SJSS - Occupy the Pianos - Leaflet

ST JOHN’S SMITH SQUARE

OCCUPY THE PIANOS 10–13 SEPTEMBER 2015

Patron HRH The Duchess of Cornwall

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“Just how many hands does Rolf Hind have?”

—— The Telegraph

OCCUPY THE PIANOS ——

This year’s festival occupies itself with a number of strands, and investigates the full range of what’s possible for pianos past, present and future.

The US is strongly featured with music by Copland, Adams, Meredith Monk and Pauline Oliveros as well as having two towering prepared piano works by John Cage. We welcome the New York-based pianist and writer Adam Tendler to present a distinctive solo recital.

There is a cabaret-style theme: on Sunday night, the inimitable Loré Lixenberg leads in Schoenberg’s carnival of menace, Pierrot Lunaire. The previous night in ‘Queer Pitch’, a series of short pieces and readings preceded by a discussion look into how composers identify (or don’t) with a queer persona in their music.

Award-winning dancer Jonathan Goddard combines with Rolf Hind to show newlycreated works for pianist and dancer, and a range of rising pianistic stars deliver pieces by a range of composers; from Rebecca Saunders’ thrilling, turbulent and visceral sounds to Karl Aage Rasmussen’s haunting distortions of memory and echoes.

There will be wetly-inked pieces from our Call for Scores, as well as a preview concert on the Thursday before where a line-up of the weekend’s players also offer a tantalising hint of what’s ahead.

Come and join the occupation!

There are tributes: a concert of left-hand music inspired by the poetry of the Nobel Laureate Tomas Transtrømer, who died this year; the much-missed Steve Martland’s huge and in-your-face Drill for two pianos; and a rare chance to hear the neglected Julius Eastman’s stunning minimalist Gay Guerilla.

ALL CONCERTS ARE £10 EACH

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Buy a £50 Festival Pass to gain entry to all concerts in the Occupy the Pianos Festival.

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If you are Under 26, join our U26 scheme and purchase single concert tickets for £5 each, OR gain full access to the entire Festival with a Festival Pass for only £30.

Book online sjss.org.uk

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ST JOHN’S SMITH SQUARE ——

OCCUPY THE PIANOS PREVIEW —— Rolf Hind piano and guest artists A mouthwatering and finger-tingling preview of the upcoming weekend occupation of the pianos.

Join Rolf Hind and guests as they set the scene for an exhilarating marathon of keyboard virtuosity.

Thu 10 September 1.05pm

Rolf Hind © Paul Frank Rogers

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Box Office 020 7222 1061

OCCUPY THE PIANOS —— Eliza McCarthy © Jonathan Shenoy

Siwan Rhys © Lemon Yellow

DRILL ——

Zubin Kanga © Metaxia Coustas

Rolf Hind piano Zubin Kanga piano Siwan Rhys piano Eliza McCarthy piano Martland Drill Francisco del Pino una hoja…tiembla Rasmussen Genklang

TRANSTROEMER TRIBUTE

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Transtroemeriana Rolf Hind piano and pianists from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama

The festival starts with a bang: Martland’s monumental monolith Drill is a piece that defines the character and energy of this much-missed British composer. After the interval, a delicate duet from one of our Call for Scores composers, and then all manner of keyboards, and 3 more players join Kanga and Hind on stage for Karl Aage Rasmussen’s haunting, prismatic echoes (Genklang) of fragments from Mahler to Mozart.

A sequence of pieces and poems paying tribute to Tomas Transtroemer (1931–2015), the Nobel prizewinning Swedish poet, a keen amateur pianist who lost the use of his right hand. Hence, a large body of Swedish music has been written for him in tribute, for piano left hand. Some Swedish pieces will be interspersed with poems and new pieces created by pianists and composers of the Guildhall School Postgraduate Programme.

Fri 11 September 7.00pm

Fri 11 September 10.00pm

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ST JOHN’S SMITH SQUARE —— Françoise Green Piano Duo © Raph Hurwitz

NEW MUSIC FROM EUROPE FOR 2 PIANOS SONATAS AND INTERLUDES —— Rolf Hind Piano Cage Sonatas and Interludes for prepared piano John Cage’s seminal early work for prepared piano.

Groundbreaking in form and structure, as well as the means of performance, this work – his first inspired

by Hindu philosophy – is a true twentieth-century masterpiece

—— Antoine Françoise piano Robin Green piano György Kurtág Játékok (selection) Ligeti Three pieces Rebecca Saunders Choler A concert bringing the two greatest Hungarian composers of the last half-century, together with the British-born, but German-based, Rebecca Saunders.

Colour, expression and playful wit come to the fore in this recital.

Sat 12 September 1.00pm

Sat 12 September 4.00pm

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OCCUPY THE PIANOS ——

QUEER PITCH —— Rolf Hind piano Eliza McCarthy piano Siwan Rhys piano Robin Green piano Antoine Françoise piano Zubin Kanga piano Adam Tendler piano

Adam Tendler © Greg Parkinson

A celebration of queer music preceded by a panel discussion (featuring, amongst others, Paul Attinello from Newcastle University and composer Philip Venables). The programme includes readings and music by Michael Finnissy, Meredith Monk, Pauline Oliveiros, David Del Tredici, Claude Vivier and Julius Eastman’s monumental Gay Guerrilla for four pianists.

DISSONANT STATES —— Adam Tendler piano NY-based pianist Adam Tendler is a guest and plays late Cage for prepared piano, plus Cowell and Copland and reads from his own autobiography, Dissonant States.

Sat 12 September 7.00pm

Sat 12 September 10.00pm

Adam Tendler © Justin Schier

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ST JOHN’S SMITH SQUARE ——

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OCCUPY THE FLOOR PHRYGIAN PALAIS —— Adam Tendler piano Eliza McCarthy piano

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COMPOSER WORKSHOP ——

Loré Lixenberg mezzo soprano Jonathan Goddard dancer Rolf Hind piano

Where appropriate, other pieces will be played in concerts throughout the weekend.

Rolf Hind and Jonathan Goddard present new work for pianist and dancer, devised by themselves and also by Claudia Molitor and Max Boon. Loré Lixenberg intersperses this with some of Aperghis’ theatrical and enigmatic Récitations.

Sun 13 September 1.00pm

Sun 13 September 4.00pm

Sun 13 September 7.00pm

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Feldman Palais de Mari John Adams Phrygian Gates Late Feldman and early Adams are combined in this fascinating insight into two giants of modern American music.

Composer workshop on scores received by the Call for Scores (for two pianos or one piano four hands).

OCCUPY THE PIANOS —— David Alberman

PIERROT LUNAIRE ——

Jonathan Goddard © Marcus Renner

Loré Lixenberg voice David Alberman violin/viola Zoë Martlew cello Nancy Ruffer flute Stuart King clarinet Rolf Hind piano Rolf Hind Die unenthuellte for piano and violin Schoenberg Pierrot Lunaire

Zoë Martlew © Chris Huning

The occupation comes to a cabaret climax, as Hind’s darkly cartoonish Die unenthuellte precedes the classical nightmare that is Pierrot Lunaire.

Sun 13 September 9.00pm

Stuart King © Claire Shovelton

Nancy Ruffer © John Clark

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BOOKING INFORMATION —— PHONE 020 7222 1061 Monday to Saturday 10.00am–5.00pm £2 booking fee applies ONLINE sjss.org.uk £1.50 booking fee applies IN PERSON Monday to Saturday 10.00am–5.00pm (until 6.00pm on public concert days).

The Box Office opens one hour before the start of Sunday and Bank Holiday concerts.

POST Box Office, St John’s Smith Square, London SW1P 3HA Please enclose a stamped addressed envelope. Cheques should be made payable to St John’s Smith Square.

CONCESSIONS AND REDUCTIONS Available for many of our concerts to senior citizens, full-time students, registered unemployed, school children (under 16) and people who are registered disabled. Westminster CitySave card holders are entitled to a 10% discount on a pair of tickets for any public concert.

Parties of ten or more qualify for a 10% discount.

ACCESSIBILITY If you have access requirements, please let our Box Office staff know when booking your tickets to help us provide you with the best possible service and choice of seats.

We allocate an additional seat free of charge to disabled patrons who require a carer to accompany them.

PLEASE STAY IN TOUCH WITH US ONLINE Join the conversation!

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@StJohnsSmithSq /StJohnsSmithSquare /StJohnsSmithSquare /StJohnsSmithSquare /StJohnsSmithSquare Please Note We may need to substitute artists and to vary our concert programmes from the published information without warning.

Latecomers are admitted only at a suitable pause in the concert.

Please note that tickets may not be exchanged or refunded.

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YOUR VISIT —— St John’s Smith Square is just off Millbank between Westminster and Lambeth Bridges, close to the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey, and a short walk from Westminster tube station.

TUBE Westminster, St James’s Park & Victoria

CAR PARKING St John’s Smith Square is within the congestion charging zone. Parking meters are in operation during the day Monday–Friday until 6.00pm. In the evenings and at weekends there are usually ample spaces locally. There is Westminster City Council car parking on Great College Street and Arneway Street.

BUS 3 and 87 to Horseferry Road C10 and 507 (limited hours) to Millbank 88 to Horseferry Road 11, 211, 148 and 24 to Westminster Abbey SANTANDER CYCLES A docking station is located in Smith Square and there are also stations on Horseferry Road, Page Street and Great College Street.

St James’s Park

RAIL Victoria, Waterloo, Vauxhall & Charing Cross

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OCCUPY THE PIANOS ——

The Occupy the Pianos Festival was first created in 2014. The title comes from Ruaidhri Mannion’s work for two pianos and electronics ‘Occupy the Pianos’, commissioned by L’ Association du Concours Nicati, which received its’ London premiere as the Finale focus of the first festival. The Occupation continues...

UNDER 26 SCHEME If you’re under 26, make sure you sign up for our U26 Scheme!

Members are entitled to purchase £5 tickets to selected events throughout the season.

Alongside £5 ticket offers, members of the U26 Scheme also receive invitations to special events throughout the year, as well as other targeted discounts.

There’s no catch and it’s entirely FREE to join! Please call our Box Office for further details.

Box Office 020 7222 1061 sjss.org.uk

Registered in England Company No. 3028678 Registered Charity No. 1045390

Design: Phillip Southgate

St John’s Smith Square Charitable Trust Registered Office: St John’s Smith Square London SW1P 3HA