Friends' Newsletter April 2011 by Music in the Round

Just a Note…Focus Groups Ensemble 360 Bassoonist Amy Harman…

Favourite piece of music? It changes every week but the ones I always come back to are Mozart’s Requiem and Schumann’s Fantasiestücke. Who or what is your biggest influence? My teachers Martin Gatt and Andrea de Flammineis, oboist Francois Leleux, Rachel from Glee and my mum.

What do you like to do in your spare time? I don’t often get spare time but if I do I spend it shopping or drinking wine! What book are you reading? I’m reading Lucia Rising by E F Benson leant to me by the lovely Matthew Hunt. It’s absolutely hilarious. I also have Heat magazine in my bassoon case.

Marty recently met with twenty-two audience members, sixteen of whom were Friends, to discuss their experience of concerts. The aim was to help us better understand and meet the needs of our audience as we go forwards, as well as providing an excellent opportunity to check current satisfaction levels. The intimate atmosphere and informality of concerts was praised, and people felt that Ensemble 360 was continuing The Lindsays’ ethos of unpretentious, expressive communication. There were however some suggestions for improving the spoken introductions, which were viewed as varying in quality. Many people like the concerts to take them on a musical journey, which could be of repertoire, composers, or techniques and the introduction of programme notes was welcomed. It was felt that at times the programme seems fragmented, people felt strongly that a balance should be struck between variety and cohesion;

Favourite place in the world? Umbria, Aldeburgh or the South Bank in London. If you hadn’t become a bassoonist, what instrument would you have chosen? I started my musical life as a cellist, I always prefer the lower ranges. At the moment I’m convinced I should’ve been a trombone player but again that changes weekly. Also I’d have made a great soprano if I sounded less like a cat when I sing. In one sentence sum up your average working day. Heaven with a side of reed hatred. If you hadn’t become a musician, what do you think you would have chosen as a career? Celebrity chef. With a pink Aga.

You can hear Amy and the rest of Ensemble 360 throughout the May Festival.

the ideal concert would contain a piece that they know, something they might have heard once or twice before and something new. Audiences would like to hear more contemporary music but a whole programme of new music wasn’t appealing. In deciding which concerts to attend, many people remarked on their availability being the most important factor, followed by what repertoire featured in the programme. Artist was not viewed as an important consideration as Music in the Round is trusted to present great musicians, but it was noted that the occasional ‘big name’ would be welcome. Do these views represent how you feel about Music in the Round? If you have anything to add please contact Marty on 0114 281 4660 or marty@ musicinintheround.co.uk. Marty will present a report of the findings to the board and is planning more focus groups with non-attendees and students later this spring.

Ensemble 360 Photoshoot

For three days in March Ensemble 360, with its new and complete lineup, spent three days with photographer Ben Ealovega having new photos taken. Many smiles, a couple of glasses of wine and some terrible jokes later we’re delighted with the results. The new images won’t be in circulation until the summer but a sneak peek from behind the scenes of the shoot will go on our website in the next month or two. Thank you to Huddersfield University and Sheffield Theatres for their generous in-kind provision of shoot locations.

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Issue No.55

Forthcoming Highlight

Don’t miss the Prague Café Experience day in the May Festival. As well as two concerts featuring Janáček, Schubert and Strauss, there’s an Austrian and Hungarian themed lunch, coffee and cake served all day plus dancing and strudel-making workshops! Sunday 8 May, Sheffield City Hall Ballroom

Friends Newsletter ’

April 2011

Meeting James Gilchrist How did you get into singing? I can’t remember not singing. When I was a boy, I sang in church choirs, and was lucky enough to get into the choir of New College in Oxford. I didn’t realise it at the time - it was just “normal” - but the music-making there was of a very high standard, and the ethos very professional. So singing later as a tenor in King’s Cambridge and in various professional groups I think I found the attitude and approach and determination to produce the best result to be an extension of what I was used to, and a natural way of working in music. But I never for a moment considered that music might be a career, as I very much wanted to pursue my dream of becoming a doctor. So I studied medicine in Cambridge and London, and worked as a doctor in London and Leicester. All the while, I continued to indulge my love of music by singing either in early music groups (for instance The Sixteen, Cardinall’s Musick and Tallis scholars) or as a soloist for various choral societies. My musical diary was getting fuller and I was singing more as a soloist, so when I reached a natural pause in the medical career ladder I decided to take a couple of months off. Well, so far that couple of months has stretched to fifteen years. Do you miss medicine? Yes, terribly. I miss the structure of the life, the intellectual rigour, the subject itself, but above all the enormous privilege of being so intimately involved in other peoples’ lives and doing a job which is so manifestly useful and beneficial to society. But if I’m honest, I think I am now doing something that fits me better as a person and that still - especially recital work - gives me an enormous thrill and buzz. I am incredibly lucky to be able to be making my living from doing something I love. Did you know Angus before talking about the May Festival? Yes! Angus and I have worked together

on many projects, working with groups such as the Monteverdi Choir and The King’s Consort, for instance. We’re both tenors. I’m not sure whether that means we should have an affinity, or that we should be fighting! Do you work often with Anna Tilbrook? We’ve worked together for many years now. Both of us, of course, work with other people, and I do think that’s very important, but when you have done a fair bit of work together there’s an ease of expression which is irreplaceable. We’ve been lucky to have made so many recordings. We’ve done Finzi, Leighton, Berkeley, Vaughan Williams and (last week) Britten, but also Schubert and Beethoven: a real boon for us. Are you looking forward to singing in the round? It’ll certainly be a challenge, and a new one. Chamber music is intimately connected with the relationship between the performers and audience being equal and immediate. I’m used to being able to eye-ball the audience and clearly that’s going to be tricky to do for everybody at all times. I’ll be very interested to hear how people react. Tell us about your programme in the Festival Angus was quite strict with me! He’s so good at seeing the wider frame of the Festival, and so he wanted to confine us to the Austro-Hungarian theme, and I think he’s right. We’re so lucky to have some significant anniversaries this year: Mahler and Liszt. And of Mahler, we immediately thought of his Lieder einer fahrendes Gesellen. These may be known to your audience from their wonderful orchestral arrangements that Mahler made. I’m quite sure he conceived them with the orchestral colours in mind, but nevertheless, he first published them as songs for voice and piano, and they’re so gloriously immediate and impactful this way, that it’s like coming to a new work. Thinking about these songs really

Contents...

brought our theme for the recital. “Wenn mein Schatz abschied nimmt”... “When my love says goodbye”... leads to parting and distance and striding in the countryside and nature and loss and longing. We’re beginning with “the first song cycle of all”, Beethoven’s An die ferne Geliebte, which is just one of my huge loves. It’s so fresh and alive and perfectly wrought. And leads inevitably to Schubert, whose Goethe obsession we’re looking at, and then some songs of Liszt, which might well be new to people. They are a real delight, and seem so delicate and tuneful. Surprisingly simple, in some ways. And leaping in years and sentiment, we explore the rich, balmy-scented world of Hugo Wolf. This programme spans about a hundred years of song-writing in the empire, which seems a little time in a small space, but it’s packed with jewels and explorations of eternal questions of human existence. It’s something I always love about song recitals: you get two for the price of one, as the music and poetry seem to be both together and apart, delighting two bits of the brain simultaneously. What else is coming up for you? I’ve a recital the next day in Oswestry with (sorry Anna!) another pianist and I’m off to Sao Paolo later in the month to sing Haydn’s Creation. Anna and I have a recital at the Aldeburgh Festival in June and then I’m doing La Finta Giardiniera with the Academy of Ancient Music. Anna and I are looking forward to our last Orchid release this winter of Winterreise, and next year our disc of Britten cycles should be out on Linn. You can hear James and Anna at the Crucible Studio at 7.45pm on Wednesday 11 May, including a postconcert chat with Angus.

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May Festival Reception

If you haven’t RSVPd for the May Festival drinks reception on Friday 6 May, we’d love for you to come along and celebrate the opening night of the Festival with us. To RSVP or for more information contact Daisy on 0114 281 4660 or daisy@musicintheround.co.uk. Places are limited and are nearly full so do get in touch quickly!

A Sneak Peek at Next Season...

Plans are well underway for 2011-12 so we thought we’d give you a sneak preview of some of the events we’ll be planning across South Yorkshire and the rest of England… l The semi-staged version of Janàček’s Intimate Letters from this year’s May Festival will go on tour l Sheffield will host the world premieres of two new commissions, one of which will be a new children’s work by our Children’s Composer-in-Residence Paul Rissmann, and the other will be part of a programme to celebrate the 2012 Olympics. Both will then tour England l We’ll host a unique project that brings one of the most influential musicians on the Asian music scene together with a leading classical violinist and jazz guitarist l The Doric Quartet will make a welcome return and we’ll be joined by The Parker Quartet all the way from the US l We will begin a partnership with ChamberStudio, which, led by Richard Ireland, offers coaching and performance opportunities with artists such as Peter Cropper and Susan Tomes to some of the most exciting artists emerging in the UK l Tim Horton will start a cycle of Beethoven’s piano sonatas l The world-renowned medieval band Jogleresa will celebrate the festive season with Christmas music from the 12th to 15th centuries l The usual abundance of stimulating and engaging performances by Ensemble 360 and a range of ways for all ages to engage with Music in the Community

Sheffield’s Autumn brochure will be out in July and Barnsley and Doncaster’s will follow in August.

www.musicintheround.co.uk | 0114 281 4660

Getting to Know Gemma Cellist Gemma Rosefield is fast approaching her first May Festival as part of Ensemble 360. We caught up with her to ask what she makes of it all…

When did you decide you wanted to play the cello? I started playing music on the recorder and piano when I was six. A year later my piano teacher called my parents in to see him, and told them to stop wasting their money on me as I had no musical ear or talent. Anyone who has heard me play the piano since might agree with him... My parents are both music lovers and were horrified by this! So they went to see my recorder teacher who encouraged me to keep at it thankfully! Two years later I picked up a friend’s cello while visiting her, and have never looked back! Have you enjoyed playing in Ensemble 360 so far? I am loving every minute! The range of repertoire is challenging and exciting and I’m constantly inspired by my colleagues. I also love the warmth of the audience and the atmosphere in our regular venues. When you’re not playing with the Ensemble what else do you do? What else have you got coming up? I do a mixture of other chamber music, solo and duo recitals and concertos. I also have a South American music group called Machaca which I enjoy hugely and is always great fun. I recently recorded a disc of music for cello and orchestra by C V Stanford with

the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra which is due for release soon, and I will be going back to play with the Orchestra next year which I’m really looking forward to. I also have a number of cello students who keep me on my toes and have recently developed a passion for post-concert, late night baking! The May Festival is fast approaching, are you ` looking forward to it? I’m looking forward to it hugely - I have never seen such a huge list of repertoire for one week in my entire life! But I know it is going to be a challenging and very exciting week. I’m particularly looking forward to the Terezín Day which I have played a part in putting together. It’s an especially meaningful subject to me and has always been close to my heart - I wrote my college thesis on it. I’m looking forward to performing the repertoire of composers such as Gideon Klein and Erwin Schulhoff who were interned in the Camp and of course finishing off the day with the monumental Schubert C Major Quintet which was also performed many times there.

You are also doing a bonus performance in the bar with Ben on Tuesday night – what will that involve? Somehow we did not manage to fit the Kodály Duo in to the main Festival programme so in a moment of madness one day Ben and I agreed to play it in the bar after the Tuesday evening concert! It’s a wonderful work full of folk melodies and virtuosic writing for both instruments. You can hear Gemma throughout the May Festival. To hear more about her thoughts on the Terezín Day you can listen to a podcast of Gemma and Angus in conversation at www.musicintheround.co.uk

Friends’ Choice Concert Tuesday 10 May

Thank you so much for all your votes and donations; your support is, as ever, much appreciated. If you haven’t voted and would like to, there is still time! The deadline is Tuesday 3 May. Please complete and return the form we posted to you (if you need a new one contact Daisy on 0114 281 4660 or daisy@musicintheround.co.uk). You can listen to the pieces for free on Spotify – for details of how to do this visit www.musicintheround.co.uk and type in ‘Spotify’ in the search bar. The winning piece will be announced on the night. All the donors’ names will be put into a draw to win two tickets for a concert of your choice in the Autumn Series. The draw will be made at the end of the May Festival.