Sounds New Baltic Programme

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ROVER TICKETS (INCLUDES AN INVITATION TO A RECEPTION WITH ARVO PÄRT) Enjoy the whole Festival [excludes CoMA In residency programme and the Conference, except where indicated in the booklet] FULL ROVER including Late-Nite gigs at the Ballroom SINGLE: JOINT:

£130 (full), £110 (SN Friends), £55 (students) £220 (full), £200 (SN Friends), £100 (students)

FULL ROVER

excluding Late-Nite gigs at the Ballroom

SINGLE: JOINT:

£120 (full), £90 (SN Friends) £210 (full), £180 (SN Friends)

ROVER TICKET for late-nite gigs at the Ballroom SINGLE:

£38 (full), £30 (SN Friends), £20 (students)

If you wish to attend the whole conference, please contact Dr. Eva Mantzourani, Music Department, Canterbury Christ Church University on 01227 782244 or eva.mantzourani@canterbury.ac.uk For more details on CoMA and how to participate in either of the In Residency courses based on Composition and Performance, please call on 0207 739 4680 or admin@coma.org. Details and online booking: www.coma.org/soundsnew 2

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SOUNDS NEW 2011 programme: Baltic+ GUEST COMPOSER: ARVO PÄRT

Sounds New 2011 takes us on a musical journey of discovery of the Baltic region. Baltic composers are having a profound effect on the music world, but while many Baltic composers are influencing others, we, in the UK, are not always lucky to hear this music live and in context. Baltic + addresses this and presents this extraordinary new work in concerts given by leading British performers as well as

by Baltic musicians.

Of all Baltic composers, it is surely the Estonian Arvo Pärt that is their greatest ambassador. His music has a wide appeal, and it is respected by fellow composers, musicians in general as well as audiences of all ages, be they well versed in the subject of music or not. Arvo Pärt’s music beguiles and enchants with its inherent spiritual gentleness.

It is music that embraces simple melodies and tonal harmonies. Thus it becomes a very rare species indeed – a ‘modern’ music steeped in an ancient sound world that is respected by so very many for all the right reasons. It is with great pleasure that Sounds New welcomes Arvo Pärt to Canterbury, and it is with real pride that we present UK premiere of his most recent large-scale work, Adam’s Lament, which will be performed by the Choir of King’s College Cambridge together with the Philharmonia, conducted by Stephen Cleobury.

Throughout this programme you will find many names unfamiliar to you. That is good, that is what Sounds New is all about, and that is healthy.

However, while these names may be unfamiliar in the UK, they are the best known names in their field in their respective countries. In the spirit of presenting the best of the Baltic, we welcome Ensemble U: from Estonia, Kaunas String Quartet from Lithuania, Altera Veritas from Latvia, Århus Sinfonietta with Jakob Kullberg and the Danish Horn Trio from Denmark, Ohne from Finland’s Sibelius Academy, Viktoria Tolstoy from Sweden and Amadrums from Poland. These are but a few examples of the remarkable artists coming to Canterbury, all bringing the best of their countries’ music. And British musicians include jazz ambassadors the BBC Big Band and contemporary music ambassadors the London Sinfonietta.

Making all this possible are Arts Council England, embassies and cultural institutes from Baltic countries and a range of enlightened sponsors who hold creation dear. Sounds New would like to thank all its sponsors with profound gratitude. Please read the list of sponsors and donors in this programme.

They have made this festival possible.

We also thank the BBC for their support of our work.

BBC Radios 2 and 3 are recording concerts from this year’s festival, enabling the music to reach very many thousands of people. Very many thousands indeed!

We are also immensely proud of our newly enhanced association with Canterbury Christ Church University and we thank the university for its immense support, particularly their new ViceChancellor, Professor Robin Baker. Similarly, we are thrilled to have forged a new relationship with the English department at the University of Kent, whose team have created writing projects and writing events to enhance the music and to inspire listeners.

Baltic + takes you on a voyage of discovery in which you can delight in new worlds, new sounds and new colours. You will be enchanted and invigorated, moved and elated. Over the past two years the Sounds New team has discovered the glories of the Baltic.

Yesterday we listened, today we love!

Paul Max Edlin Artistic Director

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Friday 20th May

BALTIC +

Arvo Pärt

All for One! – Interactive concert: Shake notes out of your sleeve

Film: 24 Preludes to a Fugue [90mins]

PERFORMERS FROM CANTERBURY CHRIST CHURCH UNIVERSITY MUSIC DEPARTMENT

Our introduction to Arvo Pärt: 24 Preludes for a Fugue, is made up of 24 short snippets of film in cinema verité style by filmmaker Dorian Supin. It juxtaposes interviews with Pärt with reminiscences of his earlier life, scenes of him composing or rehearsing his music, of premieres and seminars. This documentary won a UNESCO prize for documentaries in 2002.

11am - St Peter’s Methodist Church

While studying composition at the Tallinn Conservatory it was said of Arvo Pärt that: “he just seemed to shake his sleeves and notes would fall out”.

A PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOL COMPOSITION PROJECT The Baltic landscape comes to life through the music of five schools with performers from Canterbury Christ Church University Music Department.

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1pm, Powell Building, Canterbury Christ Church University

Friday 20th May • BALTIC +

A Jazz Mass

6pm, St Stephen’s Church

ST STEPHEN’S CHOIR together with THE VERY BIG PENGUIN BAND! Conductor: Stephen Barker Saxophones: Peter Cook Piano: Richard Dray Drum Kit: John Willis A first in Sounds New. A liturgical mass setting in the Jazz idiom. St Stephen's Choir will be performing Bob Chilcott's 'A Little Jazz Mass' liturgically, using the Jazz-style music to enhance the Celebration of the Eucharist - experience the words sung within the context that they were originally intended. The choir will be accompanied by Peter Cook's Jazz Trio and Aurora Orchestra the service will include hymns and psalms rooted in the Jazz tradition. The service is open to all, whatever your beliefs or traditions.

St. Stephen’s Choir

IN ASSOCIATION WITH ORCHESTRAS LIVE

7.30pm, Augustine Hall, Augustine House

An Overture to BALTIC+ LONDON SINFONIETTA

LATVIA Peteris Vasks Flute Sonata ESTONIA Arvo Pärt Passacaglia FINLAND Kaija Saariaho Je Sens un Deuxieme Coeur ENGLAND Paul Max Edlin Eréndira Dances ICP Nicolas Tzortzis Fictif SWEDEN Karin Rehnqvist Wings LITHUANIA Rytis Mazulis Mobus-Strip Cannon DENMARK Bent Sørensen Phantasmagoria Peteris Vasks writes: My Sonata for flute, Birds in the Night, was composed at the end of 1991…Birds – an important theme in my music. Birds – a symbol of vitality and beauty. Birds that have flown away are

as a warning to us all. The sonata does not portray in precise detail the sounds of birdsong but it is possible to discern the flutter of wings in flight. There are three movements and the work is played attacca:

1. NIGHT – alto flute

Silence, peace. Around us everywhere is the

pulse of a warm freedom. The sleeping birds

breathe soundlessly.

2. FLIGHT – flute

Fast, dramatic. A dark night sky, and the scatter-

ing into flight of frightened birds. Where

are they flying to?

3. A SECOND NIGHT – once again for alto flute The sleeping birds sleep soundlessly. (Do birds dream?) night gives way to day. Will a new day dawn for us all?

Birds in the Night is technically a complex composition. I have made use of the enriching potential hidden within these two delightful instruments.”

Arvo Pärt’s Passacaglia for violin and piano was written in 2003 as a commission by the Hannover International Violin Competition. In honour of Gidon Kremer’s 60th Birthday in 2007, Arvo Pärt arranged the work for 1 or 2 violins, vibraphone (ad lib.) and string orchestra.

Kaija Saariaho Je Sens un Deuxieme Coeur (Another Heart Beats) 1. Je dévoile ma peau (I unveil my body) 2. Ouvre-moi, vite! (Open up to me!)

3. Dans le rêve, elle l’attendait (In her dream, she was waiting) 4. Il faut que j’entre (Let me in) 5. Je sens un deuxième coeur qui bat tout près du mien (I feel a second heart) Kaija Saariaho writes: My original idea was to write musical portraits of the four characters in the opera, but when I began reworking the material in the context of chamber music, concentrating on developing the ideas to fit the three instruments of my trio, the piece grew further from the opera.

Compositionally, I started from concrete, high profile ideas and advanced towards abstract, purely musical concerns. So, for example, the title of the first section, Je dévoile ma peau, became a metaphor: the musical material introduced was orchestrated to reveal the individual characters of the three instruments and their interrelations. The second and fourth parts both start from ideas of physical violence. www.internationalcomposerpyramid.org

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2010 PROGRAMME

London Sinfonietta

In the context of this trio the violence has turned into two studies on instrumental energy. Part three is a colour study in which the three identities are melded into one complex sound object.

The last section brings us to the thematic starting point of my opera, again very physical: the two hearts beating in a pregnant woman’s body. I am fascinated by the idea of the secret relationship between a mother and an unborn child. Musically, the two heartbeats and their constantly changing rhythmic polyphony have already served as an inspiration in my music; now the connections between the the two minds added another layer of communication.

These ideas guided the musical development how to share the intense dually-constructed material among the three trio instruments and to let it grow within their specific characters. Finally the title became also a metaphor for music making: isn’t it with the ‘other’ we want to communicate through our music? As written over the last movement, Doloroso, sempre con amore.

Paul Max Edlin writes: The great Colombian writer, Gabriel García Márquez, wrote his surreal novella The Incredible and Sad Tale of Innocent Eréndira and her Souless Grandmother in 1978. Eréndira Dances captures the essence of this story. It takes music from a never completed opera – the rights proved impossible to acquire.

In the first of the three dances, the two main characters of the drama, Eréndira and her Grandmother, are introduced. Eréndira, a wistful yet always busy young girl, is portrayed by the flute. The domineering and incredibly demanding Grandmother, with all her erratic and persistent nature, is depicted by the cello.

Surrounding these two protagonists is their home, an old house full of clocks and antique relics from the Grandmother’s past life. The strange surreal environment, set in the heat of the Hispanic landscape is caught from the beginning. Eréndira baths her bloated Grandmother as the wind of misfortune stirs.

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The second dance reveals snapshots of Eréndira’s now troubled life. Time has moved on a pace and the havoc caused by the wind of misfortune has seen the Grandmother’s home burned to the ground, and Eréndira has been forced into prostitution to pay off her debts. She will be a prostitute for years to come, and the Grandmother has made Eréndira the most famous and busy prostitute in all of South America.

By chance, a handsome and innocent young man, Ulises, has met Eréndira and fallen in love with her.

They make love in Eréndira’s tent. Their relationship has far to go. In the meantime, the Mission has made an attempt to rescue Eréndira from the wicked Grandmother. She finds herself at peace in the mission and hears the soft music of Bach played on a clavichord. She is free from her terrible world at last.

Dance 3 reveals two more snapshots of the last part of Eréndira’s story, now that she is back in the clutches of her Grandmother having been snatched back from the Mission. In the first snapshot, Eréndira is alone at night when Ulises creeps into her tent and they make love as the Grandmother sleeps, burbling away in her usual manner. The Grandmother’s frenetic burblings, now depicted by the violin and finally the viola, are coming to an end as she has been poisoned and stabbed repeatedly by Ulises. When she is finally dead, Eréndira runs away leaving Ulises by the side of the Grandmother’s whale-like body.

Written between February and April 2004, Fictif finds its inspiration in the way some film directors tell their stories, true or fictional. Four sections, all of which use a common “theme”, succeed one another and try to create completely different situations, by always transforming this “theme”. In each section one hears elements that foretell the music that follows, like in a movie where independent stories meet for a few seconds and then go on their way.

Karin Rehnqvist is one of the most successful Swedish composers, and her music has been performed around the world. She frequently allows herself to be inspired by Swedish Folk Muisc, but the result has been more a reflection of herself. Her music is different, daring and genuinely personal. In 1998 she composed for the Warsaw Autumn Festival, the three part flute solo Wings. The first two sections are played on the flauto grande, the third on the alto flute. Articulation and rhythm play an important role. In the first part, Energico, there is among the ”wing beats” a feeling that the pulse suddenly jolts and quickens for a few beats, then swiftly returns to its original

Friday 20th May • BALTIC +

pace. The second section is a quasi waltz, where the three beats of the waltz are of different lengths.

The final section is the tranquillo.

The material of Rytis Mazulis’s Möbius Strip Canon is an endless melody twisting in a spiral, whose end is connected to its beginning. Spatially this structure can be compared to the well-known geometrical object – Möbius strip. The construction of the composition is based on a canon: three voices start the melody at its different points removed quite far from each other. Although the composition is polyphonic, the consonant ‘pseudotonal’ harmony, flexible rhythm and a symmetrical form are no less important.

London Sinfonietta is one of the world’s leading contemporary music ensembles with a reputation built on the virtuosity of its performances and its ambitious programming. It is committed to placing new music at the heart of contemporary culture and continually pushing boundaries, regularly undertaking projects with choreographers, video artists, film-makers, electronica artists, jazz and folk musicians.

The ensemble is Resident Orchestra at Southbank Centre with its headquarters at Kings Place, and it continues to take the best contemporary music to venues and festivals throughout the UK and worldwide.

Bent Sørensen writes: My Piano Trio, Phantasmagoria is in five movements. It all began with the fifth movement, which originally was a tiny piece for cello and piano. After re-composing this little piece for piano trio, I worked, composed backwards – The fourth movement – third movement – and I finally got to the beginning of the piece. It all begins with the violin – solo – heavily muted but aggressive, and gradually the cello and the piano enter as shadows of the violin. The first movement ends in a dark shadow of an aria from my opera, “Under the Sky”. All five movements are full of shadows of all kinds. Shadows of fragments and traces of movements appear in other movements. Music, voices, instruments appear behind each other as a play of shadows. “Shadow play” was the first title on my mind, but a shadow play can be more physical – the shadow can come alive – alive behind the shadows. Phantasmagoria is a shadow play in darkness, where contours of persons and music, voices and instruments – create adventures behind each other. Phantasmagoria was commissioned by Franz Schubert Society Denmark and dedicated to Trio con Brio Copenhagen.

Famed for its commitment to the creation of new music, London Sinfonietta has commissioned almost 250 works since its foundation in 1968, and premiered many hundreds more. Its pioneering participation work includes the innovative Blue Touch Paper scheme, which enables emerging composers to develop new work without the pressure of a public performance, and the newly launched Writing the Future programme supports four composers in the development of work on a one-to-one level with the London Sinfonietta players.

Written between February and April 2004, the work finds its inspiration in the way some film directors tell their stories, true or fictional. Four sections, all of which use a common “theme”, succeed one another and try to create completely different situations, by always transforming this “theme”. In each section one hears elements that foretell the music that follows, like in a movie where independent stories meet for a few seconds and then go on their way.

London Sinfonietta performs with the generous support of Arts Council England and the PRS for Music foundation, and is grateful for the vision and investment of many other individuals, trusts and foundations, all of whom make their work possible.

Extending its support of emerging talent, the London Sinfonietta launched the annual London Sinfonietta Academy in 2009, giving young instrumentalists from across UK the unparalleled opportunity to train and perform with some of the finest contemporary musicians in the world.

Visit our website for exclusive interviews, music and films, and sign up to the LS e-zine for all the latest news and information.

Londonsinfonietta.org.uk @Ldn_sinfonietta www.facebook.com/londonsinfonietta

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Saturday 21st May

Jazz Day

IN ASSOCIATION WITH CANTERBURY CHRIST CHURCH UNIVERSITY

The Big Bang – an all day affair!

George Crumb Eleven Echoes of Autumn Sam Messer Five Miniatures (for solo violin) John Perfect Timeslice

1pm, St Gregory’s Centre for Music

This is perhaps one of Wolpe’s most often performed works and is a product of his time in New York.

Before this, he wrote music against fascism and captured the imagination of his native Berlin.

Being in New York in the 1950s, he was influenced and welcomed by abstract expressionist painters.

Many have seen influences of Cubism on some of the pieces written at the same time as this work.

It led him to use spatial proportions which informed his musical thinking. The Quartet for Trumpet, Tenor Saxophone, Percussion and Piano was one such piece, initially completed in 1950 with a revision of the first movement in 1954. It is a struggle between the populism of jazz and serial techniques influenced by his teacher Webern. The instrumentation of the piece is reminiscent of his teacher's own quartets. It can also be seen as a struggle between the static and the fluid and this can be heard throughout the piece.

CCCU CONTEMPORARY MUSIC GROUP Flute: Clare Kingman, Clarinets: Alex Golovin, Danny Glavin, Saxophone: Tom Radford, Trumpet: Anna Hilary, Violins: Kammy Pike, Goscia Kuznicki, Viola: Matthew Brown, Percussion: Jamie Lyon, Joe Hillyer, Matthew Brown, Steve McKiel, Conductors: Liam Bradbury-Sparvell, Michelle Castelletti

Three Illusions of Peganum Harmala was deeply inspired by my own personal illusions of the smoke generated by the seeds of the Peganum Harmala plant, more commonly known as Harmal. The illusions are represented in the piece in sections, with a bare accompaniment for the first illusion, a bold and intrusive intervention of sounds for the second illusion, and a more calming setting for the third illusion.

Stefan Wolpe Quartet for Trumpet, Saxophone, Percussion and Piano Matthew Brown Three Illusions of Peganum Harmala (for Viola and Electronics)

This is a contrast of light and dark. A sound – which suggests sadness, danger, coldness, warmth, and happiness - could exist within a few notes, and this sets scene for the first illusion. Melody and harmony

10.30am – 4pm – Whitefriars Square

Bringing music to the heart of the city. Local bands based in and around Canterbury perform in the city’s busiest square – The Whitefriars. Big bands include: Kent Youth Jazz Orchestra, University of Kent Big Band, St. Edmunds’ Big Band and Canterbury Christ Church University Big Band.

IN ASSOCIATION WITH CANTERBURY CHRIST CHURCH UNIVERSITY

CCCU Showcase!

BBC Big Band © John Watson

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Saturday 21st May • Jazz Day

are closely linked; one is readily generated out of the other. The inclusion of viola as a solo instrument is deliberate in reflecting this and a narrow range of material is used to portray all of these things, often deliberately confused with the background, as in the second illusion, and yet unmistakable in timbre.

This short piece is almost without tempo, where sound and silence both play a part. This is, of course, except for the final illusion, which rather bizarrely has a faint steady pulse throughout in the form of a pattern of exaggerated, soporific glissando gestures. All other gestures heard at this time are related by pitch or interval and yet contrast in timbre, and are bound together with a deep but warm bass which holds a sense of tonality.

Eleven Echoes of Autumn was composed during the spring of 1966 for the Aeolian Chamber Players (on commission from Bowdoin College). The eleven pieces constituting the work are performed without interruption Eco 1. Fantastico Eco 2. Languidamente, quasi lontano ("hauntingly") Eco 3. Prestissimo Eco 4. Con bravura Eco 5. Cadenza I (for Alto Flute) Eco 6. Cadenza II (for Violin) Eco 7. Cadenza III (for Clarinet) Eco 8. Feroce, violent Eco 9. Serenamente, quasi lontano ("hauntingly") Eco 10. Senza misura ("gently undulating") Eco 11. Adagio ("like a prayer") Each of the echi exploits certain timbral possibilities of the instruments. For example, eco 1 (for piano alone) is based entirely on the 5th partial harmonic, eco 2 on violin harmonics in combination with 7th partial harmonics produced on the piano (by drawing a piece of hard rubber along the strings). A delicate aura of sympathetic vibrations emerges in echi 3 and 4, produced in the latter case by alto flute and clarinet playing into the piano (close to the strings). At the conclusion of the work the violinist achieves a mournful, fragile timbre by playing with the bow hair completely slack.

The most important generative element of Eleven Echoes is the "bell motif" -- a quintuplet figure based on the whole-tone interval -- which is heard at the beginning of the work. This diatonic figure appears

in a variety of rhythmic guises, and frequently in a highly chromatic context. Each of the eleven pieces has its own expressive character, at times overlaid by quasi-obbligato music of contrasting character, e.g., the "wind music" of the alto flute and clarinet in eco 2 or the "distant mandolin music" of the violin in eco 3. The larger expressive curve of the work is arch-like: a gradual growth of intensity to a climactic point (eco 8), followed by a gradual collapse.

Although Eleven Echoes has certain programmatic implications for the composer, it is enough for the listener to infer the significance of the mottoquote from Federico García Lorca: "... y los arcos rotos donde sufre el tiempo" ("... and the broken arches where time suffers"). These words are softly intoned as a preface to each of the three cadenza (echi 5-7) and the image "broken arches" is represented visually in the notation of the music which underlies the cadenzas. © George Crumb The Five miniatures were originally written in 2009, as part of an exercise in symmetrical form. As such, movements 1 & 5 and 2 & 4 can be considered musically parallel, with the third movement acting as a centre to the work – a shape reinforced by the harmonic movement of the piece. The music moves from an atmosphere of quintal (fifth-based) harmonies to one dominated by thirds and major seconds, before alighting on a single note in movement 3.

From here the work’s symmetrical design becomes somewhat distorted by frequent back-references and rapidly changing moods. The piece is dedicated to Derek Hyde, under whose supervision it was first written.

Timeslice: A suite of three pieces exploring subjective perceptions of time on different scales; the day, month and year. An ensemble of pitched and unpitched percussion generates a somewhat mechanical representation of the passage of time, within which two clarinets are enmeshed and act as players in this temporal setting. The clarinets vary in their relationship; sometimes combative and sometimes complementary. The first movement is framed as a day and encompasses 24 hours beginning at midnight; the harmonic and melodic environment is provided by two twelve-tone pitch sets (24h) distributed between activity periods and the listener will hear a variety of activities, including a rather tiresome morning and afternoon at work and some more entertaining events in the evening. www.internationalcomposerpyramid.org

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The second movement expands to a month and is based on a physiological cycle in which the clarinets provide a reading of associated human interactions.

The third movement, a year, takes seasonality as its theme. Throughout the piece melodic fragments reappear in different contexts.

Canterbury Christ Church University Music Department has a lively involvement in contemporary music making through close collaboration between staff and students in performance and composition at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

Sounds New provides a welcome opportunity for their work to be heard on a wider stage and the present programme features the Department's talented instrumentalists playing both work from the mainstream contemporary repertoire and three very different pieces by student composers.

IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF KENT

Poetry by Chance!

6pm, The Gulbenkian Theatre SOUNDS NEW POETS Sounds New Poets Ira Lightman and Matthew Welton perform chance-generated poetry inspired by the example of John Cage. Poets will explore chance and procedure in the spirit of verbal experimentation.

Ira Lightman makes public art in the North East, and lately Willenhall and Southampton. He devises visual poetry forms and then asks local communities to supply words that will bring them alive. He is a regular on BBC Radio 3's The Verb. Duetcetera (Shearsman, 2008) and there is a volume forthcoming from Red Squirrel in 2011.

Matthew Welton received the Jerwood-Aldeburgh First Collection Prize for The Book of Matthew (Carcanet, 2003), which was a Guardian Book of the Year. He was a Hawthornden Fellow in 2004.

Matthew collaborates regularly with the composer Larry Goves, with whom he was awarded a Jerwood Opera Writing Fellowship in 2008.

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BBC BIG BAND with Swedish Singer VIKTORIA TOLSTOY 7.45pm – The Gulbenkian Theatre Conductor: Joerg Achim Keller Vocals: Viktoria Tolstoy The music of Duke Ellington (1899 – 1974) forms a substantial part of the BBC Big Band’s programme.

He and the man described as his musical alter ago, Billy Strayhorn, made their arrangement of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite in 1960. This was, however, no mere ‘jazzing up’ of the classics. Ellington and Strayhorn revealed an entirely new vision for this music which exposed their genius without diminishing that of Tchaikovsky.

Other Ellington works featured include themes from his Charles Mingus collaboration Money Jungle and favourites including Take the ‘A’ Train, I’m Beginning to See the Light, Perdido and Don’t Get Around Much Anymore arranged by tonight’s conductor.

Viktoria Tolstoy also explores Russian themes

by Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff in new arrangements of titles from her most recent album, My Russian Soul.

One of the jazz worlds’s most accomplished and sought after jazz writers, Joerg Achim Keller is currently the musical director of the Hamburg based NDR Big Band. His arranging credits include the works of a diverse list of composers including Duke Ellington, Ornette Coleman, Burt Bacharach, Bert Kaempfert, Leonard Bernstein and George Gershwin for an equally diverse list of soloists including Chet Baker, the Brecker Brothers and Jack Bruce.

From Stockholm in Sweden, Viktoria Tolstoy is the great great grand daughter of Russian writer Leo Tolstoy. Since being signed to Blue Note Records in the 1990’s she has explored many aspects of jazz, funk, folk and classical music to great acclaim.

Tonight she shows us another facet of her glamorous personality with her brilliant and expressive voice.

This performance will be recorded for broadcast on Big Band Special! BBC Radio 2

Sunday 22nd May

Sounds New Accordion Day with Owen Murray Writing for Accordion

10am, Coleridge House, Canterbury Christ Church University A Composers’ workshop with Owen Murray “Unquestionably the finest player and teacher in Britain” – The Times Owen Murray’s influence on accordionists worldwide is unparalleled. Professor and Head of Accordion at the Royal Academy of Music in London, he was awarded the Academy's highest honour, Honorary Membership of the Royal Academy of Music (Hon RAM) in recognition of his work in developing a world renowned department and for his success on the concert platform. He has also recently been awarded the SILVER DISK in Moscow.

Owen Murray

IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF MUSIC

Feel the Squeeze!

1pm, St Gregory’s Centre for Music Accordionists: Ksenija Siderova Servane Le Moller Martynas Levickis Rafal Luc Sofia Gubaidulina De Profundis Per Nørgaard Introduction and Toccata Yevgeny Derbenko Little Suite

1. Polka

2. The Balalaika Player

3. Barrel Organ

4. Cockerels Fighting Rũta Vitkauskaitè For Many Thousands [WORLD PREMIERE] Albin Repnikov Capriccio Michal Moc Betelgeuse Bent Lorentzen Tears Lunch-time concert presented by four prize-winning accordion students from the Royal Academy of Music. They will each introduce the piece before performing it.

Sunday Festival Mass

11am, Canterbury Cathedral Quire CATHEDRAL CHOIR Director: Dr. David Flood The Mass will include the performance of a new mass

by Latvian composer Ugis Praulinš.

The Classical Accordion: A Synthesis of Keyboard and Wind 3.30pm, Coleridge House, Canterbury Christ Church University

ROYAL ACADEMY OF MUSIC PRIZE-WINNING ACCORDION STUDENTS A discussion focused on the repertoire performed in the lunch-time concert programme, including aspects of technique and sound production, ending with a masterclass. www.internationalcomposerpyramid.org

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Sunday 22nd May • Sounds New Accordion Day with Owen Murray

Escape-Velocity: Owen Murray and The Waves!

7.30pm, Augustine Hall, Augustine House Classical accordion: Owen Murray Violin: Aisha Orazbayova Violin: Charlotte Bonneton Viola: James Sleigh Violoncello Adrian Bradbury Sofia Gubaidulina Silenzio Five pieces for bayan (classical accordion) violin and cello Patrick Nunn Escape-Velocity for classical accordion and string quartet Sofia Gubaidulina In Croce Poul Ruders Serenade on the Shores of the Cosmic Ocean The piece is entitled Silenzio because the greater part of it is played pianissimo. It was not my aim just to represent silence or to create such an impression.

For me silence is the ground upon which something grows. Precise rhythmic relationships are created, which appear in different ways in each of the five miniatures-sometimes concealed, sometimes in the form of note length proportions. In the final the overt and the covert are united in a synthesis: in the course of the entire movement we hear clearly formulated rhythmic sequences in the bayan part (quasi variations on a rhythm). © Sofia Gubaidulina Commissioned by the Royal Academy of Music to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Hans Christian Anderson, Escape Velocity explores the conflict between integration and separation and the possibilities of transformation and individuality – a narrative that is borrowed from the story of ’The Ugly Duckling’.

For many accordion players, their instrument can be perceived as ’the ugly duckling’ of the instrumental palette yet the diversity of the modern free-bass accordion has potentially rendered such a view as somewhat dated. In this work, it is the accordion which initally attempts to integrate with the string quartet, shifting from a dark and awkward place, often hidden, transforming with increasing bursts of energy and ultimately freeing itself from the masking constraints of the quartet. The work is dedicated to Owen Murray. © Patrick Nunn In Croce is based on an idea that was also to be realised later in the partita Seven Words. There the

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Aisha Orazbayova

bayan (classical accordion) represents God, the cello his son and in the perfection of the music the Holy Ghost. The sign of the cross is not only contained in the title but in the symbolisim of the structural form of the work too. The accordion begins the work in a high register and the cello in a low register. As the work develops to an energetic climax the two instruments come together in restless layers of clusters in which they sound as one. They cross and separate themselves from one and other – the cello proceeds into high registers. At the end of the piece the bayan finishes with a long sustained cluster in it’s lowest octave whilst the cello concludes with the trills and triad figures with which the bayan began the piece. © Owen Murray Poul Ruders writes: The title of this piece is taken from the late astronomer and educator Carl Sagan’s book COSMOS (1980). Sagan was a great voice in the pursuit of knowledge and reason, an invaluable force in the struggle against ignorance and superstition. His vast historical knowledge and sensitive ear for the poetic also allowed him to adorn his various texts with short quotations from original folklore through history, quotations which I have used as mental and spiritual appetizers, heading some of the movements in this piece.

Serenade also reaches out to other inspirational sources, such as William Shakespeare, Joseph Conrad and British science-writer John Gribbin, another great educator and popularizer.

The Darwin quotation heading the second movement was also found in Sagan’s book COSMOS (it is originally from Charles Darwin: ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES) and so was the quotation about “The Backbone of the Night”. The Ku-Fu-quotation can be found in Sagan’s last great book THE DEMONHAUNTED WORLD (1995). The work is dedicated to Owen and Inger Murray. © Poul RudersSofia

Sunday 22nd May • Sounds New Accordion Day with Owen Murray

The work is in 9 movements, duration 30 minutes.

of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, The BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the London Philharmonic 1. Introduction: The Shores of the Cosmic Ocean. “…

Orchestra, the Glyndebourne Opera Touring we stand on an islet in the midst of an illimitable ocean Orchestra, the London Philharmonia Orchestra, the of inexplicability.” T. H. Huxley, 1887 Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Paragon Ensemble 2. One Voice in the Cosmic Fugue.

(Glasgow), the Goldberg Ensemble (Manchester), the “Probably all the organic beings which have ever lived on Royal Academy of Music Orchestra (London) and the 2010 PROGRAMME 2010 PROGRAMME this earth have descended from some primordial form SWF Sinfonieorchestra Baden-Baden (Germany), The into which life was first breathed.”

Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Ch. Darwin, Origin of Species, 1859 Danish Orchestra. He has also performed at many of 3. Floating on the Wind. “The moon leaps in the the world's leading festivals including the Edinburgh Great River’s current … floating on the Wind, what do International Festival, the BBC Proms at the Royal I resemble?” Du Fu, Travelling at Night. China – Tang Albert Hall, London, the Huddersfield Contemporary Dynasty, 765 Music Festival, Aldeburgh, the St. Magnus Festival, 4. The Backbone of the Night. (Kung Bushmen, Kalathe Glyndebourne Opera Summer Festival, the Paris hari Desert, Botswana: their name for the Milky Way. Autumn Festival, the Salzburg International Festival, 5. Stardust “we are, as I like to say, star stuff” Beijing International Accordion Festival.

Carl Sagan, “The Most Precious Thing”, The Demon – Haunted World, 1995 Among Owen's first performances have been the 6. Threnos. “Beauty, truth and rarity, Grace in all simplicpremieres of the Concerto by John Webb, Edward ity, Here enclosed in Cinders lie.” W. Shakespeare, McGuire, John McLeod; the award winning work The Pheonix and the Turtle, 1601 'Serenade on the Shores of the Cosmic Ocean' for classi7. Dream Catcher. “A Dream Catcher traps bad dreams cal accordion and string quartet by Poul Ruders, and and lets the good dreams filter down numerous solo works as well as the UK premiere of to the sleeper”. Native American Lore.

Astor Piazzolla’s 'Tres Tangos' and Concerto for guitar 8. Heart of Darkness. Joseph Conrad, 1902 and bandoneon. He has also performed the accordion 9. Finale. “Blinded by the Light” John Gribbin, part in the UK premiere of Sir Harrison Birtwistle’s opThe Secret Life of the Sun, 1991 era 'The Last Supper' at Glyndebourne and the world premieres of Sofia Gubaidulina’s 'Figures Born in Scotland, Owen Murray studied with Mogens of Time' and Per Nørgaard’s 'Terrains Vagues'.

Ellegaard at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen. He graduated in 1982 and returned Waves was formed in 2010 by accordionist Owen to Great Britain where he campaigned, through his Murray with the aim of performing and recording playing and teaching, for the acceptance of the acensemble works that include classical accordion and cordion at conservatory level. In 1986 he was invited to build on the existing repertoire by commissioning by the Royal Academy of Music in London to establish new works. an accordion department, and appointed Professor - the first appointment of its kind in the UK. Under his dedicated tutelage, a distinguished line of young players has contributed significantly to the accordion’s continuing development, many of his students IN ASSOCIATION WITH winning prestigious competitions and embarking on THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF MUSIC successful careers themselves. The conferment of an Hon.RAM in 1993 – the Academy’s highest honour, Lithuania’s got talent! – The Accordion Gig! is testimony enough to Owen Murray’s success on 9.30pm, The Ballroom the concert platform and pays tribute to the success Accordionists: Ksenija Siderova, Servane Le Moller, with which he has fully integrated the accordion into Martynas Levickis, Rafal Luc the life and work of one of the world’s leading music conservatories.

A dazzling performance by the sound of the accordion from four prize-winning players, including the winner of Owen has performed with many of the world's leadthe world accordion competition for piano accordionists ing orchestras including the BBC Symphony as well as the winner of this year’s Lithuania’s Got Talent!

Orchestra, the BBC Concert Orchestra, the City www.internationalcomposerpyramid.org

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Monday 23rd May

Finland and Lithuania

Film: L’Amour de Loin [139mins]

11am [Acts 1-3] & 2.30pm [Acts 4 & 5], Powell Building, Canterbury Christ Church University

Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho’s mesmeric opera is based on a 12th Century tale of love as filtered through the experiences and musings and dreamings and illusions of a countess, a troubadour and a wandering pilgrim. In Peter Sellars’ acclaimed production, he reveals the 'reflections on love from afar'.

Conductor: Esa-Pekka Salonen.

L’Amour de Loin

notes, which remain unmoved throughout the work.

The events progress with ascetic slowness, forcing the listener to focus on the sonority, whose resonance is augmented by aggressive glissando clusters, bowed sounds, knocks against the body and strings of the instrument, low humming and a distorted tone produced by a spring from a ballpoint pen attached to the lowest string.

Toccata (1992) by Pekka Jalkanen is centred on a tranquil, spinning chordal motif, which is hemmed in by rougher spots threatening its equilibrium: rapid scale passages, clusters played with fingernails, glissandos and gradually expanding virtuoso textures.

Ilkka von Boehm (born 1972) studied composition and music theory at the Sibelius Academy (Master of Music, 2001). His teachers in composition were Olli Kortekangas and Erkki Jokinen. His composition The Harp of Aeolus was one of the finalists in the international Queen Elizabeth composition contest in 2003.

Von Boehm was a member of the board of the association Ears Open! in 2002-2004. He has been a member of the Society of Finnish Composers since 2005. "Three dimensions" is a piece for solo flute written in 2002.

Kantele

1pm, The Ballroom Kantele: Elisa Kerola Flute: Sami Junnonen Jovanka Trbojevic Lento Pekka Jalkanen Toccata Tapio von Boehm Three Dimensions Kalevi Aho Solo III Uljas Pulkkis Laet Lauloi THIS PERFORMANCE IS BEING SUPPORTED

BY THE EMBASSY OF FINLAND Lento (2001) by Jovanka Trbojevic is constructed of continuously varied three-note motifs and bell-like chords. Both are anchored by their respective bass 14

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Kalevi Aho (born 1949) is one of Finland's leading composers of today. He studied at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki under Einojuhani Rautavaara and in West Berlin in Boris Blacher's composition class. In the years 1974-1988 he was a lecturer in musicology at Helsinki University; from 1988 until 1993 he was professor of composition at the Sibelius Academy and since the autumn of 1993 he has been a freelance composer. Regarding his music, he often talks about "psychological development", referring one of the most important elements of postmodern style: the narrativity. His works are mainly based on linear, polyphonic composing technique. He has written several works for flute. In 2002 flutist Sharon Bezaly gave the first performance of his flute concerto. An earlier work for flute, "Solo III", was ordered by the board of Crusell National Flute Competition in Uusikaupunki 1990. The final version was

Monday 23rd May • Finland and Lithuania

published in 1991. In total, Aho's series of solos holds 10 pieces for different instruments: violin (1975), piano (1985), flute (1990-91), violoncello (1997), bassoon (1999), doublebass (1999), trumpet (2000), baritone (2003), oboe (2010) and horn (2010). During last decades Aho has held several positions of trust in the Finnish musical life.

Laet lauloi (2007) by Uljas Pulkkis is a delicate Orfeuslike image for flute and kantele. The opening interval, minor second, is turning to a melancholy hymn, winding and reducing. The basis of the work is minor pentachord. Laet lauloi can be heard as a description of the playing of Väinämöinen (the hero from Kalevala), whose echoes are gradually expanding from whispering tremolos further, higher and deeper.

Sami Junnonen (born in Finland, 1977) studied flute in Sibelius Academy (Degree for Performing Arts) and gained the highest possible credits for his diploma in flute in 2007. One year later, he graduated as Master of Arts. In addition, he has studied in National Conservatoire de Musique de Lyon and The Royal Conservatory of Copenhagen. He has participated in several master classes in Europe. Sibelius-Academy will produce his so-called "Debut Recital" in their prestigious concert series in Finland 2012. After winning the first prize in Lahti National Woodwind Competition 1994 Junnonen has established his career in Finland by giving concerts and recitals and performing as a soloist with The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Tampere Philharmonia, Sinfonia da Camera Finlandia, Sibelius Academy Symphony Orchestra, Pori Sinfonietta, Camerata Finlandia and Chamber Orchestra Credo. He has recorded premieres for The Finnish Radio Broadcasting Company. Junnonen performs also on the recordings produced by Ondine, Naxos, Sony BMG and The Finnish Flute Association.

He is an artist of Music Nova Agency and a member of The Finnish Soloist Society. He has received awards from many cultural foundations and societies as well as international competitions and auditions.

Junnonen plays on 18 and 14 carat Muramatsu gold flutes.

Elisa Kerola (b.1972), Finland, graduated from the Sibelius-Academy with a Master of Music degree in 2003. She specializes in concert music written for the kantele. She has appeared as a soloist and in various ensembles in Finland, and also in Russia, Germany, France and Italy. She has premiered several contemporary works for kantele. At the moment she is also working as an executive director of the Kantele Association.

The kantele – the world's quietest instrument!

The kantele, a traditional instrument of the BalticFinnic peoples, is today both ancient and modern.

Both the prehistoric instruments of the type associated with the great shaman Väinämöinen in the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala, with 5 to15 strings, and the large chromatic concert instruments developed in the 1920's have attracted much interest in a wide range of musicians, from folk music and world music to the cutting edge of the avant-garde in concert music. The characteristics of the instrument – its diatonic scale, limited number of pitches, long sustain and quiet yet richly resonating sound – represent both a challlenge and an opportunity.

IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF KENT

Poetry Reading: Reflecting on ‘Love from Afar’ 6pm, St Peter’s Methodist Church SOUNDS NEW POETS

Working with ideas of geography and movement, Sounds New Poets Patricia Debney and Catherine Smith present new work exploring questions of distance and intimacy.

Patricia Debney’s collection of prose poems, How to Be a Dragonfly (Smith Doorstop Books), was the winner of the 2004 Poetry Business Book & Pamphlet Competition, and her novel, Losing You, is published by bluechrome. Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Kent, in 2007/8 she was Canterbury’s first Laureate.

Catherine Smith's first pamphlet, The New Bride, was a winner in the 2000 Book & Pamphlet Competition and shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection. Her first book, The Butcher's Hands, was a PBS Recommendation, and won the Aldeburgh/Jerwood Prize for Best First Collection. Her most recent collection, Lip, was short-listed for the Forward Prize for Best Collection.

www.internationalcomposerpyramid.org

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Monday 23rd May • Finland and Lithuania

Kaunas String Quartet

7.30pm, St Peter’s Methodist Church Violin: Karolina Beinaryte Violin: Dalia Terminaite Viola: Egle Karžinauskaite Violoncello: Saulius Bartulis Anton Bruckner String Quartet in C minor WAB 111 Zita Bružaite Mosaic Juste Janulyte Aria Vidmantas Bartulis Four Consolations for Sad Cello and Song Without Words Vidmantas Bartulis Psalmes – String Quartet No. 2 The C minor Quartet was written in 1862. This quartet was discovered decades after Bruckner‘s death in Munich in 1950 by the Koeckert Quartet, who premiered it in February 1951 in a Rundfunk im Amerikanischen Sektor broadcast, and next month in a concert. The piece is a conventional string quartet in the usual four movements: The first movement of the Quartet in C minor opens with a pensive theme shared between all four instruments, complemented by a warmer and more animated idea which brings the exposition to its forthright close. This is repeated, before the development draws on both themes, then the tension subsides to make way for a subtly varied reprise.

This remains in the minor key, as does the brief but unequivocal coda.

The Andante centres on a lyrical but searching theme which confirms Bruckner's mastery of part-writing, offset by a rhythmically active idea that brings about a brief climax, before the main theme resumes in fuller textures on its way to a restful close.

The Scherzo is informed with a notably classical poise and equability, to which the trio section offers discreet yet appropriate contrast with its graceful charm.

The finale is a highly compact Rondo whose main theme evinces a tense manner that is underlined by the more relaxed idea with which it alternates.

This is especially so with the latter theme's second appearance, from where the movement heads into a sizable coda that rounds off the work by reiterating the home key in no uncertain terms.

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Mosaic for string quartet Allegro con fuoco e fortissimo Allegro e con forza Tranquillo In fretta Lento It is an early work by Zita Bružaite and it consists of five very laconic and contrasting movements – moods.

Aria I for string quartet The composition is based on a ‘melody-labyrinth’ which is my own way of transformation of musical material. It is a somewhat utopian idea when melody is perceived as a road with many forks and bends. The music is therefore like wandering through blind labyrinth, reaching extreme registers and timbres of instruments and avoiding any conclusion. A certain way out is eventually found, returning to the point of departure, the first tone of the melody C. All notes are played without attacks, coming out of silence and fading out to silence; therefore the sound of the string quartet sometimes resembles pulsation of the accordion bellows. © Juste Janulyte Four Consolations to a Sad Cello and a Song Without Words for violin and cello – The cello is so very sad here, while the violin tries to console it, yet it fails in its attempts all the time, then gives up and begins to sing. Its song, however, is also sad... © Vidmantas Bartulis Psalms for string quartet - In this composition, the echoes of psalmodic chants transform from crying to murmuring, from the ‘irate’ to the ‘beautiful’, until they subside into the inner calmness, all-encompassing harmony and the bliss of meditation. © Vidmantas Bartulis

Kaunas String Quartet

Monday 23rd May • Finland and Lithuania

„The Quartet is entering the 30th year of its professional career. Surprising quality – to be able to draw revitalisation and life from the professional experience…”

24 12 10 – Septynios meno dienos (Lithuania) “…the four string players performed with great finesse, precision, energy… The musicians gave new life to Vidmantas Bartulis’ Second string quartet Psalms – its emotional code was given an articulated reading, revealing the uniqueness and fragility of human nature…”

15 10 08 – Nemunas (Lithuania) “…regardless of what they play, they always find subtle and genuine bond with music.“ 25 07 08 – Septynios meno dienos (Lithuania) During 30 years of its existence, Kaunas String Quartet has given over 1900 concerts in Lithuania and abroad (Finland, Norway, Poland, Great Britain, Germany, Hungary, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Argentina, Chile, Denmark, etc). Its wide repertoire features more than 300 works of various epochs and styles, paying special attention to the Lithuanian classical and contemporary music. The Quartet has recorded 11 CDs, and made numerous recordings for the Lithuanian Radio and TV. In 2008, Kaunas String Quartet was awarded Tikra muzika (Real music) prize of the year for promotion of contemporary music.

In 2009, the ensemble was named “the most prominent artistic ensemble of the city of Kaunas” for promoting Lithuanian music in Lithuania and abroad.

Looking Glass Music – With film by Shaun Clark.

‘Looking Glass Music’ is a term used to describe the musical result of feeding a player piano roll into the instrument backwards (to create a ‘mirror image’ of the composition.)

Unearthing Shadows – With film by Shaun Clark. Clark describes the film as ‘trying to unearth images that were in the paint but not quite formed’. The flute attempts to unearth similar shadows of melody in the instrument’s sound.

Dust – With film by Benjamin Rowley. This film is made from 16mm film stock on which dust had settled over a period of many years. The particles also covered the film’s optical audio track, and aspects of the resulting ‘sound of dust’ accompany the music. New Accumuation - With video-loop by Sara Magenheimer. This is a time-lapse depiction of a fibre arts sculpture ‘installed’ in a forest using trees and brightly colored yarn. The arrangement creates a tonal ‘matrix’ reflecting the visual one created with string. © Robert Stillman THIS PERFORMANCE IS SUPPORTED BY CCCU MUSIC DEPARTMENT ‘QUALITY-RELATED’ RESEARCH FUNDING.

Sounds Seen!

9.30pm, The Ballroom ROBERT STILLMAN & MATT WRIGHT 'Designed as a 21st century meditation on musical and visual propulsion, A Stillness Made From Speed is performed by Splinter Cell, a dynamic new ensemble based in Canterbury and London.' © Matthew Wright Robert Stillman – ‘New Works for Film 2011’ www. robertstillman.com These four works were composed between May 2010 and April 2011. They each attempts to create a score that is an extension of, rather than a simple accompaniment to, its visual counterpart.

www.internationalcomposerpyramid.org

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Tuesday 24th May

Denmark

All for One! – Interactive concert, Flutes, Harps, Percussion & Puppets!

11am, St Peter’s Methodist Church Flute: Lisa Nelson Harp: Eleanor Turner An interactive performance/workshop for young people of all ages with flautist Lisa Nelsen and harpist Eleanor Turner. Stuff to blow... stuff to pluck.... stuff to bang....stories to tell... and the discovery of the flute and harp. Just bring your imagination...

The artists have been working on the stories of trolls from Scandinavia.

Eleanor Turner

Lisa Nelsen

The Danish Horn Trio

1pm, St Gregory’s Centre Violin: Christina Åstrand Horn: Jakob Keiding Piano: Per Salo Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen Near still distant still, 2005 I II III Arvo Pärt Spiegel im Spiegel, 1978 Hans Abrahamsen Capriccio, 1991 György Ligeti Horn Trio (Hommage à Brahms)

I Andantino con tenerezza

II Vivaci ssimo molto ritmico

III Alla marcia – Più mosso – Tempo primo

IV Lamento. Adagio

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In Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen’s Near Still Distant Still from 2005 it is the violin, not the horn, that is at first allowed to spy out its own territory. In the first movement of the piece, which takes up as much time as the other two movements together, the piano and the horn are only permitted to appear as mechanical, simple colourings of the violin notes. The drama, if we can speak of such a thing in this quiet, searching music, arises when the violin changes its playing technique from a reedy sound to full vibrato on a single note, hammering in small, really fast but unprepared decorations, when the violinist plucks the strings together as on a banjo or slides down from high notes. All things that take place in a slow, meditative tempo where everyone can hear what is happening in the three instruments and presumably also have a good idea of where this is all going.

This kind of serene beauty of sound is succeeded by another type of simplicity in the brief second movement. A myriad identical entries from all three musicians dovetail into one another in a latticework of events always pointing forward to the next bar. Were it not for the rather dizzying rhythmic development, it would greatly recall mechanical rock music – but for acoustic instruments. In that case the last movement would have to be understood as acid rock. The three instruments play some loose, laid-back figures while the violinist accompanies the glissando violin entry with the speaking voice. Mostly with the word ‘yeah’, but also with sound like ‘pth’, ‘sh’ and even a ‘nå’ (Danish for ‘oh, really?’) in a string of laconic comments. At one point it all starts over again, until it ends by simply fading out with a couple of melancholy minor chords. Gudmundsen-Holmgreen has thus succeeded in creating an ambivalent world which, with the composer’s peculiar humour lurking in the background, alternates between fine, small sound sculptures which in themselves are simply beautiful to listen to – and more mystical passages where one can hardly help smiling at the man’s successful attempt to pull the carpet out from under his own solemnity. Yeah! © Henrik Friis (2011)

Tuesday 24th May • Denmark

Spiegel im Spiegel was written by Arvo Pärt in 1978, just prior to his departure from Estonia. The piece is in the tintinnabular style of composition, wherein a melodic voice, operating over diatonic scales, and tintinnabular voice, operating within a triad on the tonic, accompany each other. It is about ten minutes long. The piece was originally written for a single piano and violin – though the violin has often been replaced with either a cello or a viola. Versions also exist for double bass, clarinet, horn, flute and percussion. The piece is musically ‘minimal’, yet produces a serene tranquility. The piece is in F major in 6/4 time, with the piano playing rising crotchet triads and the second instrument playing slow scales, alternately rising and falling, of increasing length, which all end on the note A (the mediant of F). The piano's left hand also plays notes, syncopated with the violin (or other instrument). Spiegel im Spiegel in German literally can mean both "mirror in the mirror" as well as "mirrors in the mirror", referring to the infinity of images produced by parallel plane mirrors the tonic triads are endlessly repeated with small variations as if reflected back and forth.

Hans Abrahamsen writes: Capriccio Bagatels were written in 1990 on a request from violinist Christina Åstrand for her debut concerto from The Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus. It is one of the very few pieces that I wrote in between 1987-98 and it is written almost like a casual sketch in an afternoon.

Although the piece is quite short, approximately 4 minutes, there are four bagatelles, so it is really bagatels! To give a brief description: The first bagatel starts very softly from the lowest open string and raises from there up to the top register in a nervous line, but the end is almost joyful in harmonics on the open strings. The second bagatel continuos this idea of harmonics, but moves slowly down. It ends with normal tones, very expressive. The third bagatel is called alla marcia and it is like a march in 4/4 with a long soft low tremolo put together with a regular rhythmical pizzicato in the left hand. The four and last bagatel is a Hymn of four almost bell life high chords in the top register as a ringing out of this short piece. The piece is dedicated to Christina Åstrand György Ligeti composed his Trio for Violin, Horn and Piano in response to the pianist Eckart Besch, who had asked for a work which he, the violinist Saschko Gawriloff and the hornist Hermann Baumann could programme with Brahms’s Trio. These performers

The Danish Horn Trio

gave the premiere in Hamburg on 7 August 1982, in the run-up to the 1983 celebrations of the 150th anniversary of Brahms’s birth. Although Ligeti subtitled his Trio Hommage à Brahms, he has said that as far as any influence goes ‘the only thing reminiscent of Brahms is perhaps a certain smilingly conservative comportment – with distinctly ironic distance’.

While at the superficial level this is clearly correct – there is no direct quotation of any of Brahms’s material, for instance – we may nevertheless detect some strong if covert connections between this work of the late twentieth century and that of the master of the mid-to-late nineteenth. Both Trios are in four movements, beginning with a ternary-form Andante (in Ligeti’s case more precisely an Andantino) followed by a rhythmically virtuosic scherzo; each has a lamenting slow movement, which in Brahms’s work comes third but in Ligeti’s forms the finale. Both composers display a strong interest in and mastery of strict counterpoint, especially canon; moreover, Ligeti’s finale is a passacaglia – the ancient baroque form revived by Brahms, most notably in the finale of his Fourth Symphony. Brahms’s love for Hungarian ‘gypsy’ music, which he alludes to at different levels of stylisation in his chamber music, is mirrored by Ligeti, the native Hungarian-Romanian, who followed the Bartókian path of folkmusic stylisation in his youth and in the Trio returns to those early sources of inspiration, but in a ‘post- Modern’ spirit.

Although he writes for a modern valved horn, Ligeti uses the instrument’s natural harmonics to obtain microtonal ‘mis-tunings’, thus in a sense ‘recreating’ Brahms’s natural horn. Most of all, the deeply elegiac spirit of Brahms’s slow movement seems to flow out and infuse the whole of Ligeti’s Trio in a chiaroscuro of ambiguous lament. The work ended a compositional hiatus in Ligeti’s career, for he had written very little since completing his opera Le Grand Macabre in 1977: a work of bewildering stylistic pluralism where he deployed idioms of many eras, including the old baroque passacaglia form. Perhaps significantly, the two harpsichord pieces he wrote between the opera and the Trio also use chaconne or passacaglia. www.internationalcomposerpyramid.org

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But unlike the language of the opera, that of the Trio is highly unified, readmitting traditional ideas of consonance and motivic development. The intervals of a major third, a tritone and a major sixth – heard at the outset on the violin, in imitation or parody of classical horn-writing – form a germinal cell that develops throughout the entire work. In the first movement the three instruments move almost independently of one another, forming harmonies that are tonal, indeed often triadic, and yet without traditional function, creating a continual sense of lyric ambivalence. The ensuing scherzo is a kind of fantastic dance engendering a wealth of polymetric combinations among the instruments, though the underlying pulse will remind most listeners of Bartók’s works in Bulgarian rhythm. The East European folk accent is clear, though Ligeti says he was ‘inspired by the various folk-musics of non-existing peoples – that is to say, as if Hungary, Romania and the entire Balkan region were situated somewhere between Africa and the Caribbean’. The third movement is a brusque, percussive march with a more mysterious central section alluding to the music of the first movement. Ligeti calls the final Lamento a ‘chromatic variation’ of the first three movements.

A passacaglia-like series of variations on a five-bar harmonic sequence which sounds suspiciously similar to the ancient ‘Dies Irae’ chant, this lament becomes increasingly festooned and burdened with dolorous descending chromatic figures. The music sinks lower and lower until the piano is tolling out deep bass notes like a funeral drum or gong, resonated in the pedal notes of the horn, before the melancholic coda sounds a final glacial reference to the work’s germinal motif. © 2001 Calum MacDonald

IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF KENT

Roundtable: Words & Music 6pm, Augustine House PATRICIA DEBNEY

To mark the first year of Sounds New Poetry, poets, musicians and composers discuss the enduring relationship between words and music.

Patricia Debney’s collection of prose poems, How to Be a Dragonfly (Smith Doorstop Books), was the winner of the 2004 Poetry Business Book & Pamphlet 20

www.soundsnew.org.uk

Competition, and her novel, Losing You, is published by bluechrome. Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Kent, in 2007/8 she was Canterbury’s first Laureate.

Per Nørgård, Jakob Kullberg

Momentum – ‘Cello Concerto

7.30pm Augustine Hall, Augustine House ÅRHUS SINFONIETTA Conductor: Søren K. Hansen Violoncello: Jakob Kullberg Niels Marthinsen The Monkey Bent Sørensen Deserted Churchyards Per Nørgård Momentum Hugo Ribeiro Diurne: alter ego* Benjamin Oliver Smash and Grab* Simon Steen-Andersen Praesens Thomas Agerfeldt Olesen Tonkraftwerk Niels Marthinsen’s The Monkey (2007) for seventeen players is the third of a series of seven compositions named after Karen Blixen's collection of short stories Seven Gothic Tales. The composer writes: My musical gothic tales are written for very different ensembles – The Supper at Elsinore is a saxophone quartet, The Old Chevalier is for bass trombone and piano – but they all share musical material in a criss-cross of contextual references reminiscent of Blixen's narrative complexity: Themes and motivs from one piece appears in others in new and surprising shapes and combinations. Karen Blixen's The Monkey is about a Prioress who exchanges her soul with a demon.

While she is possessed with the spirit of the monkey, she plots for her nephew, a homosexual, to rape a

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young woman, Athena, who lives with her father in an old castle deep in the forest. Athena is tall, powerful and undaunted; she strikes out at Boris, the aggressor, biting him, drawing blood, and repelling his advances. But Athena is eventually forced to give in to the Prioress's machinations and marry Boris. The Monkey isn't 'about' anything. The music is inspired by the artistic content of Blixen's short story – it's emotionalism, dramatic construction, atmosphere, period and setting – but unfolds in time and musical space in ways that are completely independent of the story's narrative progression... except one might say that the last and ugliest representation of the monkey finally forces the music from a furious battle zone into a kind of fragile reconciliation mode.

The piece is written for the Århus Sinfonietta.

Bent Sørensen writes: The title The Deserted Churchyards refers to several churchyards along the western coast of Northern Jutland, which long ago were safely inland, but which now are being eaten up by the threatening sea. The title, however, is only an association and it is impossible to explain the more definite connection between this windy area and my piece. Though The Deserted Churchyards is an independent work, it can also be played as a Prelude to Funeral Procession (same ensemble plus violin solo and viola solo). The Deserted Churchyards was commissioned by Lerchenborg Music Days and is dedicated to Louise Lerche-Lerchenborg.

Per Nørgård writes of Momentum: Carl Nielsen, greatest of Danish composers, once commented on titles of musical works, at the same time justifying their function and minimizing their importance: “A title may be seen as a kind of road sign into music’s own domain”, Nielsen said. As such a “road sign” into the purely musical world of the present cello concerto, I at last settled for the title MOMENTUM. This “sign post” should point the listener in the direction of a process, which gains in strength and velocity as the work progresses. There is an expansion with respect to dynamics as well as tempi going on throughout the work, a continuos accumulating energetic expression. The second movement came first; I wrote it for cellist Jakob Kullberg – my brillant interpreter and good friend – and his wife-to-be Gudrun, the original manuscript to be presented to them as a gift on their wedding day in August 2007.

To no one’s surprise I called this movement Together (Tilsammen). Meanwhile, as the composing of the concerto progressed, I developed the concept of a series of (social) states, from oneness to manyness –

from being alone in isolation to sharing in company.

Thus I put in front, as the first movement, a soliloquy, a Monologue – which is not really a solo piece, rather a movement in which all impulses emerge from the cello solo. In the third movement the energy almost becomes a frenzy, a hyper-energetic music.

The movement is entitled Multiplicity. The accumulation: one – two – many – all, culminates in the fourth movement, in which fractal tone rows point towards infinity, and the movement is accordingly entitled: Infinity. The cello solo part is extremely demanding, not least the aspect that requires the soloist to constantly change expression, from introvert reclusiveness to extrovert leadership.

Hugo Ribeiro writes: Diurne: alter ego is a response to another piece I composed at the same time entitled Nocturne: rituel. The titles Nocturne and Diurne represent one of the oldest dichotomies in human history: night and day; darkness and light. If on one hand Nocturne is ritualistic and inhabits the sombre world of a funeral march, then Diurne is characterised as being its alter ego, presenting more energetic and diverse material. Both pieces ‘recycle’ material from my opera Os mortos viajam de metro: Nocturne reuses the most lyrical and expressive elements, Diurne, the most ferocious and rhythmical material.

Although both pieces can be played separately, they share several compositional concerns intrinsically linking them, allowing for the possibility of constituting a two-movement piece.

Diurne: alter ego is divided into 4 contrasting sections where the musical gestures were used in order to induce the idea of a very disorganised and chaotic form. This piece underlines a change in my musical thinking and is, therefore, quite experimental. Working with audience perception has been a very recurrent path in my work. This piece shows some of these principles taken a step further in my musical creation: the analogy between ‘flash photography’ and ‘aural blindness’…

Benjamin Oliver writes: The opening section of Smash and Grab juxtaposes loud aggressive textures, quieter itchy sonorities and sustained chords. The violent ensemble textures in this tirade were developed from sections of drum-kit material inspired by drum ‘n’ bass patterns. I abstracted, deconstructed and then orchestrated drum ‘n’ bass rhythmic structures to create a driving, permutating and dissonant hocket texture, a process I have explored in a number of works. The piano is a roguish www.internationalcomposerpyramid.org

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element throughout this opening section, distinct from the rest of the ensemble. It clatters around the keyboard with improvisatory extravagance often dragging along other instrument members of the ensemble with it. The opening section dissolves into the lighter and shorter second part, which aligns sustained chords led by the bassoon with pointy rhythmic material. This new soundworld is interrupted by short piano-led bursts and one of these eruptions heralds the third section of the piece, which is characterised by the incessant repetition of a central pitch (an E). The sustained chords continue into this third section, now accompanied by mechanical, static ostinati. Suddenly sneering, incessant and oscillatory jabs from the oboe, trumpet and latterly trombone disturb the relative calm. The texture dissipates before an ominous coda of quiet dirty loops concludes the work. The second, third and coda sections of Smash and Grab are the consequence of the aggressive outburst of the opening of the piece.

Violence necessarily results in fall-out.

just stand there in all their immodest nudity, which in a way is fascinating - they are what they are. Here the concept of embarrassment doesn't exist". © Thomas Michelsen

Simon Steen-Andersen writes: Praesens is an invitation to presence in the now and the detail – an invitation to active listening. On one side we hear the relay polyphonic "fortspinnung" of 14 solistic individuals in a continuum of pitch, noise and impulse - on the other side the ensemble seems to be one big organism, trembling and gesticulating. The music is always moving forward but never with only one destination.

The Aarhus Sinfonietta is supported by Danish Arts Council, City of Aarhus: The Department of Culture and Citizens’ Services.

There can be a humorous quality to Thomas Agerfeldt Olesen's music. The effects used can be amusing and the instruments can be highly unorthodox.

The form can be both simple and surprising. But although the music may give a superficial impression of merriment, one senses, even in the quirkiest works, that the amusement that seasons the surface is connected with a deeper seriousness. Tonkraftwerk is written for chamber orchestra. The instruments work together to manifest one and the same thing, a large, snorting piece of factory machinery which, as it overheats, recalls Chaplin's film classic Modern Times. And there are wonderful details to note along the way, with the piccolo's little crooked cogwheel that careers on squeakily despite the breakdown as just one of them. According to the composer himself, Tonkraftwerk is a piece of music that is exposed in the same way as an electric power station or a chemical factory in the landscape: "There are things that are certainly very hard to give a beautiful appearance, so as a rule you don't bother. Instead they 22

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* This is the result of a whole year’s EU funded project, which started with a Call for Scores in January 2010. Twelve composers were selected and given tuition and mentoring, including weekend workshops in both France and the UK. An ensemble made of young UK and French proficient musicians was formed. The twelve pieces were rehearsed for two concerts held in France and in the UK. The winning works of Phase 1 will be played tonight.

The project is supported by Danish Composers' Society's Production Pool/KODA's Fund for Social and Cultural Purposes, Danish Composers' Society/ KODA's Fund for Social and Cultural Purposes, The Danish Conductors Association, The Augustinus Foundation.

Recorded for broadcast on Hear and Now

by BBC Radio 3 THIS CONCERT IS SUPPORTED BY CANTERBURY CHRIST CHURCH UNIVERSITY

Tuesday 24th May • Denmark

IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF KENT AND CANTERBURY CHRIST CHURCH UNIVERSITY

Poetics

9.30pm, The Ballroom JACK HUES AND THE-QUARTET Guitar: Jack Hues Piano, Keyboard: Sam Bailey Double Bass: Tom Mason Drums: Dave Smith ‘ROTE THRU’ is a taking a line for a walk, or a dance, or a headlong leap in music and poetry, between Jack Hues, members of The-Quartet, and poets David Herd and Simon Smith. Taking their cues from work such as Ornette Coleman's 'Lonely Woman,' Joni Mitchell's 'Marcie', as well the poem 'Biotherm' by New York poet Frank O'Hara, this live performance is a fusion of free jazz and free verse forms, with each take a new take, abrupt and rhapsodic, but always open, dipping in and out of the melodic, tipping and tripping over the atonal to return to the shared, breathy, spaces of music and word where ‘we share a pulse’.

David Herd has read at the Kootenay School of Writing (Vancouver), in the Double Change series (Paris), and at the Cambridge Conference of Contemporary Poetry. His first collection, Mandelson! Mandelson!, was published by Carcanet in 2005 and his second collection is All Just. He directs the Centre for Modern Poetry at the University of Kent.

Simon Smith’s latest book is London Bridge (Salt, 2010). His third collection, Mercury, was long-listed for the Whitbread Prize in 2006. He has written essays and reviews for Poetry Review and PN Review, and translates poetry from Latin and French. He is presently completing a translation of the Latin poet Catullus, and lectures in Creative Writing at the University of Kent.

Joni Mitchell’s ‘Marcie’ checks into the poem and music as bridge and intimate meeting point: You sing along with her Some kind of dictionary of sensibility In the right hands it’s a love thing Hitting all the wrong notes A siren, a cigarette Sure signs of somebody’s emergency Riffing when the song stops Marcie cuts her own hair ‘ROTE THRU’ is by turns lyrical, urban (and urbane), abrasive and meditative, as the poem insists, ‘one wants of new sounds new sounds and new sounds that sound new.’

The-Quartet

The-Quartet has established a fine reputation for dynamic, high octane performances and exhilarating exploration of its musical passions. The-Quartet will be joined by Sounds New Poets Simon Smith and David Herd in a free collaboration of poetry and jazz taking inspiration from Frank O’Hara’s ‘Biotherm’.

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Wednesday 25th May

Latvian Day

Film: The Baltic Way: Latvia 11am, Powell Building

The Baltic Way was a phenomenon. It is a historic symbol, which lives in mankind’s collective memory by promoting the understanding of solidarity and of freedom of expression and values.

Nocturne: A piano recital 1pm, St Gregory’s Centre OLGA JEGUNOVA

Florent Motsch Nocturne d’apres le Nocturne op. 27 no. 1 de Chopin Kristaps Pētersons Night for one performer (piano and voice) Paul Patterson A Tunnel of Time Pēteris Vasks White Scenery Rihards Dubra Etude Florent Motsch achieved success in last year’s International Composer Pyramid project as one of the finalists. His work for solo piano has a title that is self explanatory – Nocturne d’apres le Nocturne op. 27 no. 1 de Chopin. Chopin’s music permeates Motsch’s own response and creates a surreal and beautiful interpretation of the Polish composer’s original work, painting yet further the image of nocturne.

Kristaps Pētersons’ Night for one performer (piano and voice) has been specially written for today’s concert. The performer will introduce the work.

Paul Patterson’s A Tunnel of Time is a piano transcription of his suite for solo harp, Spiders, Op.48 (1983), and was premièred by its dedicatee, Frank Wibaut, during the ‘Patterson at the South Bank’ festival in 1988. It is in three movements, shorn of their original programmatic titles, and united by a six-note motif which first appears after the opening flourish of three fortissimo chords. The highly rhythmic Vivace first movement is followed by a contemplative

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Olga Jegunova

and predominantly pianissimo Adagio molto sostenuto. The final toccata-like Allegro molto e scherzando possesses moments of great delicacy, and the work ends with a dramatic downward flourish. © Rosemary Dunn Pēteris Vasks’ White Scenery comes from his piano cycle 'Seasons'. These are not programme music in the accepted sense of the term. Rather, they are more like expressions of feeling than of painting. And, like all of Vasks’ music, they come from the heart and are intended to reach the heart.

Rihards Dubra’s Etude is a brilliant and short virtuosic work for piano. There is a strong feeling of tonality to the music, and its repetitive rhythms and its sense of quasi ‘musica perpetuo’ give it an almost unstoppable sense of energy.

Latvian pianist Olga Jegunova was born in 1984. She moved to London after obtaining her BMus degree at The Jazeps Vitols Latvian Music academy with Prof. Sergejs Osokins and her MMus degree at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg with Prof.Volker Banfield. In 2010, with the support from Yehudi Menuhin LIVE MUSIC NOW Hamburg, Olga graduated from the Royal College of Music’s Artist Diploma course as an RCM scholar, having been a student of Prof. Dmitri Alexeev. She is currently furthering her studies at the Royal Northern College of Music with Prof. Norma Fisher. Olga has participated in master classes with Andras Schiff, Vera Gornostayeva, Igor Zhukov, Lazar Berman, Petras Geniushas, Ian Fountain, Elena Richter, Eugene Pridonoff, Emanuel Krassovsky, Mikhail Voskresensky, Dmitri Bashkirov and Eliso Virsaladze. As a soloist she has collaborated with conductors such as Saulius Sondeckis, Normunds Vaicis, Andris Vecumnieks,

Wednesday 25th May • Latvian Day

Alexander Soddy, Muhai Tang and Andres Mustonen.

Olga has won first prize in numerous international piano competitions including the Ginette Gaubert competition in Paris and the Steinway-Folderpreis in Hamburg. She has been a prize winner at the Maryse Cheilan competition in France, the Stasys Vainiunas competition in Vilnius, the Animato competition in Zurich, and was recently a semi-finalist at the prestigious Geza Anda Concours in Zurich. She has participated in festivals including the Liepaja Star Festival in Latvia, the J.S. Bach Festival in Riga, the Young Artists Festival organised by the Vladimir Spivakov foundation in Riga and Moscow, the L.van Beethoven Festival “Kasseler Musiktage” in Germany, the Deal Festival and the Chilingirian Schumann Fest in London. Olga is also very active as a chamber musician, having collaborated with a wide range of artists and ensembles as a pianist, harpsichordist and fortepiano player. Since 2009, she has worked as a performer for LIVE MUSIC NOW; a charity providing live music in the UK's welfare, educational, justice and health sectors.

IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF KENT

Poetry reading – reflecting on ‘The Other Truth’ 6pm, St Peter’s Methodist Church SOUNDS NEW POETS

The Other Truth – Altera Veritas 7.30pm, St Peter’s Methodist Church Kokle: Ieva Mezgaile Kokle: Anda Eglite Flute: Andis Klucnieks Accordion: Kaspars Gulbis Vilnis Šmīdbergs Raudu deja Kristaps Pētersons Divas gravīras Andris Dzenītis Blakus – acordion solo Valdis Zilveris J.S.Baha tokāta un fūga d-moll Santa Smildziņa Parafrāze – for 2 kokles Santa Ratniece Rasa Pēteris Vasks Ainava ar putniem – flute solo Gundega Šmite Skatoties... sapņojot....

THIS PERFORMANCE IS BEING SUPPORTED

BY THE EMBASSY OF LATVIA. Vilnis Šmīdbergs Raudu deja is composed in August 2005. The composition is ordered by the group Altera Veritas. This music came to me suddenly, in my dream. This happens seldom. This is a dance of pain and death. The reason is one – the centre of Universe - human, who is not able to be responsible about the things he is building, creating and destroying.

This music is a resume of all what I have learned and understood in my life.

Performing work written in response to the Festival’s new compositions, Sounds New Poets Peter Gizzi and Richard Price explore the possibilities of collaboration and digression.

Kristaps Pētersons writes about Divas gravīras: I have used (for me) a new composing technique: sound as a gravure. To be honest, it is a quite illusory technique, because there are not known scientific parameters for that – only intuition. The only one excuse for this irresponsible action is … my honesty.

Peter Gizzi is the author of The Outernationale (2007), Some Values of Landscape and Weather (2003), Artificial Heart (1998), and Periplum (1992). He has also published several limited-edition chapbooks, folios, and artist books. A new book, Threshold Songs, is forthcoming in the Fall of 2011. He is currently in residence at the University of Cambridge as the Judith E Wilson Visiting Fellow in Poetry.

Andris Dzenītis … blakus … (means … beside…): Composed in 1995, the composition has two parts “… to call through the night …” and “being not belonging to nobody”. It is a call, a cry about murdered children lives in the wars Yugoslavia and Chechnya.

Heaven high, a field and a life, inaccessible faraway…

Richard Price is a poet and novelist. His collections include Lucky Day, short-listed for the Whitbread Poetry Prize, Greenfields and, most recently, Rays. He has worked as lyricist and vocalist in the musical project Mirabeau, whose new album Golden Key has just been released. His official website is hydrohotel.net.

Valdis Zilveris writes: “Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in Dminor” is based on a certain amount of imagination what if Bach had composed his globally known piece in the 20th century with the modern techniques of composition? In order to allow the two centuries to stand together and to experience a certain confluence of sound, Zilveris has preserved the original

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Bach score, without changing a single note, but he has also produced new music which is played along with Bach’s opus so as to express the feelings and presence of people from the 20th and 21st century.

This creates a modern contrast, and at certain points in the composition Bach’s form of musical expression is transformed through 20th century composition techniques. These techniques synthesise with the original work of art.

Santa Ratniece writes about Parafrāze: The name råså comes from the Java Indonesia. There are a lot of like meanings as the word rasa in Sanskrit has (flavour, essence, quiddity, colour tone...) In musical context – in the Indonesian Gamelan music – råså stays for characteristic of frame of mind or affect. This can be related to perceptivity inner sense, deeper insight or intuition as well. In difference to codificated Indian rasa theory, the Gamelan music of Java during the performance is unpredictable, the crystallization of key råså depends from a lot of special circumstances – the concrete staff of musicians, listeners, concert place, daytime, the served meals, rituals …

There are no two equal Gamelan compositions. In this composition for the ensemble Altera Veritas every of the musicians and every listener will be concentrated to his own, at this concrete moment closer emotional mood.

Gundega Šmite writes: »Skatoties... Sapņojot« (“Looking… Dreaming…”) was written for flute, accordion and four kokles, and optional projections. The composition represents the life of the distinguished painter Vincent Van Gogh. The composition covers the short (10-year), but intensive period during which the master did his work. The composition consists of four movements, each of which represents a specific painting from various periods in Van Gogh’s career.

The titles of the movements have been chosen on the basis of the names of the various paintings.

Movement 1: “View of the Sea at Scheveningen”. This painting marked the arrival of Van Gogh and his prodigious talent. The painting represents the artist’s complicated and unbalanced personality, as well as the tragedy of an artist who is not understood.

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Movement 2: “Japonaiserie: Flowering Plum Tree (after Hiroshige)” speaks to the artist’s yearnings in relation to clarity, order and light.

Movement 3: “The Sower” addresses a fateful foreboding, a balance between the desire to see a well ordered world on the one hand and the loss of this vision on the other.

Movement 4: “Starry Night” - the co-existence of ecstasy and madness, a sky which is incomparably more intensive than is one’s life on the earth. Van Gogh lost his mind and departed from this world, but his art remained behind and began its own, very convincing life. The inspiration which I gained from these paintings was not just emotional.

As a composer, I was interested in my ability to use sound in order to reproduce the specific painting techniques, the layers of texture and the radical transfers of colour that are so typical in Van Gogh’s paintings.

Lapis Lazuli

9.30pm, The Ballroom Lapis Lazuli is a collective of musicians whose music knows no limits, brought together by the willingness to fuse and transverse genres from across time and space. Bombastic beats and global grooves are combined with a rich tapestry of texture and melody created by the twin guitars, flute, trumpet, digeredoo and synth sounds, re-telling ancient stories from the vault of their collective influences.

Lapis Lazuli

Thursday 26th May

Arvo Pärt

Film: The Baltic Way: Lithuania

11am, Powell Building, Canterbury Christ Church University A glimpse into the work of Lithuania’s film director, Audrius Stonys. Audrius Stonys is one of the best known and most well-established Lithuanian directors, whose work has highlighted the tiny country of Lithuania on the map of international cinema.

Audrius started his film career during the last years of the Soviet empire, a time of great political uncertainty and emotional tumult which probably shaped his unique conception of cinema and poetic interpretation of the world. He believes that 'a documentary is born out of wonder and a desire to share, with the discovery of the possibility to stop time and contemplate the world's miracle'.

A separate sheet will be provided with more information about the different short films screened today. These will be preceded by an introduction by Lithuania’s cultural attache’ in London, Ms. Daiva Parulskiene.

IN ASSOCIATION WITH PARK LANE GROUP

Reflecta! – Recorder & Electronics 1.15pm, St Gregory’s Centre FRANCESCA THOMPSON

Karola Obermueller gegen.wind.staerken Alessio Rossato Oltre lo sguardo [World Premiere] Antti Auvinen [FI] Reflecta Geoffrey Poole Footfall Jesper Nordin Inevitabilini Ned McGowan Workshop N.B. No programme notes are not printed as Francesca Thompson will introduce her programme.

Equally at home with both contemporary and early music, Francesca Thompson has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician throughout Europe and in the USA, including recent performances at the BBC Proms, Cheltenham Festival, Telemann Festtage, Music in Ancient Krakow Festival, Davos Festival, the Gaudeamus Muziekweek and Amherst Early Music Festival (U.S.A.). As concerto soloist, she has appeared with the festival orchestra of the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart, with Capella Cracoviensis, the Al-Kamandjati Camerata and with orchestras throughout the UK. As a Park Lane Group Young Artist, she made her London debut in the Purcell Room in 2011, to great acclaim. Francesca studied with Walter van Hauwe at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam in the Netherlands, generously supported by the Leverhulme Trust, the Countess of Munster Musical Trust and the Musicians’ Benevolent Fund.

Prior to this, she studied at Cambridge University and the Royal College of Music in London. Whilst at the RCM, she won the College Concerto Competition, the first recorder player ever to do so. A prizewinner in the 2011 Gaudeamus Competition, Francesca also won second prize at the International Competition for Contemporary Music 2009 in Krakow, and in 2006 was awarded the first prize of the Zinetti Competition/Masi Foundation. With her chamber ensembles, she won the Century Early Music Prize 2004, and third prize at the Internationale Telemannwettbewerb 2007. Francesca is also the recipient of awards from, amongst others, the Finzi Trust, Hattori Foundation, Tillett Trust and the Darmstädter Ferienkurse für Neue Musik.

IN ASSOCIATION WITH CANTERBURY CHRIST CHURCH UNIVERSITY

Lecture: Connecting Musical Traditions in the Baltic Sea Region

4.45pm – 5.45pm, Lecture Theatre, Canterbury Christ Church University Keynote speaker: TINA RAMNARINE www.internationalcomposerpyramid.org

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Cello Octet Amsterdam

IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF KENT AND CANTERBURY CHRIST CHURCH UNIVERSITY

ArchAngels

8pm, Canterbury Cathedral Crypt CELLO OCTET AMSTERDAM WITH GUEST COMPOSER ARVO PÄRT Arvo Pärt Da Pacem Domine Roderick Watkins Lament Arvo Pärt Missa Brevis Philip Glass Symphony for 8 Terry Riley ArchAngels Arvo Part O-Antiphonen Arvo Pärt Summa Arvo Pärt Da Pacem Domine Originally for voices, Arvo Pärt composed the fourpart a cappella work to a commission from Jprdi Savall in 2004 for performance in a concert with the theme 'Da pacem Domine'. The musical point of departure was the ninth-century Gregorian antiphon which many composers over the centuries have been inspired to set to music. The piece has a simple texture (four parts throughout), a slow straightforward pattern with almost no rhythmic variation and near harmonic stasis in which each pitch is carefully placed in position. There are two basic elements: the first is a manner of composition that immediately calls to mind Pari intervallo and the second comprises passages of faburden (a short succession of parallel chords with the root note either in the top voice or in the middle), resolving with a Landini cadence.

The original text is a prayer for peace.

Roderick Watkins writes: Lament is a short, rather simple piece, first composed for seven cellos (in 2008) but heard here in a new version for eight cellos.

The original conception was strongly influenced by Sam Taylor-Wood’s video piece Prelude in Air (2006), a work in which a cellist is filmed playing a Bach Prelude, but the cello has been digitally removed from the image, thereby exaggerating yet simultaneously making rather ambiguous the expressive physicality of the cellist. The extensive use of homophony in my piece points up this gestural aspect of cello playing.

The title Lament refers to a Georgian funeral song, a zari, which I happened to catch on the car radio while first composing this piece. Its influence can be clearly heard, though the original material itself does not appear.

Arvo Pärt Missa Brevis Pärt lived in West Berlin for more than a quarter of a century from 1981, following his forced departure from his Estonian homeland. He experienced the divided city as well as its reunification. Out of his solidarity – a short of political and religious gratitude – came the work carrying the meaningful remark: 'Dedicated to the city of Berlin on the occasion of twenty years since the fall of the wall, and to the 12 cellists of the Berliner Philharmoniker' For both dedicatees it was a renewed commitment, as he had already written Fratres for the ensemble in 1982 and in 1990 he honoured the city with a Berlin Mass for choir and strings and organ. While the piece confines itself to a voiceless setting of the tree core sections and pared-downf orms of a missa brevis, Part continues to employ the metodology which he has practised since the middle of the 1970s. He refers to it as 'tintinnabuli style' taken from the Latwin word for a little bell. As Hermann Conen has remarked, 'it consists of a compostional' method with the most simple and ancient musical material – triads and scales: the two dimensions of musical material – stasis (being, persistence, peace) and dynamism (becoming, moving, disturbance) are merged together in a sort of primal state.' Missa Brevis uses modal harmony, a predominantly plain homophonic setting and a dialogue of minimal motifs which creates insistent instrumental gestures in the spirit of medieval psalmody, scared phrases of the Mass text – like meditative prayers Symphony for Eight: The Cello8ctet Amsterdam has developed a very special bond with the composer and this relationship has resulted in the evening-

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long Philip Glass programme Glass Reflections. This programme is particularly unique as Glass gave Cello8ctet Amsterdam and their former director Elias Arizcuren ‘carte blanche’ to make a choice out of his complete works: we regard this as a special privilege.

A critic wrote about Symphony for Eight (the version dedicated to Cello Octet Conjunto Ibérico, now known as Cello8ctet Amsterdam, from Symphony n° 3 - movement III): “...Harmoniously the work consists of only a trio of chords. But within this harmony so much happens that you have the impression that you are hearing twenty instead of eight cellists. Continuing bass, combined with high tremolos and scales across the full colour range, coupled with a multiplicity of dynamic differences, give the symphonic effect that Glass was aiming for.”

Terry Riley’s ArchAngels was composed as a protest piece written after the U.S. attack on Iraq following the events of 9/11. It was written especially for the Cello Octet Amsterdam. The Queen of Dark Waters and Protection Vigil were written during a period of serious preoccupation with the sinister, aggressive, and war-and-profit-driven direction taken by the government of the country in which I live, the USA. During the build-up to the unjust and vicious war of aggression by the US and Britain against the people of Iraq. I conceived the idea of protection vigils (a kind of prayer through music, if you will) as a way of calling on help from the spirit-world (angels) to shelter the innocent victims of war. One of these vigils was held from dusk to dawn in Nevada City, California with scores of performers all contributing their particular approach to this idea. I also formed a vigil band to perform protection and peace vigils before the unjust war on Iraq. These two works were not written as a form of entertainment, but as a way to bring us together throughout the music in an atmosphere of reflection and common desire for peace and protection for all precious life.

In scoring ArchAngels I decided on a radical approach to the tuning of the open strings of the cello ensemble. Normally, they are turned from the bottom string to the top; c-g-d-a. While keeping this relationship, I transported the fundamental tone to four other degrees of the scale, which gives the complete chromatic scale in open strings. This should give a deep and darkly resonant sound, quite different from thet given if all the cellos were in the normal tuning. ArchAngels was commossioned by the festival of Cuenca, Spain, and written specially for the marvellous cello octet Conjunto Iberico (Amsterdam Cello Octet) ensemble. In the spirit of peace © Terry Riley

The O Antiphons are Magnificat antiphons used at Vespers of the last seven days of Advent in various liturgical Christian traditions. Each antiphon is a name of Christ, one of his attributes mentioned in Scripture. They are: • December 17: O Sapientia (O Wisdom) • December 18: O Adonai (O Lord) • December 19: O Radix Jesse (O Root of Jesse) • December 20: O Clavis David (O Key of David) • December 21: O Oriens (O Dayspring) • December 22: O Rex Gentium (O King of the nations) • December 23: O Emmanuel (O God is with Us) Arvo Pärt set a German translation of these antiphons for SATB unaccompanied choir, under the title Magnificat Antiphonen. This version for eight cellos was made especially for Cello Octet Amsterdam. Both cello octet Conjunto Iberico (the original name of Cello8ctet Amsterdam) and Arvo Part had long cherished a wish to collaborate. Part's idea to divest the Sieben Magnificat Antiphonen on their text and arrange them for cello octet created the opportunity to finally fulfil this long-held desire.

In the composer's own words, 'it was the cello octet Conjunto Iberico's unique sound, so rich in overtones on the one hand and with such an inexhaustible potential for cantabile playing on the other, that inspired me in the composition of O-Antiphonen and mede this literal song without words possible'.

Summa was originally written by Arvo Pärt in 1978 for four solo voices. The original version was a setting of the Latin text of the "Credo". The music does not attempt directly to reflect the words; the musical and textual meters rarely coincide but a simple and hypnotic rhythm is sustained. The upper and lower voices are paired against each other in subtle and perpetually overlapping phrasing, giving rise to an intensely expressive yet undemonstrative mood.

The weaving together of the melodic lines which flow with stepwise and arpeggiated figures, creates harmonies which are sometimes modal with bell-like dissonances.

Cello8ctet Amsterdam A unique formation in the world of music, the octet was founded in 1989 under the name Conjunto Iberico. In addition to concerts in Europe's most prominent concert halls, the Amsterdam Cello Octet has also performed in the US, Canada, Central and South America, Asia and the middle East. Cello8ctet Amsterdam stands for new music and succesful crossovers between various musical styles and arts. www.internationalcomposerpyramid.org

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The octet has premiered over 70 new works, most of them dedicated to the group, by composers including Xenakis, Nobre, Halffter, Donatoni, De Pablo, Denisov, Gubaidulina, Boulez, Loevendie, Riley, Kagel, Glass and, of course, Arvo Part, who said of the ensemble: 'The octet is a piece of gold, I discovered this group 10 years too late.' The Cello8ctet Amsterdam has shown enormous diversity over the years: concerts with Teresa Berganza, Elena Gragera or Isabelle van Keulen, performances with Cristina Bianco and Blof, dance productions with Conny Janssen's Rotterdam dance company and Carribean grooves with Izaline Calister. Yhe Octet also plays some 100 Spanish and Latin-American songs that have surprised and delighted audiences over the years.

Artur Trajko, Claire Bleumer, Karel Bredenhorst, Oihana Aristizabal Puga, Rares Mihailescu, Sanne Bijker, Stephan Heber, Wijnamand Hulst www.cello8ctet.com A unique formation in the world of music, the Amsterdam Cello8ctet stands for new music and successful crossovers between various musical styles and arts. Thanks to the ensemble’s radiant performances, the Octet is able to offer original works by today’s most notable composers. The performance will feature premiers by Sounds New Guest Composer Arvo Part, composers Philip Glass, Terry Riley and Roderick Watkins, and new works by Sounds New Poets Patricia Debney, Nancy Gaffield, Peter Gizzi, David Herd, Richard Price and Simon Smith.

Plugged/Unplugged!

9.30pm, The Ballroom THE BOOT LAGOON Bass guitar: Cameron Dawson Drums: Seth Scott Deucher Electric guitar: Peter Edlin Keyboards: Callum Magill The Boot Lagoon perform for the first time in public in a fully acoustic gig as well as with amplifiers! They present their own infectiously rhythmic compositions. They have already ‘amazed’ audiences at the Lounge on the Farm festival and have had their praises sung by David Allen of Soft Machine and Gong Fame. Their music is inspired by the psychedelic 'Canterbury Sound' of the 70s and they play it ‘very, very well.'

Supporting this act will be our education project ‘A Noise Annoys?’

What delights one person can be detested by another. In this intriguing project music students from Canterbury College and local poets explore how different sounds appeal or annoy different people.

The Boot Lagoon

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Friday 27th May

Arvo Pärt

Film: The Baltic Way: Estonia [28mins] 11am, Powell Building, Canterbury Christ Church University

On 23 August 1939 foreign ministers of the USSR and Germany, as ordered by their superiors Stalin and Hitler, signed a treaty which affected the fate of Europe and the entire world. This pact, and the secret clauses it contained, divided the spheres of influence of the USSR and Germany and led to World War II, and to the occupation of the three Baltic States – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

50 years later, on 23 August 1989, the three nations living by the Baltic Sea surprised the world by taking hold of each other's hands and jointly demanding recognition of the secret clauses in the MolotovRibbentrop pact and the re-establishment of the independence of the Baltic States. More than a million people joined hands to create a 600 km long human chain from the foot of Toompea in Tallinn to the foot of the Gediminas Tower in Vilnius, crossing Riga and the River Daugava on its way, creating a synergy in the drive for freedom that united the three countries.

The Baltic Way was organised by the national movements of each of the Baltic States: the Popular Front of Estonia Rahvarinne, the Popular Front of Latvia and the Lithuanian Reform Movement Sąjūdis.

IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF MUSIC

New Perspectives Ensemble 1.15pm, St Gregory’s Centre Director: Timothy Lines

Oliver Knussen Ophelia Dances Sophie Cotton Plain Lives (2)* Oliver Knussen Songs Without Voices Magnus Lindberg Corrente Ikuyo Kobayashi Petelon

Oliver Knussen writes: Why is Ophelia dancing?

Partly as an instrumental response to Shakespeare’s description of her chanting ‘snatches of old tunes/As one incapable of her own distress’, and partly because I wanted to write a piece whose light-headed and giddy qualities would suggest a crossing of the line that divides laughter from tears. The ‘old tunes’ in this piece are Schumann’s Carnaval, whose mottos provided much of its melodic and harmonic material, and two late works of Debussy, La boîte à joujoux and Gigues. There is an introduction, four dances (which become more and more compressed) and a long slow coda, all played continuously. Ophelia Dances was commissioned by the Serge Koussevitzky Music Foundation and first performed in New York in May 1975 by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

Songs Without Voices, Op. 26 (1991-2) Four pieces for eight instrumentalists 1 Fantastico (Winter’s Foil) 2 Maestoso (Prairie Sunset) 3 Leggiero (First Dandelion) 4 Adagio (Elegiac Arabesques) Songs Without Voices is a collection of short, self-contained compositions for flute, cor anglais, clarinet, horn, violin, viola, cellos and piano. Over the past few years I recovered an old enthusiasm for writing songs, and it occurred to me to try to apply this to the instrumental sphere. Three of the present pieces are, literally, songs without voice – that is, a complete poem is ‘set’ syllable for instruments in the course of a movement; and one is from a more private lyrical impulse – a cor anglais melody written upon hearing of the death of Andrzej Panufnik, a person I much admired. I hope it won’t be thought coy if I allow the music to speak on its own terms apart from those few indications of stimulus. I began composition in Aldeburgh in October 1991 and completed it in New York in April 1992, when it was first performed by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, which commissioned Songs Without Voices as part of the Elise L. Stoeger Composer’s Chair Award.

It is doubly dedicated to Fred Sherry (cellist and then Artistic Director of the Society) and to Virgil Blackwell for this fiftieth birthday. © Oliver Knussen www.internationalcomposerpyramid.org

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Magnus Lindberg’s Corrente is a piece originally written to celebrate the Swedish Literary Society Of Finland on the occasion of its 127th year. This may have influenced the composer to bring out a certain sense of "festivas" to the work. "Corrente" is Italian and refers to the baroque dance, "courant" in French, and the baroque ingredients can be shown as the top of an iceberg. "Corrente" also bears meaning of "running, and "steam". The material of the piece is based on rhythmic loops of different size that superposed produce kaleidoscopic textures. This rather minimalistic approach is mostly deformed by changing the patterns in an irregular way. Also narrative aspects of the material are enhanced by giving the musical characters different roles as they affect each other during the piece.

The two World Premieres will be introduced by the students from the Royal College of Music themselves.

IN ASSOCIATION WITH CANTERBURY CHRIST CHURCH UNIVERSITY

Conference Papers on the Music of Arvo Pärt 2.30pm – 6.00pm, Lecture Theatre, Canterbury Christ Church University Notes on these papers will be provided at the conference.

Festival Evensong: I am the True Vine, Cathedral Choir 5.30pm, Canterbury Cathedral Quire Director: Dr. David Flood

This evensong includes Arvo Pärt’s 1996 composition I am the True Vine as well as his Magnificat.

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IN ASSOCIATION WITH ORCHESTRAS LIVE

Choir of King’s College Cambridge and the Philharmonia Orchestra 7.30pm, Canterbury Cathedral Conductor: Stephen Cleobury Guest Composer: ARVO PÄRT

Arvo Pärt Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten Benjamin Britten Hymn to St Cecilia Rolf Martinsson A.S. in Memoriam Henryk Górecki Totus Tuus Nicolas Maw One foot in Eden, still, I stand Arvo Pärt Adam’s Lament Arvo Pärt’s Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten, for string orchestra and bell, was composed in 1977 as an elegy for Benjamin Britten, who had died the previous year. Pärt admired Britten’s music enormously, describing it as having an ‘unusual purity’ which echoed the Estonian composer’s own outlook.

Ironically, it was not until 1980, after emigrating from the then Soviet controlled Estonia to Austria, that Pärt actually had chance to fully gain access to Britten’s music. Cantus is an early example of the composer’s tintinnabuli style, which Pärt based on his own responses to early chant music. The work has become extremely popular, often ascribed to its overriding simplicity. However, as the critic Ivan Hewett wrote “[while it] may be simple in concept... the concept produces a tangle of lines which is hard for the ear to unravel. And even where the music really is simple in its audible features, the expressive import of those features is anything but.”

Benjamin Britten Hymn to St Cecilia O dear white children casual as birds Playing among the ruined languages, So small beside their large confusing words, So gay against the greater silences Of dreadful things you did: O hang the head, Impetuous child with the tremendous brain...

O weep, child, weep, O weep away the stain That what has been may never be again, O bless the freedom that you never chose, O wear your tribulation like a rose.

These lines, written for the composer actually born on St. Cecilia's day, were set for unaccompanied choir on board the ship returning him to England in 1942.

They anticipate with great accuracy just what it was

Friday 27th May • Arvo Pärt

that Britten's work would do. But if Britten was able in his music to celebrate the loss of innocence and acknowledge darkness or the demands of disorder by setting words, writing operas, introducing the impurities of "ruined languages" into what might otherwise be pure articulations of sound, in his life he sought to be a kind of Peter Pan, to live as only music – pure and utterly gratuitous – can live: I cannot grow; I have no shadow To run away from, I only play I cannot err; There is no creature Whom I belong to, Whom I could wrong.

This middle section of Auden's Hymn describes pure music, not human life. Britten was such a profoundly musical being that to many he appeared almost to embody it, to be music. But, unlike music, he had to grow; he had a shadow that darkened and lengthened; he could err; there was a creature to whom he belonged and many he could wrong. He played beautifully, but he played in a fallen world of ruined languages, confusing words, great silences and dreadful acts where, as Cecilia says in her italicized response to Auden's supplicant in the final section of his Hymn, Lost innocence ay even wish its lover dead. [Taken from ‘The Haunting of Benjamin Britten’ by John Matthias] Rolf Martinsson writes: A. S. in Memoriam was written in 1999, in memory of Arnold Schönberg and his string composition Verklärte Nacht, composed a hundred years previously, in 1899. In A. S. in Memoriam I have sought to mirror the vocabulary, gesture and musical characters present in the works of Schönberg. A. S. in Memoriam is often performed and has been on tour to Japan with both Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra/Neeme Järvi and Royal Stockholm Philharmonic/Alan Gilbert.

A. S. in Memoriam was originally composed for 15 strings (5-4-3-2-1, op50a) but also exists in a version for string orchestra (op50b). The smaller version was commissioned and premiered in 1999 by the Lund New Chamber Orchestra under Sören Nilzén.

The larger version is dedicated to Neeme Järvi, by whom it was premiered in May 2001 with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra at the Gothenburg Concert Hall. Bar 49 features a musical quotation

from Verklärte Nacht, as a sounding acknowledgement of that work's influence on A. S. in Memoriam.

A. S. in Memoriam is recorded at Daphne Records (DAPHNE 1022) by Malmö Symphony Orchestra and Christoph König. Published by Gehrmans Musikförlag. (English translation by Roger Tanner) Maw’s motet One foot in Eden still, I stand (1990) is a setting of the Scottish poet Edwin Muir which Maw discovered in The New Oxford Book of English Verse 1250–1950. It was commissioned by King’s College, Cambridge to mark the 500th anniversary of the founding of the college and first performed

by King’s College Choir, conducted by Stephen Cleobury, in King’s College chapel on 18 September 1990. Scored for mixed choir and soloists, as well as optional organ (omitted on this recording), it demonstrates a composer in total command of his medium and is impressive in its varied choral writing and striking use of harmony and melody in response to the text.

Muir’s poetry is riven with the recurring image of mankind’s Fall in the Garden of Eden, and the subsequent loss of innocence. From his personal perspective, his own enactment of the Fall took place when, after an idyllic Orkney childhood, he moved with his family at the age of fourteen to the urban ‘Hell’ of Glasgow; it was a change that proved traumatic for him. In this poem Muir posits the view that mankind’s acquisition of knowledge at the Fall brought evil but also good so that ‘nothing now can separate / The corn and tares compactly grown’.

The peaceful opening for the solo quartet, almost chanted like a prayer, is exquisite in its serene beauty and is quietly answered by the full choir in unison. This alternation of voices sets much of the pattern for the work. A melody with expressive leaps for the sopranos is taken up by the tenor solo, before a climax occurs at ‘Evil and good stand thick around’.

The first section ends with a hushed, lush cadence at ‘lead our harvest in’, out of which the music of the opening is magically recalled by the quartet.

A memorable, agitated musical image occurs at the words ‘Scattered along the winter way’ and a solo for the alto takes up the jagged rhythm of ‘scattered’.

The music rises to an intense climax at the crux of the poem ‘What had Eden ever to say / Of hope and faith and pity and love’ and again at ‘buried all its day’. Only at the very end of the poem is a resolution www.internationalcomposerpyramid.org

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achieved, as reflected in the concord of the music in the final bars. Andrew Burn © 2007 A tribute to Henryk Gorecki (1933 – 2010). Gorecki was born in 1933 Czernica, a small Polish coalmining village. In 1955 he began studying composition at the State Higher School of Music in Katowice, where he lived until his death. Though he has long been recognised in the musical world as one of Poland’s leading composers, it was only with the phenomenal success of his Third Symphony that his name became widely known to the general public. Totus Tuus was first performed at a High Mass held by Pope John Paul II in Warsaw in June 1987. Its simple, contemplative stillness is typical of Gorecki’s style. The title page carries the dedication ‘To His Holiness Pope John Paul II, for his third pilgrimage to his homeland.’ The choral text is taken from a poem written by Maria Boguslawska. The music is based on chants of the Polish Catholic Church and reflects Gorecki's deep love of his country and its musical traditions. The simple form of the chant is repeated to build a musical affirmation of faith. © John Bawden To mark Arvo Pärt’s Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Istanbul Music Festival, a new work was premiered at a concert featuring highlights from the composer’s career: Adam’s Lament for choir and orchestra. The piece was co-commissioned by the European Capitals of Culture for 2010 and 2011, Istanbul and Tallin respectively.

Arvo Pärt has been fascinated by the life and work of St Silouan of Athos (1866–1938) for many years.

As early as 1991, the writings of Silouan inspired Pärt to his composition Silouan’s Song, ‘My soul yearns after the Lord ...’ for string orchestra. Pärt’s new work Adam’s Lament is once again based on a text by Silouan, in which the monk laments Adam’s pain over the loss of paradise. Silouan’s sketches and writings are of great poetic power, and represent some of the most significant works in Russian poetry. The content and structure of the texts, which are sung in Russian, dictate the course of the music down to the smallest detail. Punctuation, syllable counts and word emphases all play decisive roles in the composition.

“For me, the name Adam is a collective term not merely for the whole of humanity, but for each individual, regardless of time, era, social class or religious affiliation. And this collective Adam has suffered and lamented on this earth for millennia.

Our ancestor Adam foresaw the human tragedy 34

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that was to come and experienced it as his own guilty responsibility, the result of his sinful act.

He suffered all the cataclysms of humanity into the depths of desperation, inconsolable in his agony.”

(Arvo Pärt) THIS PERFORMANCE IS BEING SUPPORTED

BY THE EMBASSY OF ESTONIA. It is being recorded for broadcast on ‘Hear and Now’ – BBC Radio 3.

The Philharmonia Orchestra is one of the world’s great orchestras. Acknowledged as the UK’s foremost musical pioneer, with an extraordinary recording legacy, the Philharmonia leads the field for its quality of playing, and for its innovative approach to audience development, residencies, music education and the use of new technologies in reaching a global audience. Together with its relationships with the world’s most sought-after artists, most importantly its Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor Esa-Pekka Salonen, the Philharmonia Orchestra is at the heart of British musical life.

Today, the Philharmonia has the greatest claim of any orchestra to be the UK’s National Orchestra. It is committed to presenting the same quality, live music-making in venues throughout the country as it brings to London and the great concert halls of the world. In 2010/11 the Orchestra is performing more than 150 concerts, as well as presenting chamber performances by the Soloists of the Philharmonia Orchestra, and recording scores for films, CDs and computer games. For 15 years now the Orchestra’s work has been underpinned by its much admired UK and International Residency Programme, which began in 1995 with the launch of its residencies at the Bedford Corn Exchange and London’s Southbank Centre. During 2010/11 the Orchestra not only performs more than 40 concerts at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, but also celebrates its 14th year as Resident Orchestra of De Montfort Hall in Leicester and its 10th year as Orchestra in Partnership at The Anvil in Basingstoke. The Orchestra’s extensive touring schedule this season also includes performances in more than 30 of the finest international concert halls in Europe, China and Japan, with conductors including Esa-Pekka Salonen, Christoph von Dohnányi, Vladimir Ashkenazy and Lorin Maazel.

Friday 27th May • Arvo Pärt

Choir of King’s College Cambridge

During its first six decades, the Philharmonia Orchestra has collaborated with most of the great classical artists of the 20th century. Conductors associated with the Orchestra include Furtwängler, Richard Strauss, Toscanini, Cantelli, Karajan and Giulini. Otto Klemperer was the first of many outstanding Principal Conductors, and other great names have included Lorin Maazel (Associate Principal Conductor), Riccardo Muti (Principal Conductor and Music Director), Giuseppe Sinopoli (Music Director) and Sir Charles Mackerras (Principal Guest Conductor). As well as Esa-Pekka Salonen, current titled conductors are Christoph von Dohnányi (Honorary Conductor for Life), Kurt Sanderling (Conductor Emeritus) and Vladimir Ashkenazy (Conductor Laureate).

The Philharmonia Orchestra continues to pride itself on its long-term collaborations with the finest musicians of our day, supporting new as well as established artists. This policy extends into the Orchestra itself, where many of the players have solo or chamber music careers alongside their work with the Orchestra. The Philharmonia’s Martin Musical Scholarship Fund has for many years supported talented musicians at the start of their careers, including an Orchestral Award, which allows two young players every year to gain performing experience within the Orchestra. The Orchestra is also recognised for its innovative programming policy, at the heart of which is a commitment to performing and commissioning new works by leading composers, among them both the outgoing Artistic Director of its Music of Today series, Julian Anderson, and his successor from 11/12, Unsuk Chin. Since 1945 the Philharmonia Orchestra has commissioned more than 100 new works from composers including Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Mark-Anthony

Turnage and James MacMillan.

Throughout its history, the Philharmonia Orchestra has been committed to finding new ways to bring its top quality live performance to audiences worldwide, and to using new technologies to achieve this.

Many millions of people since 1945 have enjoyed their first experience of classical music through a Philharmonia recording, and in 2010/11 audiences can engage with the Orchestra through webcasts, podcasts, downloads, computer games and film scores as well as through its unique interactive music education website, The Sound Exchange (www.philharmonia.co.uk/thesoundexchange).

More than 3,500 people a month download free monthly Philharmonia video podcasts, which include artist interviews and features on repertoire and projects; these films are also watched by more than 750,000 people on YouTube. In May 2010 the Orchestra’s digital “virtual Philharmonia Orchestra” project, RE-RITE, won both the RPS Audience Development and Creative Communication Awards, and after appearances in London, Leicester and Lisbon tours to Dortmund in November 2011.

Recording and broadcasting both continue to play a significant part in the Orchestra’s activities, notably through its partnership with Signum Records, releasing new live recordings of Philharmonia performances with its key conductors. Since 2003 the Philharmonia has enjoyed a major partnership with Classic FM, as The Classic FM Orchestra on Tour, as well as continuing to broadcast on BBC Radio 3.

The Choir of King's College, Cambridge is one of the world's best known choral groups, and is the pre-eminent representative of the great British church music tradition. It is most famous for singing A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, the

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Christmas Eve service that the BBC has broadcast since 1928, and that millions listen to worldwide. In 2009 the US Library Of Congress added a broadcast of the service to the National Recording Registry, an archive of 275 'culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant' recordings.

Henry VI (1421 - 1471) founded the Choir shortly after he founded the College in 1441. He created the Choir to sing daily services in his magnificent Chapel, and the Choir still exists primarily to sing these services.

Today the Choir consists of sixteen choristers, fourteen choral scholars and two organ scholars.

While the choir exists to sing the daily services, its worldwide fame and reputation, enhanced by its many recordings, has led to invitations to perform throughout the world. In recent seasons the Choir has travelled throughout Europe as well as to the US, South America, Australia and Asia-Pacific. Performances have been given at the Palais des BeauxArts (Brussels), Settembre Musicale (Turin), Santa Cecilia (Rome), Stresa Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Festival, Gothenburg Church Music Festival, Stuttgart Barock Festival, Istanbul International Music Festival, Hong Kong Cultural Centre, National Chiang Kai-Shek Cultural Centre (Taiwan), Seoul Arts Centre, and the Singapore Esplanade, to name just a few. The Choir also performs extensively in the United Kingdom.

It has appeared regularly at all the major halls in London and in the regions, and enjoys performing in UK Festivals throughout the year. Recent Festival appearances have seen the Choir at the City of London Festival, St Albans International Organ Festival, Windsor Festival, Lufthansa Festival of Baroque Music, Newbury Spring Festival, York Early Music, Norfolk & Norwich, and Aldeburgh. There have also been return invitations to Manchester (Bridgewater Hall), Birmingham (Symphony Hall) and Cardiff (St David’s Hall) amongst others.

The Choir appears frequently with symphony orchestras. It sang with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the BBC Proms in 2005, closed its 2005/6 season performing with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican and gives an annual Christmas concert with the Philharmonia Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall. In addition, the Choir has a close relationship with the Academy of Ancient Music and other early music ensembles including Florilegium and Fretwork.

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In 2009 the Choir was delighted to join other Cambridge artists, ensembles and the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Sir Andrew Davis in a BBC Prom to mark Cambridge University's 800th anniversary.

In the 2010/11 season and the future the Choir’s many international appearances take it to Musikfest Bremen, Hildesheim, Osnabrueck, Halberstadt and Merseberg in Germany, return visits to the Flanders Festival in Gent, Palace of Arts in Budapest and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.

The Choir made a return visit this year to the Far East to Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Future plans for the Choir involve a European summer festival tour, a return visit to the US and to Australia.

Stephen Cleobury has for over quarter of a century been associated with one of the world’s most famous choirs, that of King’s College, Cambridge. His work at King’s has brought him into fruitful relationships with many leading orchestras and soloists, among them the Academy of Ancient Music and the Philharmonia.

He complements and refreshes his work in Cambridge through the many other musical activities in which he engages.

At King’s, he has sought to maintain and enhance the reputation of the world-famous Choir, considerably broadening the daily service repertoire, commissioning new music from leading composers, principally for A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, and developing its activities in broadcasting, recording and touring. He has conceived and introduced the highly successful annual festival, Easter at King’s, from which the BBC regularly broadcasts, and, in its wake, a series of high-profile performances throughout the year, Concerts at King’s. One of the most exciting innovations in this context was the first ever live simultaneous transmission of a concert (Handel Messiah) direct to cinemas across Europe and North America.

Between 1995 and 2007 he was Chief Conductor of the BBC Singers and since then has been Conductor Laureate. During his time with the Singers, he was much praised for creating an integrated choral sound from this group of first-class singers, all of whom are professional soloists in their own right. With the Singers he relished the opportunity to showcase challenging contemporary music and gave a number of important premieres, including Giles Swayne Havoc, Ed Cowie Gaia, and Francis Grier Passion, all these with the distinguished ensemble, Endymion.

Friday 27th May • Arvo Pärt

His many recordings with the BBC Singers include albums of Tippett, Richard Strauss and Bach.

From 1983 to 2009 he was Conductor of the Cambridge University Musical Society, one of the UK’s oldest music societies, a role in which he has not only conducted many orchestral works, but most of the major works for chorus and orchestra. Highlights have included Mahler Symphony No. 8 in the Royal Albert Hall and Britten War Requiem in Coventry Cathedral on the 50th anniversary of its bombing.

His recordings with CUMS include Verdi Quattro Pezzi Sacri and Goehr The Death of Moses. As part of the 800th anniversary celebrations of Cambridge University he gave the première of The Sorcerer’s Mirror

by Peter Maxwell Davies.

Performances as an organ recitalist also find him travelling the world. He has played in locations as diverse as Houston and Dallas, Leeds and Birmingham Town Halls, Westminster, Lincoln and St David’s Cathedrals, the Performing Arts Centre in Hong Kong, Haderslev Cathedral in Denmark, and Salt Lake’s huge LDS Conference Center, where he played to an audience of several thousand people.

At the American Guild of Organists’ Convention in Minneapolis-St Paul in 2008, he gave the première of Judith Bingham’s organ concerto, Jacob’s Ladder; in the Messiaen centenary year he performed La Nativité du Seigneur in King’s Chapel. He has recorded Bach Clavierübung Pt.3 and the Leipzig Chorale Preludes for BBC Radio 3; discs of on the organ of King’s include albums of music by Howells and Elgar and Priory Records have released a DVD of popular repertoire.

Stephen has played his part in serving a number of organisations in his field. From his teenage years until 2008 he was a member of the Royal College of Organists, serving this organisation as a Council member, Honorary Secretary, President and VicePresident. He has been Warden of the Solo Performers’ section of the Incorporated Society of Musicians and President of the Incorporated Association of Organists; he is currently Chairman of the IAO Benevolent Fund, which seeks to support organists and church musicians in need. He was appointed CBE in the 2009 Queen’s Birthday Honours.

IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE SIBELIUS ACADEMY JAZZ DEPARTMENT

OHNE: Vibes, Sax/Clar, Guitar

9pm, The Ballroom Vibraphone: Panu Savolainen Saxophone/Clarinet: Jens Böckamp Guitar: Olli Hirvonen The Jazz Music Department of the Sibelius Academy was founded in 1983. As the only department at university level of its kind in Finland, its primary function is to provide the highest level of tuition in music based on the African-American tradition, in the country.

During its 26 years, the Jazz Music Department has established its place both in Finnish cultural life and on the international jazz scene by bringing together top Finnish jazz musicians as teachers and students.

Ohne, a Finnish-German jazz trio was formed in the beginning of year 2010 by vibraphonist Panu Savolainen. The unique line up, with saxophonist/ clarinetist Jens Böckamp and guitarist Olli Hirvonen, makes the trio sound fresh and interesting. Ohne plays original music by all of its members. The music is based strongly on jazz tradition and improvisation, with the trios acoustic sound as an important flavor.

The trio won the Young Nordic Jazz Comets Finnish competition in 2010 and after that has played at major jazz festivals in Finland.

THIS CONCERT IS BEING SUPPORTED BY THE SIBELIUS ACADEMY AND THE EMBASSY OF FINLAND. Panu Savolainen

THIS PERFORMANCE IS BEING SUPPORTED

BY THE EMBASSY OF ESTONIA. It is being recorded for broadcast on ‘Hear and Now’ – BBC Radio 3.

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Saturday 28th May

Estonia Light Through a Prism: our Curious Curator Project

11am, Canterbury City Centre – 20, Sun Street Arvo Part said his music was like 'light going through a prism' – An installation with projections, cubes hung from the ceiling, paintings, sketches, pencil drawings, poetry, film... all forms of visual/aural art to represent, in one way or another, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Working in conjunction with pre-recorded material, Sounds New Poets Dorothy Fryd and Nancy Gaffield will perform new work on the themes of reflection, refraction and feedback. There will also be music on tape, such as: Ulijas Pulkis – Crystal, Magnus Lindberg’s Etwas Zarter and Vykintas Baltakas’ Varga-Lied.

Dorothy Fryd is an Assistant Lecturer in Creative Writing at Kent University and co-tutor for the Barbican Poets Project. Her work has appeared in numerous publications including The Rialto, BRAND Literary Magazine and Forward Press.

She was Canterbury Poet of the Year in 2009 and short-listed for the Bridport 2010 Poetry Prize.

Nancy Gaffield is a poet, lecturer and PhD student at the University of Kent. She was born in the United States and lived in Japan for many years. Her book Tokaido Road, appeared in April 2011 from CB editions and received a Poetry Book Society recommendation.

Light Through A Prism: Our Curious Curator Project

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IN ASSOCIATION WITH PARK LANE GROUP

Velvet Rooms

1.15pm, St Gregory’s Centre Trumpet: Huw Morgan Piano: Timothy End Einojuhani Rautavaara Tarantará for Solo Trumpet Cecilia McDowall The Night Trumpeter 1. Power of Dreams 2. Kirchener's Ear Paul Max Edlin The Pathos of Lost Meaning Leoš Janáček In the Mists 1. Andante 2. Presto Matthew Roddie Caesium Bomb Harri Wessman Sonata for Trumpet & Piano Einojuhani Rautavaara’s Tarantará was commissioned by the Finnish Horn Club as the set piece for the annual National Brass Competition in 1976, and dedicated to the leading Finnish trumpet player Reima Jaatinen. Whilst providing plenty of technical challenges for the performer, the musical essence of the piece is rather melancholy, with the juxtaposition of slow, expansive intervals and rapid, intricate gestures continually enfeebled by a somewhat curious and sombre undercurrent.

Cecilia McDowall writes: The Night Trumpeter is one of many of McDowall’s brass works written for the British trumpeter Paul Archibald. Commissioned

by The Fibonacci Sequence, it was first performed by Archibald and pianist Katherine Sturrock at the Summer Music Society of Dorset in September 2002.

Both movements reach for historical connections between different uses, in the 16th Century, of the trumpet as a conveyor of information. Inspiration for the opening movement has been drawn from Rose Tremain's novel, Music and Silence, where she describes how the Duchess of Mecklenburg hired a night trumpeter to stand guard over her sleeping

Saturday 28th May • Estonia

grandson, the future King of Denmark, Christian IV. If the baby awoke the trumpeter was instructed to sound the alarm (probably waking the entire royal household as he did so). The Duchess feared the ‘power of dreams’ so the trumpeter was also commanded to play a lively melody ‘to chase away the child's terrors’.

The introduction sets the nocturnal pace, followed by a gentle rocking motion in the accompaniment with sustained trumpet line. Darker textures follow, leading to an alerting call. The middle section gives way to a distant bright trumpet tune to lift the baby’s spirits. The nightmare dispatched, the household now returns to its somnolent state.

The German architect, Kirchner, a contemporary of Christian IV, designed an early ‘bugging’ device which was shaped like a huge trumpet, structured on the Fibonacci sequence. This trumpet ‘ear’ was secreted between walls where Court conversation could be monitored in seclusion. In my imaginings this aural instrument might have produced diverse results, from sweeping reverberation to a perpetuum mobile of discourse. The trumpet opens the movement with the bell directed into the piano, to exaggerate the resonance of the harmonics. After this, all manner of musical exchanges follow. © Cecilia McDowall The Pathos of Lost Meaning – I went to a lecture given by writer Sarah Wood on the interrelationship of music with other art forms. The words ‘pathos’ and ‘lost meaning’ struck me - I knew I had a title for my new piece. I discussed this lecture with Jennifer Brisk, a singer and a poet, whose interpretation came out in a long and profound poem, in three parts, ‘Vociferous’, ‘The Isle of the Dead’ and ‘Eli, Eli’. It takes the reader on a journey, the search for truth amid the chaos of life, and how the poet contemplates all. It eludes specification of meaning, always uncertain, yet absorbing in imagery. It takes us through grand historical, cultural architecture and leaves us as mere dust.

Then comes the foul apocalypse The deepening dent on the sphinx at Giza The smudging flood Relics go crashing into themselves Into nothing We are left only dust

We scamper little crabs into holes Holes we build our lives in That we lift up like nests into oaks Holes that make life into nets Into the gold nimbus The swallowed moon The haunted Avalon And its cemeteries of rotted fruit Unveiling mirrors Blinding candles Burn out the sockets With their waxy truths Jennifer Brisk So, together with inspiration from Beethoven’s deeply nostalgic Piano Sonata no. 30, Op 109, I set about composing, letting the poem and Beethoven’s musical poetry guide me. Thus there are twists and turns toward a seeming apotheosis. Yet, despite all the lyricism, the plaintive calls, the fierce passages and the music’s own path toward a climactic end, that same level of doubt remains throughout.

Beethoven’s muse, the poet’s cries, all lead to a work that cannot truly cope with what confronts it. This work was sponsored by Lady Fraser and was first performed by Huw Morgan and Timothy End in the PLG New Year Series on 13th January 2011 in the Purcell Room, Southbank Centre. © Paul Max Edlin 2010 Premiered in 1913, Janáček’s In the Mists are a soulful and introspective set of piano pieces, characterizing the composer’s angst and musical sensitivity during a doleful period in his life, following the death of his daughter, Olga. With a halting nature and delicate phrases, these pieces are a far cry from exhibitions of technical wizadry, instead requiring a light, rhapsodic touch, as if the piano were at times lost in bank of clouds.

The first piece (Andante) features a simple, yet haunting, theme that is notable for its occasional tonal ambivalence; the underlying accompaniment – fluid, but constantly in motion - adds an element of impatience. A more turbulent contrasting section juxtaposes a rigid, chorale-like figure against a wave of ascending scales to create dramatic tension.

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Reminiscent of an extemporaneous Gypsy doina, the melodies of the fourth piece (Presto) fluctuate widely in pace and mood. The left hand, which plays a rather obsessive two-note figure, figure behaves like a strummed chord at the start of a doina, wherein the soloist (right hand) adds melodic flourishes.

A dynamic and extrovert addition to the solo trumpet repertoire, Matthew Roddie’s Caesium Bomb was written for the Scottish trumpeter Angela Whelan, and is part of a series of avant garde works Roddie created for unaccompanied brass instruments. Intended to depict the violent reaction between caesium and water, the piece uses a range of unconventional and ‘extended’ techniques to create a truly ‘theatrical’ performance experience.

The Trumpet Sonata was written by Harri Wessman in 1991 for the virtuoso Finnish trumpeter Jouko Harjanne, soloist and principal trumpet of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and premiered in the same year at the International Trumpet Guild Conference in Louisiana. Constructed in traditional threemovement form, its rhapsodic outer movements, combined with a hushed second, hark back to cornet ‘salon music’ of the 19th century.

Since becoming Brass Winner of the BBC Young Musician 2006, Huw Morgan has appeared in concert and recital around the globe. Born in South Wales in 1987 and educated at Chetham’s School of Music, he graduated from the Royal Academy of Music with first-class honours, studying under Professor James Watson, Mark David and Robert Farley. Hailed by The Times as an artist of ‘high intelligence and immaculate professionalism,’ Huw is the youngest ever winner of both the International Trumpet Guild Solo and Orchestral competitions, and in 2010 scooped both the Wind Section Award and Philip Jones Memorial Prize at the Royal Overseas League Annual Music Competition. Last year he also became the first ever trumpeter to be selected for the Making Music/Philip & Dorothy Green Award for Young Concert Artists, and won 1st prize in the 2011 Only Brass International Trumpet Competition (Belgium). In addition to his solo career, Huw pursues his interest in chamber music as a founder member of brass ensemble QuintEssence, and has appeared as guest principal with the Hallé, BBC Symphony, Academy of St Martin-inthe-Fields and Philharmonia orchestras.

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IN ASSOCIATION WITH CANTERBURY CHRIST CHURCH UNIVERSITY

“To Hear the Voices Still Unheard: the Jewish Challenge to Baltic Musicology”

2.30pm – 3.30pm, Lecture Theatre, Canterbury Christ Church University Keynote speaker: KEVIN KARNES Notes will be provided at the conference.

Film: The Singing Revolution.

A Single Nation. A Million Voices.

The Fall of an Empire 4pm, Powell Building [95 mins]

First occupied by the Soviets in 1939, then by the Nazis, and then by the Soviets again, Estonia lived through decades of terror. By the end of World War II, more than one-quarter of the population had been deported to Siberia, been executed, or had fled the country. Music sustained the Estonian people during those years, helping to maintain the Estonian language and sense of culture. It was such a crucial part of their struggle for freedom that their successful bid to reestablish their independence is known as the Singing Revolution.

The Singing Revolution film shares how, between 1987 and 1991, hundreds of thousands of Estonians gathered publicly to sing forbidden patriotic songs and share protest speeches, risking their lives to proclaim their desire for independence. It tells the moving and dramatic story of how the Estonian people strategically, willfully, sung their way to freedom --and helped topple an empire along the way. The Singing Revolution is the first film to tell this historically vital tale. “This is a story that has not been told outside Estonia,” said filmmaker James Tusty, who is of Estonian descent. “We felt it was time the rest of the world knew of the amazing events that happened here.”

Saturday 28th May • Estonia

A controlled freedom – meaning improvisational elements that are partly locked in terms of pitch and happening in a certain time span – is another important ingredient in this piece. Kaarea was commissioned by the Time of Music festival in Viitasaari, Finland. It was premiered during the same festival in July 2006 by ensemble U:.

The Singing Revolution

Ensemble U:

7.30pm, Augustine Hall Flute: Tarmo Johannes Clarinet: Helena Tuuling Violin: Merje Roomere Violoncello: Levi-Danel Mägila Percussion: Vambola Krigul Piano: Taavi Kerikmäe Tatjana Kozlova Horizontals Antti Auvinen Kaarea Arvo Pärt Diagrams Vladimir Tarnopolski O Pärt – Op Art Helena Tulve stream 2 [UK Premiere] Colin Matthews, Oliver Knussen, George Benjamin A Purcell Garland Märt-Matis Lill My Weeping Voice is the Wind of Autumn Tatjana Kozlova on Horizontals: The work's title derives form the fact that verticality plays minimal role in this composition. In spite of the fast movements through the entire piece the general development of broader sound-masses is kept relatively slow.

Antti Auvinen on Kaarea: I’m particularly interested in rhythmical processes. It is my intention to create such rhythmical processes that could create a feeling of a direction in music. And even more, my intention is to create musical situations in which a feeling of multiple directions could occur simultaneously.

Then, the musical time itself could be perceived as a layered phenomenon in a composition. The title, Kaarea, refers to a curve-like shape or form in music.

Arvo Pärt's Diagrammid (Diagrams) for solo piano belongs to the composer's remarkably prolific period that has sometimes been called “modernistic” or “serial” and is far less known but nevertheless artistically at least as noteworthy as his later tintinnabuli style.

During these years Pärt often used dodecaphonic rows and serialistic processes in his compositions.

Diagrams is based on a symmetrical 12 note row, where the first four notes form a transposed B-A-C-H motive, the second hexacord is a tranposed inversion of the first half. The piece consists of two contrasting sections Rahutult (agitatedly) and Aeglaselt (slowly).

Although there is a rigid organization regarding the pitches, the exact rhythm is left to be defined by the performer. Diagrams is one of the pieces in Pärt's mid-sixties, that paved the path to his soon-to-bewritten masterpieces Second Symphony (1966) and Credo (1968).

Vladimir Tarnopolski’s O Pärt – Op Art – a triad installation, as the composer calls it – is a hommage to Arvo Pärt, a neat game over the central elements of Pärt's tintinnabuli style. It is even more minimalistic than Pärt's own music and thus it requires a great amount of patience and attention form the listeners.

The original version is written for clarinet, violin, viola, violoncello and piano. In the current version the viola part is divided between bass flute, vibraphone and other instruments of the ensemble.

The arrangement is realized by ensemble U:.

Helena Tulve on stream 2 (2009): In the past I wished my music to remain elusive – as if it’s escaping from you, being impossible to capture or crystallize in a specific moment – but now, although I am still fond of that idea, I no longer wish to create elusive works but music that would give a vivid and profound experience. I want it to contain strength that is vague, but perceptible – the strength that is not trickling, but acting with undeniable power. Then again I still want it to retain the sensitivity of a precise equilibrium as a whole. stream – unknown path, slow deviation, quiet fluctuation, unexpected currents, grains in the quiet wind, flux and reflux, airwaves, a melody... “stream 2” is dedicated to ensemble U:. www.internationalcomposerpyramid.org

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A Purcell Garland was written in 1995 to honour of the tercentenary of Purcell's death. These creative transcriptions of Purcell works by three of Britain's leading contemporary composers include George Benjamin’s Fantasia 7, Oliver Knussen’s ...upon one note, and Colin Matthews’ Fantasia XIII. Märt-Matis Lill on My Weeping Voice is the Wind of Autumn: For a long time, I have been interested in something that could be called an opposition between the objective and the subjective in music as well as in art in general. I used to prefer more objective or distant ways of expression in my creative practice, but lately I have been enjoying the idea of incorporating a more intimate and emotional approach. I see the conflict and concordance between these two opposites as similar to the relation between nature and man. I draw inspiration from classical Asian poetry which deals extensively with the relation of nature and man. The title of my work is taken from one such poem:

THIS CONCERT IS BEING SUPPORTED

BY THE EMBASSY OF ESTONIA.

Shake oh tomb!

My weeping voice is the wind of autumn

This haiku, considered one of the most powerful in Japanese literature, was written by Basho after the shocking and untimely death of his closest friend. Hence the unusually emotional style, where nature and man (the objective and the subjective) are joined in a unique and expressive way, unprecedented in haiku tradition. I tried to convey this interconnectedness in my music. I wrote this piece while thinking of two young musicians whose trip to Finland in autumn 2005 ended at the bottom of the sea.

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Founded in 2002 by Taavi Kerikmäe and Tarmo Johannes, Ensemble U:’s repertoire comprises contemporary classics, experimental and improvisational compositions; new works of Estonian and other composers. Ensemble U: have performed at festivals of contemporary music in Estonia, Finland, Romania and Lithuania; at lecture-concerts and workshops. Co-works include: with choreographer Mart Kangro Mäng (Game, 2006), Romeo ja Julia (Romeo and Juliet, 2008), Harmoonia (Harmony, 2009). Ensemble Uhave produced two CDs: U: (2009), and Protuberances (2011). In 2009, Ensemble U: was awarded the Estonian Cultural Endowment for the concert season 2008 and the CD album U:.

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Ensemble U:

CoMA AT CoMa at SOUNDS SOUNDS NEW NEW

Sunday 29th May

Lithuania – Estonia – Poland: Sounds New Community Day

11am, Augustine Hall, Augustine House Kent County Youth Choir, Canterbury Christ Church University orchestra members Directed by: Scott Stroman

great choruses of the later Mass in B minor. It begins with a brilliant orchestral introduction in which the trumpets feature prominently. This leads directly into an equally impressive chorus, ‘Magnificat anima mea Dominum’ (My soul doth magnify the Lord). The ten verses and Gloria that comprise the Magnificat canticle form a continuous and homogenous whole, in contrast with the libretto of an oratorio or Passion with its wide variety of extracts from many different Biblical and poetical sources. For this reason there are no recitatives in the Magnificat. Instead, each verse receives extended treatment, the chorus supplying appropriate emphasis to sections such as ‘Fecit potentiam in brachio suo’ (He hath showed strength with his arm), while the more reflective verses are assigned to the soloists. In the trio, ‘Suscepit Israel’ (He hath holpen his servant Israel), Bach gives the oboes a plainsong melody traditionally associated with the Magnificat. It appears as a cantus firmus, i.e. a melody in greatly extended notes, against which the three soloists weave decorative vocal lines. For the final verse, ‘Sicut erat in principio …. Amen’ (As it was in the beginning …. Amen), Bach appropriately mirrors the words by recalling the music that was heard ‘as it was in the beginning’, the Magnificat therefore ending as exuberantly and dramatically as it began. © John Bawden

A concert featuring Bach’s and Scott Stroman’s Magnificats

CoMA

Scott Stromam

IN ASSOCIATION WITH KENT MUSIC AND CANTERBURY CHRIST CHURCH UNIVERSITY

MAGNIFICAT!

Bach’s Magnificat was written in Leipzig for the 1723 Christmas Vespers. This original version was in E-flat and included several additional Christmas texts inserted at various points in the piece. Some years later he revised it, removing the Christmas interpolations to make the piece suitable for use throughout the year and transposing it into D, a much brighter and more satisfactory key for the trumpets in particular.

The Magnificat is conceived on a grand scale, requiring five soloists, a five-part choir and, for its time, an unusually large orchestra consisting of three trumpets, two flutes, two oboes, strings and continuo. In its splendour and jubilation the piece anticipates the

1.30pm, Canterbury Christ Church University Chapel CoMA is dedicated to enabling amateur musicians to get involved in contemporary music. Commissioning leading composers to write music which is artistically challenging and suited to the technical abilities of amateur ensembles. CoMA runs amateur contemporary music ensembles throughout the UK plus workshops and events. This year, CoMA has had a composers in-residence course and a performers in-residence course throughout Sounds New. The programme, directed by Gregory Rose, will include new commissions by Estonian composers: Ülo Krigul, Tonu Korvits,Malle Mattis and Timo Steiner This performance is supported by the Embassy of Estonia.

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Sunday 29th May • Lithuania – Estonia – Poland: Sounds New Community Day

Tintinnabuli! A Choral Fantasy

4.30pm, Augustine Hall Choirs: Kent County Youth Choir – conductor: Scott Stroman Cantata – conductor: Grenville Hancox St. Stephen’s Choir – conductor: Stephen Barker CCCU Chapel Choir – conductor: James Brown A mini-choir festival. A choral extravaganza.

This concert will include beautiful choral gems such as William Harris’ Holy is the True Light, Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Oh Taste and See, Charles Stanford’s Justorum Anime, Edward Bairstow’s I sat down and Stanford’s Ave Maria.

This concert is finished off by all the choirs joining together to sing Arvo Pärt’s Magnificat – a true manifestation of the new compositional technique of tintinnabulation invented by Arvo Pärt.

YES! SPECTACULAR with Amadrums 7.45pm, The Gulbenkian Theatre AMADRUMS

Choreography/Dance: Raimonda Gudavičiūte, Mantas Stabačinskas Violoncello: Snieguole Mikalauskiene Composer: Egidija Medekšaite Costume design: Rūta Biliūnaite Lighting design/Video: Vladimiras Šerstabojevas Concept/production: Audra Molyte

has already acquired a fine repertoire that includes works of contemporary percussion literature written for a multitude of instrumental groups, compositions with the elements of musical theatre, electronics, pieces in a similar style to jazz, as well as their own compositions.

Since its very beginnings the band has performed at a number of renowned musical festivals, both international and Polish ones, such as 'DAM Festival' in Kosovo, 'Nagyerdei İsz' in Hungary, 'Warsaw Autumn' - International Festival of Contemporary Music, Percussion Festival 'Sources & Inspirations' and 'Audio Art Festival'. Amadrums Trio specialises in contemporary and popular music. Although being young art adepts, the members can already boast a number of premier performances of several Polish works, some of which have been written especially for them. Amadrums Trio is the winner of the Grand Prix Award and 'Sound New' Award of the 14th International Competition of Contemporary Chamber Music. During the concerts, the audience has an opportunity to listen to works that combine elements of various cultures. The Trio purposefully chooses pieces that reflect the eclectic mixture of styles and fresh inspirations.

THIS CONCERT IS BEING SUPPORTED

BY THE POLISH CULTURAL INSTITUTE Yes! Spectacular

Thierry de Mey Musique de Tables Hannah Kulenty Arcus Rüdiger Pawassar Sculpture 3 Agata Zubel Suita Yes! is a strong cross-Art performance including 3D visuals, dance, poetry and new music. Egidija Medekšait÷ is one of Lituania’s most exciting younger composers and brings us today a multi-art form installation... Be prepared to be taken into another world!

Amadrums Trio consists of Wiktoria Chrobak-Mielec, Rafał Tyliba and Maciej Hałoń - musicians studying at the Academy of Music in Cracow in the percussion class of Jan Pilch and Stanisław Welanyk. The group has been working together since 2007 and 44

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Amadrums

Arvo Pärt's biography

Arvo Pärt's biography Arvo Pärt was born in 1935 in Paide, Estonia. After studies with Heino Eller’s composition class in Tallinn, he worked from 1958 to 1967 as a sound engineer for Estonian Radio. In 1980 he emigrated with his family to Vienna and then, one year later, travelled on a DAAD scholarship to Berlin, where he has lived ever since.

As one of the most radical representatives of the socalled ‘Soviet Avant-garde’, Pärt’s work passed through a profound evolutionary process. His first creative period began with neo-classical piano music. Then followed ten years in which he made his own individual use of the most important compositional techniques of the avant-garde: dodecaphony, composition with sound masses, aleatoricism, collage technique. Nekrolog (1960), the first piece of dodecaphonic music written in Estonia, and Perpetuum mobile (1963) gained the composer his first recognition by the West. In his collage works ‘avant-garde’ and ‘early’ music confront each other boldly and irreconcilably, a confrontation which attains its most extreme expression in his last collage piece Credo (1968).

But by this time all the compositional devices Pärt had employed to date had lost all their former fascination and begun to seem pointless to him.

The search for his own voice drove him into a withdrawal from creative work lasting nearly eight years, during which he engaged with the study of Gregorian Chant, the Notre Dame school and classical vocal polyphony.

In 1976 music emerged from this silence – the little piano piece Für Alina. It is obvious that with this work Pärt had discovered his own path.

The new compositional principle used here for the first time, which he called tintinnabuli (Latin for ‘little bells’), has defined his work right up to today.

The ‘tintinnabuli principle’ does not strive towards a progressive inrease in complexity, but rather towards an extreme reduction of sound materials and a limitation to the essential.

Creative Periods I. 1958-1968 Neoclassicism – Avant-garde As befits one of the most radical exponents of the so-called Soviet Avant-garde, Pärt’s oeuvre bears

witness to the composer’s own deep-reaching musical evolution. His first period of creativity began with neo-classicist piano music (Two Sonatinas op. 1 and Partita op. 2), with the next ten years being given over to the most important compositional techniques of the avant-garde – twelve tone serialism, sonic fields, indeterminism, collage technique – all of which saw highly original use in his music.

Nekrolog (1960) was the young composer’s first important work and, at the same time, the first twelve-tone work of Estonian provenance. It was both his first success and his first scandal, provoking official accusations of “western decadence”.

Perpetuum Mobile (1963) is one single, pulsing, powerful wave of sound, which is constructed from variously pulsating individual parts. The piece is characterized by its serial structure, which is reduced to radically simple formulae. Both works, Nekrolog and Perpetuum Mobile, garnered the composer initial recognition in the West.

Symphony No. 1 (1963) – the composition with which he earned his diploma. Arvo Pärt left the academy as an experienced and mature composer.

Collage Technique Collage sur B-A-C-H (1964). Pro et Contra, Symphony Nr. 2 (1966). The composer’s further stylistic development led him to experiment with collage technique.

In the works of this period, Pärt juxtaposed two highly discrepant ideas of sound: avant-garde passages alternate with direct quotations or imitations of earlier musical styles. His own music suddenly took on the nature of arena, playing host to battles between the stylistic means of modernity (Pärt’s music) and the simple, transcendental beauty on which he had set his sights (the musical quotations). New and old music stood opposite one another, irreconcilably at odds.

This sort of confrontation experienced its ultimate, unsurpassed climax in his last collage work, Credo. Credo (1968). With this work, in which the composer took on Bach’s Prelude in C Major (WTC 1), Pärt intensified and hardened his musical language to an extreme degree – “an amassment of violent power, straining at its own limits like an avalanche” (Part). This battle between the two musical worlds is concluded by Bach’s victory over the modernistic cataclysms in Pärt’s own music.

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Arvo Pärt's biography

II. 1968 to the present Crisis: 1968-1976 The 'triumph' of the musical quotations in Credo marked a decisive turning-point in Pärt’s development. From that point on, he regarded all his previous compositional techniques as meaningless. Pärt’s quest for his own musical voice drove him into a creative crisis that dragged on for eight years, with the composer unable to predict when he might once again emerge. During this period, Pärt had to “learn how to walk all over again” (Pärt). In the wake of this artistic turning point, Pärt withdrew completely and stopped composing. In search of a new musical language, he studied Gregorian chant, the Notre Dame School and classic vocal polyphony. Pärt’s intensive study of these eras was essential to his new outlook on music, a fact best illustrated by his statement that “…hidden behind the art of connecting two or three notes lies a cosmic mystery.” The composer’s eight years of silence were steeped in the intense desire to comprehend precisely this. Pärt’s long silence was broken only by the Symphony No. 3 (1971), his sole authorized transitional work from this period.

1976: Tintinnabuli In 1976, the long silence finally gave birth to music – to the piano miniature Für Alina. It is clear that, with this piece, Pärt had found himself, and the compositional technique he used then for the first time inspires his oeuvre to this day. The technique, upon which Pärt has bestowed the name Tintinnabuli (Latin for 'little bells'), is achieved not through a progressive increase in complexity, but much rather results from an extreme reduction of the sonic material and from the discipline of limiting oneself solely to that which is essential.

The Tintinnabuli technique of composition is a process by which a form of polyphony is built out of tonal material drawn from beyond the paradigms of functional harmony. In vocal works, structure and form are additionally subject to all parameters of the text (syllables, words, accents, grammar, punctuation).

At the style’s core lies a 'duality', a new sort of 'basic structure': two parts join to form an inseparable whole. One of the two is the omnipresent major/ minor triad, the notes of which are bound to the other – the so-called 'melodic voice' – by strict rules.

This 'duality' of two juxtaposed parts, which exist only in connection with one another, joins to form the smallest and most important building block of the Tintinnabuli style.

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The combination of this compositional style’s formal logic and its starkly reduced sonic material inevitably results in an extremely dense musical texture. The focus on the basic musical unit remains Pärt’s foremost concern. Thanks to his ascetic compositional approach, his music leaves the listener with an impression of concentration and objectivity. "Music,” says Pärt, “must exist in and of itself … the mystery must be present, independent of any particular instrument … the highest value of music lies beyond its mere tone colour.” This, the composer’s aesthetic credo, has resulted in many hitherto unusual performance practice characteristics. A case in point is the work Fratres. It was originally composed as music in three parts – without, however, being connected to any specific tone colour. Consequently, Fratres can play host to various constellations of tone colours, a fact which has led to versions for various types of ensembles.

The birth of the Tintinnabuli style is rooted firmly in the history of European music. One might view this style as a synthesis of old and new, with classic vocal polyphony on the one hand and serial music on the other. Far from copying either style, the composer has internalized the essences of both and combined them with his compositional technique, which one might call a sort of 'new austerity' (quite literally: 'punctus contra punctum').

The result is an extremely individual world of sound marked by both the impersonal and the personal, by both discipline and subjectivity.

By now, there have been several attempts to label the Tintinnabuli style such as “new simplicity”, “minimal music”, etc. Tintinnabuli is a new phenomenon which is difficult to analyse and classify by way of existing musicological standards.

With his compositions, Pärt has brought about a paradigm-shift in modern music, and the attempt to analyse this shift has in turn given rise to its own process of creative discovery.

Nora Pärt, Saale Kareda _______________ * The Credo scandal – At the time of its première, Pärt’s open affirmation of his Christian faith (the sung text 'Credo in Jesum Christum') amounted to an additional political provocation, and it was viewed as an attack on the regime. This scandal was part of the wild, incessant back-and-forth between approval and outright rejection, which had begun with Nekrolog in 1960 and finally culminated in Pärt’s emigration: in 1980, Estonia’s communist government encouraged him to leave the country.

Ticket collection Tickets paid for in advance may be collected at the door on the day, 30 minutes before the event.

Access For an Access Guide to all venues, places contact Sounds New on Tel: +44 (0)1227 780 800 or e-mail: michelle@soundsnew.org.uk The Sounds New Contemporary Music Festival reserves the right to make changes without prior notice. In the event of such changes taking place, information will be available on our website, at the box office/s and at the Sounds New office.

ALL TICKETS [EXCEPT ROVER TICKETS] MAY BE BOUGHT FROM The New Marlowe Theatre Visitor Information Centre 12 – 13 Sun Street, Canterbury, Kent.

CT1 2HX Box Office +44 (0)1227 787 787

CONCERTS HELD AT THE GULBENKIAN THEATRE CAN ALSO BE PURCHASED AT The Gulbenkian Theatre University of Kent Canterbury, Kent CT2 7NB www.gulbenkiantheatre.co.uk [online booking also available] Box Office +44 (0)1227 769 075

ALL ROVER TICKETS MUST BE BOUGHT THROUGH THE SOUNDS NEW OFFICE

TICKETS ALSO AVAILABLE ON THE DOOR

Sounds New Contemporary Music Festival 8 Orange Street Canterbury, Kent CT1 2JA info@soundsnew.org.uk www.soundsnew.org.uk Box office +44 (0)1227 780 800

For further details and/or assistance, please contact Michelle Castelletti – Festival Manager

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Sunday 29th May • Lithuania – Estonia – Poland: Sounds New Community Day

CONCERTS

Tonight’s concert is co-promoted by Orchestras Live, and is one of more than 50 concerts across the country we are supporting this year. Working with our partners, our vision is to enable as many people as possible to experience inspirational, high quality, live orchestral music.

To find out more about our work, bringing you the very best of the British orchestras, visit

www.orchestraslive.org.uk/concerts where you can also join our free email list for regular updates.

Yes! Spectacular

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PATRONS OF SOUNDS NEW CONTEMPORARY MUSIC FESTIVAL The Very Reverend Robert Willis – Dean of Canterbury Cathedral Professor Robin Baker – Vice-Chancellor of Canterbury Christ Church University Nigel Douglas – Opera Singer & Writer John Harle – composer and saxophonist John Wallace OBE – Principal of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama Professor Michael Wright CBE SOUNDS NEW BOARD OF DIRECTORS Ian Odgers (Chair) Peter Bolton Andrew Clague Nicholas Cleobury Richard Finn Roderick Watkins SOUNDS NEW ARTISTIC BOARD Professor Paul Max Edlin (Artistic Director and Chair of Artistic Group) Michelle Castelletti (Festival Manager) Peter Cook (Education Project Leader) Willie Cooper (Financial Administrator) Professor Paul Patterson (Artistic Advisor) Professor Roderick Watkins (Artistic Advisor) CONSULTANTS Christine Cummings (Administration) Dr. Rosemary Dunn (Education) Sarah Field Dr. Eva Mantzourani Matthew Wright INTERNSHIPS Alex Hughes, Anna Hillary, Ashley Bye, Clare Kingman, Danny Glavin, Elena Broerse, Heather Greer, Jacquelyne Morison, Jason Learner, John Perfect, Josh Thorne, Kat Holroyd , Katie Mills, Leanne Cox, Liam Bradbury-Sparvell, Luke Green, Rebekah Mahon

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Sounds New Friends Benefactors Mr & Mrs Ian Odgers Patrons Mr Ian Carmalt Mr & Mrs Peter Berg Mr & Mrs Stuart Field Mr. Richard Finn Lady Juliet Tadgell Ms Sue Wanless Special Friends Ms Michelle Castelletti Dr. Stephen Cotrell Mr Ian Gordon Professor and Mrs Grenville Hancox Dr & Mrs Paul Hubert Dr Colin Johnson Mr & Mrs Cliff Liles Dr. Eva Mantzourani Prof Jan Pahl Mr & Mrs A Rogers

Good Friends Mr & Mrs John Andrewes Ms M Anwell Mr & Mrs Michael Berridge Mr. Peter Bolton Mr Alan Boniface Mr Tim Carlyle Mr J Carney Mr A Copley Dr Diane Crampton Mr Mark Dellar Mrs Julia Fellows Mr Brian Michael Hogden Ms Laura Jowers Mr Michael John Lewis Mr & Mrs Jerome Neff Mr & Mrs A Race Mr A Scott Mr & Mrs D Thake Mrs B Williams

ARTISTIC PARTNERS:

FESTIVAL PARTNERS:

SPONSORS:

The City of Aarhus: Dept. of Culture & Citizen's Service

The Danish Composers' Society

FUNDERS:

TRUSTS AND FOUNDATIONS:

Seary Charitable Trust

The Michael Tippett Musical Foundation The Dean and Chapter of Canterbury Cathedral

The Leche Trust

The Boltini Trust

John Swire 1989 Charitable Trust

The Derek Butler Trust

SPECIAL THANKS TO: Canterbury Festival, Deal Festival of Music and the Arts, Kent Music, Canterbury Choral Society, Crowthers of Canterbury, MicklePrint, Sidney Cooper Gallery and the UK Conservatoires www.internationalcomposerpyramid.org

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www.soundsnew.org.uk