Past events from 2016
-
Saturday 24 December 2016 at 3.00PM
Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols
This Endernight performed by the Choir of King's College Cambridge
King's College Cambridge, King's Parade, Cambridge, CB2 1ST
Michael Berkeley was commissioned to write a new Carol for 2016's Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols. It was broadcast around the world on Christmas Eve from King's College, Cambridge.
The anonymous C1400 text, This Endernight, is unusual for a carol in that it articulates the voice of the infant Jesus in dialogue with his mother. Ender or Endris means past or recent. Maternal feelings of tenderness are in abundance but there is also a knowingness about the importance of the event that is unfolding. It is an upbeat lullaby which looks forward to heavenly bliss and so culminates in a radiant cadence.Photo: Michael Berkeley at the Christmas Eve recording of This Endernight in King's College Chapel
-
Tuesday 29 November 2016 at 5.15PM
Evensong
The Tale of Andrew performed by the Wells Cathedral Choir
Wells Cathedral, Cathedral Green, Wells, Somerset, BA5 2UE
'The Tale of Andrew' is performed alongside Richard Shephard's 'Preces and Responses' and Jeremy Woodside's 'Fauxbourdon Service'.
-
Friday 28 October 2016 at 8.00PM
Guest Artists: Jeremy Huw Williams, Baritone and Paula Fan, piano
Hollow Fires performed by Jeremy Huw Williams (baritone) & Paula Fan (piano)
Bryan Recital Hall, Moore Musical Arts Center, College of Musical Arts, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio, OH 43403, USA
The baritone Jeremy Hew Williams performed Hollow Fires in a series of concerts in the USA with Paula Fan (piano). They appeared in DeLand (Florida) on 19 October, in St Louis (Missouri) on 23 October and in Bowling Green (Ohio) on 28 October.
Photo: Jeremy Huw Williams
-
Sunday 09 October 2016 at 4.00PM
Little Venice Music Festival
At a Solemn Wake performed by the Berkeley Ensemble
St. Saviour's Church, Warwick Avenue, Little Venice, London, W9 2PT
Box office: Eventbrite
Celebrated cellist Adrian Brendel and pianist Christopher Glynn join the Berkeley Ensemble to bring the Little Venice Music Festival to a close. The concert features the London premiere of festival patron Michael Berkeley’s 'At A Solemn Wake', dedicated to the memory of his late wife, Deborah Rogers. Also on the programme is intimate chamber music from Vienna, including Schubert’s great C major string quintet and Mozart’s Kegelstatt trio. Included in the ticket price are tea or coffee and cake, for a suitably Viennese flavour.
-
Wednesday 21 September 2016 at 1.00PM
Snake in Radio 3 lunchtime concert
Snake performed by Nicholas Daniel (oboe)
New Walk Museum and Art Gallery, 53 New Walk, Leicester, LE1 7EA
Tom Redmond introduces highlights from this year's Leicester International Music Festival, including music by Elgar, Michael Berkeley, Lennox Berkeley and Kenneth Leighton.
-
Thursday 15 September 2016 at 7.30PM
Leicester International Music Festival evening concert
Snake performed by Nicholas Daniel (oboe)
New Walk Museum and Art Gallery, 53 New Walk, Leicester, LE1 7EA
Programme also includes works by Elgar, Lennox Berkeley and Leighton.
-
Saturday 03 September 2016 at 7.30PM
Perbeck International Chamber Music Festival
Three Rilke Sonnets performed by Ruby Hughes (soprano) & Natalie Clein (cello)
Parish Church of Saint Mary the Virgin, Swanage, Dorset
Natalie Clein, Artistic Director of the Perbeck International Chamber Music Festival, and soprano Ruby Hughes perform one of the 'Sonnets to Orpheus' from Michael's 'Three Rilke Sonnets'. Also on the programme are Schubert songs, Piano Sonata in B Flat Major D 960, and string quartets by Haydn and the Danish composer Sören Nils Eichberg.
-
Monday 29 August 2016 at 11.30AM
Britten at Bleddfa
Clarinet Quintet performed by the Carducci String Quartet & Rozenn Le Trionnaire (clarinet)
Church of St. Mary Magdalene, Bleddfa, Knighton, Powys, LD7 1PA, Wales
Box office: Presteigne Festival, Tel: 01544 267800
This concert is presented as part of the 2016 Presteigne Festival. The programme includes Michael Berkeley's Clarinet Quintet (performed by the Carducci String Quartet with Rozenn Le Trionnaire, clarinet), Robert Saxton's Fantazia and Britten's String Quartet No 2, Op 36.
-
Friday 26 August 2016 at 2.00PM
Piano in the Afternoon
Haiku 1: Birds performed by Clare Hammond (piano)
St. Andrew's Church, Broad Street, Presteigne, Powys, LD8 2AF, Wales
Box office: Presteigne Festival, Tel: 01544 267800
As part of the Presteigne Festival, this concert featured the world premiere of Haiku, performed by Clare Hammond and commissioned especially for the festival. Also on the programme were works by Henri Dutilleux, Robert Saxton and Igor Stravinsky.
Photo: Clare Hammond by Julie Kim
-
Wednesday 27 July 2016 at 7.00PM
Violin Concerto World Premiere at BBC Proms
Violin Concerto performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Jac van Steen (conductor) & Chloë Hanslip (violin)
Royal Albert Hall, Kensington Gore, London, SW7 2AP
Box office: Royal Albert Hall, Tel: 020 7589 8212
Chloë Hanslip gives the world premiere of the new Violin Concerto by Michael Berkeley, preceded by Paul Dukas's brief, intoxicating ballet La Péri. Jac van Steen conducts excerpts from one of the most dramatic and colourfully scored of all ballets, Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, a highlight of the Proms series marking 400 years since the death of Shakespeare.
Photo: Chloë Hanslip by Benjamin Ealovega
-
Sunday 17 July 2016 at 4.00PM
Clarinet Quintet and Stabat Mater in Cheltenham
Clarinet Quintet performed by the Berkeley Ensemble
Pittville Pump Room, East Approach Drive, Cheltenham, GL52 3JE
Box office: Cheltenham Festival
In addition to Michael's Clarinet Quintet, this concert includes a rare performance of Lennox Berkeley's Stabat Mater. Despite being regarded as one of his finest works, the unusual line-up of eleven instruments and six singers for Stabat Mater has led it to be seldom heard since its premiere by Benjamin Britten’s English Opera Group in 1947. Two outstanding young ensembles - the Berkeley Ensemble and the Marian Consort - come together to bring Berkeley’s tour de force back to life, in a programme which acknowledges the composer’s connection with France – where he studied in the 1930s – and with his son Michael.
-
Sunday 17 July 2016 at 3.00PM
Berkeleys in Cheltenham
Pittville Pump Room, East Approach Drive, Cheltenham, GL52 3JE
Box office: Cheltenham Festival
BBC Radio 3 presenter and President of the Lennox Berkeley Society Petroc Trelawny introduces the 4.00pm Stabat Mater concert with Michael Berkeley - like his father, no stranger to Cheltenham. Lennox had many pieces performed in the town over the years and was Festival President from 1975-1982, while Michael was Festival Director from 1995-2004.
Photo: Petroc Trelawny
-
Tuesday 14 June 2016 at 7.30PM
Radio 3 in Concert: Touch Light and Catch Me If You Can
Catch Me If You Can & Touch Light performed by the Berkeley Ensemble
St. Leonard's Church, Shoreditch High Street, London, E1 6JN
Introduced by Petroc Trelawny, The Marian Consort and the Berkeley Ensemble combine to perform 20th- and 21st-century works inspired by the Virgin Mary in Shoreditch Church, as part of the 2016 Spitalfields Festival. Following Michael Berkeley's Touch Light and Catch Me If You Can, the concert culminates with a rare performance of Lennox Berkeley's Stabat Mater of 1947. Also includes works by Judith Weir, Matthew Martin and Hilary Campbell. This is a recording of the concert performed on 5 June.
-
Tuesday 07 June 2016 at 7.00PM
Marian Consort & Berkeley Ensemble at Spitalfields Music Festival
Catch Me If You Can & Touch Light performed by the Berkeley Ensemble
St. Leonard's Church, Shoreditch High Street, London, E1 6JN
Box office: Spitalfields Music, Tel: 020 7737 1362
Two of the country’s leading young ensembles come together to explore bold and fiendish music by Michael Berkeley and his father Lennox. Plus works by the current Master of the Queen’s Music Judith Weir and young composers Matthew Martin and Hilary Campbell.
At the heart of the programme is one of Lennox Berkeley’s finest and most substantial sacred works, the Stabat Mater, a stunning depiction of the human predicament centring on Mary’s suffering during Christ’s crucifixion.
The evening begins with a pre-concert talk at 19:00 by Radio 3 presenter Petroc Trelawny.Photo: The Marian Consort
-
Saturday 28 May 2016
Clarinet Quintet at Organic Garden near Oxford
Clarinet Quintet performed by the Berkeley Ensemble
Worton Organic Garden, Worton Farm, Near Cassington, Worton, OX29 4SU
-
Tuesday 10 May 2016 at 7.45PM
Richmond Concert Society
Catch Me If You Can performed by the Berkeley Ensemble
St Margaret of Scotland Catholic Church, 130 St Margaret's Road, East Twickenham, London, TW1 1RL
Photo: Berkeley Ensemble by Nigel Luckhurst
-
Thursday 05 May 2016 at 7.00PM
Berkeley Church Bell Tower appeal concert
Clarinet Quintet performed by the Berkeley Ensemble
St. Mary's Church, Church Lane, Berkeley, GL13 9BN
Box office: Brown Paper Tickets
The Berkeley Ensemble performs a fundraising concert in aid of the Restoration of Berkeley Church Bell Tower appeal, introduced by the ensemble’s patron Michael Berkeley CBE. The concert is followed by a reception in the Great Hall, Berkeley Castle (booking essential). Early evening tours of Berkeley Castle (lasting 1 hour and starting between 5pm and 5.30pm) are available before the concert. Programme:
W. A Mozart: Horn Quintet, K. 407
Lennox Berkeley: String Trio
Michael Berkeley: Clarinet Quintet
W. A Mozart: Clarinet Quintet in A, K. 58
The concert is under the patronage of Rt. Hon. Lord Cope of Berkeley, John Berkeley TD DL of Berkeley Castle and Lord Berkeley CBE. -
Sunday 17 April 2016 at 8.15PM
Listen, Listen O My Child in the Netherlands
Listen, Listen, O My Child performed by the Ad Parnassum & Anthony Zielhorst (conductor)
St. Dionysius Church, Tilburg, Holland
A performance of Listen, Listen O My Child by the choir Ad Parnassum conducted by Anthony Zielhorst was very enthusiastically welcomed by the public in Holland when it received its first performance in November 2015. The piece will be performed again in a concert with the Netherlands Chamber Choir and Cappella Pratensis.
-
Saturday 16 April 2016 at 5.00PM
Of Earth and Stars
Typewriter Music performed by Jenny Duck-Chong (mezzo-soprano) & Geoffrey Gartner (cello)
St. Bedes Anglican Church, 19 Church Street, Drummoyne, New South Wales, NSW 2047, Australia
In this concert in Drummoyne, Australia, Michael Berkeley and the young composer Brad Taylor-Newling display very different voices in response to poems by Australian writer David Malouf. Mezzo-soprano Jenny Duck-Chong discovered both composers in 2005, performing Berkeley’s substantial song cycle Winter Fragments with Halcyon and working with Brad as part of The Song Company’s MODART series in the same year. These pieces were commissioned for David Malouf and premiered by Jenny and Geoffrey in a private concert in 2014, but this is their first public performance.
Photo: Jenny Duck-Chong
-
Thursday 14 April 2016
Odd Man Out in Marylebone Edgelands exhibition
Odd Man Out performed by Ruth Elder (viola)
St. Marylebone Parish Church, 17 Marylebone Road, London, NW1 5LT
Edgelands is a cross-arts exhibition at St. Marylebone Parish Church Crypt, running from 14 April to 30 June 2016.
With six artists, twelve dancers, one viola player and the roar of the Marylebone Road traffic, the line-up is one of the more unusual cross-arts performances in London this spring.
The exhibition works explore and document the wastelands and neglected environs found on the margins of urban living. The dancers explore the spaces in and around the steps of the magnificent St. Marylebone Parish Church portico during the evening rush hour, with the accompanying sound of Michael's solo viola piece 'Odd Man Out'. The music provides a powerful, edgy soundscape. Moving down to the crypt there is a quiet coming together of sound, space and paintings.
Edgelands is a name dreamt up some 20 years ago to describe aspects of the changing face of Britain. The dance performance, choreographed by Lizzi Kew-Ross, is a realisation of the visual artists’ work and Kew Ross’s three-dimensional interpretations of mark and content.
A U.K. wide tour of the Edgelands exhibition will take place during 2016/17.Photo: Ruth Elder playing Odd Man Out
-
Friday 25 March 2016 at 6.00PM
Sacred and Profane
Touch Light performed by the Berkeley Ensemble
Holy Trinity Church, Church Lane, Blythburgh, Halesworth, Suffolk
Box office: Aldeburgh Festival, Tel: 01728 687110
Michael's Touch Light is an exquisite meditation on Monteverdi and Purcell. It is partnered with Lennox Berkeley’s stark and affecting Stabat Mater – the setting of the medieval poem reflecting on the suffering of Christ’s mother by the Cross – commissioned by (and dedicated to) Britten, who conducted its UK premiere in this church nearly 70 years ago. Also on the programme is Lennox Berkeley’s a cappella Mass, Britten’s own settings of medieval poetry and the quicksilver exuberance of his youthful Sinfonietta. Performed by the Marian Consort and the Berkeley Ensemble, conducted by David Wordsworth.
After the performance at Blythburgh Church, the ensembles moved to Snape Maltings to record the 'Stabat Mater' and Michael Berkeley's 'Touch Light', together with Lennox Berkeley's 'Mass for five voices' for Delphian Records, for release in June 2016. -
Monday 29 February 2016 at 10.00AM
Lady Freda Berkeley: Old Rite Latin Requiem Mass
St. Mary of the Angels, Moorhouse Road, London, W2 5DJ
It is with deep sadness that we have to announce the death of Lady Berkeley, peacefully, at the Kensington Nursing Home, on Sunday afternoon the 21st February 2016, aged 92. An Old Rite Latin Requiem Mass took place in Freda's parish church, St. Mary of the Angels, Moorhouse Road, London W2 5DJ, at 10am on Monday 29th February, and burial followed at midday in All Souls Cemetery, Harrow Road, Kensal Green, London W10 4RA.
This photograph was taken at the Kensington Nursing Home on 27th February 2015 by Freda's neighbour at Hereford Mansions, Dr Edesio Fernandes, and reproduced with his kind permission. -
Friday 26 February 2016 at 4.05PM
Gregorian Variations on BBC Radio 3
Gregorian Variations performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales & Richard Hickox (conductor)
Starting at 2pm, Katie Derham presents recent performances from the BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales. The programme includes Michael Berkeley's Gregorian Variations at 4:05pm, and two Russian works from the twentieth century with Radio 3 New Generation Artists. The chorus sings a harrowing account of the blitz in a setting of a poem by Dylan Thomas, and there's a recent studio recording of Prokfiev's suite from his rarely heard ballet The Tale of the Buffoon, a dark and murderous story commissioned by Diaghilev for his Ballets Russes.
-
Tuesday 16 February 2016 at 7.00PM
Musical Chairs selected for Brussels concert
Musical Chairs performed by the European Contemporary Composers Orchestra
Flagey Cultural Center, Flageyplein, Brussels, 18 - 1050
Conducted by Thomas Van Haeperen, an ensemble from the European Contemporary Composers Orchestra (ECCO) performs six 21st century pieces by different European composers selected by the ECCO Artistic Committee. Aiming to establish itself as a pan-European 'body of sound' dedicated to the performance, circulation and promotion of contemporary art music, ECCO had two very successful concerts in 2015 featuring ensembles such as Sturm und Klang and the BBC Singers.
Photo: Flagey Cultural Centre by John and Melanie Kotsopoulos
-
Saturday 13 February 2016 at 7.30PM
Something Rich and Strange: choral settings of Shakespeare
Farewell performed by the Londinium Voices
Church of St. Sepulchre-without-Newgate, Holborn Viaduct, London, EC1A 2DQ
To mark the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare, Londinium presents an entrancing programme of choral music inspired by his work. Michael Berkeley's 'Farewell' appears alongside Frank Martin's Songs of Ariel and Ralph Vaughan Williams' Three Shakespeare Songs, plus some of the earliest surviving Shakespeare settings by Thomas Morley and Robert Johnson, and a superb selection of recent works by Judith Weir, Huw Watkins and Jaakko Mäntyjärvi.