Past events from 2017
-
Saturday 23 December 2017 at 7.00PM
Choral Evensong Appreciation Society: Carol Service
This Endernight
St Nicholas Church, Market Place, North Walsham, NR28 9BT
The boys and men of the church choir will be singing seasonal music including This Endernight by Michael Berkeley, along with usual congregational items and readings.
-
Wednesday 22 November 2017 at 11.00AM
Festival of St. Cecilia: A Celebration of Music
Super Flumina Babylonis
Westminster Cathedral
This annual event dates back to 1946 and is famed for bringing together the choirs of Westminster Cathedral, St Paul’s Cathedral and Westminster Abbey. The choirs return for a celebration of music, performing the premiere of the Motet 'Super Flumina Babylonis' by Michael Berkeley, specially commissioned by the RVW trust and conducted by Martin Baker.
Photo: Westminster Cathedral
-
Tuesday 14 November 2017
Memorial Service for Michael Bond
Listen, Listen, O My Child performed by the St. Paul's Cathedral Choir
-
Monday 13 November 2017 at 7.00PM
Two Farewells receives world premiere in Moscow
Two Farewells performed by the New Russia State Symphony Orchestra, Boris Andrianov (cello) & John Axelrod (conductor)
Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, 4/31, Triumfalnaya pl., Moscow, 125047, Russia
Two Farewells for solo cello and orchestra revisits and recasts music written for cello in memory of the recently departed. It was created for the cellist, Boris Andrianov, for his Vivacello Festival which took place in November 2017 in Moscow.
The piece opens with an anguished cello line at the very top of the register, barracked by repeated notes on tympani and brass, a deliberate nod to the insistent use of repeated notes in Beethoven. This leads to the first Farewell, an orchestrated version of the melody in At A Solemn Wake for cello and piano which was written in memory of my first wife, Deborah Rogers, who died suddenly in 2014. Music from the opening is then developed, taking us to the second Farewell: Ode - In Memoriam, for solo cello but heard now in an orchestral setting. It was written following the early death of a dance collaborator of mine, Lesley-Anne Sayers who worked as a researcher at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance where the piece was subsequently choreographed and danced. For me Ode also marked the premature passing of another close friend, Robert Sandall, who was rock critic for the Sunday Times.
Two Farewells is not then a concerto in the sense of conventional structure (it is in one movement lasting around 17 minutes) but the soloist does have the role of protagonist, in this case a grieving figure, and the orchestra, by turns, supports or acts as a counter force. In the Ode section I became particularly intrigued by the opportunity to add harmonies and counter melodies where previously they had only been implied.
In the closing pages the solo cello is confronted yet again by unyielding Beethovenian repetition. Indeed the score uses a classical orchestra as inherited by Beethoven from Mozart and Haydn - double woodwind, two trumpets, two horns, tympani and strings.
By Michael Berkeley, November 2017Photo: Boris Andrianov, Michael Berkeley and John Axelrod at the premiere of Two Farewells with the New Russia State Symphony Orchestra
-
Wednesday 25 October 2017 at 2.00PM
Violin Muse - Madeleine Mitchell's Album Launch
Britten Theatre, Royal College of Music, Prince Consort Road, Kensington, London, SW7 2BS
Box office: Royal College of Music, Tel: 020 7591 4314
A short recital to celebrate the launch of violinist and RCM professor Madeleine Mitchell’s latest album of new music by British composers, 'Violin Muse', which includes Michael Berkeley's Veilleuse. Madeleine and her accompanist Nigel Clayton will give a performance, following a discussion chaired by Head of Composition William Mival with composer Guto Puw on his concerto 'Soft Stillness' with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Tickets: Free but required.
Photo: Madeleine Mitchell with David Matthews (left) & Lord Michael Berkeley (right) by Zerlina Vulliamy
-
Saturday 30 September 2017 at 7.30PM
Tre Voci - Cello Unwrapped
Three Rilke Sonnets performed by Natalie Clein (cello), Julius Drake (piano) & Fleur Barron (mezzo-soprano)
King's Place, 90 York Way, London, N1 9AG
Box office: King's Place
As a former cellist, soprano Ruby Hughes loves to sing with the 'warm, expressive, very human voice' of the cello, played here by Natalie Clein alongside distinguished pianist Julius Drake. (Unfortunately Ruby has had to withdraw from the concert at the last minute, but is replaced by Fleur Barron with no alterations to the programme). This consummate and curious trio have come together to curate an intriguing exploration of these sonorities, from the second of Michael Berkeley's Rilke Sonnets and Tavener's starkly expressive Akhmatova Songs, to Schubert's exhilarating Auf dem Strom, Turnage's sensuous lullaby and Janacek's enchanting Pohádka. Alongside Bach's sacred arias with cello obbligato is John Cage’s wittily percussive song for voice and closed piano.
Photo: Ruby Hughes by Camillo Escheverri
-
Saturday 30 September 2017 at 12.30PM
Lunchtime Lecture with Peteris Vasks
Meditations
Holywell Music Room, Holywell Street, Oxford, OX1 3SD
Box office: Tickets Oxford
Michael Berkeley talks to the composer-in-residence of the Oxford Chamber Music Festival, Peteris Vasks, about the creative process and a composer’s life. Michael's Mediations for Strings will be played along with music by Peteris Vasks. Their reactions to each other’s work are bound to be fascinating!
-
Wednesday 20 September 2017 at 5.00PM
Evensong celebrating 400th Anniversary of Society of Apothecaries
Heare us, O Heare us, Lord performed by the St. Paul's Cathedral Choir
In the autumn the Society of Apothecaries of the City of London will be celebrating the 400th Anniversary of the granting of its Charter by King James I in 1617. This followed the separation of the Apothecaries from the Grocers’ Company. A central event in the celebrations will be a special Evensong at St. Paul’s Cathedral for which the anthem Heare us, O Heare us, Lord has been specially commissioned. The text consists of verses from A Litany by John Donne that have relevance to the work of apothecaries and physicians. It was probably written in 1609, shortly before Donne became Dean of St. Paul’s. The setting is by Michael Berkeley, one of the foremost composers of the present generation. The anthem therefore reflects the span of the Society’s four centuries. The music has been specially written with the acoustic of St. Paul’s Cathedral in mind.
The Evensong is open to the public and no tickets are required. -
Friday 25 August 2017 at 7.45PM
Celebration Concert for George Vass
Variations on 'Lovely Joan' performed by Gemma Rosefield (cello), Benjamin Nabarro (violin), Rachel Roberts (viola) & George Vass (conductor)
St. Andrew's Church, Broad Street, Presteigne, Powys, LD8 2AF, Wales
Box office: Presteigne Festival, Tel: 01544 267800
"Variations on Lovely Joan is a gorgeous addition to the string orchestra repertoire, remarkably coherent given that it's written by eight composers. Based on an English folk song, the variations are full of character, from Michael Berkeley's frolics to Sally Beamish's rapt stillness." - Rebecca Franks, The Times, 30 August 2017
-
Thursday 24 August 2017 at 8.30PM
The Consolations of Scholarship
Seven performed by the Berkeley Ensemble & Rebecca Afonwy-Jones (mezzo-soprano)
St. Andrew's Church, Broad Street, Presteigne, Powys, LD8 2AF, Wales
Box office: Presteigne Festival, Tel: 01544 267800
The opening performance of the 2017 Presteigne Festival brings together a new version of Seven by Michael Berkeley (originally composed for the 2007 Festival), Francis Poulenc’s delightful Sextet and music by two Masters of the Queen’s Music (Judith Weir and Peter Maxwell Davies).
The brilliantly innovative Berkeley Ensemble are joined by outstanding young mezzo Rebecca Afonwy-Jones for a performance of an extraordinary musical drama for voice and instrumental ensemble by Judith Weir. With a libretto by the composer herself, 'The Consolations of Scholarship' is based closely on the Yuan dramas 'The Orphan of Chao' (by Chi Chun-hsiang) and the anonymous 'A Stratagem of Interlocking Rings'.Photo: Berkeley Ensemble by Nigel Luckhurst
-
Thursday 10 August 2017 at 8.00PM
Clarion Call and Gallop in the Lake District
Clarion Call and Gallop performed by the Berkeley Ensemble
St. Thomas's Church, Stricklandgate, Kendal, LA9 4QG
Box office: Lake District Summer Music
The first of two concerts (the second on 11 August) in a mini-residency marking the Berkeley Ensemble's LDSM début, but not its first visit to the district: for many years it was ensemble-in-residence at Queen Elizabeth School. Ibert’s WW1 bonne bouche 'Souvenir for string quartet & double bass' prepares us for a père et fils conjunction: Michael’s 'Clarion Call and Gallop' was written for this eponymous group while Lennox’s work, the Sextet, was created by its forebears, the Melos Ensemble. Beethoven may have grown to despise the success of his Septet –’That damned thing! I wish it were burned!’– but we have cause to be grateful that it was not. In ‘Home-Thoughts, from Abroad’ poet Robert Browning writes of ‘the wise thrush... [who] sings each song twice over, lest you should think he never could recapture the first fine careless rapture!’. Toby Young’s dramatic curtain-raiser, also written for tonight’s players, was inspired equally by this poem and by tonight’s closing work. [Synopsis by Lake District Summer Music]
Photo: Berkeley Ensemble by Nigel Luckhurst
-
Tuesday 01 August 2017 at 11.00AM
Lake District Summer Music: Three Moods
Three Moods performed by James Turnbull (oboe)
Ambleside Parish Centre, Vicarage Road, Ambleside, LA22 9DH
Box office: Lake District Summer Music
A programme of masterworks for oboe interlaced with connections – Lennox Berkeley first met Poulenc while a student of Nadia Boulanger in Paris, and the neo-baroque Petite Suite was composed at this time. Four years later, and five years before they met, Britten heard it, noting his enthusiasm in his diary. Britten and Berkeley subsequently had a close professional and personal relationship, and Britten became godfather to Lennox’s son, Michael.
Photo: James Turnbull
-
Saturday 15 July 2017 at 1.00PM
Plush Festival Lunchtime Concert
At a Solemn Wake performed by Adrian Brendel (cello) & Tim Horton (piano)
St. John's, Plush Manor, Plush, Dorset, DT2 7RJ
Box office: Plush Festival
'At a Solemn Wake', an intensely personal and virtuosic work by Michael Berkeley, is performed in this Plush Festival Discovery Concert. Also on the programme is Beethoven’s unusual pastiche of a monocled musician, followed by two contrasting short piano pieces, and a selection of Bartók’s ingenuous violin duos. One of the greatest of all cello sonatas revisits the humorous spirit of the ‘Eyeglasses Duo’ with its unforgettable rondo finale.
-
Friday 14 July 2017 at 5.30PM
Michael talks to Harrison Birtwistle at Plush Festival
St. John's, Plush Manor, Plush, Dorset, DT2 7RJ
Box office: Plush Festival
Michael Berkeley discusses Harrison Birtwistle’s Piano Trio with the composer and Adrian Brendel, followed by a performance of the piece by the Birtwistle Trio.
Photo: Harrison Birtwistle
-
Friday 07 July 2017 at 5.30PM
Premiere of Psalm 121: I will lift up mine eyes
Psalm 121: I will lift up mine eyes performed by the Choir of King's College Cambridge
King's College Cambridge, King's Parade, Cambridge, CB2 1ST
Following the success of This Endernight at Christmas last year, King's College, Cambridge have commissioned a new Anthem I WILL LIFT UP MINE EYES.
Photo: King's College Cambridge
-
Monday 13 March 2017 at 7.30PM
Nocturne: Music & Poetry Recital in Barnes
Veilleuse (Night Watch) performed by Madeleine Mitchell (violin) & Marc Verter (piano)
St. Mary's Church, Church Road, Barnes, London, SW13 9HL
Violinist Madeleine Mitchell, described by The Times as 'one of the UK's liveliest musical forces', created this wonderful programme together with distinguished Barnes poet and librettist, David Harsent, on the theme of Night. Included is Berkeley's 'Veilleuse' and the world premiere of a piece for violin and narrator celebrating nocturnal Barnes. Evocative music for violin and piano alternates with Harsent reading poems from his award-winning collection Night, plus the exquisite 1917 '3 Pieces' for violin and piano by Howells, including a Russian Lament. BMF regular Marc Verter is the pianist.
Photo: Madeleine Mitchell
-
Saturday 11 February 2017 at 11.30AM
Music by Mozart, Berkeley and Franck
Veilleuse (Night Watch) performed by Madeleine Mitchell (violin) & Viv McLean (piano)
Church of Christ the Cornerstone, 300 Saxon Gate, Milton Keynes, MK9 2ES
-
Sunday 22 January 2017
In Praise of Doubt: King's College Sermon
This Endernight performed by the Choir of King's College Cambridge
King's College Cambridge, King's Parade, Cambridge, CB2 1ST
The Choir of King's College sing 'This Endernight' again following its premiere on Christmas Eve, and Michael Berkeley delivers the sermon.
