CLScapades http://cls.posterous.com City of London Sinfonia blog posterous.com Mon, 20 Aug 2012 04:46:00 -0700 CLoSer FAQs http://cls.posterous.com/153209260 http://cls.posterous.com/153209260

Did you miss our first CLoSer series at Village Underground? Don't worry, because we're back for a second series, starting next month. If you're new to CLoSer and want to find out more, then here is everything you need to know...

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What is CLoSer?
CLoSer is our popular informal concert series, which takes place at Village Underground in Shoreditch. This series there are three concerts on 19 September, 13 February and 10 April and all are designed for both the complete beginner and the classical music enthusiast.

What happens at a CLoSer gig?
The clue’s in the name – these concerts give you a chance to get closer to the music and the musicians. CLoSer concerts are short, informal and intimate. Village Underground is far removed from the traditional concert halls and churches you usually find classical music in. There are no rows of seating and no stage. Instead we scatter the floor with cushions so that you can relax, get comfy and closer to the music.

Cushions

What kind of music is performed at CLoSer concerts?
We perform a wide variety of music from Bach to Stravinsky, from jazz to tango and have a diverse range of Guest Artists at each concert. There are ‘talking' programme notes throughout the performance, so you don't need to know anything about the composers, music or performers beforehand.

Is it going to be really formal?
This concert series is designed to appeal to those who like their live music experiences to be intimate and informal and enjoy a glass of wine while listening! There is no traditional concert seating so you can sit on beanbags or stand and there's no dress code so you can wear whatever you like.

Trumpets

Can I take a drink into the concert?
Yes, of course. The bar opens at 6.45pm and remains open throughout the performance.

How long does the concert last?
Each concert lasts 75 minutes, with no interval.

How much are the tickets?
Tickets for each CLoSer concert are just £15 which includes a free drink from the bar! If you are aged 16-25 years old, whether you are a student or not, you are eligible to sign up for our FIVER scheme which entitles you to tickets for just FIVE POUNDS. We also do Early Bird tickets for just £1. Early Birds are now sold out for September’s concert – you have to get in there fast!

Ruth

In partnership with Spitalfields Music and Village Underground.

Ahead of our new CLoSer series starting next month, this week City of London Sinfonia will be taking over the Spitalfields blog. Check back daily for more CLoSer news.

Images: James Berry and Clare Parker

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Mon, 30 Apr 2012 03:18:00 -0700 CLoSer - the final review http://cls.posterous.com/closer-the-final-review http://cls.posterous.com/closer-the-final-review

We asked Anna our new Marketing Intern to give us her review of our final CLoSer this series...

The final instalment in this year’s first CLoSer concert series at Village Underground, Shoreditch, brought together a great selection of jazz inspired repertoire performed by our multi-talented musicians and conducted by Clark Rundell. As the title suggests, the CLoSer series enables the audience to get up close and personal with the players, both during and after the performance, in a less traditional concert setting.

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The dimly lit venue was the perfect location for this jazz finale which featured Darius Milhaud, Mark-Anthony Turnage and Gwilym Simcock on the programme. With two of the three composers present (I’m positive that Milhaud would have shown his face had he been alive!) this really was a special and intimate evening. The informal and relaxed surroundings encouraged audience members to prop themselves up against the wall, perch on seats, lounge on cushions and lean against the bar, creating the perfect atmosphere for the music to follow.

Opening the programme was Milhaud’s jazz inspired La Création du Monde. Based on African folk mythology, the music was powerful, evocative and, at times, pleasantly chaotic. This was followed by Turnage’s masterpiece for viola, Eulogy. If anybody could make the viola cool it would be Turnage, most recently known for his opera on Anna Nicole, along with our  principal viola and soloist for the evening, Fiona Bonds. With intriguing and beautiful melodies, the music lured the audience into a more tranquil state.

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There were obviously many fans of the Mercury Prize nominee and jazz pianist Gwilym Simcock in the room, all eagerly waiting to hear his new composition Move, written specifically for this occasion. The three-movements were appropriately titled Clunky, Columns and Industrial, which Gwilym noted were comparable to the underground brick location in which he was performing. His mesmerising playing and brilliant improvisation skills were totally mind blowing creating a buzzing high on which to end the evening.

Described by audience members as the “best club-classical experience so far”, the first CLoSer series has been both informative and inspiring, and the next series looks to be equally exciting.

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CLoSer 19 September, 7.30pm
Village Underground, Shoreditch

Music by Copland, Stravinsky & Piazzolla
Michael Collins, conductor/clarinet
Katona Twins, guitar duo

BOOKING NOW OPEN: 020 7377 1362/spitalfieldsmusic.org.uk
Tickets: £15 or Early Birds £1

Images: James Berry

 

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Thu, 19 Apr 2012 03:24:00 -0700 Spotlight on...Mark-Anthony Turnage http://cls.posterous.com/spotlight-onmark-anthony-turnage http://cls.posterous.com/spotlight-onmark-anthony-turnage

Our final CLoSer concert on Wednesday 25 April includes a performance of Mark-Anthony Turnage's masterpiece for viola:Eulogy. But who is this most prolific of English composers? Here's a quick snapshot:

Name
Mark-Anthony Turnage 

Age
51 

Nationality
British

Background
Studied at the Royal College of Music where he met composer and conductor Oliver Knussen, who was to become his tutor, Won a scholarship to study with Gunther Schuller and Hans Werner Henze at Tanglewood in America.

Turnage_crop
Breakthrough moment
Greek, his first opera, which received a triumphant premiere in 1988 and his many ensuing productions worldwide established his international reputation. However he is probably most widely known outside of classical music for his opera Anna Nicole, which tells the story of the rise and fall of the late glamour model, which was staged at the Royal Opera House in 2010. 

CLoSer performance
Eulogy
A miniature viola concerto accompanied by small ensemble. Turnage is known for his complete absorption of jazz elements into a contemporary classical style as this piece reflects. 

Listen to our Turnage greatest hits playlist on Spotify.

CLoSer: Jazz Finale
Weds 25 April, 7.30pm
Village Underground, Shoreditch

Tickets: £15 (includes a free drink)
Box Office: 020 7377 1362/spitalfieldsmusic.org.uk

 

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Mon, 16 Apr 2012 04:41:00 -0700 Spotlight on...Darius Milhaud http://cls.posterous.com/composer-focus-darius-milhaud http://cls.posterous.com/composer-focus-darius-milhaud

Our final CLoSer concert on Wednesday 25 April has a distinct jazz flavour to it and includes a performance of Darius Milhaud's jazz inspired La creation de monde. But who was this most prolific of twentieth century composers? Here's a quick snapshot:

Name
Darius Milhaud

Age
120 (if still alive today)

Nationality
French

Background
Born in France and spent time living abroad in Brazil during the First World War. When the Nazis occupied France early in World War II, Milhaud, a prominent Jew, was forced to flee to the US. He had developed severe rheumatoid arthritis, which often confined him to a wheel chair, which compounded the need to escape the Nazi regime. 

Darius_milhaud_crop
Known as..
A “member” of Les Six - an informal group of six composers working in Montparnasse, whose music came to be seen as a rejection of prewar impressionism, and particularly the musical style of Richard Wagner and the impressionist music of Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel.

Repetoire
Wrote music for nearly every genre imaginable.  His major works span several ballets and operas, to more commercial film and theatre scores. He also composed twelve symphonies and eighteen string quartets.

CLoSer performance
La création du monde
The Creation of the World uses ideas and idioms from jazz, and was originally cast as a ballet in six continuous dance scenes. It tells the story of creation through African folk mythology. The piece is highly influenced by the then newly arrived American jazz scene.

Listen to La création du monde on our Spotify playlist.

CLoSer: Jazz Finale
Weds 25 April, 7.30pm
Village Underground, Shoreditch

Tkts: 020 7377 1362/spitalfieldsmusic.org.uk


 

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Fri, 02 Dec 2011 03:25:00 -0800 CLoSer in words and pictures http://cls.posterous.com/photos-and-feedback-from-our-first-closer-con http://cls.posterous.com/photos-and-feedback-from-our-first-closer-con

Our first CLoSer concert at Village Underground on the 22nd November was a huge success with a packed audience enjoying the venue, music and fantastic musicianship on show. We thought we'd share with you some of the best photos from the night and what the audience had to say:

 "The first CLoSer programme was like a substantial sandwich: hot crusty wholemeal bread on the outside with something sweeter in the middle." 

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"Great performance - loved the informal setting and the mixed audience!" 

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 "The orchestra played on all my emotional strings." 

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"I loved the sense of excitement, the bar, the lighting, the chatter and the informal approach of the musicians and conductor. Acoustics were great too."

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 "Give us more!!"

The next concert in the series focuses on vocal music by Bach, Poulenc and Stravinsky with Guest Artists the Holst Singers and our Principal Conductor Stephen Layton.

CloSer
Wednesday 29th February, 7.30pm,
Village Underground,
EC2A

Tickets: £15 (includes a free drink)
Box office: 020 7377 1362/spitalfieldsmusic.org.uk

Images: Clare Parker

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Fri, 04 Nov 2011 04:32:38 -0700 Flashback - Music for Children 1998 http://cls.posterous.com/flashback-music-for-children-1998 http://cls.posterous.com/flashback-music-for-children-1998

For this installment of Flashback, we're looking back to the beginning of Music for Children, which began in 1998 as part of our Education and Community Programme. This project was launched at Great Ormond Street Hospital for sick children in September 1998 with three CLS musicians (Jo Cole 'cello; Duke Dobing flute; Nick Ward violin). An initial 'Pilot Day' enabled the musicians to familiarise themselves with the hospital, staff, patients and different wards.

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The CLS team then visited the Hospital School with creative work based on Italy, the in-school topic for the term. The Venice Carnival was re-created over two mornings of music-making workshops, as well as pizza-making and other fun activities. The afternoons were shared between visits to the Mildred Creek Psychiatric Unit and the Dialysis Ward, with several new pieces of music being created and performed.

Following these successful project days a three-year partnership with the Hospital, which is now in its thirteenth year! Nadezna Wilkins, the Hospital School's Music Co-ordinator, was extremely enthusiastic: "The musicians are extremely friendly with the staff and young people both in the school and on the wards. They display excellent skills when teaching children of all ages and abilities."

CLS are delighted to announce that we have recently received a generous grant from the City of London Corporation's City Bridge Trust for £85,700 over three years in order to expand our hospital work to Guy's and St Thomas' hospitals next year.

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Mon, 31 Oct 2011 07:52:00 -0700 Meet the venue - Village Underground http://cls.posterous.com/introducing-our-newest-venue http://cls.posterous.com/introducing-our-newest-venue

Our newest concert venue and home for our infomal concert series CLoSer is Village Underground on the City fringe. We asked our friends and CLoSer concert partners Spitalfields Music to tell us what make's the venue such a treat to visit.

Village Underground is one of those places you could only really find in East London. In many ways it’s quite unassuming (to enter you have to go round the back of the building), but then there’s the fact that on the roof are four old tube carriages serving as offices and the side of the building is London’s most public art gallery, The Wall, showcasing street art in all its various guises. So it’s not without its quirk!

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Image: Andy Schonfelder

The space inside is a brilliant blank canvas of old brick, hinting at the building’s industrial past. It forms an intimate venue for classical concerts, allowing performing and audience spaces to blur and letting the audience get up-close with the artists, making for an unusual and exclusive listening experience.

Village_underground_inside_web

Image: James Berry

Of course, the other great thing about Village Underground is its absolutely fantastic location. Not only really easy to get to from Shoreditch High Street on the Overground or, further down the road, Liverpool Street on the Underground and mainline, but there is a whole host of fantastic bars, restaurants and cafes to go to before and after events. There’s everything to choose from, with fine dining at somewhere like Les Trois Garçons; something simpler at Pizza East, or the Albion cafe; or just drinks at a Rivington Street bar. In addition, a five-minute walk down Commercial Street will take you to Spitalfields Market and the surrounding streets which have even more to offer!

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Image: Celine Smith

Now, all this combined with music from City of London Sinfonia has to make for an unmissable night out!

Michael Duffy
Spitalfields Music

CLoSer is CLS' short, informal concert series starting on 22 November:

 Tickets: £15 (includes a free drink)
Box office: 020 7377 1362/spitalfieldsmusic.org.uk
 
Strings Masterclass - Tuesday 22 November 7.30pm
Spirit of the Voice - Wednesday 29 February 7.30pm
Jazz Finale - Wednesday 25 April 7.30pm

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Fri, 29 Jul 2011 08:26:22 -0700 Flashback - First Prom 1973 http://cls.posterous.com/flashback-first-prom-1973 http://cls.posterous.com/flashback-first-prom-1973

For this instalment of Flashback, we’re heading back to our first ever BBC Promenade concert at the Royal Albert Hall on Wednesday 1 August 1973, when CLS was still known as the Richard Hickox Orchestra. The Orchestra performed Handel’s Messiah with the Richard Hickox Singers (also founded in 1971) alongside a host of incredibly talented soloists, many of whom were budding young stars and have since gone on to great things!

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Back then we were joined by Stephen Cleobury on the organ, now better known for being Master of Music at Westminster Cathedral and Director of Music of the world-renowned Choir of King’s College, Cambridge. Alastair Ross who is still a member of CLS, performed as a soloist on the harpsichord too.

Our vocal soloists on the night included the late Philip Langridge, a tenor who became famous for performing the works of Benjamin Britten and was regarded as the true successor of Peter Pears, baritone Raimund Herincx who has since appeared with the Welsh National Opera and at the Royal Opera House, and James Bowman who has become arguably the most acclaimed countertenor of his generation.

This year we’re returning to the Proms on Sunday 21 August to perform a new work by Colin Matthews, No Man’s Land, which was commissioned by the late Richard Hickox, alongside Britten’s Variations on a theme of Bridge, and Mozart’s Requiem, recently voted the Nation’s Favourite Mozart piece by BBC Radio 3 listeners.

For a flavour of our upcoming Prom, listen to our Spotify playlist.

 

Sunday 21 August
Royal Albert Hall
Tickets: £7.50 - £36

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Mon, 18 Jul 2011 04:12:00 -0700 Concert Focus – Geoffrey Burgon http://cls.posterous.com/concert-focus-geoffrey-burgon-63070 http://cls.posterous.com/concert-focus-geoffrey-burgon-63070

On 21 July we’re celebrating the life and work of the late Geoffrey Burgon with performances of a selection of his film and television music, as well as two of his concertos. Burgon is famous for the accessibility of his music, rebelling against avant-garde orthodoxies which controlled commissions and performance at the beginning of his career. He produced over 200 compositions during his lifetime, and is considered as one of the gems of English contemporary music.

 

Born in 1941 Burgon went to the Guildhall School of Music & Drama originally to train as a jazz trumpeter. However, composition took over as his major interest and he found success writing ballet scores for Ballet Rambert and London Contemporary Dance Theatre. It was his incredibly popular Requiem that established Burgon as a serious composer, and his reputation was sealed. Much of his fame developed from his wonderful scores for film and television, including  Brideshead Revisited in 1981, which led to many offers from Hollywood. He is also known for his music for Doctor Who in the 1970s, Bleak House (1985), the Chronicles of Narnia (1988-90), Robin Hood (1991), and The Forsyte Saga (2002-03).

 

Brideshead_revisited_web

 

It would be wrong to pigeon hole Burgon in the film/television composer bracket. His Viola Concerto, know as Ghosts of the Dance was commissioned by concert soloist Philip Dukes, and was influenced by 1930s American dance music and the effects of the Depression. In his Cello Concerto, a piece which explores the relationship between soloist and orchestra in a novel way, Burgon began to see the soloist as a figure in Film Noir, pursued by dark forces but prevailing and eventually escaping to a dreamlike ‘Hollywood Heaven’ world.

 

For a flavour of some of the music we’ll be performing at the concert listen to our Spotify playlist.


Thursday 21 July, 7.30pm

St John’s, Smith Square

Tickets: £34.50, £28, £18

 

Viola Concerto
Cello Concerto
Extracts from TV and Film scores

 

The event will be presented by Monty Python’s Terry Jones.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Mon, 16 May 2011 04:50:00 -0700 What's on my iPod: Karen Geoghegan http://cls.posterous.com/whats-on-my-ipod-karen-geoghegan http://cls.posterous.com/whats-on-my-ipod-karen-geoghegan

Having first made her mark in the finals of BBC’s Classical Star competition in 2008, Karen’s warm personality and sense of style and musicianship have made her one of the most highly acclaimed and sought after young soloists in the UK. We’re delighted she’ll be performing with us again on Sunday at Central Theatre, Chatham.

We caught up with her to find out what the four most played tracks are on her iPod and why she just can’t stop listening to them...

E lucevan le stelle from Puccini's Tosca
I fell in love with this aria when I saw Tosca live at the Royal Albert Hall a few years ago. This is probably the best-known aria from the opera, and is sung by Tosca's lover whilst he awaits his execution. It is a final reminiscing of what used to be – there is a real sense of heartache and desperation.  I love the clarinet obligato, which plays a huge role in this aria. This is an absolute must to listen to - it really is heart-wrenching stuff; tissues at the ready!

The Swan of Tuonela – Sibelius
This tone poem by Sibelius is not one of his better-known works but is my absolute favourite piece of classical music. The cor anglais takes the main role in the work, representing the swan, who swims around Tuonela - the island of the dead. The cor anglais is one of the most beautiful instruments in the orchestra - always getting the solos, and for good reason!

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Piano Concerto No. 2 - Second Movement - Shostakovich
I first heard this work in a theory and musicianship class when I was around 16, and I remember my teacher absolutely raving about it, and going on about this heart-wrenching chord where the piano enters after a beautiful string introduction- and then we heard it and we all knew why! I could listen to it again and again! Shostakovich is one of my favourite composers. His symphonic writing is great for the bassoon!   

The Stolen Child and Non Aurumque from the album Light and Gold – Eric Whitacre
The harmonies and suspensions Eric Whitacre uses are really quite spectacular. This music evokes so many different emotions - I can't just have it on in the background as I get so carried away every time I listen!

Sunday 5 June, 7.30pm
Central Theatre, Chatham

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