Britten Sinfonia promoters' pack 2023-24

Britten Sinfonia

“ONE OF OUR MOST INNOVATIVE AND VITAL ENSEMBLES”

– The Guardian, 2023

Britten different orchestra

Britten Sinfonia directed by its leader Thomas Gould performing Max Richter’s Recomposed: Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons

(photo: Tom Lovatt)

Britten Sinfonia is a different kind of orchestra Britten Sinfonia pushes the boundaries of what a chamber orchestra can do.

Rooted in the East of England, it also has a national and international reputation as one of the best ensembles playing today, and is Associate Ensemble at London’s Barbican.

The orchestra is known for its adventurous programming, stunningly high-quality performances, and its ability to adapt to any context, across musical genres and art forms.

The orchestra is defined not by the traditional figurehead of a principal conductor, but by the dynamic meeting of outstanding individual players and the broad range of their collaboratorsfrom Steve Reich, Thomas Adès and Alison Balsom to Pagrav Dance Company, Father John Misty, Rufus Wainwright and Anoushka Shankar.

Britten Sinfonia and Vivi Vassileva performing Gregor A Mayrhofer’s Recycling Concerto at Aldeburgh Festival.

Photo: Britten Pears Arts

“BRITTEN SINFONIA OUGHT TO ENJOY NATIONAL TREASURE STATUS” –

The Telegraph, 2023

Britten different orchestra

Britten Sinfonia’s collaboration with Anoushka Shankar, Manu Delago and Jules Buckley at the BBC Proms.

Photo: Mark Allan

Britten Sinfonia is a different kind of orchestra

“...one of those performances during which you can hardly breath for fear of missing a nuance of expression”

– The Times on Britten Sinfonia and The Sixteen’s performance of James MacMillan’s Stabat Mater.

that

instruments breathe and crunch.

scores reveal themselves anew. In the hands of these players, they still surprise, after 200 years.”

– New York Times, 2022 on Britten Sinfonia’s Complete Beethoven Symphonies conducted by Thomas

Adès

Thomas Adès conducting Britten Sinfonia in the recording of Beethoven’s complete symphonies

“This is Beethoven

lives. The

The

Recordings

Selected recordings are below. View our full discography at brittensinfonia.com.

Matilda Lloyd: Casta Diva Trumpet arrangements of opera arias. (Chandos: CHAN 5321)

Beethoven: Complete Symphonies & Barry: Selected Works. Conductor: Thomas Adès (Signum: SIGCD687)

Alison Balsom: Quiet City

Classical music written in America’s Jazz Age. (Warner 9029622991)

Goldberg Variations: Bach’s keyboard work arranged by Dmitry Sitkovetsky. (Harmonia Mundi: MU 807633)

Vaughan Williams / James MacMillan: Oboe Concertos (Harmonia Mundi: HMU807573)

James

Performed by The Sixteen and Britten Sinfonia. (CORO)

MacMillan: Stabat Mater

Off the concert stage, Britten Sinfonia is active in the studio, recording music from baroque and classical to contemporary, opera and jazz. Our recordings have been released on labels including Chandos, Decca, Warner Classics, Harmonia Mundi and Hyperion, and have been Grammy nominated, received a Gramophone Award, an ECHO/ Klassik Recording Award, and achieved success at the BBC Music Magazine Awards.

We received the premiere award for James MacMillan’s Oboe Concerto in 2016, and more recently for our collaboration with other musicians around the UK in Edmund Finnis’s The Air Turning.

“The performances are dynamic, the juxtapositions of works illuminating in a sidelong way: this is the kind of rewarding work this ensemble’s East Anglian and London audiences have come to expect.”

– The Guardian on Britten Sinfonia’s Complete Beethoven Symphonies conducted by Thomas Adès

Britten Sinfonia

Sample

Programmes

for 2024 and 2025

Mid-sized string orchestra programmes

With cellist Laura van der Heijden

Strings 5.4.3.3.2, harpsichord

JS Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 3

CPE Bach Cello Concerto in A minor

Dobrinka Tabakova Concerto for Cello and Strings

Grieg Holberg Suite

Max Richter’s Four Seasons Recomposed with violinist Thomas Gould

Strings 6.5.4.3.2, harpsichord, harp

Tavener Song for Athene (arr. strings)

John Adams Shaker Loops

Max Richter Recomposed:

Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons

With soprano Elizabeth Watts or tenors

Allan Clayton/Stuart Jackson

Strings 5.5.3.3.1 (+horn)

Shostakovich Two pieces for string octet

Britten Les Illuminations OR Serenade for tenor, horn and strings

Stravinsky Concerto in D

Shostakovich Chamber Symphony Op.110a

Britten O Waly Waly (encore)

Poulenc’s Organ Concerto with Anna Lapwood

Strings 6.5.4.3.2, harp, 2 percussion

Elgar Introduction & Allegro

Poulenc Concerto

Elgar Sospiri

Vaughan Williams Fantasia on a theme of Thomas Tallis

Herrmann Suite from Fahrenheit 451

Other Britten Sinfonia signature string orchestra pieces

Small chamber orchestra (c.20 players) with piano or cello soloist

Walton Sonata for strings

Bacewicz Concerto for strings

Tippett Fantasia Concertante on a theme of Corelli

Strauss Metamorphosen

Schoenberg Verklärte Nacht

Arvo Pärt Tabula Rasa

Tavener The Protecting Veil (with cellist Abel Selaocoe)

Bach keyboard concerto OR

Haydn Cello Concerto in C

Copland Appalachian Spring

1.0.1.1 piano strings 2.2.2.2.1

Stravinsky Dumbarton Oaks

1.0.1.1 2 horns strings 2.1.3.2.2

Haydn Symphony No. 22 ‘The Philosopher’

0.2.0.1 2 horns strings 3.3.3.2.1

Britten Sinfonia Winds

(13 players)

A programme for Passiontide With The Sixteen and Harry Christophers

(strings, choir, conductor –total musicians c.35

Mark Simpson Geysir

Dvorak Serenade in D minor, Op.44

Mozart Serenade in B-flat, Gran Partita

Allegri Miserere

Arvo Pärt Stabat Mater

James MacMillan Seven Last Words from the Cross