PRESS RELEASE September 2015
This October Sheffield’s choirs, ensembles, orchestras and instrumentalists come together in the first ever Classical Sheffield Festival of Music. More than 600 singers and instrumentalists, from age 7 to 82, professional and amateur, will fill the city with music in the biggest and most varied celebration of classical music it has ever seen. There’ll be 30 concerts, from a bite-sized 20 minutes to 90 minutes long in seven venues: Sheffield Cathedral, City Hall and City Hall Ballroom, Crucible Studio, Blue Moon Cafe, Firth Hall, and a programme of pop-up music in Winter Garden , October 23rd - 25th 2015. Four symphony orchestras, seven chamber ensembles, twelve choirs, and two opera companies will perform works by more than 50 composers, including Mozart, Mussorgsky, Bernstein, Boulez, Tippett, Piazzolla, Beethoven, Stravinsky, Turnage, Bartok, Barber and Terry Riley as well as Indian classical music and classical-influenced jazz. The festival starts on Friday 23rd with the Hallé Orchestra conducted by Sheffield-born Ryan Wigglesworth and ends with New York Counterpoint at Firth Hall on Sunday 25th. Most concert tickets are just £5 with those aged 18 and under going completely free. There are two days of fee events in the Winter Garden and Blue Moon café. Deborah Chadbourn, Executive Director of Music in the Round, said:
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“Music brings people together, we want to celebrate all the talent, quality and variety that helps do that in Sheffield. The festival gives us a chance to make the city come alive with great tunes performed by the wonderful musicians who live and play here. Everyone’s invited to hear something they love or try something new. We hope it will be the first of many festivals to come…” Kathryn Gasic, co-founder of Opera on Location, said: “For Opera on Location, being part of a city-wide festival this early on in our development is hugely valuable. We are very proud of the work we do and want everyone to know about it! The festival includes concerts of all lengths, from twenty minutes to two hours, and everything is reasonably priced, therefore creating a perfect taster session for those who want to try something new.” Judith Sunderland, trumpeter with Sheffield Symphony Orchestra, said “Many people in Sheffield will be unaware that there are several thousand individuals in the city who regularly meet on evenings and weekends for the pleasure of rehearsing music together and performing concerts. For the first time in the history of Sheffield the Festival is an opportunity for just a few of those groups to showcase over a single weekend what they do and for you to experience the rich diversity of music that the voluntary sector has to offer.” Highlights include: • Free pop-up music in Winter Garden on Friday afternoon and all day Saturday • University of Sheffield’s resident Indian classical music specialist John Ball leads a concert of Indian Ragas in Sheffield Cathedral • Music in the Round’s resident Ensemble 360 will play two concerts; an all-Dvorak programme and a programme of Huw Watkins, Boulez, and Kurtag. • A talk about the Strauss family with Classic FM presenter John Suchet (part of Off the Shelf) !2
• Tippett, Tavener, and Arvo Part from Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus conducted by Darius Battiwalla • Hallam Sinfonia and Hallam Choral Society join forces with Tideswell Singers to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms in Sheffield Cathedral • New works from Sheffield-based Platform 4 Contemporary Composers • Sheffield Senior Schools Orchestra playing Kodaly’s Hary Janos Suite with Opera North’s Principal Percussionist Chris Bradley playing Cimbalom • The City Sings: A Collection of Choirs in Sheffield City Hall Ballroom. Seven choirs sing Gilbert & Sullivan, Bach and much, much more ENDS For all press requests and information, please contact; Martin Smith at Sheffield International Venues on m.smith@SIVLTD.com / 0114 223 3713 or Laura Barr at Bonner & Hindley laura@bonnerandhindley.co.uk / 0113 243 4713 Notes to Editors Classical Sheffield is a collaborative venture between partners including Music in the Round, Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus, Sheffield Symphony Orchestra, University of Sheffield, Tideswell Singers, Hallam Choral Society, Making Music and Sheffield City Hall, working together to promote classical music events in the city, both professional and amateur. This will be the first Classical Sheffield Festival of Music. The festival opens with the Hallé as part of Sheffield International Concert Season at City Hall. Sheffield-born conductor Ryan Wigglesworth conducts and the programme features the new piano concerto by Mark-Anthony Turnage, with Marc André Hamelin, for whom it was written, at the piano.
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The festival’s Saturday morning starts with a free, drop-in breakfast event at the lovely Blue Moon Café, next door to the Cathedral, with soloists from Sheffield’s Rep. Orchestra playing Bach, Handel, Beethoven, Borodin, Liszt, Piazzolla and Guerroro. Vegetarian and vegan food and drink will be on sale. Leonard Bernstein’s life-enhancing Chichester Psalms is fifty years old this year. Sheffield’s Hallam Sinfonia and Hallam Choral Society join forces with the Tideswell Singers to mark the half-centenary with a performance in Sheffield Cathedral. Sheffield has a thriving culture of choral singing and the festival features several. The programme at City Hall Ballroom on Saturday October 24th features Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus in an a-cappella programme of Tippett, Part and Tavener, followed by The City Sings, a seven-choir celebration of choral singing featuring Dore Gilbert and Sullivan Society, Escafeld Chorale, Sheffield Bach Choir, Sheffield Oratorio Chorus, Sheffield Young Singers, Vivacity, & Sterndale Singers. New music is represented by Platform 4 Contemporary Composers, four composers, all resident in Sheffield, who’ll present a programme of new works at the Cathedral. University of Sheffield’s specialist in Indian classical music, John Ball (tabla), will lead a concert of classical North Indian ragas in Sheffield Cathedral, with Jasdeep Singh Degun (sitar) supported by the University of Sheffield Indian Music Ensemble. Pianist Bruno Heinen and guitarist Kristian Borring will explore the distinctive world of pianist and composer Bill Evans, whose work creatively confused the boundaries between the worlds jazz and classical music in the 1960s and 70s. Schedule Friday 23rd October to Sunday 25th October 2015
FRIDAY 23 OCT 2015 4.00pm -
Sheffield City
The Hallé ; open
An open rehearsal for the evening’s
5.15pm.
Hall
rehearsal
City Hall concert, see below.
FREE
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5.45pm -
Sheffield
Evensong (with
Step into the cathedral and hear what
6.25pm
Cathedral
The Songmen
it was built for. Angelic voices in a
and Choral
stunning setting; leave your weekday
Scholars of the
worries behind and escape into a
Cathedral)
world of music with us.
FREE
7.00pm -
Sheffield City
The Hallé,
MOZART Symphony 35 ‘The Haffner’, Tickets from £5
8.45pm
Hall
conducted by
MARK-ANTHONY TURNAGE Piano
via
Ryan
Concerto, STRAVINSKY The Rite of
www.sheffieldcit
Wigglesworth,
Spring
yhall.co.uk
FREE.
with Mark André Hamelin (piano).
Immediately Meet at
An Albion
British songs in ALBION's unique
following
Adventure
arrangements.
Barkers Pool
The Hallé concert; about 8.45pm SATURDAY 24 OCT 2015 9am - 11am
Blue Moon
Breakfast at the
A relaxed morning of music, food &
No need to buy
Come for
Café, 2 St
Blue Moon.
drink, featuring:
a ticket.
the whole
James Row,
BACH Cello Suite No. 3 (Gigue)
Festival
thing or just
S1 2EW
With Sheffield
HANDEL Allegro in C Major
breakfast £6
Rep. Orchestra
BORODIN String Trio in G Minor
per person, on
Soloists
BEETHOVEN String Quartet No. 15,
sale 9am-10am
drop in.
Fifth Movement LISZT Angelus arr. for String Quintet PIAZZOLLA Libertango arr. for string quintet GUERRORO Canite Tuba (transcribed for string quartet) and new works, composers tbc. 10.15am -
Crucible
Music Box
Inspirational hands-on musical
£6 per child,
11.10am
Studio
Workshop, for
workshops in which young children
FREE for adults
ages 3-5 and
can move, sing, play instruments, and (no ticket
their grown-ups.
explore music.
required for
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ages 3-5 and
can move, sing, play instruments, and (no ticket
11.30am -
their grown-ups.
explore music.
12.25pm
Led by Polly Ive
required for adults)
and Ensemble 360
12.30pm -
Sheffield
Hallam Sinfonia,
BERNSTEIN Chichester Psalms
£5 (FREE for
1.00pm
Cathedral
Hallam Choral
children under
Society, Tideswell
18)
Singers 1.30pm -
City Hall
Steal Away;
TIPPETT Spirituals from Child of our
£5 (FREE for
2.15pm
Ballroom
Spirituals and
Time,
children under
more.
TAVENER Syvati,
18)
ARVO PART Magnificat Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus Conductor: Darius Battiwalla Cello soloist (in Svyati): Simon Turner
3.30pm -
City Hall
The City Sings: A
Programme includes a wide range of
£5 (FREE for
6.00pm.
Ballroom
Collection of
popular classics, excerpts from opera
children under
Choirs.
and operetta, spirituals, motets, and
18) One ticket
much more.
gains entry for
Check www.classic alweekend.
With Dore Gilbert
whole event
com for
and Sullivan
and audienece
exact
Society, Escafeld
is free to come
timings.
Chorale, Sheffield
and go as they
Pick your
Bach Choir,
please.
favourite
Sheffield Oratorio
choirs, or
Chorus, Sheffield
come to the
Young Singers,
whole
Vivacity, &
event.
Sterndale Singers.
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4.45pm -
Sheffield
Platform 4
New music by Platform 4
£5 (FREE for
5.30pm
Cathedral
ensemble with
Contemporary Composers TOM
children under
Andrea Tweedale
JAMES, TOM OWEN, JENNY
18)
(soprano)
JACKSON, & CHRIS NOBLE.
Programme includes:
TOM OWENS Songs of Swooping (premiere) TOM JAMES songs CHRIS NOBLE Sketches of Arran and other new works.
3.30pm -
Crucible
The Last Waltz;
A talk by Classic FM presenter JOHN
£5 (FREE for
4.30pm
Studio
the story of the
SUCHET
children under
Strauss Dynasty 6.00pm -
Crucible
7.05pm
Studio
Ensemble 360
18) WATKINS Piano Trio
£10 (FREE for
KURTAG Signs, Games and
children under
Messages (excerpts)
18)
BOULEZ Notations for Piano BARTÓK String Quartet No.3 in C sharp 6.30pm -
Sheffield
Jasdeep Singh
Classical North Indian Ragas,
£5 (FREE for
7.15pm
Cathedral
Degun - Sitar,
supported by University of Sheffield
children under
John Ball - tabla
Indian music ensemble
18)
Ensemble 360
DVOŘÁK String Quintet in G Op.
£10 (FREE for
77
children under
7.20pm -
Crucible
8.05pm
Studio
18) 8.00pm -
Firth Hall,
Bruno Heinen
Postcards to Bill Evans
£5 (FREE for
9.30pm
University of
(piano) with
children under
Sheffield
Kristian Borring
18)
(guitar)
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8.30pm -
Sheffield
Sheffield
FRANK MARTIN Mass for Double
£5 (FREE for
9.00pm
Cathedral
Chamber Choir
Choir
children under 18)
8.45pm -
Crucible
Opera on
BARBER Hand of Bridge Op. 35,
£5 (FREE for
9.15pm
Studio
Location,
MENOTTI The Telephone, BARBER
children under
conducted by
Knoxville: Summer of 1915, Op.24
18)
Excerpts from MASSENET Cinderella
£5 (FREE for
Ewan Gilford
SUNDAY 25 OCTOBER 1pm -
Sheffield
Sheffield City
1.35pm
Cathedral
Opera
children under 18)
2pm -
City Hall
Sheffield Senior
KODALY Hary Janos Suite
£5 (FREE for
2.30pm
Ballroom
Schools
children under
Orchestra with
18)
Chris Bradley
Audience are
(cimbalom)
welcome to
2.40pm -
City Hall
Sheffield
MUSSORGSKY Pictures at an
come for either
3.45pm
Ballroom
Symphony
Exhibition
half of the
Orchestra
MARQUEZ Danzon No. 2 (arr. Robin
concert, or the
McEwan) (with Sheffield Senior
whole.
Schools Orchestra too) 7.30pm-9p
Firth Hall,
New York
Programme includes STEVE REICH
£5 (FREE for
m
University of
Counterpoint
New York Counterpoint and TERRY
children under
RILEY In C
18)
Sheffield With Sounds of the Engine House and Platform 4 Ensemble
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