Artist in residence Marin Alsop has performed two concerts with the London Philharmonic Orchestra at Southbank Centre this February. Listen to the LPO February podcast where she introduces works by Martinů, Dvořák and Liszt.
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Horn soloist Anneke Scott talks about the program of her forthcoming concert with Kathryn Cok at Southbank Centre’s Purcell Room.
Anneke Scott & Kathryn Cok will perform at Southbank Centre’s Purcell Room on Monday 5 March.
For full concert info and to book click here
Filed under: Chamber music, Misc, Purcell Room | Tagged: Anneke Scott, chamber music, Classical, classical music, piano, Southbank Centre, violin | Leave a Comment »
London Sinfonietta talks to countertenor Andrew Watts ahead of his performance of Neuwirth’s music with the ensemble this Saturday at Southbank Centre.
On Saturday 11 February, you’ll be performing as soloist in Olga Neuwirth’s Hommage à Klaus Nomi. Can you tell us a little about Nomi’s character and how this influences your approach to the role?
Taking on the persona of someone like Klaus Nomi is almost impossible. Unlike such things as Stars in Your Eyes on the television the role is in no way meant to be an impression of Klaus Nomi (vocally or in a fashion sense!), it is more an evocation of the times and spirits of the period when Klaus Nomi was singing and performing.
My approach to singing this music is to treat it simply in a classical form even though some of the songs are based in the rock genre. Good singing along with a natural performance style is needed for these songs. The arrangements by Olga Neuwirth are incredible and full of musical nuances and detail.
Klaus Nomi used music to adopt a new persona. If you could be someone else for a day, who would you choose, and why?
I am fairly happy with being the person I am but if I were to become a person for the day I think I would like to be the President of the United States of America. I have become obsessed with the TV series The West Wing and carry it with me when away from home singing opera around the world. It is incredibly written and has a real insight into the working of politics in the US. Being President would give me access in to the most secure building in the world.
Olga Neuwirth has said that she has been intrigued by Klaus Nomi since the age of 13 and “was always a fan of his songs and his personality.” Which performer or hero, real or imagined, intrigues you?
I guess as a classical singer I am supposed to think of some other singer who has influenced me or who has inspired me. Most of the great singers have had some influence on me; I simply love the human voice. This is my healthy obsession. However if there was a person who intrigues me then I would have to say Diana, Princess of Wales. I had the pleasure of meeting her both publicly and privately and together with the rest of the world I still wonder what went on in her mind behind the smile and the gentle nature.
In Hommage à Klaus Nomi, Olga Neuwirth takes inspiration from 9 Klaus Nomi songs that were originally performed by a great variety of performers, to form a kind of musical collage. If you were to create your own musical collage of favourites, what songs would you include?
This list can be endless! Looking at my iPod to see what I listen to all the time, I would include the following; The Carpenters We’ve Only Just Begun; The Weather Girls It’s Raining Men, Elton John’s Candle in the Wind, Defying Gravity from the musical Wicked This is the Moment from the musical Jekyll and Hyde, Isolde’s Liebestod from Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde, Whitney Houston’s One Moment in Time and anything by Lady Gaga and Michael Jackson.
And finally… in a previous period of his life, Klaus Nomi worked a pastry chef. If you hadn’t become a musician, what would you be doing now?
Well I have done many jobs in my time before this music thing took off. I cleaned offices, put the jam in the middle of doughnuts in the local bakery, worked in the local grocers weighting out vegetables, worked in restaurants and pubs, played cocktail piano in a wine bar, and cooked pub food. I often wonder if I had not been a musician what would I have actually been doing now.
Andrew Watts joins London Sinfonietta on Saturday 11 February at Queen Elizabeth Hall. Find out more / book tickets
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On Friday 27 January, The Instrumental Quintet of London put on a superb concert hosted by The Friends of All Saints Grayswood.
The stage was set, the line up being world renowned flautist Susan Milan with Nicholas Ward violin, Matthew Jones viola, Sebastian Comberti cello and Ieuan Jones on harp. This most prestigious line up of musicians wowed the audience with works by Damase, Mozart, Debussy, Beethoven and Jongen. Their tremendous technique, pure virtuosity and shear enjoyment of the music
prevailed throughout the concert and the wonderful acoustics enhanced the performance. Tuning was most accurate with the whole balance and control of dynamics within the ensemble being excellent.I especially enjoyed the Damase Quintette Op. 2 with dreamy melodies and Prokofiev like playfulness, the interplay between all of the instruments was just exquisite. The delicate and subtle articulations in the Mozart Quartet in C, and the flexibility of all the players in the Jongen, using various effects, including harmonics was most impressive. In the Beethoven Trio in C
minor Op. 9, the balance in each contrasting movement was just perfect, with a robust, almost rhythmically jazzy figure passing from player to player in parts of the Scherzo. The beautiful lyrical phrases on the flute, always played with precision with just the right speed of vibrato, used with subtlety in the Mozart, but with an almost operatic like gradation of speed and variety of tone colour in the Debussy Sonate en trio, a most reflective work and also in the Jongen Concert a Cinque Op. 71. Here the
flute soared above the other instruments but with a unity and magic which gave the illusion of a huge ensemble. An encore at the end was an extra treat, ‘Marine’ from Prelude, Marine et Chanson by J.Guy Ropartz, was suitably calming.I strongly recommend their next performance at Southbank Centre, London. Let’s hope they will play again at Grayswood and perhaps this is the start of a possible concert series.
Haslemere Herald, 30 January 2012
Filed under: Chamber music, Purcell Room | Tagged: Beethoven, chamber, chamber music, Classical, classical music, Damase, Debussy, Instrumental Quintet of London, Jongen, London Sinfonietta, Mozart, Southbank Centre | Leave a Comment »
Conductor Charles Hazlewood talks about the role of trust in musical leadership – then shows how it works, as he conducts the Scottish Ensemble onstage.
You can see Charles take to the stage at Royal Festival Hall on Saturday 11 February & Saturday 18 February where he conducts the Philharmonia Orchestra and young musicians from Southwark as part of Southbank Centre’s Imagine Children’s Festival.
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We celebrate the music of Conlon Nancarrow this April with a weekend devoted to his extraordinary studies for player piano – a mechanised piano that plays pieces far beyond the reach of human hands.
Gillian Moore, newly appointed Head of Classical Music at Southbank Centre, tells The Guardian more about this free-thinking, inspirational composer – to read the full article see here.
Nancarrow’s pioneering works will be played throughout the weekend – hear orchestral and chamber arrangements performed by London Sinfonietta and the Arditti String Quartet and also the entirety of Nancarrow’s player-piano studies performed by the player-piano itself.
Perfect Constructions: The Music of Conlon Nancarrow is held at Southbank Centre 21-22 April. For more information see here.
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The ever popular British pianist Peter Donohoe first shot to fame in 1982 when he was a Silver Medal Winner at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, and is noted for his performances of Liszt. He talks to us in advance of his return to Southbank centre on Tuesday 28 February.
What do you fear the most and why? The commercialisation and dumbing-down of culture, because in the long-term it will kill the very culture it is trying to popularise.
Which mobile number do you call the most? My wife and daughter in equal measure.
What or where is perfection? It isn’t, but Bach’s Fugues and Mozart’s melodic lines come close, as does Brahms’ sense of form.
Who is your favourite hero from fiction (book/comic/film/opera) and why? The Saint – nostalgia.
What’s your favourite ritual? Porridge for breakfast.
What other talent or skill would you like to possess? To understand M-Theory (In theoretical physics, M-theory is an extension of string theory in which 11 dimensions are identified) and to be able to do simultaneous translation in Russian, French and Spanish.
Tell us about a special memory you have of Southbank Centre? After a performance with the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 1987, I raised the alarm and reported the theft of my car from the artist’s car park to the Metropolitan Police. I then discovered my train ticket in my pocket as I was being interviewed. The subsequent conversation with the police was something I will never forget, but I have nothing but praise for their understanding and humour over the situation.
If you could programme your ideal Southbank Centre show, which artists (living or dead) would you bring together? Sviatoslav Richter and Yevgeney Svetlanov.
What is the most important lesson life has taught you? To be open to the possibility of totally changing my mind.
What is the most played piece of music on your MP3 player or in your CD collection? Dinu Lipatti playing Chopin Waltzes.
Peter Donohoe returns to Queen Elizabeth Hall on Thursday 28 February as part of the International Piano Series 2011/12
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Take a peek behind the scenes at the rehearsals for ‘Close up with Charles Hazlewood’ – two family concerts taking place as part of the Imagine Children’s Festival.
Charles Hazlewood and the Philharmonia Orchestra perform on Saturday 11 February & Saturday 18 February together with 250 Soutwark schoolchildren, the Southwark Youth Orchestra and the David Idowu Choir.
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