CLScapades http://cls.posterous.com City of London Sinfonia blog posterous.com Thu, 04 Oct 2012 04:21:00 -0700 Retrospect - September in Pictures http://cls.posterous.com/retrospect-september-in-pictures http://cls.posterous.com/retrospect-september-in-pictures

September saw the start of our 2012/13 concert season with a return trip to the Wiltshire Music Centre in Bradford on Avon, and the start of the second series of  CLoSer on 19 September, with Guest Artists the Katona Twins at Village Underground.

Our Wellbeing through Music concert series returned to Great Ormond Street Hospital after a short summer break, with one of the children commenting that conducting our players was "the funniest thing ever!"

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Principal Conductor Michael Collins & the orchestra rehearse at Wiltshire Music Centre

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Our String Quartet at Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital

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Our new cushions make their Village Underground debut!

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The hugely talented Katona Twins perform at CLoSer

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The new series of CLoSer started on 19 September

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We love this audience snap of our strings performing at CLoSer!

Images by Becca Newman, James Berry & Andrea Zapata

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Thu, 27 Sep 2012 02:53:00 -0700 CLoSer Returns http://cls.posterous.com/closer-return http://cls.posterous.com/closer-return

We asked our outgoing Marketing Intern Anna, to give us her review of the first CLoSer of series two

Last week City of London Sinfonia returned to Village Underground, the unique home of the informal CLoSer concert series, for a second year.

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At a glance the basement venue is an odd choice for a classical music concert, but when colourful cushions, vibrant musicians and an excited audience are added, the venue comes alive! Its prime location in the up and coming Shoreditch area is great for attracting creative locals, but is also an appealing spot to visit for those who live further afield. Our CLoSer audiences consist of a wide range of people, young and old, with mixed levels of musical knowledge and varied experiences of classical music, but who all wish to share their love of music in the informal and relaxed environment that CLoSer provides.

 The programme for this first concert had a distinctly American feel to it and Michael Collins, City of London Sinfonia’s Principal Conductor, delved straight into the Stravinsky Concerto in D with a high level of excited energy. The City of London Sinfonia strings played with a commitment to this energetic and rhythmic concerto, evidenced by the sight of a loose bow hair flying around in the violins. The second movement was beautifully melodic and reminiscent of a romantic ballet, rather than the sacrificial dance that Stravinsky is known for. This came to an abrupt end in the third movement which presented a pulsating rhythm and a mischievous melody in the violins, creating a tense mood and putting me on the edge of my cushion!

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We then welcomed Guest Artists the Katona Twins to the stage to perform Piazzolla’s Hommage à Liège. The Hungarian guitar duo were joined by a dissonant string accompaniment which filled the brick underground with a wonderful resonant sound. The music was intricate and detailed and the pair played with style and apparent ease. At one point the cellos, double bass and guitar duo used their instruments as drums to create a powerful rhythm which built up to an explosive finale which caused excitement to ripple through the room.

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The Twins took centre stage for two further pieces from De Falla’s El Amor Brujo suite - The Magic Circle and Ritual Fire Dance . These were full of emotion and with the help of the relaxed atmosphere and the close proximity to the guitar duo, the audience were able to connect to the musicians from their own cushioned corner. In quieter moments the music was played with grace and intimacy, and the louder moments were confident and passionate.

As an encore, the twins played Piazzolla’s Autumn in Buenos Aires, joined by a tango dancing couple who highlighted the sensual and smooth character of De Falla’s music with their movement.

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Michael Collins returned for the final piece of the night, to much delight of the audience. The opening of Copland’s Clarinet Concerto was magical, calming and soothing. Michael did a sterling job as both clarinettist and conductor, seamlessly transforming from one role to the other throughout. As always, his playing was flawless and animated and the string players were exceptionally engaging.

The post-concert atmosphere was fantastic with many audience members staying to chat with the musicians, bursting with their thoughts on the evening. The only disappointment is that we’ll have to wait until February for the next one!

Tickets are now on sale for the next two CLoSer concerts on Wednesday 13 February and Wednesday 10 April 2013.

Tickets: £15 (includes one free drink)

CLS FIVER (16-25 year olds): £5 (pre-register with marketing@cls.co.uk)

Box Office: 020 7377 1362/spitalfieldsmusic.org

 

Images: James Berry

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Thu, 13 Sep 2012 06:52:00 -0700 Composer Focus: Piazzolla http://cls.posterous.com/composer-focus-piazzolla http://cls.posterous.com/composer-focus-piazzolla

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Ahead of our American flavoured CLoSer on 19 September, we profile Argentine composer Ástor Pantaleón Piazzolla, best known for inventing Tango Nuevo, a unique compositional style distinct from the traditional tango. Piazzolla was a legendary composer and bandoneonista, who died 20 years ago in 1992. Also known as El Tigre del Bandoneón (The tiger of the Bandoneón), he revived the tango genre in the 1970s by blending classical music with jazz.

He was born March 1921 in Mar del Plata, a small village on the coast just South of Buenos Aires in Argentina. He lived in New York City with his family from 1924 to 1937. When he was eight years old, his father bought him the gift of a bandoneón (the Argentine version of the concertina, related to the accordion).

“I got very happy because I thought it was the roller skates I had asked for so many times. It was a letdown because instead of a pair of skates, I found an artifact I had never seen before in my life. Dad sat down, set it on my legs, and told me, 'Astor, this is the instrument of tango. I want you to learn it.'”

At first Piazzolla was not very impressed, but his neighbour Bela Wilda, a student of Rachmaninov, taught him how to play this peculiar instrument. Piazzolla was particularly inspired by the music of Bach.

Aged 17, Piazzolla moved to Buenos Aires where he joined a tango orchestra and began his career as a bandoneónist. He went on to study in Paris with the legendary composition teacher Nadia Boulanger, before returning to Argentina to perform, compose and direct numerous ensembles. Later in life he performed around the world in Greece, Amsterdam, London and New York.

Piazzolla’s life came to a sad end when he suffered a stroke in Paris in 1990, leaving him in a coma. He died in Buenos Aires just two years later, never regaining consciousness.

Piazzolla

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Mon, 10 Sep 2012 01:55:00 -0700 Spotlight on...Katona Twins http://cls.posterous.com/spotlight-onkatona-twins http://cls.posterous.com/spotlight-onkatona-twins

Our opening concert for the second CLoSer series features Guest Artists the Katona Twins. But who are the men involved in this unique duo? Here’s a quick snapshot:

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Name
Peter and Zoltán Katona

Age
44

Nationality
Identical twins Peter and Zoltán were born in Hungary. They are German citizens, but now live in Liverpool in the UK.

Background
Labelled as “the classical world’s best known guitar duo” by the Daily Telegraph, the Katona Twins studied in Budapest, Frankfurt and at the Royal Academy of Music in London. They have given recitals in major concert venues all over the world including Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Konzerthaus in Vienna, the Suntory Hall in Tokyo and the Philharmonie in Cologne. The duo perform a wide range of repertoire from classical Bach and Mozart, Spanish and Tango, to more popular music genres including their own arrangements of pop classics!

Breakthrough moment
In 2009, they performed live to half a million people in arenas across Europe as the soloists for Night of the Proms. Inspired by the British Last Night of the Proms, these concerts have become one of the most visited and most attractive musical events in Belgium and in Europe, combining both classical and pop music.

CLoSer performance

Piazzolla - Hommage à Liège

The master of Tango, Astor Piazzolla wrote this lyrical double concerto for guitar, bandoneón and strings. Piazzolla’s compositional style incorporated elements from both jazz and classical music to create nuevo tango, distinct from the traditional tango style.

Falla - El amor brujo

Manuel de Falla was one of Spain’s most important musicians in the early 20th century. Falla rarely composed for the guitar, however he took much inspiration from early Spanish guitar music. El amor brujo was originally composed as a chamber piece and eventually transformed into a ballet. The Katona Twins will be performing their own arrangement of this piece for guitar duo and percussion.

Visit the Katona Twins youtube channel to find out more


CLoSer

Wed 19 September, 7.30pm

Village Underground, Shoreditch

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

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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.

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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!

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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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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.

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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. 

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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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Thu, 15 Mar 2012 03:37:21 -0700 CLoSer part two - in words and pictures http://cls.posterous.com/closer-part-two-in-words-and-pictures http://cls.posterous.com/closer-part-two-in-words-and-pictures

Our second CLoSer concert at Village Underground played to a packed crowd on Wednesday 29 February, when the Holst Singers and baritone Derek Welton joined us as Guest Artists. We thought we'd share with you some of the best photos from the night and what the audience had to say:

"Great music - venue warmed by a a fantastic orchestra"

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"Think that might have been my favourite concert in a while; got the whole relaxed thing pitched just right"

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"Incomparable polyphony, musical alchemy!"

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"wonderful programming (incredibly varied), hushed audience, informal atmosphere, excellent musicians & gorgeous setting!"

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"Totally brilliant. Say no more!"

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The final concert in the series will be a jazz finale extraordinaire, when we’ll be joined by Guest Artist and renowned jazz pianist Gwilym Simcock, who’ll be joining the orchestra to perform some of his own compositions, as well as music by Mark-Anthony Turnage and Darius Milhaud.

Listen to our Spotify Playlist to hear some of the music to be performed on the night.

CLoSer
Wednesday 25 April, 7.30pm,
Village Underground, EC2A

Tickets: £15 (includes a free drink)/ Students £5
Box office: 020 7377 1362/spitalfieldsmusic.org.uk

Images: Clare Parker

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Mon, 27 Feb 2012 06:26:00 -0800 Composer Focus: Igor Stravinsky http://cls.posterous.com/composer-focus-igor-stravinsky http://cls.posterous.com/composer-focus-igor-stravinsky

Ahead of our performance of Stravinsky's Mass with the Holst Singers at Wednesday's CLoSer, we profile the composer, one of the most innovative of the twentieth century.

 

Stravinsky

Born on 18 June 1882, the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky spent much of his childhood in St Petersburg, where his father, Fyodor Stravinsky, was a famous bass singer at the Mariinsky Theatre. The young Stravinsky studied law for several years, before switching to study music privately with the celebrated Russian composer Rimsky-Korsakov. In 1909, he found fame with his composition The Firebird, which Sergei Diaghilev, the director of the Ballets Russes in Paris, encouraged him to transform into a full-length ballet.

In 1910, Stravinsky moved to Paris and was commissioned by Diagilev to write further ballets for the Ballets Russes. Petrushka, set in a Russian fairground, followed The Firebird. Stravinsky’s next ballet, The Rite of Spring, which premiered in Paris on 29 May 1913, received one of the most notorious reactions in the history of classical music, when it was booed and ridiculed by the audience. Fist fights and catcalls greeted the highly unconventional choreography, instrumentation and use of dissonance in the orchestra. The police were called to attempt to quell what quickly became a riot.

Some believe that the scale of the unrest was exaggerated by Dagliev and Stravinsky, who courted controversy and desired to be seen as innovators. However, The Rite of Spring undoubtedly broke new ground in composition. Its story is based on a ‘primitive,’ pagan ceremony, and it contains challenging and stirring rhythms of early pagan Russia. It was to remain Stravinsky’s most famous work, and established his reputation as a premier composer of the twentieth century.

From Paris, Stravinsky, his wife Katerina and young children moved to Switzerland, where they spent the war years, returning in 1920. In this period, Stavinsky began to experiment with the inflections, harmonies and rhythms of jazz, and later, turned to a neo-classical style with, for example, his ballet Pulcinella (1919-1920) and his choral work the Symphony of Psalms (1930).  In the 1930s, he began to develop professional relationships with key figures in American music. Following the worst couple of years of his life (beginning with the death of his eldest daughter Ludmila in 1938, the death of his mother in 1939, and, finally, the death of his wife of thirty three years, Katerina, from tuberculosis also in 1939), Stravinsky decided to move to the United States with Vera de Bosset, with whom he had been having an affair since 1921. They married in 1940.

Stravinsky became a naturalised US citizen in 1945, the third nationality he had taken in his life (after Russian and French). He socialised with a crowd of European intellectuals and artists in Los Angeles, including the British writers W. H. Auden, Christopher Isherwood, Dylan Thomas and Aldous Huxley. His Mass was also produced during this time (1944-1948) and is written with a French and Russian-sounding, neo-classical aesthetic. However, after meeting Robert Craft, the musicologist who would go on to live with him as an interpreter, chronicler, and assistant conductor for the rest of his life, he began to be more committed to the use of serial compositional techniques such as dodecaphony, the twelve-tone technique.  This generally characterises his compositions from the mid-1950s, but he was never restricted by the musical forms he chose to use, and remained a highly original and inventive composer for the rest of his life. He died in New York in 1971.

 

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Stravinsky, as drawn by Picasso

 

Listen to Stravinsky’s Mass on our Spotify playlist

Read our CLoSer FAQs for more information on the concert series.

CLoSer: Spirit of the Voice
Wednesday 29 Feb, 7.30pm
Village Underground

 

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Tue, 21 Feb 2012 03:38:00 -0800 Stravinsky's Mass http://cls.posterous.com/concert-focus-closer-stravinsky-mass http://cls.posterous.com/concert-focus-closer-stravinsky-mass

The second concert in our innovative, informal series, CLoSer, will focus on the human voice with a performance by CLS and the Holst Singers of Stravinsky's Mass.

Stravinsky began work on his Mass in 1944, completing the Kyrie and Gloria towards the end of that year. Pausing to work on other projects, he returned to the Mass in 1947, finally completing all the movements in 1948. He rarely wrote non-commissioned music, so is believed by his friend Robert Craft (the American conductor and writer) to have written his Mass out of ‘spiritual necessity.’

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Although he was devoted to the religious content, Stravinsky chose to write a Roman Catholic mass, despite being a member of the Russian Orthodox Church.  His reasons for doing this were practical ones: he was committed to creating a Mass that would be performed in liturgical circumstances, and, given that he disliked the sound of unaccompanied singing, couldn’t write for the Russian Orthodox Church, which forbids any music but the human voice and bells. The Roman Catholic Church permits instrumentation on religious occasions so provided the right vehicle for Stravinsky’s small wind ensemble and four-part choir.

Despite Stravinsky’s desire that the Mass be used liturgically, it has almost always been performed in concert since its first performance at La Scala in Milan in 1948. It remains, however, deeply committed to the affirmation of faith. Although he denied that he was influenced by any particular composer or composition, Stravinsky uses a chanting style of singing that is reminiscent of monastic chant, a style that, despite his tendency to put musical stresses on unstressed words, preserves the text of the mass and connects his work to older Christian musics.

His commitment to the spiritual content is, appropriately, particularly apparent in the Credo, about which Stravinsky is quoted by Robert Craft as saying “One composes a march to facilitate marching men, so with my Credo I hope to provide an aid to the text. The Credo is the longest movement. There is much to believe.” 

 Listen to Stravinsky’s Mass on our Spotify playlist

 

CLoSer: Spirit of the Voice
Wednesday 29 Feb, 7.30pm
Village Underground

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Thu, 16 Feb 2012 04:43:00 -0800 CLoSer Interview: Holst Singers http://cls.posterous.com/closer-interview-holst-singers http://cls.posterous.com/closer-interview-holst-singers

We caught up with Will Davies from the Holst Singers, our Guest Artists at our next CLoSer concert, to find out more about this extraordinary choir.

Holst Singers, what are the origins of the choir and its name?
We were founded in 1978 under Hilary Davan Wetton, but for almost two decades have been conducted by our Musical Director Stephen Layton, who has shaped and nurtured the celebrated sound we make. I believe our name was actually taken from the Holst Room at St Paul’s Girls’ School where we originally rehearsed in the early days - so I guess we are named after the composer, but not directly!

How many singers in the choir? What’s the average profile of a Holstie? (if there is such a thing!)
We have a core of about 40 singers who are the ‘regulars’, who you’ll catch performing at most concerts. I’m not sure there is an ‘average’ Holstie! I suppose most of us are graduates with a chapel choir background, so Oxford and Cambridge feature fairly heavily in the choir’s make-up. Outside of that, we’re a very varied bunch, a whole range of ages and occupations. Without wanting to sound too cheesy, the thing that unites us all is music. I think we’re in a unique position as an institution– we’re one of the nation’s top-flight choirs, but we work entirely as a self-run amateur outfit, with no subscription fees or anything like that. It means that everyone involved is there to concentrate on the music-making; it works really well for us.

What is it like working with CLS Artistic Director Stephen Layton?
In short, truly inspiring. He’s one of the world’s greatest choral conductors, and it shows. He always seems to know exactly what he wants to achieve with the music, from the broad sweep of a piece to the subtle nuances. What’s great is that he knows how to get us to produce the performance he wants; he works us hard, but it’s always worth it for the end result.

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What’s the range of the choir’s repertoire? Do you enjoy performing newly-commissioned work, or prefer more established repertoire?
We love getting our teeth into a wide range of repertoire. I suppose we have a reputation for performing works in the very loose category of ‘unjustly neglected a cappella gems’ – works by Baltic composers like Tormis and Ešenvalds for instance, or the Russian Orthodox music on our Ikon recordings. We’re also actively involved in performing new commissions, from premiering Tavener’s Veil of the Temple to working with Imogen Heap on her soundtrack to The Seashell and the Clergyman.

Talk us through the pieces you’re performing for CLoSer.
We’re performing two pieces, Stravinsky’s Mass and Immortal Bach by Knut Nystedt. The Stravinsky is a great work. It’s quite severe, almost bleak at times, but beautiful with it. It’s scored for choir and a fairly small wind ensemble, and you get these wonderful moments of sparse, dissonant instrumental writing with the choir almost chanting the text, especially in the Credo. That’s probably the most challenging movement for us – not because it’s particularly difficult musically, but because he treats the text in a really counterintuitive way. Instead of setting it in the ‘usual’ way (accented and inflected as one might speak it, with expression) he produces a sort of muttering mantra; it’s this kind of ‘march of belief’, which is surprisingly tricky to get your head around at first.

Immortal Bach is really interesting – Nystedt takes the first two lines of the chorale Komm, süßer Tod and deconstructs them. You hear the unadulterated chorale first and then you hear it transformed, by dividing the choir into separate groups who sing each phrase of the chorale at different speeds, coming together at the cadence points before continuing onwards. It’s a bit tricky to explain without a choir on hand to demonstrate, but it’s very effective – the result is this fantastic smeary collage of Bach.

What do you hope the audience take away from your performance on 29 February?
I hope they get an impression of how the human voice can speak powerfully to you, in unexpected ways. I think the thing that connects the music we’ll be performing is that neither piece uses voices conventionally, to wring emotion from words or to make you say, “Oh, what a lovely tune”. The Nystedt is in a sense just the application of a simple mathematical rubric to a Bach chorale, and the Stravinsky is ascetic, austere music; and yet both produce this captivating atmosphere.

What would the Holst Singers desert island discs be and why?
Ah, now this is going be tricky. I’d have trouble enough doing my own, letting alone trying to speak for the whole choir – I’m inevitably going to get lynched when they see this! “How could you miss out Spem in alium?!” Ah well, here goes…
I think we need something early in there. Let’s have Palestrina’s Missa Papae Marcelli, because it’s pretty damn fit, especially the way the Kyrie kicks off; I could listen to that soaring-and-descending motif go round and round all day. It would be rude not to have anything Slavic on the island, let’s cram the Rachmaninov Vespers in the bag too. Last one… we need something English in there too. This’ll be a controversial one, but let’s go for the Vaughan Williams Shakespeare Songs. The middle movement is the sexiest thing ever. Wait. We get a full set of sheet music for these on the island too, right?!

CLoSer: Spirit of the Voice
Weds 29 February, 7.30pm
Village Underground, Shoreditch

Poulenc Suite Francaise
JS Bach French Suite
Poulenc Le Bal Masque
Nystedt Immortal Bach
Stravinsky Mass

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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, 25 Nov 2011 03:18:32 -0800 CLoSer - The First Review http://cls.posterous.com/closer-the-first-review http://cls.posterous.com/closer-the-first-review

We asked Laura, our Marketing Intern and newest office recruit, to give us the lowdown on the launch of CLoSer on Tuesday night.

CLoSer, our brand new concert series, launched on Tuesday with a Strings Masterclass in East London’s newest venue, Village Underground.

This renovated, turn-of-the-century, warehouse offered a versatile space, acted  as an atmospheric and edgy venue. A brilliant blank canvas of old brick, hinting at its industrial past, Village Underground transformed for the evening, hosting 200 audience members, free to relax on floor cushions, unwind at the bar and get closer to the orchestra.

The informal evening of orchestral music was led by our charismatic Principal Conductor , Michael Collins and progressed through a programme of three works, and also featured Michael  as a soloist. The minimalist Shaker Loops, by John Adams, opened the evening with energetic motion and electrifying acceleration. Gathering speed over 25 minutes, the orchestra played with vigour as the music gained speed and rhythmic excitement.

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This opening piece was followed by an interview with Michael himself, carried out by our principal cellist, Sue Dorey. Touching on his ability to deftly switch role from conductor to soloist, he spoke fondly of his musical education and how he came to play clarinet as a young boy. One of the leading clarinettists of his generation, Michael’s  performance of Gordon Jacob’s mini-concerto Clarinet Concertino entertained the audience through his persuasive musicianship and buoyant, light-hearted style.

After a brief introduction to the techniques employed by the musicians, the concert came to a close with Bartok’s Divertimento for Strings; a rousing finish to the evening with its gypsy character and dance-like style. The audience  were then free to enjoy the bar and mingle with musicians before offering their feedback on their departure.

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

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

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Tue, 15 Nov 2011 03:17:00 -0800 Concert Focus: John Adams & Shaker Loops http://cls.posterous.com/concert-focus-john-adams-shaker-loops http://cls.posterous.com/concert-focus-john-adams-shaker-loops

Find out about the music behind the concert, with our quick guide to John Adams' Shaker Loops, to be performed at our first CLoSer concert on Tuesday 22 November. 

Shaker Loops
Written in 1978 by American composer John Adams, hailed as one of the great composers of minimalist music, Shaker Loops is one of his most popular and performed compositions.

Formed of four movements:

I. Shaking and Trembling
II. Hymning Slews
III. Loops and Verses
IV. A Final Shaking

Adams says of the piece "the four sections, although they meld together evenly, are really quite distinct, each being characterized by a particular style of string playing. The outside movements are devoted to ’shaking,’ the fast, tightly rhythmicised motion of the bow across the strings.

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image: Margaretta Mitchell

Part II is deliberately slower and languid followed by the melodic third movement, with "the celli playing long, lyrical lines (which are nevertheless loops themselves) against a background of muted violins, an activity which gradually takes speed and mass until it culminates in the wild push-pull section that is the emotional high of the piece.” 

The piece takes its name from both the distinctive 'shaking' of the strings as they oscillate between notes, and the image Adams’ had of ‘Shakers’ (members of the Millennial Church), dancing and worshipping to repetitive, energetic music.

John Adams occupies a unique position in American music, with his works renowned for their depth of expression, brilliance of sound and the profoundly humanist nature of their themes. His operatic works include Doctor Atomic and The Death of Klinghoffer and his composition On the Transmigration of Souls written for the New York Philharmonic to mark the first anniversary of the World Trade Centre attack, won three Grammys and the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2003.

He has said of London audiences "they are my ideal listeners - sophisticated, musically literate, enthusiastic and of course a little bit insane!"

Listen to our Spotify playlist for a preview of Shaker Loops.

CLoSer
Tuesday 22 November, 7.30pm
Village Underground, EC2A

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

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