Just …a Note A look ahead at spring 2012 Photo: MC Photography
Education & Outreach Manager Polly Ives answers our questions… Favourite piece of music? The Laughing Policeman by Charles Jolly.
Who or what is your biggest influence? So many people but I have vivid memories of my grandma teaching me and my sister piano duets, teaching us to crinkle cut tickets, writing programmes, welcoming our extended family at the door, giving a concert and making tea and biscuits in the interval. What do you like to do in your spare time? I play netball twice a week – we are currently second in the league!
What book are you reading? The Chimpanzees of Happytown by Giles Andreae and Guy Parker-Rees and Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende. Favourite place in the world? Southwold, Covent Garden and Kenya . If you hadn’t worked in music, what do you think you would have chosen as a career? This really is the career I dreamed of when I was at school – I really can’t imagine doing anything else! In one sentence sum up your average working day. Every day is so different. I have to remind myself what I do each day by what colour shoes I am wearing!
Polly is narrating The Chimpanzees of Happytown alongside Ensemble 360 at the Crucible in Sheffield on 9 October, at Rotherham Civic on 9 February, at Emmanuel Church in Barnsley on 10 February and at Priory Place in Doncaster on 25 February, as well as on tour around the country.
Emmanuel Church, Barnsley
Fri 10 Feb, 1.30pm The Chimpanzees of Happytown Children’s Concert Fri 10 Feb, 7.30pm Ensemble 360 Schubert & Janáček Fri 9 Mar, 7.30pm Ensemble 360 Mozart, Strauss & Brahms
Priory Place, Doncaster
Sat 28 Jan, 7.30pm Ensemble 360 Bach, Czerny, Weber & Beethoven
Tue 31 Jan, 12.45pm Ensemble 360 Bach, Schumann & Klughardt Fri 3 Feb, 7.45pm Lawson Trio Mozart, Debussy, Knotts & Brahms Sat 4 Feb, 7.45pm The Webb Sisters Tue 7 Feb, 12.45pm Wu Quartet Mendelssohn & Ligeti Fri 17 – Sun 19 Feb Beethoven Mini-Festival
Sat 25 Feb, 3pm The Chimpanzees of Happytown Children’s Concert
With Ensemble 360, Navarra Quartet and guest speakers
Sat 25 Feb, 7.30pm Ensemble 360 Schubert & Janáček
Tue 21 Feb, 7pm PowerPlus
Rotherham Civic Theatre
Thu 9 Feb, 1.30pm The Chimpanzees of Happytown Children’s Concert
Crucible Studio Theatre, Sheffield
Tue 24 Jan, 10.30am & 1.30pm Igor, the Bird Who Couldn’t Sing Schools’ Concerts Tue 24 Jan, 6.30pm Igor, the Bird Who Couldn’t Sing Family Concert Wed 25 Jan, 7.45pm Ensemble 360 Bach, Berkeley & Brahms Sat 28 Jan, 7.45pm Steven Isserlis & Connie Shih Britten, Shostakovich, Ravel & Beethoven
4th Floor | Sheffield Central Library | Surrey Street | Sheffield S1 1XZ Tel: 0114 281 4660 Fax: 0114 281 4661 Email: info@musicintheround.co.uk www.musicintheround.co.uk | Registered Charity No. 326811
Fri 2 Mar, 7.45pm Stile Antico, Sheffield Cathedral Tudor & Jacobean music Thu 8 Mar, 7.45pm Donald Grant, Karen Matheson, Donald Shaw & Friends The Octagon Tue 13 Mar, 7pm PowerPlus Plus a variety of talks and Q&As More concerts to come in April onwards – watch out for a special premiere in April!
Issue No.56
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Forthcoming Highlight
Pay What You Want for Ensemble 360’s concert in the Crucible Theat re on Sunday 9 October! Our resident group will perform some of the best-loved pieces in cham ber music including Schubert’s magnificent Octet. This is a great chance to bring some new friend s along to see what they make of chamber music! See the Sheffield Autumn Series brochure for more details.
Friends Newsletter ’
October 2011
Contents...
page one Pa rampara page two A New Arrival On Yoolis N ight | A New Way to Pay | Date s for your D ia ry page three T im and Beeth oven Friends’ Eve nt page four Fo rthcoming H ighlight Just a Note | 2012 Con certs
Good news! We’re changing our Newsletter dates slightly in order to give you an exclusive look ahead at the next series. This issue features news on dates and artists in spring 2012.
Parampara
Angus Smith introduces us to Kuljit Bhamra, the inspiration and driving force behind a bold new project touring with MitR.
For all the undoubted brilliance of classical chamber music, it sometimes concerns me that the definition of chamber music repertoire can occasionally become so narrow as to be restricting. While there is a glorious and seemingly never-ending richness of trios, quartets, quintets and more in the Classical and Romantic traditions, an integral part of the concept of ‘chamber music’ is that it defines the manner of performance rather than the style of the music. In its most literal sense, this is music designed for performance in an intimate space by a small number of players for a small group of listeners. The rewards come from intimacy - for the players it is the joy of working in close partnership with fellow performers and for the audience it is the chance to witness at close hand the art of bringing music to life. It is this principle that led me to invite Kuljit Bhamra to set up a trio of musicians from different musical backgrounds that would explore the fundamental process of creativity – a sharing of knowledge, ideas and inspiration but above all, a demonstration of what can be achieved by musicians working in close partnership.
Kuljit, Indian music often has a reputation of being very mysterious. Would you support this view? Indian music (and Eastern music generally) seems to have been shrouded in magic and mystery for the past 300 years or so. Not surprisingly, one can probably guess that this attitude doesn’t exist in India itself! However, since the days of the British Raj ‘the east’ has played a strong role in satisfying the western hunger for exoticism, eroticism, magic and spiritualism through its intriguing and mysterious weave of art and tales of rope tricks and flying carpets. Musically speaking, the absence (until very recently) of a systematic approach to learning music and playing instruments has added to this mystery.
been a part of with musicians from different musical traditions? I have worked with many artists who visited my studio to record. Many of them were Indian musicians and bands, but occasionally I would feature on recordings of pop and jazz artists as a tabla player. Such artists included The Oyster Band, Sine, Luke Haynes, Anne Dudley, Ringo Starr, Mike Lindup (Level 42) and more recently Shakira and The Sugababes. In terms of actual partnerships, my work with Andy Sheppard, Alex Wilson, The Britten Sinfonia, The BBC Concert Orchestra and also The Orlando Consort has been delightful - and well-received by audiences.
Can you tell us about your own musical training? I am a self-taught musician, composer and record producer. At the age of six, I watched my father one evening as he struggled to learn to play the tabla. According to my mother, I sneaked into our living room where the tablas were kept and began to play simple rhythms almost immediately! As I grew, I learnt by watching other players at performances at community and religious events at the temple. Later, as a teenager, I recorded music on to my father’s Grundig reel to reel tape recorder so that I could slow the tape down and analyse the music. Eventually, I began to cut up the tape into ‘musical loops’ and record myself as I played along to it!
Have these partnerships thrown up any specific discoveries, surprises or highlights? It has become clear to me that the tabla (and other Indian instruments) can blend beautifully with other western instruments and operate in many other genres of music. All that is required is a different discipline plus a basic understanding of the various styles and systems. You have to be open-minded when collaborating, otherwise it just won’t work. One inspiring discovery was the replacement of the drum kit by the tabla in Andy Sheppard’s Movements in Colour quintet. One wouldn’t normally imagine that a jazz quintet could work without a drummer - but it does! Also, I was thrilled whilst working with The Orlando Consort to find that I could compose a piece using the tabla phonetic sounds instead of lyrics.
Can you tell us something about partnerships you have previously
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