News

A new culture strategy for Sheffield

4 Dec 2024

Sheffield has revealed a new culture strategy for the city.

“Sheffield is a city filled with inspiring artists, makers, and doers. Our artists, musicians, and designers are known around the world, but those who live here understand that thousands of incredible creatives across our communities and neighbourhoods are simply getting on with their work. We recognise that, as a city, there is much more we can do to support these individuals in flourishing.

With this in mind, we have developed a fresh vision for creativity, arts, and culture in Sheffield. We hope this vision will ensure that everyone who lives, works, or visits here has the opportunity to participate, collaborate, and benefit from the many wonderful contributions that arts and culture bring to our city.”

You can download it now, or read it in full here. 

News

“A terrific achievement” Responses to The Monster in the Maze

4 Dec 2024

Reviews are in for our recent production The Monster in the Maze. Read them all online here:

Fiona Maddocks, The Guardian ★★★★

“…First heard only as a tuba-heavy roar of brass, played by a raucous “Minotaur band” in the gallery, the worm-like man-beast was deliciously creepy when he finally appeared through two different entrances simultaneously. The hero of the hour is Theseus – part Wagner’s Siegfried, part Barbie’s Ken – who wore an orange fluorescent shell suit, waved a sword as twinkly as a Christmas tree and knew no fear. The final chorus, these music-makers of Sheffield singing and playing their hearts out, was expansive and stirring.”

Robert Hugill, Planet Hugill

“The whole performance was a terrific achievement… Rosie Kat’s production used the whole auditorium with bravura. We, the audience, were close to and surrounded by the drama, giving the performance real immediacy. The non-professional performers were entirely unphased by this and I was particularly impressed by the way the youth chorus grasped the drama despite being in such close proximity to the audience.”

Colin Clarke, Classical Explorer

“…Rarely if ever have I heard such enthusiasm from a group of singers, who threw themselves into the occasion… And with such engagement form the young singers, it felt just perfect… A triumph, then, and a heart-warming one, a that.”

One of our participants in the adult chorus, Isabel Lovell, wrote this piece about her experience of rehearsals which was shared by Classical Music through the e-newsletter and on their website.

“Last Sunday we had our first rehearsal with all the different choirs– children’s, youth and adult choruses – together, and we were all blown away hearing the children coming in with their parts. Seeing the production slowly come together has been an amazing experience. When rehearsals started, the three choruses rehearsed separately, meeting for two hours every Sunday in the middle of Sheffield. It felt so magical to hear it start to come together, to hear how each part fit together to create something larger than the sum of its parts.”

News

Come and sing in ‘The Monster in the Maze’

3 Jul 2024

Would you like to sing in the chorus of an amazing opera?
Would you like to perform in the iconic Crucible Theatre?

We are looking for people to join our adult chorus for Jonathan Dove’s ‘The Monster in the Maze’ for four performances on 1 and 2 November 2024. Our most ambitious project to date, this will be Music in the Round at its best: a bold collaboration, forged in the crucible of creativity that is our City of Makers.

Whether you sing regularly with a choir, or would like to try singing in a large group for the first time, we want to hear from you. This is an amazing opportunity for people of all ages to come together and perform alongside our professional resident artists and guest soloists, highlighting the best of music-making in Sheffield.

Come and join us!
Please register your interest here.

You do not need previous experience of singing on stage or to read music, just a love of singing and lots of enthusiasm!

Pre-production week rehearsals 

15 Sept, 2.30-4.30pm, The Foundry, Sheffield Music Hub
29 Sept, 2.30-4.30pm, The Foundry, Sheffield Music Hub
(The Foundry, 3 Brown St, Sheffield City Centre, Sheffield S1 2BS. Entry via buzzer to the side of the red door)
13 Oct, 2.30-4.30pm, The Creative Lounge
20 Oct 2.30-4.30pm (full run), The Creative Lounge
(The Creative Lounge, 15 Paternoster Row, Sheffield S1 2BX. Entry via the Showroom Workstation and it’s on the left as you go in)
27 Oct 2.30-4.30pm (sitzprobe with everyone), venue tbc

Production week schedule in Crucible Theatre:
29 Oct 5.30-8.30pm
30 Oct 5.30-8.30pm
31 Oct 1.30-4.30pm and 5.30-8.30pm (two dress rehearsals)
1 Nov performances 3pm & 7.15pm
2 Nov performances 11am & 3pm

We request that performers attend the majority of rehearsals, understanding there will be some prior commitments and missing the odd one or two is fine.

Music and rehearsal tracks will be provided. The opera lasts around 50 mins, and you will be standing to sing for around 20 mins, with little other movement required.

If you know of a young person aged 14-18 who would like to sing in the opera, find out more about the Youth Chorus here: Sheffield Music Hub

For more information, please contact lp@musicintheround.co.uk.

This is an epic story: millennia in the making and a fitting celebration for our 40th anniversary year! Be part of it, by signing up below.

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News

JOIN WECOMPOSE: Callout for Composers 2024

24 Jun 2024

We are seeking composers who are passionate about working with young people and facilitating their creative ideas. Join a dynamic, reflective and committed cohort of composers working with students, teachers and musicians to transform how composition is taught in secondary schools.

WeCompose is our transformative in-schools composition project: a collaboration between teachers, professional composers, outstanding ensembles and leading music educators. Developing high quality resources and approaches, we work directly in schools in Sheffield, Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, the East Riding of Yorkshire and the wider northern region as well as in Barking & Dagenham, Milton Keynes and Portsmouth. Our first two years have reached over 750 students, and in 2024/25, we aim to reach 2,460 young people across the country. Beyond the three years of currently funded delivery we will share our learning as widely as possible, making resources, approaches and training available to all teachers who wish to use them.

Be part of something amazing. Find out more and download an application pack. Apply here.

Deadline for applications
09.00am Friday 19 July 2024
Interviews in person 30 and 31 July 2024

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News

Reviews are in for Sheffield Chamber Music Festival 2024

13 Jun 2024

It’s wonderful to look back on nine days of fabulous concerts, family performances, screenings, a symposium, panel discussions and, above all, beautiful music from our 40th anniversary Sheffield Chamber Music Festival.

Read more about it in the reviews online:

The Arts Desk *****
“one of the most vibrant chamber music festivals anywhere.”

The Spectator: Friday Night in Paris
“the atmosphere [the Playhouse] generates – with audience closely packed on all four sides of the performance space – is wonderfully immediate, especially when (as on this occasion) it’s filled to capacity.”

Bachtrack
An evening with Steven Isserlis *****
“Works by Robert Schumann and Gabriel Fauré – “my best friends in music” – provided a packed Crucible Playhouse with works of deep anguish and passionate affirmation, played with rapturous devotion by Isserlis himself, a state readily transmitted to his younger associates, Mishka Rushdie Momen (piano) and Irène Duval (violin).”

Bachtrack
Saint-Saëns: The Renaissance Man ****
“It was, truthfully, a remarkable concert that will live long in the memory, notably for the performance of the film score Saint-Saëns wrote for L’assassinat du duc de Guise, played to accompany a screening.”

Thoroughly Good
Celebrating the Lindsays
“The appreciation amongst the audience was palpable hinting at the rich bond the quartet’s reputation had formed. It is an achievement readily identified on the faces of fans, and symbolised in the presence of the chamber music festival to this day.”

Classical Explorer
Saint-Saëns: The Renaissance Man
“Delights and discoveries abounded at every turn.”

French Gems
“A fabulous performance of a fabulous piece.”

Romantic Piano
“Momen’s exquisite recital included music from Rameau to Ravel.”

Photographer: Matthew Johnson

News

Sponsor our Grade-a-thon

27 Feb 2024

For the last few months a group of supporters and staff have been working hard on brand new instruments, getting up to Grade I standard!

They sit their exams at the end of February. There have been ups and downs, but it’s been a lot of fun. Across the group they’re learning the saxophone, snare drum, bassoon, viola, horn, clarinet, flute, piano and guitar!

Follow their progress, see who is joining in and sponsor their efforts here https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/mitrgradeathon

News

Express your interest in joining the chorus of ‘The Monster in the Maze’

22 Feb 2024

King Minos has a labyrinth in his palace. Inside there lurks a Minotaur. This monster, half-man and half-bull, feeds on human flesh. Minos decrees that the Athenians should provide a supply of young people to be sacrificed. The hero Theseus steps in, determined to enter the maze and take on the monster at its heart…

We are seeking singers to be part of Jonathan Dove’s ‘The Monster in the Maze’ which receives its Sheffield premiere on the iconic Crucible stage in four performances on 1st and 2nd November 2024. Our most ambitious project to date, this will be Music in the Round at its best: a bold collaboration, forged in the crucible of creativity that is our City of Makers. And we want you to be part of it. Please register your interest here.

Rehearsals will start late Summer 2024 and usually fall on Sunday afternoons. Rehearsals will also take place in the evenings of the week leading up to the performances on 1st and 2nd November. Music and rehearsal tracks will be provided.

Commissioned and first performed in 2015 by the Berlin Philharmonic and London Symphony Orchestra with Sir Simon Rattle, it was praised by the Financial Times as “an exhilarating, visceral take on the ancient Greek myth”. This is an amazing opportunity for people of all ages to come together and perform alongside our professional resident artists and guest soloists, highlighting the best of music-making in Sheffield. Whether you sing regularly with a choir, or would like to try singing in a large group for the first time, we want to hear from you.

This is an epic story: millennia in the making and a fitting celebration for our 40th anniversary year! Be part of it, by signing up below.

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News

JOIN OUR TEAM: Participation and Events Coordinator

15 Dec 2023

We are looking to appoint a Participation & Events Coordinator.

Deadline for applications
10.00am Monday 22 January 2024
Interviews w/c 29 January 2024

The Participation and Events Coordinator will be involved in the planning and delivery of events for a range of audiences that expand our programme of activity beyond the concert hall, enabling people of all ages and backgrounds to get closer to the music. The person who is recruited will join us at an exciting time as we focus on fully integrating all our strands of activity in the concert hall and with local communities in partnership with venues and organisations in Sheffield and beyond.

Find out more and download an application pack.

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News

Composers announced for WeCompose 2023 – 24

13 Oct 2023

After a successful pilot, WeCompose moves into the first full year of delivery across our South Yorkshire home, the wider north of England region and with our longstanding collaborators in Portsmouth, Milton Keynes and Barking & Dagenham. This year, WeCompose is delivered in collaboration with the Ligeti String Quartet.

We have recruited a fantastic team of composers who will be visiting schools across the country to help develop the composition work of KS3 and KS4 students and support their teachers. Students get to experience working with professional musicians and are supported in developing compositional and collaborative skills, which they will use to create group and individual compositions. Students will then get to see their work being performed by professional musicians in a culmination concert towards the end of their academic year.

We are delighted to welcome:

Ed Driver
Ed Driver is a British composer and performer currently studying for a master’s degree in composition with Kenneth Hesketh and Dai Fujikura at the Royal College of Music, where he is an H R Taylor Charitable Trust Scholar and has held a Vaughan Williams Bursary. He won his first composition prize, the Howard Greenwood Composition Award in 2017. Upon graduation from the University of Birmingham, where he studied with Michael Zev Gordon and Ryan Latimer, Ed was awarded the COMPASS Composition Prize in association with the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group. He has also collaborated with other leading contemporary ensembles, having written music for Britten Sinfonia, The Hermes Experiment and the Fidelio Trio. Fascinated by aesthetics, his recent music often aims to intertwine the logic of social-philosophical concepts with a vibrant sense of humour. He has previously held a role in a school music department, where he worked extensively with young people aged 13-18, teaching GCSE and A-level composition and curriculum lessons; running composition clubs and mentoring sessions; and directing and composing for a wide variety of ensembles. He is keen to continue to share his excitement for music-making with young people of all backgrounds and to promote its accessibility.


Yuen Po Hang

Yuen Po Hang has received countless commissions and collaborative opportunities from leading soloists and ensembles, including the Avanti Chamber, BBC Philharmonic, Britten Sinfonia, PHACE, Psappha, Sofia Philharmonic, and Trio Immersio. His piano trio Triptych has recently won the third prize in the professional section of the “The New Melodies” II International Composers Competition. The music was published by Dmitry Danilov Music Agency LLC and performed in St. Petersburg, at the Whitehall of the Polytechnic Institute. This July, his newest ensemble work, “Cosmic Embrace”, received its world premiere in Porvoo, Finland, as a part of the Avanti Summer Sounds Festival.


Emily Hazrati

Emily Hazrati is a composer and performer based in London. Her music is spacious, immersive, and environmental; with a focus on storytelling, collaboration, and global politics, as well as ideas around breath, ritual, and circularity. Emily has worked with ensembles and organisations including BBC Singers, Royal Opera House, Oxford International Song Festival, Ligeti Quartet, National Youth Choir of Great Britain, The Choir of Clare College, Cambridge, Oxford Philharmonic, Psappha, Thames Philharmonic Choir, and CHROMA Ensemble, amongst many others. In 2022 she developed her second chamber opera, TIDE, which received its first, sold-out performances at the Aldeburgh Festival 2022. She was a Britten-Pears Young Artist 2021-22 and a Junior Fellow at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where she learned with Julian Philips and Hollie Harding.


Alex Mackay

Alex Mackay is a musician whose practice spans composition, performance, production and education, incorporating a range of creative, technical and aesthetic approaches. Alex’s composition work has included concert works and collaborative projects with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Red Note, Glasgow New Music Expedition and Ludi Quartet Kernow; as well as interdisciplinary collaborations with artists working in film, theatre, dance and visual art. As a solo artist, he incorporates approaches from experimental compositional practices and contemporary electronic production to create recorded and live works, and has been presented through releases, performances and residencies across the UK and Europe. Alex studied composition at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and music production at the University of York, and he currently teaches music and sound recording at the University of York.


Laurence Osborn

Laurence Osborn is a British composer currently based in London. Laurence Osborn’s music has been commissioned and/or programmed by the London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Modern, Britten Sinfonia, The Riot Ensemble, Manchester Collective, 12 Ensemble, GBSR Duo, Ensemble Klang, and Ensemble 360, among others. He has also written for solo performers Sarah Dacey, Mahan Esfahani, Bartosz Glowacki, Zubin Kanga, Lore Lixenberg, Michael Petrov, and Agata Zubel. His music has been programmed throughout the UK, at venues such as The Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, The Royal Opera House, Symphony Hall (Birmingham), The Wigmore Hall, Kings Place, LSO St Luke’s, St Martin- In-The-Fields, Milton Court, Wilton’s Music Hall, Britten Studio (Aldeburgh), The National Portrait Gallery, The Holywell Music Room (Oxford), The Crucible Theatre (Sheffield), Kettle’s Yard (Cambridge), and at Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (where he was an International Showcase Artist), St Magnus International Festival, Music in the Round, and Ulverston International Music Festival. His music has also been programmed throughout Europe, such as at Festival Présences (Paris), Alteoper Frankfurt, November Music Festival (Den Bosch), The Georg Solti Hall (Budapest). Laurence’s music has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4, Resonance FM, and Deutschlandfunk Kultur. His music has also been released on NMC, Resonus Classics, Rubicon Classics and Coviello Contemporary.


Helen Papaioannou

Helen Papaioannou is a composer and performer based in Leeds, UK. Helen’s work ranges from her solo project for electronics and baritone saxophone (Kar Pouzi), to ensemble compositions, music for moving image, and improvisation with a range of collaborators. Across her work, she gravitates towards a minimal sound palette, with persistent grooves and a textural focus which revels in drawing out a lot from a little. Helen has a fascination with the dynamics of group interaction, collaborating with a variety of artists and ensembles, and leading workshops in a variety of settings.


Marcus Rock

With a background in film making, Marcus made the decision to pursue Composition seriously in 2018, earning himself a place at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire on a scholarship (beginning 2019). In his first year studying music seriously, he was selected to collaborate with and write a String Quartet for Quatour Bozzini and to compose music for the Cheltenham Music Festival (2021) Working closely with Chineke! players and mentored by Composer Daniel Kidane. He was invited to participate in the festival the following year where he has written a piece for violinist Fenella Humphreys and Harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani. He has written a mixed ensemble piece for BCMG. He has written a string duo for members of Fidelio Trio: Darragh Morgan and Tim Gill (2022). He was selected as a Composer on the Britten Pears young artist Programme (2022-2023) receiving one to one tuition from Composers Colin Matthews and Mark-Anthony Turnage and is also a London Symphony Orchestra Panufnik Composer of 2023-24. His work has been conducted by Jonathan Berman, Daniele Rosina and will be Conducted by Francois Xavier Roth. Since being programmed alongside George Lewis (18/11/22) He has received an invitation to be mentored and study with him at Columbia University. He has won the 2022 Echo from the Old Times Chamber Music Commission, meaning he will have work performed by students of the China Central Conservatory of Music.


Ellen Sargen

Ellen Sargen is a composer, performer and researcher based in Manchester. She is currently studying for a PhD in long-term composer-performer collaboration at the RNCM with Larry Goves and Steven Daverson. Her recent work has included projects with House of Bedlam, Ensemble Recherche, Riot Ensemble and Psappha as well as with long-term collaborations with soloists up and down the UK. Recent work has been performed at Ensemblehaus (Freiberg), Bishopsgate Institute (London), Firth Hall (Sheffield), RNCM Concert Hall (Manchester) and featured by OperaVision, Lost and Found (Sydney), RNCM Future Music Festivals, RNCM PLAY Festivals and Incognito Manchester in the concert hall and in audiovisual formats. Commissions have included those from National Opera Studio, Music in the Round and Classical Sheffield and Ellen’s recent piece ‘Lost in your whole world’ was broadcast on BBC Radio 3.


Andrew Smith

Andy is a Manchester based composer with experience of working with many of the country’s leading orchestras, theatres and production companies.  His music spans multiple genres, and in recent years he’s focussed on composing music for children and family audiences. As an arranger, he specialises in orchestral and choral writing, including pop music mash ups, multi-ability arrangements for youth/amateur ensembles, and remixing of classical works into modern orchestrations and genre. He also collaborates with upcoming and renowned artists to add flavours of the orchestra onto their tracks. He’s also very passionate about composing and arranging for music education and outreach purposes, with the aim of creating high quality, artistically valued projects and performances that have ‘participation’ at their core.

 

WeCompose is funded by Arts Council England, Mayfield Valley Arts Trust, Sheffield City Council, Sheffield Church Burgesses Trust, Sheffield Grammar School Exhibition Foundation, Vaughan Williams Foundation, Sheffield Town Trust, Earl Fitzwilliam Charitable Trust, Sheffield Bluecoat and Mount Pleasant Educational Foundation and Freshgate Foundation, Three Monkies Trust and R Walker Trust. The project is also supported by Sheffield, Doncaster, Rotherham and Barnsley Music Hubs.

Thanks to generous funding from Paul Hamlyn Foundation the project is now confirmed as covering Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 around the country until at least 2026.

News

JOIN OUR GRADE-A-THON CHALLENGE!

8 Sep 2023

Have you ever fancied playing a musical instrument, but never quite got round to it?
Want to play the piano with more than two fingers, or finally get a noise out of the trumpet?

We invite you to learn an instrument to Grade I standard in only a few months, and ask your friends and family to sponsor you. Share the joy, and the highs and lows of learning, as a group of us take on the challenge together and raise funds for Music in the Round as we do it!

The team in the Music in the Round office are joining in too, and we’ll be there to support everyone through the process.

If you’d like to sponsor our Grade-a-thoners in their challenge, you can follow the progress of our campaign and donate online here.

 

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News

Composer callout: be part of WeCompose 2023-24

4 Aug 2023

Music in the Round has been running composition projects with children and young people for many years. Our latest project builds upon PowerPlus and Schubert in Schools. We recently ran a successful pilot of WeCompose, you can read about it here and explore some of the resources from the pilot project here. We’re currently looking for composers to support the next round of KS3 students from October 2023 to May 2024.

To learn a little more about the project and role, please download this information pack.

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If you have any questions, please email Learning and Participation lp@musicintheround.co.uk

To apply to be part of this project by completing this form by 6pm on Wednesday 23 August 2023. We will be holding short online interviews the following week.

We want this project to be representative of all sections of society and actively welcome candidates who are currently under-represented in the arts: people of colour, an/or anyone who self-identifies as LGBTQIA+ or disabled.

Thank you for your interest in this project! We look forward to hearing from you.

News

Ensemble 360 has been shortlisted for a prestigious national music award

27 Jan 2023

Our resident group, Ensemble 360, has been shortlisted for a prestigious national music award. 

The musicians have been nominated in the Ensemble category of the Royal Philharmonic Society (RPS) Awards 2023. 

Billed by BBC Radio 3 as the ‘BAFTAs of classical music’, the awards celebrate classical musicians nationwide, shining a light on brilliant individuals, groups and initiatives inspiring communities across the UK.  

Ensemble 360 were commended by the RPS for the outstanding quality and scope of their performances. They were praised for being “a national ensemble embedded in the Sheffield community and a thriving example of the transformative ways music can serve its local area. They equally channel their excellence and artistry into community partnerships and resounding concerts.” They sit alongside Manchester Collective and BBC Singers in the Ensemble category, which is supported by Wise Music Group in its 50th anniversary year.  

Nominees for RPS Awards this year also include English National Opera and Manchester Camerata, and notably four nominees come from Yorkshire (Sheffield’s Ensemble 360, Leeds Piano Trail, Bradford Festival Choral Society and Ryedale Festival). 

The winners will be announced at a public event at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall on 1 March, with tickets available from only £10. Cello sensation Sheku Kanneh-Mason will give a special guest performance. 

Ensemble 360’s pianist Tim Horton said:  

“It is a great honour for Ensemble 360 to have been recognised in the Ensemble category of the RPS awards. It has been a privilege to have been resident at Music in the Round for seventeen years and to have had such loyal and friendly audiences for so long at the Crucible Playhouse in Sheffield and our homes in Barnsley and Doncaster. We inherited a wonderful ethos of inclusivity and exploration from the Lindsay String Quartet that continues to be borne out in the breadth of repertoire we present to more and more diverse audiences around the UK. We also take great pride in the work we do in communities across South Yorkshire, in particular with schools, which has included many specially-commissioned works that we have performed for thousands of children since 2005. We look forward to continuing our efforts to bring classical music to as many people as possible for many years to come.” 

Music in the Round’s Chief Executive Jo Towler said:

“We are so pleased to see Ensemble 360 receiving this much-deserved national attention, which recognises their world-class performances on the concert platform alongside a willingness to share their music-making with people of all ages and abilities. Sheffield should be proud of being the home of this group of amazing musicians so we can regularly enjoy their fantastic and engaging concerts.”  

Ensemble 360’s next concerts with Music in the Round take place in South Yorkshire this weekend (in Barnsley on Friday 27 January and in Sheffield on Saturday 28 January), with further performances in Sheffield on Friday 10 February, Friday 17 March and Saturday 1 April. They also play a central role in the Sheffield Chamber Music Festival each year in the Crucible Playhouse. This year’s Festival runs from 12 – 20 May 2023 with appearances from Ensemble 360 alongside guest Festival Curator pianist Kathryn Stott, and stars of the international classical music world including trumpeter Tine Thing Helseth and saxophonist Amy Dickson.  

Read more here.