Past events from 2015
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Wednesday 09 December 2015 at 7.30PM
Ian McEwan and Angela Hewitt
Three Cabaret Songs performed by Angela Hewitt (piano)
Wiener Konzerthaus, Lothringerstrasse 20, Vienna, A-1030, Austria
Ian McEwan reads from his current book 'The Children Act' ('Kindeswohl'), from the German translation by Christiane von Poelnitz. Also on the programme Michael's song 'In love with the Nurse' and works by Bach, Britten, Mahler and Berlioz.
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Tuesday 01 December 2015
Tale of Andrew performed in Wells
The Tale of Andrew
Wells Cathedral, Cathedral Green, Wells, Somerset, BA5 2UE
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Sunday 01 November 2015
Listen, Listen in Dutch Premiere
Listen, Listen, O My Child performed by the Ad Parnassum & Anthony Zielhorst (conductor)
Abbey Koningshoeven, Tilburg, Netherlands
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Friday 16 October 2015 at 6.30PM
Strung with Poets' Sinews
Three Rilke Sonnets
Centre for Modern Literature & Culture, King's College London, Strand, London, WC2R 2LS
The King's College London Centre for Modern Literature & Culture commissioned Michael and two other composers to set to music words by contemporary poets, performed by the renowned Greek mezzo-soprano Angelica Cathariou.
The programme featured Michael Berkeley’s settings of David Malouf and Rainer Maria Rilke, alongside songs by Silvina Milstein, Nicola Moro and Luminata Spinu (setting poetry by John Fuller and Fiona Sampson), and Rob Keeley’s Stevie Smith songs. The recital was followed by a discussion between Silvina Milstein, Michael Berkeley and John Fuller (chaired by Lara Feigel) exploring the relationship between poetry and music.Photo: Angelica Cathariou
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Friday 16 October 2015 at 1.00PM
Britten Sinfonia at Lunch
Re-Inventions performed by the Britten Sinfonia
The Britten Sinfonia performs works by Michael Berkeley, Nielsen and Patrick John Jones as part of their award-winning 'At Lunch' series in Cambridge. Michael Berkeley's Re-Inventions are based on the two and three-part inventions of J S Bach, whilst Uncanny Vale by York-based composer Patrick John Jones has pastoral influences.
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Thursday 15 October 2015
New Music Wells
The Tale of Andrew
Wells Cathedral, Cathedral Green, Wells, Somerset, BA5 2UE
Wells Cathedral showcased new music from Sunday 11 to Thursday 15 October 2015. As the featured composer, Michael wrote a new anthem which was premiered at Evensong in the Cathedral on Thursday 15th October. St Andrew is the patron saint of Wells Cathedral and The Tale of Andrew tells his story to words by Bishop Ken.
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Sunday 11 October 2015
Little Venice Music Festival
Veilleuse (Night Watch) performed by Madeleine Mitchell (violin)
The Little Venice Music Festival welcomed violinist Madeleine Mitchell and pianist Viv McLean, performing music by Beethoven and Franck along with Veilleuse (Night Watch), a haunting work by Michael Berkeley, who is Patron of the festival. Also on the programme was a virtuosic work by Bridge from Madeleine's popular album 'Violin Songs', which she played to great acclaim earlier this year at Wigmore Hall. St Saviour's is a warm, comfortable venue, easily accessible.
Photo: Madeleine Mitchell
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Thursday 08 October 2015
Poet in the City
Veilleuse (Night Watch) performed by Madeleine Mitchell (violin)
Ligne Roset City, 37-39 Commercial Road, London, E1 1LF
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Friday 18 September 2015
Fiesta Sinfonica Argentina
Tango! performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales & Edwin Outwater (conductor)
Tango! received its premiere in Cardiff on 18 September at ¡Fiesta Sinfónica! Argentina. It was performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, conducted by California-based Edwin Outwater, and broadcast on BBC Radio 3. The programme also included ballet music by Ginastera, and Buchardo's evocative Escenas Argentinas.
Photo: Edwin Outwater
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Sunday 13 September 2015
Wild Bells opens St. Paul's organ recital
Wild Bells performed by Tom Winpenny (organ)
Also on the programme was Saint-Saëns Prelude & Fugue in G and Willan's Introduction Passacaglia & Fugue.
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Sunday 23 August 2015 at 7.45PM
Dartington International Summer School Recital
Catch Me If You Can performed by the Berkeley Ensemble
Dartington Hall, Totnes, Devon
The concert also included Lennox Berkeley's Sonatine for clarinet and piano, which he composed in 1928 while a student of Nadia Boulanger. With Libby Burgess, piano.
PROGRAMME
Claude Debussy: Syrinx for solo flute
Francis Poulenc: Trio for oboe, bassoon and piano
Lennox Berkeley: Sonatine for clarinet and piano
Michael Berkeley: Catch Me If You Can
W. A. Mozart: Quintet in E flat for piano and winds, K. 452 -
Sunday 02 August 2015 at 7.00PM
Final Gala Concert
Concerto for Oboe
Hovingham Hall, Hovingham, York, North Yorkshire, YO62 4LX
Three works with very different night-time associations: Mozart's evening divertissement Eine kleine Nachtmusik ended up as one of his most celebrated works. Michael Berkeley's Oboe Concerto remembers the composer's godfather, Benjamin Britten, in a movement recalling the lines 'Let us sleep now' from his War Requiem. Britten's own fascination with the night is heard in his Serenade - haunting settings of six great nocturnal poems with an eloquent part for solo horn. The concert ends with the musical reworks of one of Mozart's most extrovert symphonies.
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Friday 31 July 2015 at 8.00PM
An Evening with Michael Berkeley
At a Solemn Wake, Echo, Three Rilke Sonnets, Three songs to children & Veilleuse (Night Watch)
Saloon, Duncombe Park, Helmsley, York, YO62 5EB
An evening of music and conversation with the composer and broadcaster Michael Berkeley - one of the country's best known musical figures. The son of the composer Lennox Berkeley, godson of Benjamin Britten, and a chorister at Westminster Cathedral, he has also been artistic director of several festivals, presenter of BBC Radio 3's Private Passions and, since 2012, an independent peer in the House of Lords. He talks about his life in music and introduces performances of some of his own 'private passions', including one of Fauré's most magnificent works. The concert also includes the world premiere of 'At a Solemn Wake', a new piece for cello and piano commissioned for the Ryedale Festival, and No. 2 of Three Rilke Sonnets.
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Wednesday 29 July 2015 at 11.00AM
Coffee Concert
String Trio performed by the Lendvai Trio
St. Michael's Church, North York Moors National Park, Thirsk Bank, Coxwold, York, YO61 4AD
Ryedale welcomes the superb Lendvai Trio for a three-day residency. They begin with an early work by Beethoven, where lively dances to delight the composer's patron sit alongside slower movements that are full of poetry. It is followed by another early work, String Trio (for which the composer still has a 'soft spot') by festival composer in residence Michael Berkeley.
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Friday 24 July 2015 at 11.00AM
Champagne Fanfare opens Ryedale Festival
Champagne Fanfare & Music from Chaucer performed by the Aeðelfrìth Brass Ensemble
Joan of Arc Hall, Botton Village, Whitby, Yorkshire
The Aeðelfrìth brass ensemble performed a programme with a medieval flavour. After the sparkling 'Champagne Fanfare' by Michael Berkeley, they played a new piece reminiscing Yorkshire under Viking rule – a ‘call to arms’ featuring a pair of Danish Lurs. The programme also included Music from Chaucer, a piece inspired by Tallis and a new work by Simon Dobson to celebrate the special atmosphere of Botton’s Joan of Arc Hall and Holst’s famous evocation of the northern moorland landscapes of England.
Aeðelfrìth is a brass ensemble-based arts project, named after an ancient King of Northumbria and exploring connections between Anglian, Celtic and Nordic cultures.
Michael Berkeley was composer-in-residence of the 2015 Ryedale Festival. -
Wednesday 22 July 2015 at 2.00PM
How Composers Create Emotion
Three songs to children performed by Charlotte Tetley (mezzo-soprano) & Maki Sekiya (piano)
Michael Berkeley and Michael Trimble explored our emotional responses to music at the Holt Festival. The event was accompanied by music performed by Charlotte Tetley and Maki Sekiya, including Three Songs to Children.
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Friday 19 June 2015
Nash Ensemble accompany John Craxton exhibition
Oboe Quintet 'Into the Ravine' performed by the Nash Ensemble
Dorchester County Museum, Dorset County Museum, High West Street, Dorchester, Dorset, DT1 1XA
To accompany an exhibition of the work of John Craxton at Dorchester County Museum the Nash Ensemble performed Michael's Oboe Quintet 'Into the Ravine' on June 19th 2015. This work was written in memory of Craxton who was a close friend of the composer. Craxton's sister, Janet, the eminent oboist performed many works by both Michael and Lennox Berkeley.
Audience member Christopher Daly commented, "Oboe Quintet 'Into the Ravine' had a particular presence in the elegant surroundings of the museum, and its sonorities and textures clear. The Nash were of course excellent, and the music really well received by a discerning and appreciative audience. It had helped my enjoyment to have viewed the John Craxton paintings beforehand. Liz Waller chose the programme well; fine works well contrasted." -
Monday 08 June 2015
Magna Carta Te Deum world premiere
Magna Carta Te Deum
Lincoln Cathedral, Minster Yard, Lincoln, LN2 1PX
As part of Magna Carta 800 Celebrations, Aric Prentice conducted the world premiere of Michael Berkeley's new composition Magna Carta Te Deum in Lincoln Cathedral on June 8th 2015 in the presence of HRH The Princess Royal. Aric is pictured (left) with Michael at a rehearsal for the piece the previous day.
Michael gave a talk on 19 June at 7:30pm in the Chapter House of Lincoln Cathedral. -
Sunday 31 May 2015 at 7.30PM
10th Anniversary of the Trasimeno Music Festival
Three Cabaret Songs performed by Angela Hewitt (piano) & Gerald Finley (baritone)
Wigmore Hall, 36 Wigmore Street, London, W1U 2BP
Ten years have passed since Angela Hewitt founded the Trasimeno Festival, a jewel in the cultural crown of Magione, Italy. Angela introduces the festival's special atmosphere to the Wigmore Hall in London, partnering fellow Canadian Gerald Finley in Three Cabaret Songs, and joining the Remona Quartet for Franck's Piano Quintet in F minor. The concert was recorded for BBC Radio 3 (see http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05wynm3 for the whole concert, or http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02snv3n for the Cabaret Songs only).
Photo: Wigmore Hall, London
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Wednesday 20 May 2015 at 8.00PM
US Premiere of Three Cabaret Songs
Three Cabaret Songs performed by Angela Hewitt (piano) & Russell Braun (baritone)
92Y, 1395 Lexington Ave, New York, NY 10128, USA
The American Premiere of Three Cabaret Songs (words by Ian McEwan) celebrates Ian's love of music in his work and life.
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Tuesday 19 May 2015 at 5.30PM
Evensong
Eight Motets performed by the Choir of King's College Cambridge
King's College Cambridge, King's Parade, Cambridge, CB2 1ST
Includes 'Laetentur coeli', No. 5 of Eight Motets.
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Saturday 16 May 2015
London Festival of Contemporary Church Music
Three Motets performed by the Marian Consort
St. Pancras Parish Church, Euston Road, London, NW1 2BA
'Ego dilecto meo' from Three Motets was performed by the internationally-renowned vocal ensemble the Marian Consort in a programme of British sacred music influenced by the music of the Renaissance, at the London Festival of Contemporary Church Music. From the austere beauty of Lennox Berkeley’s Mass for Five Voices to Gabriel Jackson’s alternatim Magnificat setting for Truro Cathedral, the programme was conceived as part of the liturgy of today, while capturing the essence of the past.
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Thursday 30 April 2015
David Malouf honorary concert
Listen, Listen, O My Child & Winter Fragments
Michael Tippett Centre, Bath Spa University, Newton St Loe, Bath, BA2 9BN
The Australian novelist, David Malouf, was given an Honorary Doctor of letters and to celebrate the occasion there was a concert featuring settings of Malouf by Michael including a scene from a possible opera based on The Winter's Tale (now the final song in the cycle, Winter Fragments) and Two poems for Mezzo and Cello. Malouf and Berkeley collaborated on two operas, Baa Baa Black Sheep and Jane Eyre. The University Choir also sang Michael's ever popular anthem, Listen, Listen, O My Child, written for the Enthronement of the current Archbishop of Canterbury.
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Saturday 14 March 2015 at 6.00PM
Nash Ensemble celebrates 50 years
Three Rilke Sonnets performed by the Nash Ensemble, Claire Booth (soprano) & Lionel Friend (conductor)
Wigmore Hall, 36 Wigmore Street, London, W1U 2BP
Michael introduces a performance of 'Three Rilke Sonnets' for soprano and ensemble (2011) along with 'A Blackbird Sang' for flute and string trio by David Matthews (2013).
The Nash Ensemble, chamber ensemble in residence at Wigmore Hall and standard-bearer for British music-making around the globe, celebrates a remarkable 50 years since it was formed in October 1964. To mark the anniversary, its founder and artistic director Amelia Freedman has devised a series comprising works and programmes which have been successful in past seasons. The Ensemble is joined by some of the outstanding singers who have worked with it over the years. The concerts are complemented by a series of early evening events and the group's annual Nash Inventions concert, together including some of the more than 300 works (190 of them Nash commissions) premiered by the Ensemble, and characteristically presenting new works.Photo: Wigmore Hall, London
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Thursday 12 March 2015 at 6.30PM
Berkeley Ensemble performs Berkeley, Beethoven and Schubert
Clarion Call and Gallop performed by the Berkeley Ensemble
Lindsey Suite, University of Hull, Cottingham Rd, Hull, HU6 7RX
The Berkeley Ensemble presents two of the most famous chamber works of the First Viennese School together in one concert. Michael Berkeley follows Beethoven’s instrumental plan in Clarion Call and Gallop, written for the Ensemble in 2013. Schubert's ever-popular Trout Quintet and Beethoven's Septet both broke new ground in their unusual scoring.
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Wednesday 11 March 2015
Simon Halsey awarded Queen's Medal for Music
Buckingham Palace, Westminster, London, SW1A 1AA
Michael represented the Master of the Queen's Music, Judith Weir, at the award of the Queen's Medal for Music to Chorus Master par excellence, Simon Halsey.