Friday 8 February 2019

A trio of premieres and a trio premiere from the Britten Sinfonia.

Edmund Finnis
Edmund Finnis
The Britten Sinfonia's At Lunch concert series features a pair of world premieres in the next couple of months. During February the ensemble gives the first performance of Edmund Finnis' Piano Trio, a co-commission with the Wigmore Hall, at performances at West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge (12/2/2019), Wigmore Hall (13/2/2019) and St Andrew's Hall, Norwich (15/2/2019).

The programme which also includes music by Bach, Martinu, Janacek and Messiaen performed by Emer McDonough (flute), Thomas Gould (violin), Caroline Dearnley (cello) and Huw Watkins (piano). Edmund Finnis will be discussing his new work in a pre-concert event before the Wigmore Hall performance.

Robert Singer © Yony Photography
Robert Singer © Yony Photography


In March, it is the turn of  Robert Singer's new folk-inspired work, written as part of the Britten Sinfonia's Opus18 competition of unpublished composers. The concerts in St Andrew's Hall, Norwich (22/3/2019), West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge (26/3/2019) and Wigmore Hall (27/3/2019) feature a collaboration with folk singer Hannah Rarity, winner of BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year 2018, in a programme which includes folk-inspired music by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies and James MacMillan, who is a mentor on the Opus18 competition. Robert Singer will be discussing his new work at a pre-concert event at the Wigmore Hall and a post-concert event in Cambridge.

Also in March, the Britten Sinfonia will be giving the UK premiere of the Piano Concerto by Brad Mehldau, one of the great improvisors of contemporary jazz piano. Mehldau has recently produced a Bach-inspired album After Bach, comprising pieces from The Well-Tempered Clavier followed by Mehldau’s 21st century response, and the concert will extend this link pairing Mehldau's concerto, with the composer as soloist, conducted by Clark Rundell with arrangements of Bach by Stravinsky, Charles Coleman, Webern and Berio’s arrangement of Contrapunctus XIX from the Art of Fugue interspersed with improvisations by Mehldau. The concert takes place at the Barbican on 16 March 2019.

Brad Mehldau
Brad Mehldau
Full details from the Britten Sinfonia website.

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