VALE OF GLAMORGAN FESTIVAL OF MUSIC 2005 (TEXT ONLY)
PROGRAMMES
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Tuesday
30 August, 7.30pm
St Donats Arts Centre
Composer-Performer
with a private view of Echoes,
an exhibition by Mary Husted
RUTH
WALL (clarsach - Scottish harp)
GRAHAM FITKIN (piano)
HOWARD SKEMPTON (accordion
|
Philip Glass |
Opening (clarsach) |
6' |
|
Skirting (clarsach) |
8' |
|
|
Under the Elder; Crane’s Waltz; Recessional; merry-go-round (accordion) |
7' |
|
|
The Cone Gatherers (piano) |
10' |
|
|
Ruth Wall |
Sibling 4 (clarsach) |
11' |
|
Interval |
||
|
Summer Waltz; Waltz
(1982); |
8' |
|
|
Michael Parsons |
Variations and |
5' |
|
Ruth Wall |
Peninsula Run (clarsach) |
2' |
|
Laurence Crane |
Two Movements (clarsach) |
12' |
|
Furniture (piano) |
5' |
|
|
Wynter (clarsach) |
4' |
|
The opening concert of this year’s festival features the evocative sound of the clarsach, the traditional Scottish harp — presented here in a far-from traditional incarnation. Ruth Wall, a leading composer-performer of the ancient lever harp, exploits the instrument’s timeless resonance and simple purity in the context of 21st-century complexity and electrification.
Ruth is joined by Graham Fitkin and Howard Skempton, two of Britain’s leading composer-performers.
See Wednesday 31 August for further performances by Ruth Wall & Howard Skempton; and 3 September for the premiere of Graham Fitkin’s Piano Quartet
TICKETS: £9 (£7 for Over 60s, unemployed, disabled people & their companions, children and students).
Box Office: 0870 013 1812 (BBC Call NOW line) OR 01446 799100 (St Donats Arts Centre during office hours)
Wednesday
31 August, 7.30pm
Norwegian
Church, Cardiff Bay
Always something sings
EXAUDI (vocal
ensemble)
JAMES WEEKS (conductor)
RUTH WALL (clarsach)
HOWARD SKEMPTON (accordion)
| Music; Song at the Year’s Turning; Rose-berries (choir) |
7’ |
|
|
Gabriel Jackson |
Small Encomium for Matthew Greenall (clarsach) |
3’ |
|
Jim and Pam and Pam and Jim (clarsach) |
2' |
|
|
Peter Maxwell Davies |
Farewell to Stromness (clarsach) | 4' |
|
Gabriel Jackson |
Spring; The Armed Man (choir) | 10' |
|
Ada’s Dance; Twin Set; The Snare; Two Poems of Mary Webb; |
5'
|
|
|
Interval |
||
|
Cardew arr. |
‘Ode Machine 7’ from The Great Learning, paragraph 5 (choir) |
7’ |
|
Hornpipe; Romance; |
5’ |
|
|
James Weeks |
New Work (world
premiere); |
8' |
|
preludes and interludes from Images (clarsach) |
6’ |
|
|
Snape Interval;
Four by the Clock; |
6’ | |
Acclaimed young vocal ensemble
EXAUDI is joined by Ruth Wall and Howard Skempton in an intimate and
ravishing sequence of miniatures.
The entrancing subtlety of Skempton’s choral style is beautifully
offset by his accordion and harp works.
TICKETS: £9 (£7 for Over 60s, unemployed, disabled people & their companions, children and students).
Box Office: 0870 013 1812 (BBC Call NOW line) OR 01446 799100 (St Donats Arts Centre during office hours)
Thursday
1 September, 6.30pm
The
Memorial Hall Theatre, Barry
Pre-concert talk with Guto Puw
Thursday
1 September, 7.30pm
The
Memorial Hall Theatre, Barry
BBC NATIONAL ORCHESTRA OF WALES
|
Kurt Schwertsik |
Sinfonia-Sinfonietta |
21’ |
|
Reservoirs |
16’ |
|
|
Interval |
||
|
Elena Kats-Chernin |
Clocks |
21’ |
|
The Welcome Arrival of Rain |
16’ |
|
Women composers are given a particular emphasis in this year’s festival, and here we present two major works by leading women in their field: Australian Elena Kats-Chernin’s name is already familiar to Vale of Glamorgan Festival audiences; eminent British composer Judith Weir’s music is making its first appearance with us, and three of her chamber works can be heard on 2 & 4 September.
Guto Puw’s Reservoirs was inspired by a poem by RS Thomas that tells of the drowning of valleys in Wales to supply water for the industrial cities of England. It was shortlisted for the prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society Awards this year.
The concert opens with our celebration of mercurial Austrian composer Kurt Schwertsik’s 70th birthday.
This year, the Welsh Music Guild celebrates its Golden Jubilee. The Vale of Glamorgan Festival marks that significant anniversary with this concert.
TICKETS: £9 (£7 for Over 60s, unemployed, disabled people & their companions, children and students).
Box Office: 0870 013 1812 (BBC Call NOW line) OR 01446 799100 (St Donats Arts Centre during office hours)
Friday
2 September, 6.30pm – Ewenny
Priory Church, Ewenny
Pre-concert
talk: Robin Holloway in
conversation with Peter Reynolds
Friday
2 September, 7.30pm – Ewenny
Priory Church, Ewenny
Okeanos candlelit concert
|
Melinda Maxwell |
Piobroch (oboe & cello) |
12' |
|
Eternal Escape (cello) |
3' |
|
|
Lynne Plowman |
Mermaids’ Lagoon (harp) |
7' |
|
Peter Sculthorpe |
Djilile (viola & harp) |
5' |
|
Akiko Ogawa |
Interweaving (oboe,
clarinet, viola & harp) |
5' |
|
Interval |
||
|
John Metcalf |
Dolbadarn Castle (cello & harp) |
12' |
|
Serenade in D flat |
20' |
|
Okeanos present the first of their two 2005 Vale of Glamorgan festival concerts in this most captivating of settings. An eclectic mix of sonorities evoking scenes from around the world, this programme culminates in a significant world premiere by distinguished British composer Robin Holloway: the Serenade in D flat is the fruit of Holloway’s special relationship with Okeanos, and is co-commissioned by the Vale of Glamorgan Festival.
TICKETS: £9 (£7 for Over 60s, unemployed, disabled people & their companions, children and students).
Box Office: 0870 013 1812 (BBC Call NOW line) OR 01446 799100 (St Donats Arts Centre during office hours)
Saturday 3 September, 6.30pm
– Bradenstoke Hall, St Donats
Castle
Pre-concert
talk: Graham Fitkin in
conversation with John Metcalf
Saturday 3 September,
7.30pm – Bradenstoke Hall, St Donats
Castle
Schubert Ensemble
|
John Woolrich |
Sestina (piano quartet) |
12' |
|
Music for 247 Strings (violin & piano) |
10' |
|
|
Piano Quartet (world premiere) |
12' |
|
|
Interval |
||
|
Elena Kats-Chernin |
Page Turn (piano) |
8' |
|
John Metcalf |
Ynys Las (cello & piano) |
6' |
|
Piano Quartet, ‘blanche comme la neige’ |
17' |
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The Schubert Ensemble is one of the world’s finest chamber groups, with an impressive reputation for innovation in the field of new music. It has built strong relationships with many of the UK’s leading composers, including Judith Weir and John Woolrich, whose music features here. More recently, the ensemble has worked extensively with Graham Fitkin, leading to the commission of his Piano Quartet, which receives its world premiere in this concert.
TICKETS: £9 (£7 for Over 60s, unemployed, disabled people & their companions, children and students).
Box Office: 0870 013 1812 (BBC Call NOW line) OR 01446 799100 (St Donats Arts Centre during office hours)
Sunday 4 September, 6.00pm
(note starting time!) – St Donats Arts Centre
From the Floating World
An evening of music, storytelling, Japanese food, visual art
OKEANOS
DAVID
AMBROSE (storyteller)
MARY
HUSTED (artist)
|
Touch of Breeze |
3' |
|
|
Anne Boyd |
Esgid Mair (viola, singing bowls, rin, antique cymbals & ocean drum) |
5' |
|
storytelling - David Ambrose |
||
|
Improvised shakuhachi solo |
||
|
Really? (soprano, clarinet, viola & koto) |
9' |
|
|
storytelling - David Ambrose |
||
|
Ross Edwards |
Ulpirra (oboe) |
6' |
|
Okeanos Breeze (oboe, clarinet, viola, sho, koto, antique cymbals & ocean drum) |
11' |
|
|
Interval, |
||
|
Fragments (oboe, koto & sho) |
6' |
|
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Fragmente I (shakuhachi, koto & sangen) |
9' |
|
|
storytelling - David Ambrose |
||
|
Hibiki in the Line (clarinet) |
4' |
|
| Toshio Hosokawa |
Koto-Uta (voice & koto) (UK premiere) |
9' |
|
Gabriel Jackson |
A Piece of Sky (after
Yoko Ono) |
7' |
A unique experience with a distinctly Japanese flavour concludes the festival.
This is an evening of interwoven layers: Okeanos present many faces of Japanese and Japan-inspired music — from lone improvised shakuhachi, to the fantastic ’superinstrument’ fusion of Dai Fujikura’s Okeanos Breeze.
Storyteller David Ambrose links the performances with atmospheric, Japanese-influenced tales. These accompany the procession as the audience and musicians move to different spaces within the Arts Centre, including the Gallery for Mary Husted’s exhibition of fairytale mirror boxes, Echoes, which lends an extraordinary, magical dimension to the music.
The experience is completed with authentic Japanese cuisine from Izakaya restaurant. A selection of sushi, yakitori, torikaraage, renkon kinpira and kabocha age will be served in parallel with the evening’s entertainment.
TICKETS:
£15 (£12 for senior citizens, unemployed, disabled people & their
companions, children and students)
TICKET PRICE INCLUDES JAPANESE FOOD; VEGETARIAN CHOICES AVAILABLE
Box Office: 0870 013 1812 (BBC Call NOW line) OR 01446 799100 (St Donats Arts Centre during office hours)