Symphony op.110a, a scaling-up of his String Quartet No.8, devoted to the “Remembrance of the Victims of Fascism and Conflict, the world premiere of Michael Zev Gordon’s A Type of Haunting, which explores the enduring and cross-generational trauma of the Holocaust, and Messiaen’s not often carried out tribute to the victims of the World Wars, Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum. A few of Pärt’s biggest works -including Tabula Rasa – in addition to the world premiere of a piece for strings and percussion by Cheryl Frances-Hoad.
The ensemble continues to experiment with methods to increase and develop audiences for classical music within the East of England. Its Encompass Sound Playlist tourfeatures performances within the cathedrals of Chelmsford, Ely, Peterborough, Norwich and St Edmundsbury, and audiences are invited to absorb the music and majesty of those superb cathedrals in much less formal methods. Company at these concert events embody saxophonist Amy Dickson, oud virtuoso and composer Joseph Tawadros, and Tenebrae performed byNigel Brief.
The ensemble can also be presenting concert events celebrating its personal musicians. Principal trumpet Imogen Whitehead, who in 2023 grew to become the primary girl to be appointed to a principal brass function in a serious UK orchestra in additional than a decade, stars as soloist in Hummel’s Trumpet Concerto. Principal oboe, Nicholas Daniel, conducts Messiaen’s highly effective Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum, and different works by Stravinsky. Britten Sinfonia’s winds, brass and percussion are joined by these of Sinfonia Smith Sq. within the resonant expanses of Pugin’s St George’s Catholic Cathedral in Southwark.
Different performing companions embody becoming a member of the Choir of King’s Faculty, Cambridge, conductor Daniel Hyde, for Mozart’s Requiem in King’s Faculty Chapel as a part of Cambridge Music Pageant’s 2024 Autumn collection. The orchestra celebrates St Cecilia’s day with Saffron Walden Choral Society at Saffron Corridor, in Britten’s Saint Nicolas.In 2025, Britten Sinfonia will start a residency at Merton Faculty, Oxford, with concert events, recordings and chamber music teaching throughout the yr, together with Bach’s St John Ardour, performed by Benjamin Nicholas within the College Church of St Mary the Virgin, Oxford.
Britten Sinfonia is commissioning and collaborating with three graduates of its Magnum Opus scheme, Jonathan Brigg, David John Roche and Crystalla Serghiou. This season’s cohort of Opus 1 composers will showcase eight world premieres in Cambridge, whereas the Magnum Opus Composer Showcase in London will current new concertos by Anibal Vidal, Alex Groves, and Eden Lonsdale carried out by Britten Sinfonia musicians with soloists Imogen Whitehead (trumpet), Rakhi Singh (violin) and Alexandra Achillea Pouta (mezzo soprano)
Full particulars from Britten Sinfonia’s web site.
