CLScapades http://cls.posterous.com City of London Sinfonia blog posterous.com Tue, 16 Oct 2012 09:10:55 -0700 Spotlight on...John Adams http://cls.posterous.com/spotlight-onjohn-adams http://cls.posterous.com/spotlight-onjohn-adams

We compare and contrast the life of John Adams with that of Igor Stravinsky in our previous blog post, ahead of our concert on Thursday night at Cadogan Hall.

Name       
John Coolidge Adams

Age       
65

Nationality   
American   

Background   
His father taught him how to play the clarinet, and he was a clarinetist in community ensembles as a young boy. He began composing at the age of ten with his music first performed publically when he was 14 years old. Studied at Harvard University where he was awarded two degrees. He received the 2003 Pulitzer Prize in Music for his orchestral work, On the Transmigration of Souls, a memorial to the September 11 attacks.

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Image: Margaret Mitchell

Breakthrough Moment
Acknowledged for bringing contemporary history to the opera house with his post-modern operatic works Nixon in China (1987), The Death of Klinghoffer (1991) and Doctor Atomic (2005). A recent survey shows him to be the most frequently performed living American composer of orchestral music.

CLS performance
Gnarly Buttons
is his concerto for clarinet and small orchestra, written for and premiered by our Principal Conductor Michael Collins, and featuring the banjo, mandolin and guitar! Grand Pianola Music was inspired by a dream in which he found himself driving down Interstate 5, being approached by two of the world's longest Steinways! It unusually features two pianos and three female voices sing a wordless harmony.

Stravinsky & John Adams
Thursday 18 October, 7.30pm
Cadogan Hall, London

Stravinsky Octet
John Adams Gnarly Buttons
John Adams Grand Pianola Music

Tickets from £15
Box Office: 020 7730 4500/cadoganhall.com

 

 

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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!

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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Fri, 27 Jul 2012 07:28:00 -0700 Olympic Torch in Holland Park http://cls.posterous.com/olympic-torch-in-holland-park http://cls.posterous.com/olympic-torch-in-holland-park

On Thursday 26 July, the Olympic torch passed through the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and stopped briefly in Holland Park. We were delighted to perform, along with the Opera Holland Park Chorus and Investec Choir, for this very special occasion. Here's some photos from this special day.

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Conductor Stuart Stratford with the City of London Sinfonia violins

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Orchestra leader Matthew Scrivener with Stuart Stratford

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The Opera Holland Park Chorus and Investec Choir

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A 'minute maestro' participant

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Stuart Stratford and more 'minute maestro' conductors

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Julia Riley and Anna Leese singing The Flower Duet from Lakmé

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City of London Sinfonia violins

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Peter Auty performing Nessun Dorma

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12-year-old Tabitha-Skye Mcduffus from Chelsea Academy carried the torch through Holland Park

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Tabitha carrying the torch through the choir

Images: Anna Jessiman

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Wed, 11 Jul 2012 03:52:09 -0700 Zany for Zanetto http://cls.posterous.com/zany-for-zanetto http://cls.posterous.com/zany-for-zanetto

As the Gianni Schicchi/Zanetto double bill at Opera Holland Park comes to an end this week, we focus on Mascagni's lesser known one act opera Zanetto.

Florence

1.    Mascagni had so many devoted fans during his lifetime that 'mascagnano' was recognised as a common noun in the Italian dictionary.

2.    The premiere of Zanetto in 1896 featured as part of the annual celebrations for Rossini’s birthday.

3.    A private performance of Zanetto was held in London shortly after the Italian premiere, with Italian sisters Sofia and Giulia Ravogli.

4.    Five years ago in June 2007, Zanetto was performed in New York for the first time since its US premiere in October 1902.

5.    Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti, the librettist for Zanetto (along with Guido Menasci), was a lifelong friend of Mascagni’s, born in the same year and city.

 

The remaining performances of the Gianni Schicchi/Zanetto double bill are on July 12 & 14 at 7.30pm, as well as The Christine Collins Young Artists' performance on July 14 at 2pm.

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Fri, 29 Jun 2012 03:06:18 -0700 Gen up on your Gianni http://cls.posterous.com/gen-up-on-your-gianni http://cls.posterous.com/gen-up-on-your-gianni

For the next edition in our trivia opera guide for novices and opera buffs alike, we take a look at  Puccini's one-act opera Gianni Schicchi.

  • The work is the third and final part of Puccini's Il trittico (The Triptych)—three one-act operas. When Il trittico premiered in New York, Rome and London, Gianni Schicchi was an immediate hit and by 1920 Puccini had given his reluctant consent to separate performances. Gianni Schicchi has subsequently become the most-performed part of Il trittico and has been widely recorded
  • The libretto is based on an incident mentioned in Dante's The Divine Comedy

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  • The world premiere took place at the Metropolitan Opera (above image) in New York unusually without Puccini being there
  • Woody Allen directed Gianni Schicchi for Los Angeles Opera in 2008
  • Gianni Schicchi was to be the last opera Puccini ever completed


Gianni Schicchi is in rep at Opera Holland Park until 14 July.

Check out our Opera Holland Park Pinterest Board for more interesting facts on this year's season.

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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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Wed, 21 Mar 2012 03:40:22 -0700 Working with Giants http://cls.posterous.com/working-with-giants http://cls.posterous.com/working-with-giants

Our Education Manager Gillian, explains how music educators help students to tackle Mozart.

Many of you will have heard of the ‘Mozart effect’ – the popular belief that ‘listening to Mozart makes you smarter’. Indeed, there has been academic research which indicates as much, and this coupled with vast amounts of anecdotal evidence, has parents and teachers switching over to Classic FM in an effort to increase children’s brain power. All this can only be good news for those of us tasked with teaching classical music to children.Young children are innately curious about where music comes from and are fascinated by meeting live musicians and seeing orchestral instruments being played up close. In the orchestral outreach sector, we teach from a starting point that all children should have the opportunity to see and hear live professional musicians and we are passionate about exposing children to ‘real’ orchestral repertoire.

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The breadth of Mozart’s work makes it incredibly straightforward to expose children to his music, live. Musicians who visit schools often, without prompting choose to play a Mozart excerpt to illustrate their instruments. From his horn concertos to the violin sonatas, Mozart was a master of writing for a specific instrument. His melodies let the instrument they were written for really sing and illustrate brilliantly what makes a flute’s sound different from that of an oboe.

When learning about classical music, there is often a dichotomy between the enjoyable act of listening to the music and the often perceived ‘dry’ nature of studying and analysing its style and form. As with understanding Shakespeare, we must ensure that the experience of the opera (or play, or symphony) is intertwined with the understanding of its form and meaning. Additionally, we can deepen this understanding by further integrating the study of the composer – or playwright himself. Mozart’s playful ‘Presto’ movements, for example in his chamber works and symphonies, are so easy to engage with when we imagine the playful nature of Mozart’s character. Understanding Mozart’s relationship with his father makes the plot of his opera Don Giovanni all the more gripping. In short, integrating the ways in which we teach and learn Mozart (and indeed Shakespeare), not separating the musical from the historical, the listening from the analysing, the drama from the form, is a positive way forward to making the topic exciting and relevant.

To read the full article visit the Teaching Shakespeare website

 

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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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Thu, 01 Mar 2012 03:02:00 -0800 Conquering the Antarctic Interview: Hugh Bonneville http://cls.posterous.com/interview-hugh-bonneville http://cls.posterous.com/interview-hugh-bonneville

Ahead of the final concert in our Conquering the Antarctic tour this Saturday, we caught up with Hugh Bonneville, acclaimed actor from ITV's Downton Abbey, to talk to him about his involvement in the tour.

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Image: Philip Thorne

What drew you to take part in the Conquering the Antarctic tour and what do you know about the story of Captain Scott's expedition to the South Pole?
The story of Captain Scott is something that I have known about from childhood, like every boy and girl from my generation; one of the great adventures, albeit with a tragic ending. I remember from an early age being inspired by the grandeur and the ambition of the expedition, despite the tragic nature of it all. Of course it was 1912, the year of the Titanic and the year of Captain Scott, what a year! It’s full of schoolboy heroism but ultimate folly in the end; the flawed ambition of Empire.

Captain Scott's final diaries are at the heart of the concert tour; do you keep a diary? If so how long have you kept one for and why?
I haven’t kept a diary since I was 18!  It was usually full of what a terrible result I had in a football match; why wasn’t I any good at goalkeeping?


To read the diaries of Captain Scott in the context of the Vaughan Williams music (which will be performed alongside the readings in the concert) is very moving. You see the confidence with which the polar party set out, the camaraderie of the men and Scott’s admiration for his team; the great chemistry between the men and Scott’s determination to keep his leadership up, despite the will, gradually beginning to slip away.


He definitely ranks up there alongside the great adventurers such as Shackleton and Mallory. I think his tremendous spirit of adventure and daringness to fail ranks him alongside any hero. Flawed as they may be, they were all prepared to push themselves and what is known about the world, to its limits.

Have you ever had any desire to be an explorer and if so where would you go and what would you explore?
I’m a good map reader but a hopeless explorer! I’d love to go to parts of the world that are remote, but I’d be hopeless in icy conditions. I’m fascinated by rivers that hide their source. I did some wandering during my GAP year travels, but that was in several degrees of comfort compared to what these guys experienced. I wouldn’t last five seconds in Bear Grylls back garden, let alone out in the field with him!

What was your first experience with music? Do you play an instrument?
I can’t pretend to be a musician.  My parents are very keen concert goers and my first conscious memory of music is my Dad playing an LP of Faure’s Requiem. My father is an excellent pianist and his effortless technique on the piano made me furious every time I tried to plink out my Grade One. I then took up the clarinet, which remains one of my favourite instruments, which I absolutely love, and only wish I’d kept going.

What's the hardest and also the most satisfying part of being involved in the Downton Abbey phenomenon?
The hardest thing is trying to keep track of which part of the world has seen which series and making sure you’re not giving the game away in press conferences. The most satisfying thing is to be involved in a show that has caught the imagination of so many people around the world; it doesn’t happen very often in your career. We've started back at Downton Abbey already. And no, I’m can’t tell you what happens in Series Three, I’ve only read up to Episode Two!

Conquering the Antarctic
3 March 2012

Cadogan Hall, London

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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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Mon, 30 Jan 2012 06:15:00 -0800 Flashback: L’Chaim http://cls.posterous.com/flashback-lchaim http://cls.posterous.com/flashback-lchaim

In this edition of Flashback, we look to 1998 and the launch of our L’Chaim, Living Music project, which is still going strong and celebrating ‘living music’ today.

 

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"In tandem with the commencement of Music for Children at Great Ormond Street Hospital, the Education and Community Programme also launched L’Chaim, Living Music. This is an informal concert project at the Otto Schiff Housing Association (OSHA) for Jewish refugees of Nazi persecution. Most OSHA residents are of German or Austrian origin, and their combined rich cultural heritage and love of music has been the defining factor in helping to shape the project.

 

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"Based at seven different homes and sites throughout North London, L’Chaim, Living Music will provide a three-year rotating programme of classical, Jewish, folk, religious and coffee house music... Whilst physical frailty may now prevent some of the residents attending concerts elsewhere in London, this has not hindered their support and enthusiasm for this project, and they have been integral to the planning process, programming and structure from the outset.

 

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"A long list of composers and musical interests was drawn up by the residents, many of whom are musicians themselves. After this initial meeting, it was clear that musical interests veered strongly towards the German classical tradition, but that many OSHA residents also enjoy folk, religious, light classical and jazz music. With these interests in mind, the programme for the year was drawn up...

"Soon after this, a trio of musicians were booked for the first three visits to OSHA (Erika Klemperer, violin, Danny Lyness, viola, Jo Cole, cello) and...they devised the first concert programme (including complete works by Beethoven, Kodaly and Schubert.) The first visits were a great success, reaching over 70 residents and staff and instant feedback from the residents was overwhelmingly positive."


Extract from CLScapades newsletter 1998

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Tue, 24 Jan 2012 03:34:00 -0800 Conquering the Antarctic - The People : Edward Wilson http://cls.posterous.com/the-people-profiles-of-other-team-members http://cls.posterous.com/the-people-profiles-of-other-team-members

 

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Our Conquering the Antarctic tour celebrates the achievements of Captain Scott, the most well-known of the five-man party that reached the South Pole a hundred years ago in 1912. As the inspirational leader of the team, his personal qualities, courage and charisma were reflected in his journals and letters, which provide a moving picture of the expedition that endures today.

But what of the other four men Scott selected to accompany him to the Pole? They were Wilson, Bowers, Evans and Oates. Over the next four days, we profile the other members of Scott’s team, beginning today with Dr Edward Wilson.

 


Edward Wilson

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Born in Cheltenham in 1872, Edward Wilson was an artist and naturalist, who first joined Captain Scott aboard the Discovery as Assistant Surgeon and Vertebrate Zoologist to the British National Antarctic Expedition (1901-1904). In 1910 he returned to the Antarctic with Scott aboard the Terra Nova as Chief of the Scientific Staff. He was devoted to the study of Antarctic specimens and highly skilled at watercolour painting, particularly at capturing the colours, wildlife and light of the Antarctic.

‘Uncle Bill,’ as Wilson became known to the other explorers, was friendly and affectionate, and succeeded in mastering his temper thanks to a strong Christian faith. Scott selected him for the trek to the South Pole, which delighted him, and he continued his pursuit of scientific discovery even after the pole was reached, stopping with the rest of the team to collect 16kg of geological specimens.

Wilson’s is the last letter thought to have been written by any member of the polar party. Dated March 1912, the letter, written to his friend Reginald Smith, refers to his unfinished book about disease in grouse, his only regret at the time of his death. "We shall make a forlorn effort to reach the next depot but it means 22 miles and we are none of us fit to face it. I want to say how I have valued your friendship … I have no fear of death, only sorrow for my wife and for my dear people. Otherwise all is well. I should like to have seen the grouse book but it is not allowed to me. God's will be done." 

It is believed that Wilson died alongside Bowers and Scott in late March 1912. The three bodies were found in their tent by a rescue party the following November.

 

 

Conquering the Antarctic - the Scott Centenary Concert Tour

 A celebration in music, words and images

Stephen Layton, conductor
Robert Murray, tenor
Hugh Bonneville, narrator

3-8 February and 3 March 2012

 

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Tue, 17 Jan 2012 04:25:00 -0800 Conquering the Antarctic - The Place http://cls.posterous.com/94607423 http://cls.posterous.com/94607423

Ahead of our Conquering the Antarctic concert tour, starting next month, we're immersing ourselves in all things Antarctic. Here are some interesting facts about the most mysterious and fascinating of continents...

 

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  • The Antarctic is the world’s highest, driest, coldest and windiest continent (as well as the last to be discovered).
  • Ancient Greek geographers were the first to guess there was a large landmass around the South Pole. They named it Anti-Arkitkos (‘the opposite of the Arctic’).
  • Wind speeds of up to 351km (218 miles) per hour have been recorded.
  • In 1983, the coldest temperature ever was recorded at a freezing -89.2 degrees Celsius (-128.56 degrees Fahrenheit).
  • The distance between the UK and Antarctica is 11,000 miles (17702.784 km).
  • Ice in the middle of the continent can be up to 2500m (2 miles) thick.
  • Antarctica is more than 58 times bigger than Great Britain.
  • The pole moves with the ice at the rate of ten metres per year – each summer it has to be put back to its rightful geographical place.
  • Antarctic ice sheets store 70% of the world’s fresh water.
  • In Antarctica’s Dry Valleys, less than 6cm (2.4 in) of snow falls in a whole year.
  • Although there are no trees, more than 100 million birds nest and breed on the Antarctic.
  • Today, around 1,200 people spend the winter on Antarctica – about a third are scientists and the rest are support staff.
  • On average, ice sheets are nearly 2.5km (1.5 miles) thick – that’s the same as ten Canary Wharf towers on top of each other.
  • Thanks to high levels of oxygen in the water, sea spiders grow up to 30cm (12 in) across!

Conquering the Antarctic - the Scott Centenary Concert Tour

A celebration in music, words and images

Stephen Layton, conductor
Robert Murray, tenor
Hugh Bonneville, narrator

3-8 February and 3 March 2012

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Fri, 16 Dec 2011 03:57:00 -0800 Festive Playlist http://cls.posterous.com/festive-playlist http://cls.posterous.com/festive-playlist

With Christmas approaching, our thoughts have turned to festive music! We know how much you love our playlists, so we’ve put together a good mix of our favourite seasonal tunes from all across the genres. Guaranteed to put you in a festive mood!

Is there any essential listening we’ve missed?

Listen to the Spotify playlist here


Angels We Have Heard on High - traditional 

White Christmas - Bing Crosby 

In the Bleak Midwinter - Darke 

The Christmas Song - Nat King Cole

Away in a Manger - traditional 

Let it Snow! - Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne 

O Holy Night - Adam 

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas  - Bing Crosby 

A Hymn to the Virgin - Britten 

Once in Royal David’s City - traditional 

Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) - Darlene Love 

The Holly and the Ivy - traditional 

Fairytale of New York - The Pogues 

Walking in the Air - Howard Blake 

Hanukkah, O Hanukkah - Barenaked Ladies

Coventry Carol - traditional

Baby it’s Cold Outside - Frank Loesser

Ceremony of Carols: This Little Babe - Britten

Christmas Time - The Darkness

Silent Night - traditional

Fantasia on Christmas Carols - Vaughan Williams

Ding Dong Merrily On High - Radcliffe Woodward

Only One More Sleep - The Muppets

 

HAPPY CHRISTMAS FROM ALL AT CITY OF LONDON SINFONIA

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Tue, 13 Dec 2011 09:21:51 -0800 Who was Captain Scott? http://cls.posterous.com/who-was-captain-scott http://cls.posterous.com/who-was-captain-scott

We asked our newest Marketing recruit, Alice, to help us discover who Captain Scott really was ahead of our Conquering the Antarctic concert tour in February.

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Now remembered as a ‘race to the Pole,’ the tale of Captain Scott’s ill-fated expedition to the Antarctic from 1910-1912 has acquired the dimensions of a myth. But we are able to discover a good deal about what really happened on the expedition from Scott’s diaries, which give a vivid and moving depiction of the challenges the hard-working team faced.

Who was this man, whose personal qualities were so central to the expedition, and whose diaries, discovered by a rescue mission three months after his death, continue to provide a moving and emotive demonstration of his resolve and dignity in such unthinkable circumstances? What drove him to undertake this monumental challenge?

Born in 1868, Robert Falcon Scott joined a Royal Navy training ship at the age of thirteen. From 1900 to 1904, he commanded a British trip to the Antarctic, and from 1907-1909, Scott’s erstwhile companion Shackleton led a further British Antarctic Expedition to the Antarctic, locating the South Pole high on the ice plateau. Scott planned to finish what Shackleton had begun, and a further privately-funded expedition was raised which led to the purchase of the expedition ship, the Terra Nova, for £12,500.

Although he declared that the "main object of the expedition is to reach the South Pole and secure for the British Empire the honour of that achievement," Scott also had geological, biological and meteorological goals. The British team faced competition from the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, who had abandoned earlier attempts to reach the North Pole in favour of being the first to get to the South. Despite this element of competition, Scott’s diaries reveal that he refused to abandon the pursuit of science, however difficult and unrelenting the freezing conditions.

When they reached the Pole in January 1912, the malnourished and frostbitten explorers found that the Norwegian team had got there first. Some believe that tragedy would have been prevented if the British team had ‘won’—they would have been in better spirits. As it was, they all met their deaths soon after. As Scott wrote in his journal, “These rough notes and our dead bodies must tell the tale.”


To read the full version of this blog post, visit our website
Image courtesy of SPRI, University of Cambridge


Conquering the Antarctic
2-8 Feb & 3 March 2012
Birmingham, Cambridge, Cardiff, Cheltenham, London

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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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Mon, 28 Nov 2011 07:40:52 -0800 The Big Give Christmas Challenge http://cls.posterous.com/the-big-give-christmas-challenge-13180 http://cls.posterous.com/the-big-give-christmas-challenge-13180

Earlier this month, pupils from three primary schools in Tower Hamlets took part in a very magical project with our musicians and workshop leader Claire Bloor. October and November were full of magic for the Education team with our Lullaby series followed by our sell-out Crash Bang Wallop! concert at Cadogan Hall and we were so pleased that alongside these projects, we were able to develop a bespoke project for 150 Year 1 and 2 pupils from across Tower Hamlets; the starting point of a new and exciting programme of work in the Borough.

In the spring we met with THAMES, the Tower Hamlets Arts and Music Education Service to explore possibilities of developing work together. THAMES works with schools across Tower Hamlets, providing instrumental music teachers and running ensembles but also have a very strong history of exciting, effective partnerships. They work with a wide range of professional partners and we are proud to be one of them!

The concert was wonderful, something the children would never have been able to experience without you.
Teacher, Thomas Buxton Primary School

Our first project in October saw a special schools performance of our Magic themed show which included arrangements of works such as Dukas Sorcerer’s Apprentice and Mozart’s Overture to The Magic Flute. Around this, we ran a series of workshops with four classes, introducing children to the repertoire and instruments of the Orchestra. Alongside workshop leader, Claire Bloor, the children also wrote their own lyrics to a song about a magical owl which was performed with the Orchestra at the concert. 

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Image: Paul Coghlin

This pilot project has exceeded our expectations and we now plan to visit eight more primary schools in Tower Hamlets, with a series of bespoke schools concerts and workshops, introducing a further 300 children and their teachers to the Orchestra.  In order to make this important work happen we are taking part in the Big Give Christmas Challenge (5-9 December), through which we need to raise £25,000 in order to enable this transformational work to happen. 

Visit our Big Give page to find out more and how to get involved.

Big Give Christmas Challenge
5 - 9 Dec 2011     

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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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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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