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Proms 2018

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    Proms 2018: the premières – how you voted

    by 5:4 September 25, 2018 • 12:04
    September 25, 2018 • 12:04

    Many thanks to all of you for the comments you made and votes you cast during my coverage of the premières at the 2018 Proms season. A total of 1,467 votes were cast this year, an increase of 34% on last year’s ‘turnout’. Once again, there was something of an …

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    Proms 2018: Roxanna Panufnik – Songs of Darkness, Dreams of Light (World Première)

    by 5:4 September 11, 2018 • 12:27
    September 11, 2018 • 12:27

    And so to the annual conveyor belt of over-cranked fripperies and falderals that is the last night of the Proms. Nestling among them – not, for a change, getting the concert party started – was the last première of this year’s season, Songs of Darkness, Dreams of Light by British composer Roxanna …

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  • FestivalsPremières

    Proms 2018: Iain Bell – Aurora; Nina Šenk – Baca (World Premières)

    by 5:4 September 7, 2018 • 11:48
    September 7, 2018 • 11:48

    The interplay of performing relationships has been at the centre of the last two Proms premières. Iain Bell’s Aurora, a concerto for coloratura soprano and orchestra, given its first performance on 29 August by Adela Zaharia and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Vasily Petrenko, seeks to pit the soloist as …

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  • FestivalsInterviews

    Proms 2018: pre-première questions with Nina Šenk

    by 5:4 September 2, 2018 • 06:00
    September 2, 2018 • 06:00

    Tomorrow afternoon’s Prom concert from Cadogan Hall is being given by soloists from the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, and it promises to be quite a lustrous affair, featuring music by Debussy, Ravel and the great Lili Boulanger. It also includes the world première of Baca, a new chamber work by Slovenian …

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    Proms 2018: Per Nørgård – Symphony No. 3 (UK Première); Rolf Wallin – WHIRLD; Bushra El-Turk – Crème Brûlée on a Tree (World Premières)

    by 5:4 August 29, 2018 • 12:51
    August 29, 2018 • 12:51

    Quite apart from anything else they may embody, this year’s Proms premières have occupied pretty much the entire span of the profound—trivial continuum. At its most extreme, this has been exemplified by the most recent new works, which have ranged from a compositional exploration of infinity culminating in a state …

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  • FestivalsPremières

    Proms 2018: Philip Venables – Venables Plays Bartók; Laura Mvula – Love Like A Lion (World Premières); Agata Zubel – Fireworks (UK Première)

    by 5:4 August 22, 2018 • 06:00
    August 22, 2018 • 06:00

    The last few Proms premières have been, to put it mildly, an extremely mixed bag. By far the most excruciating of them was Venables Plays Bartók, a violin concerto of sorts by Philip Venables, given its first performance last Friday by Pekka Kuusisto with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sakari Oramo. As its title …

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    Proms 2018: Simon Holt – Quadriga; Suzanne Farrin – Hypersea (World Premières)

    by 5:4 August 21, 2018 • 10:12
    August 21, 2018 • 10:12

    Last Monday at Cadogan Hall, percussionist Colin Currie and the JACK Quartet combined forces to perform two works from the ’80s by Xenakis and two world premières, by Simon Holt and Suzanne Farrin. The points of inspirational origin of these pieces were somewhat different from what one usually encounters in new music, …

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  • FestivalsInterviews

    Proms 2018: pre-première questions with Agata Zubel

    by 5:4 August 18, 2018 • 06:00
    August 18, 2018 • 06:00

    Tomorrow morning’s Prom concert, given by the European Union Youth Orchestra, includes the first UK performance of Fireworks, a recent work by Polish composer Agata Zubel. In anticipation of that, here are her answers to some of my pre-première questions (i’ve provided some information in lieu of answers for the final three …

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  • FestivalsPremières

    Proms 2018: Mark-Anthony Turnage – Farewell; Lisa Illean – Sleeplessness … Sails (World Premières)

    by 5:4 August 16, 2018 • 14:19
    August 16, 2018 • 14:19

    Two of the smallest of this year’s new works were given their first performances in a recital at Cadogan Hall on 6 August by mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly and pianist Joseph Middleton. The concert had themes of sleep (and the lack of it), dreams and lullabies running through it, explored primarily …

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  • FestivalsPremières

    Proms 2018: The Brandenburg Project

    by 5:4 August 14, 2018 • 15:05
    August 14, 2018 • 15:05

    The Proms wouldn’t be the Proms if it didn’t feature one of its favourite obsessions: contemporary music commissioned with the specific aim that it ‘responds’ to existing works in the repertoire. The most recent example of this is The Brandenburg Project, an idea dreamt up by the Swedish Chamber Orchestra …

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  • FestivalsInterviews

    Proms 2018: pre-première questions with Suzanne Farrin and Simon Holt

    by 5:4 August 12, 2018 • 12:45
    August 12, 2018 • 12:45

    Tomorrow afternoon’s Prom concert at Cadogan Hall features percussionist Colin Currie with the JACK quartet. Alongside two classic works by Xenakis, they’ll be performing two world premières, Simon Holt‘s Quadriga and Suzanne Farrin‘s Hypersea. In anticipation of these first performances, here are their answers to my pre-première questions, together with …

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  • FestivalsPremières

    Proms 2018: Tansy Davies – What Did We See?; Jessica Wells – Rhapsody for solo oud; Joby Talbot – Ink Dark Moon (World Premières); Georg Friedrich Haas – Concerto Grosso No. 1 (UK Première)

    by 5:4 August 5, 2018 • 13:01
    August 5, 2018 • 13:01

    Every year the nature of the works premièred at the Proms – presumably due in part to the festival’s (i.e. the BBC’s) risk-averse emphasis on popularity and familiarity over challenge and provocation – veers wildly between extremes of light- and heavyweight fare. The most recent quartet of new works, considered …

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  • FestivalsPremières

    Proms 2018: Chaines – Knockturning; Laurie Spiegel – Only Night Thoughts; Daphne Oram – Still Point (World Premières)

    by 5:4 August 2, 2018 • 15:40
    August 2, 2018 • 15:40

    For the most part, the Proms has always liked to pretend that electronics don’t really exist. The exception to this wilful ignorance are the occasions when electronics are made the focus of either a specific piece or an entire concert, as was the case with ‘Pioneers of Sound’, a late …

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  • FestivalsPremières

    Proms 2018: Ēriks Ešenvalds – Shadow; Eve Risser – Furakèla (World Premières); Andrew Norman – Spiral (UK Première)

    by 5:4 July 31, 2018 • 16:02
    July 31, 2018 • 16:02

    A piece doesn’t have to be – in fact, can hardly be – all things to all people, but in the case of Shadow, by Latvian composer Ēriks Ešenvalds‘, one has to wonder if it has much if anything to offer a mature listener. This in itself is interesting precisely because …

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  • FestivalsPremières

    Proms 2018: Georg Friedrich Haas – the last minutes of inhumanity; Hannah Kendall – Verdala; Isabel Mundry – Gefallen; Luca Francesconi – We Wept (World Premières)

    by 5:4 July 30, 2018 • 17:09
    July 30, 2018 • 17:09

    The London Sinfonietta’s Prom concert at The Roundhouse, on 21 July, marked the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I with great works by Messiaen and Ives, plus a quartet of world premières, commissioned to explore aspects associated with the conflict and its aftermath. Composers are often at …

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  • FestivalsInterviews

    Proms 2018: pre-première questions with Jessica Wells

    by 5:4 July 29, 2018 • 12:00
    July 29, 2018 • 12:00

    Tomorrow’s afternoon Prom concert in Cadogan Hall promises to be something a little different. Titled Ancient Rituals and New Tales, the event is a showcase for Egyptian oud player Joseph Tawadros. In addition to his own music Tawadros will also be giving the world première of Australian composer Jessica Wells‘ Rhapsody for …

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  • FestivalsInterviews

    Proms 2018: pre-première questions with Andrew Norman

    by 5:4 July 23, 2018 • 06:00
    July 23, 2018 • 06:00

    Tonight’s Prom includes a short orchestral work by US composer Andrew Norman, titled Spiral. Here are his answers to my pre-première questions, together with the programme note for the piece. Many thanks to Andrew for his responses.

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  • FestivalsInterviews

    Proms 2018: pre-première questions with Ēriks Ešenvalds

    by 5:4 July 21, 2018 • 06:00
    July 21, 2018 • 06:00

    This evening’s Prom, titled ‘War and Peace’ and featuring the BBC Proms Youth Choir and the World Orchestra for Peace, gets underway with the world première of a new work called Shadow, by Latvian composer Ēriks Ešenvalds. In preparation for that, here are his answers to my pre-première questions, along with the programme note for …

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  • FestivalsPremières

    Proms 2018: Caroline Shaw – Second Essay: Echo; Third Essay: Ruby (World Premières)

    by 5:4 July 19, 2018 • 11:24
    July 19, 2018 • 11:24

    What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Whether or not you agree with these words – penned by the sombre but often startlingly wise author of the biblical book of Ecclesiastes – it’s impossible not to …

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  • FestivalsPremières

    Proms 2018: Ben Foster – Young Musician Theme & Variations; David Bruce – Sidechaining; Iain Farrington – Gershwinicity (World Premières)

    by 5:4 July 17, 2018 • 12:01
    July 17, 2018 • 12:01

    Party time! The Proms needs precisely no encouragement whatsoever to turn a concert into a party, and on Sunday evening, a mere two days after the opening night knees-up, came another boisterous shindig, celebrating 40 years of the Young Musician competition. Given by the BBC’s resident light music aficionados, the …

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