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Wednesday 28 May
Bath Abbey
Messiaen Centenary Celebration Jessica Chaney & Vincent Knapp©
Diego Masson conductor Joanna MacGregor piano Cynthia Millar ondes Martenot Dhafer Youssef voice and oud Bath Camerata Wells Cathedral School Chamber Choir Britten Sinfonia Bach Keyboard Concerto in D minor BWV 1052 Dhafer Youssef Les Ondes Orientales World premiere (BBC Radio 3 Commission) Interval Messiaen Trois Petites Liturgies de la Présence Divine Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) is one of contemporary music’s most original, passionate and exciting voices. Honing his modal, rhythmic and highly colourful style early on in his career, his music explores the burnished timbres of Eastern percussion, the brilliance of birdsong and the mysteries of faith, while coming out of the lyrical French tradition of Debussy and Poulenc. And it’s fun to listen to, full of warmth and love, humour and lifeenhancing energy. Trois Petites Liturgies de la Présence Divine, which makes up the second
half of this concert, has hugely demanding and joyful roles for choir, piano and string orchestra, percussion section and the instrument he loved to write for, the ondes Martenot. The music in the first half connects Messiaen’s complex, driving, exuberant style with two composers who use same the building blocks. First Bach’s powerfully urgent D minor Keyboard Concerto, with its amazing string patterns and tough welding-together of many voices, echoes Messiaen’s own linearity and confident technique; the ability to conceive of fiercely independent lines that operate seemingly individually, yet are able to produce a satisfying, harmonious whole. And the textural colours, modality and sheer brilliance of singer and oud player Dhafer Youssef’s art, drawing on Eastern and Sufi heritage, mirror the depth and richness of Messiaen’s influences. We are thrilled to be presenting Dhafer’s new work Les Ondes Orientales for himself, piano and string orchestra tonight, a BBC Radio 3 commission, and hope you find this concert celebrating Messiaen’s 100th birthday an inspirational experience. Joanna MacGregor Artistic Director
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) Keyboard Concerto in D minor (BWV 1052) 1 2 3
Allegro Adagio Allegro
Bach’s Fifth Brandenburg Concerto (1721), with its extended and florid written-out harpsichord cadenza in the first movement, is generally regarded as the earliest known example of a keyboard concerto, though in addition to the harpsichord there are parts for solo violin and flute. But Bach exerted far greater influence on the development of the genre with his keyboard concertos for one or more harpsichords that he composed during his period in Leipzig. Between 1734 and 1739 he completed fourteen harpsichord concertos, only one of which – in C major (BWV 1061) for two harpsichords – would appear to be an entirely original composition. All of the others, including the D minor (BWV 1052) concerto, were conceived originally for other solo instruments, mainly the violin. Throughout the Baroque era this was a common practice; for example, two of Bach’s most celebrated choral masterpieces, the Christmas Oratorio and the B minor Mass, are largely derived from
With the generous support of :
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Evelyn Strasburger Recorded for future broadcast on BBC Radio 3 at 7pm on 30 May
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Bath Abbey
Messiaen Centenary Celebration material composed for different circumstances and with different words. In addition to a previous life as a nowlost violin concerto, two movements from the D minor keyboard concerto were used in Cantata No. 146, with organ as the solo instrument. Bach composed the D minor concerto for himself to play with the members of the Leipzig Collegium Musicum, a group of students supplemented by professional musicians and probably Bach’s elder sons. The Collegium Musicum had been founded by Telemann in 1702 and Bach was appointed its director in 1729, five years after arriving in Leipzig as Cantor at the town’s Thomaskirche. The ensemble met regularly on Friday evenings in a Leipzig coffee house; these ordinary meetings were evidently social as well as musical occasions, but these were supplemented by invitations to play at civic or academic events for which Bach might compose a special cantata or organize some al fresco musical entertainment. The D minor Concerto is divided into the usual three movements of the Baroque concerto, whose shape was to influence the concertos of Mozart, Beethoven and beyond into the nineteenth century. Spirited outer movements in the home key frame a central slow movement in G minor in which the soloist spins an expressive cantelina. Although Bach would have intended the solo keyboard part for harpsichord, by the time of the rediscovery of Bach’s music in the first half of the Page 2
nineteenth century, his non-organ keyboard pieces were played on the piano, a practice that survived well into the twentieth century. The rediscovery of keyboard instruments of Bach’s period, particularly the harpsichord, gradually began to supplant the piano from its position in Baroque repertoire, though of course every amateur pianist, then as now, played Bach on the piano. In recent years, however, there has been a revival of interest in playing Bach on the piano from artists such as Murray Perahia, Angela Hewitt and Joanna MacGregor. Placing any historical arguments to one side, if the music sounds convincing when played on the piano, then why not? – and who’s to say Bach, if he could hear it for himself, might not rather like it? Philip Reed
Dhafer Youssef (b.1967) Les Ondes Orientales is Dhafer’s first work for string orchestra. He was invited by Joanna MacGregor with support from BBC Radio 3, to write a piece which gave both Joanna and Dhafer space for improvisation, within a composition written for string ensemble. The inspiration for the piece grew out of Dhafer’s response to Joanna MacGregor’s music; the enormous range of colours and moods that she brings to her performances from powerfully rhythmic to beautifully soulful. This twenty minute long piece opens with solo and duo improvisations from Dhafer and Joanna before the orchestra join in with a dark, mysterious melody. Although it is written in 17, the heartbeat of the music falls into a lilting 4 beat dance-like rhythm, propelled along by the pizzicato of the strings and oud. The melody gradually builds, sweeping more and more of the players up into the driving rhythmic theme before its passion expires, and it’s gone, left hanging in the air above the Abbey. Polly Eldridge
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Wednesday 28 May
Bath Abbey
Messiaen Centenary Celebration Olivier Messiaen (1908–1992) Trois petites liturgies de la Présence Divine 1. Antienne de la conversation intérieure 2. Séquence du Verbe, cantique divin 3. Psalmondie de l’ubiquité par amour Composed throughout the winter of 1943–44, Trois petites liturgies de la Presence Divine was the first largescale piece Messiaen attempted since L’Ascension from more than a decade earlier. The work, which lasts for around thirty-five minutes, received its first performance in newly liberated Paris in April 1945, with Yvonne Loriod playing the important part for piano, and Roger Désormière conducting. Of the Trois petites liturgies, Messiaen declared that he wanted to ‘achieve a liturgical act: that is, to transport a sort of office, a sort of organized praise into the concert hall.’ Messiaen wrote the text himself – he regarded them as ‘modern psalms’ – in which he moves close to the surrealist territory of figures such as André Breton and Max Ernst, especially when the composer urges us to view the world with new eyes and discover, as the final liturgy suggests, the presence of God in all his creation. The text owes much to the Bible and other religious texts by St Thomas Aquinas and St Thomas a Kempis, as well as containing passages more relevant to
Messiaen’s own faith. The Trois petites liturgies display many of the hallmarks of Messiaen’s very individual style, already by the mid-1940s well-established, notably the repetition of material (though here a direct result of the liturgical verse-refrain forms) and, despite the religious nature of the work, the extraordinary sensuality of the harmonic language. Throughout the piece, Messiaen centres his harmony on a pentatonic-inflected A major which, with the profusion of tuned percussion, suggests Far Eastern gamelan influences. The work remains, over sixty years after its first performance, one of Messiaen’s early masterpieces and one of his most accessible. Philip Reed
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Messiaen Centenary Celebration I Antienne de La Conversation Intérieure
I Antienne de La Conversation Intérieure
Mon Jésus mon silence, Restez en moi. Mon Jésus, mon royaume de silence, Parlez en moi. Mon Jésus, nuit d’arc-en-ciel et de silence, Priez en moi. Soleil de sang, d’oiseaux, Mon arc-en-ciel d’amour, Désert d’amour. Chantez, lancez l’auréole d’amour, Mon Amour, Mon Dieu
My Jesus, my silence Remain in me. My Jesus, my kingdom of silence,
Ce oui qui chante comme un écho de lumière, Mélodie rouge et mauve en louange de Père,
This “yes” that sings like an echo of light, A red and mauve melody in praise of the Father,
D’un baiser votre main dépasse le tableau,
By a kiss’s breadth your hand overreaches the painting.
Paysage divin, renverse-toi dans l’eau. Louange de la Gloire à mes ailes de terre, Mon Dimanche, ma Paix, mon Toujours de lumière, Que le ciel parle en moi, rire, ange nouveau, Ne me réveillez pas: c’est le temps de l’oiseau! (Mon Jésus, mon silence, Restez en moi…)
Heavenly landscape, spill over into the water. Praise of Glory to my wings of earth,
II Séquence du verbe, cantique divin Il est parti le Bien-Aimé, C’est pour nous! Il est monté le Bien-Aimé,
II Séquence du verbe, cantique divin The Beloved has gone, It is for us! The Beloved has ascended,
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Speak in me. My Jesus, night of rainbow and silence Pray in me. Sun of blood, of birds My rainbow of love, Wilderness of love, Sing, cast love’s aureole, My Love, My God.
My Sunday, my Peace, my Always of light. May heaven speak within me, smile, new angel, Do not wake me: it’s the time of the bird! (My Jesus, my silence, Remain in me…)
C’est pour nous! Il a prié le Bien-Aimé, C’est pour nous! Il a parlé, il a chanté Le Verbe était en Dieu! Il a parlé, ila chanté Et le Verbe était en Dieu! Louange du Père, Substance du Père, Empreinte et rejaillissement toujours, Dans l’Amour, Verbe d’Amour! Par lui le Père dit: c’est moi, Le Verbe est dans mon sein! Le Verbe est la louange, Modèle en bleu pour anges, Trompette bleue qui prolonge le jour, Par Amour, Chant de L’Amour! Il était riche et bienheureux, Il a donné son ciel! Il était riche et bienheureux, Pour completer son ciel! Le Fils, c’est la presence, L’Espirit, c’est la présence! Les adoptés dans la grâce toujours, Pour l’Amour! Enfants d’Amour! Il est vivant, il est présent, Et Lui se dit en Lui! Il est vivant, il est présent, Et Lui se voit en Lui! Présent au sang de l’âme, Étoile aspirant l’âme, Présent partout, miroir ailé des jours, Par Amour, Le Dieu d’Amour! (Il est parti le Bien-Aimé, C’est pour nous!...)
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Bath Abbey
Messiaen Centenary Celebration It is for us! The Beloved has prayed, It is for us! He has spoken, he has sung, The Word was in God! He has spoken, he has sung, And the Word was God! Praise of the Father, Substance of the Father, Imprint and reflection always, In Love, Word of Love! Through the Word, the Father said: it is I, The Word is in my breast! The Word is praise, A model in blue for angels, A blue trumpet that prolongs the day, Through Love, Song of Love! He was rich and happy, He gave his heaven! He was rich and happy, To complete his heaven! The Son is the presence, The Spirit is the presence! Those who have received grace always, For Love, Children of Love! He lives, He is present, And He speaks to Himself in Himself! He lives, He is present, And He sees Himself in Himself! Present in the blood of the soul, Soul-breathing star, Everywhere present, winged mirror of days, Through Love, The God of Love! (The Beloved has gone, It is for us!...)
III Psalmodie de l’ubiquité par amour
III Psalmodie de l’ubiquité par amour
Tout en entire en tous lieux, Tout entire en chaque lieu, Donnant l’être à chaque lieu, A tout ce qui occupe un lieu, Le successif vous est simultané, Dans ces espaces et ces temps que vous avez créés, Satellites de votre Douceur. Posez-vous comme un sceau sur mon cœr. Temps de l’homme et de la planète, Temps de l’homme et de l’insecte,
Whole in all places, Whole in each place, Bestowing being upon each place, On all that occupies a place, The successive you is omnipresent, In these spaces and times that you created, These satellites of your Gentleness. Place yourself, like a seal, on my heart. Time of man and of the planet, Time of the mountain and of the insect, Garland of laughter for the blackbird and lark, Wedge of moon to the fuchsia, Balsam and begonia; From the depths a ripple rises, The mountain leaps like a ewe
Bouquet de rire pour le merle et l’alouette, Éventail de lune au fuchsia, A la balsamine, au bégonia; De la profondeur une ride surgit, La montagne saute comme une brebis Et deviant un grand océan. Présent, vous êtes présent, Imprimez votre nom dans mon sang. Dans le mouvement d’Arcturus, present, Dans l’arc-en-ciel d’une aile après l’autre, (Écharpe aveugle autour de Saturne), Dans la race catchée de mes cellules, présent, Dans le sang qui répare ses rives, Dans vos Saints par la grâce, présent (Interprétations de votre Verbe, Pierres précieuses au mur de la Fraîcheur.) Posez-vous comme un sceau sur mon cœur. Un cœur pur est votre repos,
And becomes a great ocean, Present, you to be present. Imprint your name in my blood. Present in the movement of Arcturus In the rainbow, with one wing after the other, (Blind sash around Saturn), Present in the hidden race of my cells, In the blood that repairs its banks, Present , through Grace, in your Saints. (Interpretations of your Word, Precious stones in the in the wall of Freshness) Place yourself, like a seal, on my heart. A pure heart is your repose, Page 5
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Bath Abbey
Messiaen Centenary Celebration Lis en arc-en-ciel du troupeau, Vous vous cachez sous votre Hostie, Frère silencieux dans la Fleur-Eucharistie, Pour que je demeure en vous comme une aile dans le soleil, Vers la résurrection du dernier jour. Il est plus fort que la mort, votre Amour. Mettez votre caresse tout autour. Violet-jaune, vision, Voile-blanc, subtilité, Orangé-bleu, force et joie, Flèche-azur, agilité, Donnez-moi le rouge le vert de votre amour, Feuille-flamme-or, clarté, Plus de langage, plus de mots, Plus de Prophètes ni de science (C’est l’Amen de l’espérance, Silence mélodieux de l’Éternité.) Mais la robe lavée dans le sang de l’Agneau, Mais le Pierre de neige avec un nom nouveau, Les éventails, la cloche et l’ordre des clartés, Et l’échelle en arcs-en-ciel de la Vérité. Mais la porte qui parle et le soleil qui s’ouvre, L’auréole tête e rechange qui délivre, Et l’encre d’or ineffaceable sur le livre; Mais le face-à-face et l’Amour. Vous y parlez en nous, Vous qui vous taisez en nous, Et gardez le silence dans votre Amour, Vous êtes près, Vous êtes loin, Page 6
Rainbow-coloured lily of the flock, You hide beneath your Host, Silent brother in the Eucharist of flowers, So I may dwell within you like a wing within the sun, Awaiting the resurrection of the final day. Your Love is stronger than death. Enfold us all within your embrace. Violet-yellow, vision, White-out, subtlety, Orange-blue, strength and joy, Azure spire, agility, Give me the red and green of your love, Leaf-flame-gold, clarity, No more language, no more words, No Prophets or science, (It is hope’s Amen, The melodious silence of Eternity), But the raiment washed in the blood of the Lamb, But the stone of snow with another name, The fans, the clock and the order of light, And the rainbow ladder of Truth, But the gate that speaks and the sun that opens, The halo a change of head that redeems us, And the indelible gold ink on the book; But to see you face-to-face, and Love, You speak in us, You who keep silent in us, And maintain your silence in your Love. You are close, You are distant,
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Bath Abbey
Messiaen Centenary Celebration Vous êtes la lumière et les ténèbres, Vous êtes si compliqué et si simple, Vous êtes infiniment simple, L’arc-en-ciel de l’Amour, c’est vous, L’unique oiseau de l’Éternité, c’est vous! Elles s’alignent lentement, les cloches de la profondeur. Posez-vous comme un sceau sur mon cœur. (Tout entier en tous lieux, Tout entire en chaque lieu…) Vous qui parlez en nous, Vous qui vous taisez en nous, Et gardez le silence dans votre Amour, Enfoncez votre image dans la durée de mes jours.
You are the light and the darkness, You are so complex and so simple, You are infinitely simple, The rainbow of Love, that is you, The only bird of Eternity, that is you!
Olivier Messiaen
Olivier Messiaen
Slowly they fall into line, the bells of profundity. Place yourself, like a seal, on my heart. (Whole in all places, Whole in each place…) You who speak in us, You who say nothing in us And maintain your silence in your Love, Implant your image throughout the length of my days
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Bath Abbey
Messiaen Centenary Celebration Diego Masson The French conductor Diego Masson studied at the Paris Conservatoire and on completing his studies became percussionist in Domaine Musicale. In 1966, following a period of study with Pierre Boulez, he formed Musique Vivante which he still directs in regular concerts presenting important contemporary works. After considerable success as Music Director of the Marseille Opera in the 1970s Diego Masson went on to pursue an international conducting career which has taken him to the major musical centres of Europe, Scandinavia and the Antipodes. A regular visitor to the UK, Masson has appeared with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Hallé Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, English Northern Philharmonic, Nash Ensemble, Opera Factory and Opera North with whom he gave the première of Robert Saxton’s opera Caritas. He enjoyed a great success with Scottish Opera conducting Monster, the first opera by Sally Beamish. He has appeared with the Philharmonia Orchestra at the South Bank Centre and Huddersfield Festival. Diego Masson’s engagements in Europe have included appearances with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre de Radio France, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, Avanti Chamber OrchesPage 8
tra in Helsinki, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Bergen Philharmonic, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Residentie Orchestra and the BIT20 Ensemble Norway. In 2006 he worked with the Barcelona Ensemble 216 who immediately invited him to return for concerts in 2007. He works regularly with contemporary ensembles including Ensemble Modern, Musik Fabrik, Ensemble Alternance, London Sinfonietta, Klangforum Wien, Composers Ensemble and Birmingham Contemporary Music Group. Recent seasons have included a concert at the Musik-Biennale in Berlin with Ensemble Modern, concert performances of Mark Anthony Turnage’s Greek at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London and a tour of the UK with the London Sinfonietta. He has toured the UK with Birmingham Contemporary Music Group including a performance at the Aldeburgh Festival. Concerts with the Nash Ensemble have included a tour of Spain, a concert as part of the Poulenc Anniversary celebrations at London’s Wigmore Hall as well as performances of Berio’s Folksongs with Dawn Upshaw at the Barbican Centre and Symphony Hall, Birmingham. Other recent highlights have included appearances at the Wien Modern Festival, WDR Cologne, Luzerner Sinfonieorchester, a performance of Schoenberg Gurrelieder at the Festival Hall and concerts in Scandinavia with the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group. He has toured Japan with the Xenakis Ensemble and has
also given concerts in Gothenberg, Argentina and at the BBC Proms with the London Sinfonietta. Diego Masson works regularly in Asia and Australasia; and has conducted the Melbourne and Sydney Symphony Orchestras. In 1998 he made an acclaimed appearance at the New Zealand Festival and returned to New Zealand in 1999 to conduct a very successful series of concerts with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. He returned to Australia at the beginning of 2003 to conduct Gurrelieder at the Perth International Arts Festival. Most recently he had a great success conducting the Australian Youth Orchestra at the 2006 Adelaide Festival in performances of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde. In May 2008 he conducted the UK premiere of Prometeo, the climax of the Southbank Centre’s Luigi Nono ‘Fragments of Venice’ Festival. Diego Masson has many strong relationships with youth orchestras including the Australian Youth Orchestra, the orchestras of Trinity College of Music, Royal Northern College of Music, Juilliard School and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. Diego Masson has for many years held regular conducting classes at the Dartington International Summer School.
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Wednesday 28 May
Bath Abbey
Messiaen Centenary Celebration Joanna MacGregor Joanna MacGregor is thought of as one of the world’s most wide-ranging and innovative musicians and has pursued a life connecting many genres of music defying categorizations. She has performed in over sixty countries often appearing as a solo artist with many of the world’s leading orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, London and Sydney Symphony Orchestras, Netherlands Radio and Oslo Philharmonic Orchestras and Chicago Symphony Orchestra. She has premiered many landmark compositions ranging from Sir Harrison Birtwistle and Django Bates to John Adams and James MacMillan. Joanna MacGregor made her conducting debut in 2002 and regularly directs her own orchestral projects; she has had a very close artistic partnership as conductor and performer with the Britten Sinfonia for the past ten years. The most recent was the Moondog/Art of Fugue tour, involving her radical re-working of Bach’s late great work (for orchestra and jazz musicians) alongside the music of Moondog, the famous 1950’s New York street musician who excelled in counterpoint and swing beats. Her collaborations are numerous: she has toured South Africa with jazz artist Moses Molelekwa, recorded with pop artist and tabla player Talvin Singh and toured China with Jin Xing’s Contemporary Dance Theatre of Shanghai (for which she wrote a new score combining Chinese traditional music with computer technology and film).
This year she is collaborating with the Tunisian singer and oud player Dhafer Youssef. As a recording artist Joanna MacGregor has made 30 solo recordings ranging from Bach, Scarlatti, Ravel and Debussy, to jazz and contemporary music. Her own record label SoundCircus was founded in 1998 and has released many highly successful recordings, including the Mercury prizenominated Play and Neural Circuits, with music by Nitin Sawhney. Current releases include Deep River, music inspired by the Deep South, with saxophonist Andy Sheppard, and Bach’s Goldberg Variations, recorded at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. Joanna MacGregor has received honorary Fellowships from the Royal Academy of Music, Trinity College of Music and New Hall, Cambridge, and an Honorary Doctorate from the Open University. From 1997-2000 she was Professor of Music at Gresham College, London where she gave a series of public lectures. Her interest in education is reflected in her music books for young children, PianoWorld, hailed as ‘a new series for the Millenium’. She was the subject of a South Bank Show profile, and is a Professor at Liverpool Hope University. In 2006 Joanna MacGregor became Artistic Director of Bath International Music Festival.
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Bath Abbey
Messiaen Centenary Celebration Dhafer Youssef Growing up in a small seaside town in Tunisia in the 1970s, Dhafer initiated his own musical life; making his own oud - the traditional middle-Eastern lute - using whatever he could find. The young Dhafer also fulfilled traditional expectations, and sang, having learnt in the traditional Koran school. At the same time he was listening to music on the radio - the only source of entertainment in this small town – whether that was jazz, classical or rock. Vienna lured him with the promise of the opportunity to study music. Here he became hungry for live music; listening to everything he could find, hanging out at jazz clubs, going to classical concerts. His reputation as an exciting new creative force grew and one day the call from the Porgy and Bess jazz club came, for one night month he had carte blanche to programme a night of collaborations with whoever he wished. Those first, influential collaborators included Iva Bittova, Peter Herbert, Renaud Garcia Fons and Christian Muthspiel. Out of the success of these artistic meetings, Dhafer’s first album Malak, emerged. His curiosity about the European and American scene unabated he continued to seek new partners, eventually travelling to New York to record Electric Sufi with a group which included Dieter Ilg and Markus Stockhausen. The world was beginning to take notice of Dhafer’s captivating high vocals and intensity of playing and he Page 10
considered settling in New York but September 11th dissuaded him and he returned to Paris. He began to have more and more contact with Norway and the exploding nu-jazz scene there. He was invited to perform with Nils Petter Molvær and the meeting of two adventurous musical minds brought about Dhafer’s third album, Digital Prophecy. Here, Dhafer’s profoundly spiritual singing and playing become embedded in the Scandinavian, existentialist world of Norwegian music, embodied in the playing of Eivind Aarset on guitar, drummer Rune Arnesen, Bugge Wesseltoft on keyboards and Dieter Ilg on bass, along with the sampling of Jan Bang. Following a BBC Radio 3 commission for a UK tour in 2004, Dhafer created music for a line up of his regular quartet plus special guest Arve Henriksen. Developing the music followng the sell-out tour, Dhafer introduced strings into the mix and created his best-selling album to date, Divine Shadows. Major international tours of Canada, Australia, USA and Asia have continued to widen his circle of followers. This year, as well as writing a full orchestral score for TonkünstlerOrchester, and Les Ondes Orientales for Bath International Music Festival he will be artist in residence at the Royal Opera House festival, Voices Around the World in July and appears with Britten Sinfonia and Joanna MacGregor at the London Jazz Festival in November.
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Bath Abbey
Messiaen Centenary Celebration Cynthia Millar Cynthia Millar studied the Ondes Martenot first with John Morton in England and later with Jeanne Loriod, who with her brother in law, Olivier Messiaen, has done so much to bring the instrument to a wider public. Since Cynthia Millar first performed the TurangalilaSymphonie at the BBC Promenade Concerts in London with Mark Elder and the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, she has performed all over the world with conductors including Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Andrew Davis, André Previn, Esa Pekka Salonen, Leonard Slatkin, Yan Pascal Tortelier, David Roberston, Kent Nagano, Franz Welser-Möst, Mark Wigglesworth, Mattias Bammert, Donald Runnicles and Ilan Volkov. Other performances have included appearances at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and the Edinburgh Festival as well as regular appearances at the BBC Promenade Concerts, and with orchestra including the San Francisco Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington, the Sydney and New Zealand Symphony Orchestras, the London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic, BBC Scottish, BBC Phlharmonic and BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestre National de Lyon. Cynthia has been featured on more than one hundred film and television scores, for composers including Elmer Bernstein, Richard Rodney Bennett, Maurice Jarre, Henry Mancini and Miklos Rozsa. She gave the world premiere of Elmer Benstein’s Ondine
at the Cinema in a special concert to celebrate the composers’ 80th birthday with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall, London. She has also written a number of film scores herself, including Arthur Penn’s ‘The Portrait’ starring Gregory Peck and Lauren Bacall; Martha Coolidge’s ‘Three Wishes’ and Peter Yates’s ‘The Run of the Country’, ‘A Storm in Summer’ directed by Robert Wise, and ‘Confessions of an Ugly Step Sister’ directed by Gavin Millar and staring Jonathan Pryce. For television she composed the music for a major documentary series ‘Stephen Hawking’s Universe’ for BBC/WNET. The current season includes Turangalila with the Sydney and Saint Louis Symphony Orchestras, Philharmonia, CBSO, and Netherlands Philharmonic, and a European tour with the Concertegbouw Orchestra.
Britten Sinfonia One of the UK’s most celebrated and innovative groups, Britten Sinfonia features some of the country’s finest chamber musicians. The orchestra is widely praised for the quality of its performance and intelligent approach to concert programming which is centred around the development of its players. Uniquely it does not have a principal conductor or Artistic Director but chooses to work with a range of the finest international guest artists from across the musical spectrum as suited to each particular project. Recent seasons have included projects with Thomas Adès, Angela Hewitt, Imogen Cooper, Nitin Sawhney, James MacMillan, Ian Bostridge and Joanna MacGregor. In 2007/08 guest artists include Pierre LaurentAimard, Masaaki Suzuki, Alina Ibragimova, Gil Goldstein and the Michael Clark Dance company. Britten Sinfonia performs in many of Europe’s finest concert halls and has residencies in Cambridge, Norwich, Birmingham and Krakow with a concert series at London’s Southbank Centre. The ensemble enjoys a blossoming international profile, a recent highlight being an acclaimed tour of South America, and is frequently heard on disc, BBC Radio 3 and commercial radio. Earlier this year Britten Sinfonia won the prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society Ensemble Award in recognition for its work in 2006.
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Bath Abbey
Messiaen Centenary Celebration Ladies Bath Camerata and Girls from Wells Cathedral School Chamber Choir Bath Camerata was formed in 1986 by former King’s Singer Nigel Perrin and achieved immediate success by reaching the Finals of the Sainsbury’s Choir of the Year Competition. Under Nigel’s continuing direction, Bath Camerata has become the foremost chamber choir in the south-west of England and has continued to achieve great success and critical acclaim both at home and abroad. The choir has won prizes in France, Italy and Ireland and, in 2002, won the Sainsbury’s/BBC TV Adult Choir of the Year at the Royal Albert Hall, in London. A concert tour in northern Italy the same year included a memorable concert to a capacity audience in the Basilica San Francesco in Assisi; this was followed the next year with two concerts in the Normandy Pollifollia Festival. In the summer of 2003 the choir were invited to perform with Messrs. Pavarotti, Domingo & Carerras in the Royal Crescent, Bath.
the other the music of Antonin Tucapsky on Somm. Joining the ladies of Bath Camerata, are girls from Wells Cathedral School’s Chamber Choir which Nigel Perrin also conducts. Wells Cathedral School – Music School is one of four in the UK designated and grant-aided by the DCFS Music and Dance Scheme to provide special education for gifted young musicians, who are given substantial financial assistance. These talents are widely acknowledged by audiences at concerts given by pupils from Wells throughout the world. There are also regular concerts by the many ensembles in the School.
Bath Camerata have appeared in the Bath International Music Festival every year for the last sixteen years, performing repertoire ranging from mediaeval to contemporary. The choir has sung with The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Sinfonietta in works by Handel, Mozart, Britten and MacMillan. Bath Camerata’s discography ranges from two specialist CDs; one featuring the music of Robert Pearsall on the Meridian label and
Orchestra List, Bitten Sinfonia Violins Jacqeline Shave (Leader) Clara Biss Marcus Broome Thomas Gould Tom Hankey Magnus Johnston Suzanne Loze Eluned Pritchard Viola Joel Hunter Bridget Carey Rachel Byrt Cello Ben Chappell Joy Hawley Rosie Banks Double Bass Lynda Houghton David Johnson Percussion Jeremy Cornes Helen Yates Owen Gunnell Tim Gunnell Celeste Clare Isdell
With the generous support of : Page 12
Evelyn Strasburger Recorded for future broadcast on BBC Radio 3 at 19.00 on 30 May
