Bromley Symphony Orchestra premieres new work by Florence Ann Maunders as part of Centenary

Whilst the range of contemporary composers performed in the UK is indeed becoming diverse, in some ways the rate of change is surprisingly slow. On 14 March 2020, the Bromley Symphony Orchestra will be performing Florence Anna Maunders' Bacchanal, a wild and exciting drunken revel for large orchestra, which members of the orchestra voted to perform as their Orchestra's Choice to celebrate the orchestra's centenary. The work mixes Syrian folk music with the techniques of urban electronic dance music.

As well as being a major event for an up and coming composer, this is the first performance by a British amateur orchestra of a piece by a transgender composer, but also the first performance by any British orchestra of music composed by a transgender composer since the BBC Concert Orchestra played the music of Angela Morley in the 1960s.

Maunders' studied at the Royal Northern College of Music with Anthony Gilbert, Adam Gorb, Simon Holt & Clark Rundell, and enjoys a career as a jazz pianist, orchestral percussionist, vocalist, composer and teacher. She has already had work performed this year by the Red Note Ensemble, and London Consorts of Winds premieres her Nonet on 8 March, and Skipton Camerata will be performing a new piece in their 2020/21 season. See Maunders' website for more details.

Adrian Brown conducts the Bromley Symphony Orchestra in Florence Anna Maunders' Bacchanal, Michael Tippett's Concerto for Double String Orchestra and Prokofiev's Symphony No. 5 at Langley Park School, Beckenham, BR3 3PB, 14 March 2020.
Full details from the orchestra's website.