Archives: Events

A post type for MITR Events.

BRAHMS, RABL & ZEMLINSKY

Ensemble 360

The Stables, Milton Keynes
Thursday 17 March 2022, 8.00pm

Tickets: £20 / £16.50

Past Event
Home› What's on› BRAHMS, RABL & ZEMLINSKY

BRAHMS Violin Sonata No.2 in A minor
RABL Quartet in E-Flat minor
ZEMLINKSKY Clarinet Trio in D minor

Ensemble 360 return to The Stables with a sumptuous and sparkling concert of strings and clarinet repertoire. Opening with Brahms’s virtuosic sonata, the concert begins with lyricism, grace and warmth. The programme continues with two of the composers lesser known inheritors who crackle with fin-de-siècle verve: Rabl’s optimistic quartet is an overlooked gem of the chamber repertoire, by turns languid and vivacious. Closing with Zemlinksky’s passionate trio, this is a programme full of warmth and energy which concludes with an explosive flourish.

About the Artists

Ensemble 360 musicians

Ensemble 360

Ensemble 360 has gained an enviable reputation across the UK for the quality and integrity of their performances. Formed in 2005, eleven musicians of international standing came together to take up residency in South Yorkshire with Music in the Round, establishing a versatile group comprising five string players, five wind players and a pianist.  Get a glimpse of them in performance here.

The Ensemble 360 musicians share a passion for the music which radiates through each performance. Their enthusiasm, drive and musicality captivate audiences both through the quality of their playing and their engaging spoken introductions. Due to the flexible nature of the group’s line-up the repertoire possibilities are enormous; anything from baroque duos, through classical quartets to new commissions for all eleven players. 

 

IZZY GIZMO

Ensemble 360 & Polly Ives

The Stables, Milton Keynes
Thursday 17 March 2022, 1.00pm

Tickets: £7.50

Past Event
Home› What's on› IZZY GIZMO

Schools/Family concert for ages 5 to 7/Key Stage 1 (Concert last approximately 50 minutes)

Join our quintet of musicians from Ensemble 360 and narrator Polly Ives for a children’s concert packed full of highly engaging live classical music, vivid story-telling, bright illustrations from the book and lots of audience participation.

Adapted from the popular picture book by Pip Jones and presented with Sara Ogilvie’s beautiful illustrations, this brilliant’s children’s story is brought to life in music and, for the first time, animation.

Izzy Gizmo is the story of a young inventor – and her long-suffering grandfather –whose magnificent inventions often malfunction. This participatory piece is full of memorable tunes and innovative instrumentation, with the musicians doubling on pots, pans, whistles and household items to recreate Izzy’s mechanical marvels and mischievous spirit.

Before the concert, why not buy the book, download the free participation pack and the Learn the Songs YouTube video from www.musicintheround.co.uk.

Learn the songs and download the free teachers pack before the concert at www.musicintheround. co.uk. The comprehensive cross-curricular digital resources covering music, literacy, numeracy – and, in the spirit of Izzy the intrepid inventor – an exploration of the creativity of STEM suitable for all.

Key Stage 1 Inset/CPD Session
Thursday 27 Jan 4.40-6.00pm at The Stables

Free for all teachers and practitioners bringing groups to the performance.

Contact education@stables.org for more information and to book a place

The session provides training, audio and visual resources, and practical support in how to incorporate the story and music into your school’s curriculum.

You’ll learn the songs (no singing experience required!), explore cross-curricular activities, develop your skills and confidence in making music and using music in general to support children’s development across the EYFS and National Curriculum. Led by Polly Ives (narrator/presenter for the Izzy Gizmo performance and early years music workshop leader and trainer). Teachers will receive a copy of the book and in-depth resources to take and use straight away in their sessions.

“Meets all the requirements of the NC with expert support and give your children the chance to hear and watch amazing musicians perform.” EY Music Curriculum Leader

About the Artists

Ensemble 360 musicians

Ensemble 360

Ensemble 360 has gained an enviable reputation across the UK for the quality and integrity of their performances. Formed in 2005, eleven musicians of international standing came together to take up residency in South Yorkshire with Music in the Round, establishing a versatile group comprising five string players, five wind players and a pianist.  Get a glimpse of them in performance here.

The Ensemble 360 musicians share a passion for the music which radiates through each performance. Their enthusiasm, drive and musicality captivate audiences both through the quality of their playing and their engaging spoken introductions. Due to the flexible nature of the group’s line-up the repertoire possibilities are enormous; anything from baroque duos, through classical quartets to new commissions for all eleven players. 

 

Polly Ives

Polly Ives is one of the UK’s leading music educationalists with a varied portfolio as a concert presenter, narrator, promoter, workshop leader, trainer and cellist.

Polly believes that music should be accessible to everyone from birth and throughout people’s lives. Her career has focused on finding unique and creative ways to provide high-quality musical experiences for young children (particularly 0-8 year olds) and their wide and varied communities.

She regularly produces and presents children’s concerts (including with London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Mozart Players and Ensemble 360). She has worked with CBeebies, BBC Radio 3 and Scala Radio. Find out more. 

BRAHMS, RABL & ZEMLINSKY

Ensemble 360

Emmanuel Church, Barnsley
Friday 15 April 2022, 7.30pm

Tickets: £13.50 / £9 disabled and unemployed

Past Event
Home› What's on› BRAHMS, RABL & ZEMLINSKY
BRAHMS Violin Sonata No.2 in A
RABL Quartet in E flat for clarinet, violin, cello and piano
ZEMLINSKY Clarinet Trio
Ensemble 360 return with a sumptuous and sparkling concert of strings and clarinet repertoire. Opening with Brahms’s virtuosic sonata, the concert begins with lyricism, grace and warmth. The programme continues with two of the composers lesser-known inheritors who crackle with fin-de-diècle verve: Rabl’s optimistic quartet is an overlooked gem of the chamber repertoire, by turns languid and vivacious. Closing with Zemlinsky’s passionate trio, this is a programme full of energy which concludes with an explosive flourish.

About the Artists

Ensemble 360 musicians

Ensemble 360

Ensemble 360 has gained an enviable reputation across the UK for the quality and integrity of their performances. Formed in 2005, eleven musicians of international standing came together to take up residency in South Yorkshire with Music in the Round, establishing a versatile group comprising five string players, five wind players and a pianist.  Get a glimpse of them in performance here.

The Ensemble 360 musicians share a passion for the music which radiates through each performance. Their enthusiasm, drive and musicality captivate audiences both through the quality of their playing and their engaging spoken introductions. Due to the flexible nature of the group’s line-up the repertoire possibilities are enormous; anything from baroque duos, through classical quartets to new commissions for all eleven players. 

 

MOZART, ADÉS, STRAVINKSY & BRAHMS

Ensemble 360

Emmanuel Church, Barnsley
Friday 11 February 2022, 7.30pm

Tickets: £13.50 / £9 Disabled & Unemployed

Past Event
Home› What's on› MOZART, ADÉS, STRAVINKSY & BRAHMS
MOZART Piano Trio in B flat K502
ADÈS Catch
STRAVINSKY A Soldier’s Tale Suite
BRAHMS Clarinet Trio

Marking clarinettist Matthew Hunt’s final appearance in Barnsley as a member of Ensemble 360, he appears in three pieces for this concert. Adès’s Catch is a series of intricate musical games and explosive new sounds for strings, clarinet and piano. Stravinsky’s narrative work, A Soldier’s Tale features an enjoyable mix of styles including ragtime and klezmer to create a dramatic melodic miniature epic. To end, one of Brahms’s later works, his Clarinet Trio providing a fitting conclusion to this fantastic concert.

“Ensemble 360 [gave] a mesmerising performance” ***** Bach Track

About the Artists

Ensemble 360 musicians

Ensemble 360

Ensemble 360 has gained an enviable reputation across the UK for the quality and integrity of their performances. Formed in 2005, eleven musicians of international standing came together to take up residency in South Yorkshire with Music in the Round, establishing a versatile group comprising five string players, five wind players and a pianist.  Get a glimpse of them in performance here.

The Ensemble 360 musicians share a passion for the music which radiates through each performance. Their enthusiasm, drive and musicality captivate audiences both through the quality of their playing and their engaging spoken introductions. Due to the flexible nature of the group’s line-up the repertoire possibilities are enormous; anything from baroque duos, through classical quartets to new commissions for all eleven players. 

 

MOZART, ADÉS, STRAVINSKY & BRAHMS

Ensemble 360

Cast, Doncaster
Saturday 12 February 2022, 7.00pm

Tickets: £13.50 / £9 (under 26s)

Past Event
Home› What's on› MOZART, ADÉS, STRAVINSKY & BRAHMS

MOZART Piano Trio in B flat K502  ADÈS Catch  STRAVINSKY A Soldier’s Tale Suite  BRAHMS Clarinet Trio

Marking clarinettist Matthew Hunt’s final appearance in Doncaster as a member of Ensemble 360, he appears in three pieces for this concert. Adès’s Catch is a series of intricate musical games and explosive new sounds for strings, clarinet and piano. Stravinsky’s narrative work, A Soldier’s Tale, features an enjoyable mix of styles including ragtime and klezmer to create a dramatic and melodic miniature epic. To end, one of Brahms’s later works, his Clarinet Trio providing a fitting conclusion to this fantastic concert.

About the Artists

Ensemble 360 musicians

Ensemble 360

Ensemble 360 has gained an enviable reputation across the UK for the quality and integrity of their performances. Formed in 2005, eleven musicians of international standing came together to take up residency in South Yorkshire with Music in the Round, establishing a versatile group comprising five string players, five wind players and a pianist.  Get a glimpse of them in performance here.

The Ensemble 360 musicians share a passion for the music which radiates through each performance. Their enthusiasm, drive and musicality captivate audiences both through the quality of their playing and their engaging spoken introductions. Due to the flexible nature of the group’s line-up the repertoire possibilities are enormous; anything from baroque duos, through classical quartets to new commissions for all eleven players. 

 

COME & SING

Robert Webb & Shruthi Rajasekar

Samuel Worth Chapel, Sheffield
Sunday 15 May 2022, 10.00am

£5 plus Eventbrite booking fee

Past Event
Home› What's on› COME & SING

Singers of all ages and abilities come together for music-making and an informal performance.

Sing with us in the peaceful setting of Samuel Worth Chapel as we explore two pieces of beautiful music that meld histories together through time.

We’ll workshop English composer Tippett’s arrangement of Willis’ Steal Away and American composer Shruthi Rajasekar’s Jayjaykar! before an informal performance to friends and family at the end of the event (1pm-1.30pm).

Sheffield Chamber Choir’s Robert Webb will lead us in performing this beautiful music which together references choral traditions from both England and India while providing perspectives from two very different places and points in history. Shruthi Rajasekar will also be zapping in from the US during the day and has recorded insights about her music especially for you. We’ll be sharing this with you during the break. 

Either learn by ear or from provided notation. This event is for both beginners and experienced singers alike (although some experience of singing in a choir will be helpful).

Recordings of both pieces can be found here: https://linktr.ee/mitr_participation and if you’d like a chat before signing up, please email ellen@musicintheround.co.uk

by RayMesh Photography

 

About the Artists

Robert Webb

Robert is a Sheffield based free-lance musician: Conductor, accompanist, arranger, composer and teacher. He is Director of Music and Organist at St Marie’s Cathedral, Sheffield, and conducts the Sheffield Chamber Choir, Bel Canto Choir, South Yorkshire, and the Sheffield Sterndale Singers. He is also a visiting tutor at Hill House School, Doncaster, where he teaches piano, singing and musical theory, and also has a private teaching practice based in Sheffield.

Read more…

Shruthi Rajasekar

Shruthi Rajasekar (b. 1996) is an Indian-American composer and vocalist exploring identity, community, and joy. Chosen by The Guardian as a composer “who will enrich your life” in a list spanning centuries, Shruthi creates intersectional music that draws from her unique background in the Carnatic (South Indian classical) and Western classical idioms. 

Read more…

SOUNDS OF NOW WORKSHOP

Sheffield CoMA

Site Gallery, Sheffield
Thursday 19 May 2022, 4.30pm / 5.30pm

FREE, please book through box office

Past Event
Home› What's on› SOUNDS OF NOW WORKSHOP

*Please note the new start time for this event*

You are welcome to attend from 4.30pm to observe the process of this workshop, or to join the group at 5.30pm to watch the partcipants’ performances of Sarah Hennies’ Growing Block and Joanna Bailie’s Hildegardestraße Bundesallee.

Led by Sheffield CoMA (Contemporary Music for All) in partnership with Sheffield Music School, this workshop features new works for mixed ensemble. Edward Henderson of Bastard Assignments also joins the session to reflect on the branches of experimental practice that have informed both CoMA and his group, ahead of their Sounds of Now concert the same evening.

OBSERVE: COMPOSITION WORKSHOP

Helen Grime, Ensemble 360 & students from The University of Sheffield

Crucible Playhouse, Sheffield
Wednesday 18 May 2022, 11.00am

FREE, please book through box office

Past Event
Home› What's on› OBSERVE: COMPOSITION WORKSHOP

Join us for the final hour of a morning in which composition students from The University of Sheffield work on their latest compositions with Ensemble 360 as they are coached by Helen Grime.

*Please note the change to the previously advertised venue for this event and the new time. This workshop will now be held in the Crucible Studio Theatre, as originally advertised.

Apologies for any inconvenience this may cause.*

About the Artists

Helen Grime

Born in 1981, Helen studied oboe with John Anderson and composition with Julian Anderson and Edwin Roxburgh at the Royal College of Music. In 2003 she won a British Composer Award for her Oboe Concerto, and was awarded the intercollegiate Theodore Holland Composition Prize in 2003 as well as all the major composition prizes at the RCM. In 2008 she was awarded a Leonard Bernstein Fellowship to study at the Tanglewood Music Center where she studied with John Harbison, Michael Gandolfi, Shulamit Ran and Augusta Read Thomas. Grime was a Legal and General Junior Fellow at the Royal College of Music from 2007 to 2009. She became a lecturer in composition at the Department of Music at Royal Holloway, University of London, in January 2010.
Helen has had works commissioned by some of the most established performers including London Symphony Orchestra, BCMG, Britten Sinfonia, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and the Tanglewood Music Center. Conductors who have performed her work include Daniel Harding, Pierre Boulez, Yan Pascal Tortelier and Sir Mark Elder. Her work Night Songs was commissioned by the BBC Proms in 2012 and premiered by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Oliver Knussen.  Read more…
Ensemble 360 musicians

Ensemble 360

Ensemble 360 has gained an enviable reputation across the UK for the quality and integrity of their performances. Formed in 2005, eleven musicians of international standing came together to take up residency in South Yorkshire with Music in the Round, establishing a versatile group comprising five string players, five wind players and a pianist.  Get a glimpse of them in performance here.

The Ensemble 360 musicians share a passion for the music which radiates through each performance. Their enthusiasm, drive and musicality captivate audiences both through the quality of their playing and their engaging spoken introductions. Due to the flexible nature of the group’s line-up the repertoire possibilities are enormous; anything from baroque duos, through classical quartets to new commissions for all eleven players. 

 

FESTIVAL LAUNCH

Ensemble 360

Crucible Playhouse, Sheffield
Friday 13 May 2022, 7.15pm

Tickets: £20
£14 Disabled & Unemployed
£5 Students & Under 35s

Save £s when you book for 5 or more concerts*

Past Event
Home› What's on› FESTIVAL LAUNCH

JANÁČEK Concertino (17’)
MARTINŮ Three Madrigals (16′)
MEREDITH Tripotage Miniatures (15’)
DVOŘÁK Piano Quintet No.2 (40′)

Dvořák’s Piano Quintet No.2 provides a joyous opening to our first live festival in two years. Before this, the world-class musicians of Ensemble 360 have some fun with Anna Meredith’s Tripotage Miniatures, best translated as ‘jiggery-pokery’, plus Martinů’s Three Madrigals for violin and viola, full of playful repartee, and Janáček’s Concertino, featuring movements he compared to a ‘grumpy hedgehog’, a ‘fidgety squirrel’ and ‘a scene from a fairy-tale’. 

Welcome drinks
Celebrate the start of the Festival with us and enjoy a post-concert complimentary glass of wine or soft drink (served to all ticket-holders).

This evening is generously supported by Kate Dugdale.

Sheffield Chamber Music Festival runs 13–21 May 2022

Download a Festival brochure

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JANÁČEK Leoš, Concertino

For piano, two violins, viola, clarinet, horn and bassoon

Moderato
Più mosso
Con moto
Allegro

Janáček started his Concertino after hearing the pianist Jan Heřman playing his song-cycle The Diary of One Who Disappeared in November 1924. The composer told Heřman that he’d played it ‘magnificently, like no one else’, and he soon set to work on a piece for him. The first sketches are dated ‘Prague, 1 January 1925, by the Vltava’ and ‘11 January 1925, on the train from Prague’, but this piece recalls not the nation’s capital where it was conceived, but the Moravian countryside where Janáček grew up and where, in fact, the work was finished: the manuscript is dated on the title page ‘Hukvaldy, 29 April 1925’. Though not stated on the score, the Concertino is programmatic. Janáček wrote to Heřman that ‘it arose from the youthful mood of the sextet Mládí’ and in a letter to Kamila Stösslová he told her that he had composed ‘a piano concerto – Spring. There’s a cricket, midges, a roebuck, a torrent – yes, and a man!’ In a later description from 1927, the theme of spring remained, but Janáček assigned a specific animal character to each of the first three movements: a hedgehog for the first, a squirrel for the second, and various nocturnal animals for the third. According to a note on the autograph manuscript, the fourth movement represents a rushing torrent. The result is one of Janáček’s most enchanting and untroubled chamber works, notable for some typically inventive scoring as well as its great charm. Much to Jan Heřman’s understandable irritation, he didn’t give the first performance of the Concertino that Janáček dedicated to him. In a letter of 1 July 1925, Janáček agreed to let the young pianist Ilona Štěpanová-Kurzová give the première, which she did on 16 February 1926, at a concert of the Club of Moravian Composers in Brno.

Nigel Simeone © 2011

MARTINŮ Bohuslav, Three Madrigals

Poco allegro
Poco andante
Allegro

It was hearing a performance of Mozart’s Duo in B flat played by Josef and Lillian Fuchs (brother and sister) that inspired Martinů to compose his Three Madrigals in February–March 1947, with the subtitle ‘Duo No. 1’ on the autograph manuscript. Martinů wrote to his friend Miloš Šafránek on 16 May 1947: ‘I have written Three Madrigals for violin and viola … for J. Fuchs and Lillian (his sister) who is a great and unique viola player. I heard them at a concert and was amazed by their artistic quality, so I wrote the Duo for them, and it seems to be good. They are both excited and will put it in their Carnegie recital.’ This was given on 22 December 1947 and in the next day’s New York Times, the venerated critic Virgil Thomson gave a warm welcome to the new work: ‘a delight for musical fantasy, for ingenious figuration [and] for Renaissance-style evocation.’ Josef and Lillian Fuchs performed the Madrigals on many more occasions and when their recording of the work was issued in 1950, it was coupled, appropriately, with the Mozart Duo in B flat.

© Nigel Simeone

MEREDITH Anna, Tripotages Miniatures

I              Lanolin                                 E flat Clarinet & Horn
II             40 Watt                                Piccolo & Double Bass
III           Moth                                      Alto Flute, Oboe & Horn
IV           Buzzard                                 Cor Anglais & Viola
V             Scrying                                  B flat Clarinet, Viola & Double Bass
VI           Majolica                                Tutti (Flute, Oboe, B flat Clarinet, Horn, Viola & Double Bass)
Tripotage Miniatures are a collection of 3 duets, 2 trios and a tutti movement for mixed sextet. Each miniature is around 1-3 minutes long.
The miniatures are exploring different kinds of opacity, glitch, fuzz, shade and grime – imagining underhand dealings that place a sort of filmy surface on top of the material. (My favourite translation of Tripotage from the French is Jiggery Pokery.)
Sometimes this filter seems to drain colour – turning the material almost sepia, sometimes it makes ideas a bit murkier – harder to grasp, slippery and falling through the fingers, sometimes it causes moments to stutter and distort and sometimes it’s about capturing a fleeting feeling of distance, of something out of reach.
There are tiny thematic links between the movements but they could also be played individually – it’s about capturing a moment – even if it’s a slightly shady and disquieting one.
© Anna Meredith

DVOŘÁK Antonín, Piano Quintet No.2 in A Op.81

Allegro, ma non tanto
Dumka. Andante con moto – Vivace – Andante con moto
Scherzo. Furiant – Molto vivace
Finale. Allegro 

Dvořák composed his great A major Piano Quintet in 1887 (a much earlier quintet from 1872 is in the same key) and it was described by Otakar Šourek as one of ‘the most delightful and successful works’ in the whole chamber music repertoire. From the spacious cello theme that opens the quintet, Dvořák shows the seemingly effortless spontaneity of a composer at the height of his powers. The second theme turns the mood more wistful, and the music oscillates between melancholy and warmth, culminating in a jubilant climax. The second movement is a Dumka, with slow outer sections based on a melancholy tune, and a quick central section derived from the same musical idea. The Scherzo – described by Dvořák as a Furiant – begins with one of his most enchanting quick melodies and this is followed by two more: an undulating tune and another of folk-like simplicity, before the opening idea returns. The central Trio provides an oasis – a tune in long notes over which Dvořák introduces fragments of the main theme. The opening melody of the Finale dominates much of what follows. Near the close, a brief fugal section leads to a moment of tranquillity before the final dash to the end.  

Nigel Simeone © 2014 

About the Artists

Ensemble 360 musicians

Ensemble 360

Ensemble 360 has gained an enviable reputation across the UK for the quality and integrity of their performances. Formed in 2005, eleven musicians of international standing came together to take up residency in South Yorkshire with Music in the Round, establishing a versatile group comprising five string players, five wind players and a pianist.  Get a glimpse of them in performance here.

The Ensemble 360 musicians share a passion for the music which radiates through each performance. Their enthusiasm, drive and musicality captivate audiences both through the quality of their playing and their engaging spoken introductions. Due to the flexible nature of the group’s line-up the repertoire possibilities are enormous; anything from baroque duos, through classical quartets to new commissions for all eleven players. 

 

IZZY GIZMO family concert

Ensemble 360 & Aga Serugo-Lugo

SADACCA, Sheffield
Saturday 14 May 2022, 11.00am / 2.00pm

Tickets: £5

Past Event
Home› What's on› IZZY GIZMO family concert

PLEASE NOTE THE VENUE FOR THIS EVENT IS: SADACCA, 48 WICKER, SHEFFIELD S3 8JB

Music and narration performed by Ensemble 360 and Aga Serugo-Lugo

Best-selling children’s book ‘Izzy Gizmo’, by Pip Jones and illustrated by Sara Ogilvie, tells the enchanting story of an intrepid young inventor who puts her talents to work to rescue a crow that can’t fly. This family concert brings Izzy’s mechanical marvels and infectious creative spirit to life! 

Original music by Paul Rissmann features instruments including strings, woodwind, horn and piano, and you might even spot the musicians playing pots, pans, whistles and household items! Together with story-telling and visuals from the book, this concert is a great introduction to live music for children. It’s full of wit, invention, songs and actions, and plenty of opportunities to join in.

For 3 – 7 year-olds

Sheffield Chamber Music Festival runs 13–21 May 2022

 

About the Artists

Ensemble 360 musicians

Ensemble 360

Ensemble 360 has gained an enviable reputation across the UK for the quality and integrity of their performances. Formed in 2005, eleven musicians of international standing came together to take up residency in South Yorkshire with Music in the Round, establishing a versatile group comprising five string players, five wind players and a pianist.  Get a glimpse of them in performance here.

The Ensemble 360 musicians share a passion for the music which radiates through each performance. Their enthusiasm, drive and musicality captivate audiences both through the quality of their playing and their engaging spoken introductions. Due to the flexible nature of the group’s line-up the repertoire possibilities are enormous; anything from baroque duos, through classical quartets to new commissions for all eleven players. 

 

Aga Serugo-Lugo

As a clarinettist, saxophonist and singer, Aga has had the opportunity to explore many different styles including: classical, jazz, soul, soul and funk. Aga also has a keen interest in theatre, especially music theatre, writing and producing his own musical ‘Celebrity’. Professionally, his style of choice has been jazz, which Aga has played across London with an eclectic mix of groups; this accompanies his private tuition and workshop leading. Improvisation and composition play a major part in his music making and workshops. Aga has done much work with Sing-up, the national singing strategy, allowing him to work with a variety of age groups and diverse levels of ability.

ART & MUSIC ROUNDTABLE

Helen Grime, Tim Horton & Guests

Crucible Playhouse, Sheffield
Saturday 14 May 2022, 4.30pm

£5
Students and Under 35s FREE

Past Event
Home› What's on› ART & MUSIC ROUNDTABLE

Festival Curator Helen Grime and Ensemble 360 pianist Tim Horton are joined by guests from the worlds of visual art and music to discuss the connections and themes linking these art forms, and the ways they are woven through Helen’s work and this Festival.

Sheffield Chamber Music Festival runs 13–21 May 2022

Download the Festival brochure

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About the Artists

Helen Grime

Born in 1981, Helen studied oboe with John Anderson and composition with Julian Anderson and Edwin Roxburgh at the Royal College of Music. In 2003 she won a British Composer Award for her Oboe Concerto, and was awarded the intercollegiate Theodore Holland Composition Prize in 2003 as well as all the major composition prizes at the RCM. In 2008 she was awarded a Leonard Bernstein Fellowship to study at the Tanglewood Music Center where she studied with John Harbison, Michael Gandolfi, Shulamit Ran and Augusta Read Thomas. Grime was a Legal and General Junior Fellow at the Royal College of Music from 2007 to 2009. She became a lecturer in composition at the Department of Music at Royal Holloway, University of London, in January 2010.
Helen has had works commissioned by some of the most established performers including London Symphony Orchestra, BCMG, Britten Sinfonia, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and the Tanglewood Music Center. Conductors who have performed her work include Daniel Harding, Pierre Boulez, Yan Pascal Tortelier and Sir Mark Elder. Her work Night Songs was commissioned by the BBC Proms in 2012 and premiered by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Oliver Knussen.  Read more…

Tim Horton

Tim Horton is one of the UK’s leading pianists, equally at home in solo and chamber repertoire. He has appeared as soloist with major orchestras including the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group and Trondheim Symphony Orchestra.

Tim gave his debut solo recital at Wigmore Hall in 2016, and appears there frequently as both soloist and collaborative artist. He is regularly invited to play at distinguished festivals and series across the UK and abroad, including Music in the Round for whom he has presented a number of solo piano cycles, alongside his work with Ensemble 360.  During 2026 Tim presents the fifth and sixth instalments of his Chopin Cycle at London’s Wigmore Hall and embarks on a new Beethoven cycle for Music in the Round at the Crucible. Alongside his solo work Tim maintains a busy performing schedule with Ensemble 360 and the Leonore Piano Trio, and is a founding member of both groups. He is regularly broadcast by BBC Radio 3. Read more. 

ART & MUSIC

Ensemble 360

Crucible Playhouse, Sheffield
Saturday 14 May 2022, 7.15pm

Tickets: £20
£14 Disabled & Unemployed
£5 Students & Under 35s

Save £s when you book for 5 or more concerts*

Past Event
Home› What's on› ART & MUSIC

WATKINS ‘Resurrection of the Soldiers’ from Four Spencer Pieces (6’)
GRIME Aviary Sketches (after Joseph Cornell) (12′)
CAGE Nocturne for violin and piano (5′)
DEBUSSY Preludes Nos. 2 & 4 from Book 2 (7′)
GRIME Whistler Miniatures (12’)
JS BACH Prelude & Fugue in E minor BWV900 (4’)
CHOPIN Nocturne Op.15 Nos.1 & 2 (9’)
CHOPIN Nocturne Op.48 No.1 (6’)
CHOPIN Nocturne Op.55 No.2 (6’)
JS BACH Prelude & Fugue in F BWV880 (5’)

Music inspired by giants of painting fills the opening half of this concert. Starting with Huw Watkins’ contemplative and architectural vision of Stanley Spencer’s memorial altarpiece, the programme explores works inspired by Richter and Cornell among others. It concludes with Helen Grime’s subtle, jagged and, at times, peaceful piano trio – a musical evocation of three chalk and pastel works by Whistler. 

After the interval, the programme focuses on works for solo piano that have inspired visual artists. Chopin’s four nightscapes gave birth to Whistler’s languid, darkly beautiful paintings of the same name. These are bookended by two preludes and fugues by JS Bach that set Paul Klee’s creative mind ablaze, inspiring a number of the artist’s colourful abstract works.

Projections of artworks will provide a backdrop to this concert.

This concert is dedicated to Dr Margaret Staniforth, a great supporter of The Lindsays and Music in the Round for many years.

Please note the change to the previously advertised programme for this concert.
We apologise for any disappointment this may cause.

Sheffield Chamber Music Festival runs 13–21 May 2022

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WATKINS Huw, ‘Resurrection of the Soldiers’ from Four Spencer Pieces

This sequence for solo piano actually comprises six pieces, since the four titled movements inspired by paintings of Sir Stanley Spencer are enclosed between a Prelude and Postlude in which serenely descending harmonies settle on repeated notes, tolling like a distant bell. And repeated notes prove a recurrent feature of the Spencer Pieces proper.
The distant, tolling bell of the Prelude returns at the still opening of the longest movement ‘The Resurrection of Soldiers’, with convergent high and low sonorities suggesting a passing echo of ‘Le gibet’ from Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit. In due course the music passes over into a convolved fugue, but so subtly that it is difficult tell exactly where the transition occurs – or where it passes back again into the preludial music.
Not least striking about the Four Spencer Pieces, is how Watkins, even at his most aggressively chromatic, contrives to keep his textures clean of the dispiriting greyness of so much ‘advanced’ piano writing. The Maidenhead Music Society commissioned the work in 2001 and Watkins gave the premiere in the parish church at Cookham, the Thames-side village Spencer lived in for so long and transfigured in his paintings.
© Bayan Northcott, 2012

GRIME Helen, Aviary Sketches (after Joseph Cornell)

I – UNTITLED (HABITAT)
II – AVIARY (PARROT MUSIC BOX)
III – DESERTED PERCH
IV – FORGOTTON GAME
V – TOWARD THE BLUE PENINSULA (AFTER EMILY DICKINSON)

Cast in five movements, each takes its starting point and character from the works, listed above, by Joseph Cornell. What interests me about his assemblage boxes is his ability to create miniature worlds. They are immediate and alluring but also rich in associations.

Each movement treats the ensemble in a different way, exploring the range of possibilities inherent in the combination. In the first movement, two are pitched against one but the groupings are continually shifting. There is a reference to Ravel’s Oiseaux Tristes in the melody that is spun through it and also in the rapid figuration throughout.

Marked ‘mechanical’, the second movement features a pizzicato cello line in ever changing patterns set against repeated gestures in violin and viola. Gradually everyone plays the pizzicato line with the repeated gestures skittered between violin and viola, this material eventually taking centre stage. The pizzicato becomes the repeated material before shortening at each statement until we are left with just one note.

In the third movement, a solo viola line is punctuated by flurried bursts of activity in the violin and cello. Eventually everyone comes together in a unison line before the viola comes to the fore again.

In FORGOTTEN GAME, an exchange of quiet, ephemeral harmonics is interrupted by fast, violent outbursts. The juxtaposition becomes more rapid and tense before its release.

The final movement opens with a chorale and is interspersed with fleeting, intertwined passages. The two things become one leading to an impassioned climax. A very quiet, slow coda reflects on what has come before.

© 2015 Helen Grime

CAGE John, Nocturne for violin and piano

In this piece, Cage tries to soften the distinctions inherent between the two instruments used. Overall, the piece has an atmospheric character, like many other compositions from this period. It should be played with sustained resonances, and ‘sempre rubato’, giving the work a quirkily Romantic feel. The piano part employs mostly chordal arpeggios and tone clusters, the violin part mostly sustained tones.

From JohnCage.org

GRIME Helen, Whistler Miniatures

Three Whistler Miniatures falls into three movements, contrasted in mood and tempo:

I: The Little Note in Yellow and Gold (Tranquillo)
II: Lapis Lazuli (Presto)
III: The Violet Note (Lontano, molto flessibile)

The titles refer to three chalk and pastel miniatures, which are displayed in the Veronese Room of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. Although the music does not relate directly to the pictures, I was taken by the subtly graduated palate and intimate atmosphere suggested by each of them.

Throughout the piece the violin and cello form a sort of unit, which is set against the contrasting nature of the piano.

The first movement opens with a very quiet and gentle piano melody. Gradually the violin and cello become part of the texture, but moving at a slower pace. The violin and cello form an overlapping two-part melody, very high in register and ethereal in quality whilst the piano moves at a quicker pace with a more detailed and elaborate version of the string material creating a delicate, layered effect. This leads to a faster section, the two string instruments have overlapping material with more agitated outbursts from the piano. This builds to an impassioned and somewhat flamboyant piano solo, featuring falling gestures and is interspersed with an intensified and quicker version of the previous string material until the end of the movement.

The second movement is lively and virtuosic for all three players. A running continuous line is passed back and forth between the cello and violin, eventually being taken by the piano before a more melodic section. Lyrical lines are contrasted with the more jagged material of the opening, the three instruments coming together in rhythmic unison before an extended and complete melody is heard in the violin and cello. Each melodic entry is lower in register and dynamic, seeming to die away before the final presto section takes over until the movement’s close.

Beginning with a distant high piano melody and set against muted strings ‘quasi lullaby’, the third movement alludes to the textures and material of the opening of the piece. A more agitated florid section leads to a heightened rendition of the piano melody for high cello surrounded by filigree passagework in the piano and violin. The violin takes over before the final section, which combines the piano writing from the opening of the first movement, but here it is much darker in nature.

© Helen Grime

BACH Johann Sebastian, Prelude & Fugue in E minor BWV900

This prelude and fugue forms part of a quintet of works in a succession of keys C-D-E-F-G. It is unknown whether Bach wrote them for teaching or as part of a larger project similar to The Well Tempered Clavier but there is no manuscript with possible answers. The two-part work starts with a prelude filled with fugue elements. In just eighteen bars, Bach manages to squeeze in three sections, each closing with a string of fast notes. The fugue itself is less complex than you might expect from Bach, which may explain the term ‘fughetta’ – as the diminutive does not apply to the length of the piece. The theme builds up tension with surprising pauses, which are later filled in spiritedly by the counter theme. In its final entrance, the main theme itself is also ornamented, as the introduction to a powerful ending.

CHOPIN Frédéric, Nocturne Op.15 Nos.1 & 2

Chopin’s fourth nocturne is in simple ternary form (A–B–A). The first section, in F major, features a very simple melody over a descending triplet pattern in the left hand. The middle section in F minor, in great contrast to the outer themes, is fast and dramatic (Con fuoco) using a challenging double note texture in the right hand. After a return to the serene A theme, the ending does not contain a coda, but rather two simple arpeggios. Some critics have remarked that this nocturne has little to do with night, as if sunlight is “leaking” from the piece’s seams. Chopin’s fifth nocturne is marked Larghetto, featuring an intricate, elaborately ornamental melody over an even quaver bass. The second section, labelled doppio movimento (double speed), resembles a scherzo with dotted quaver-semi quaver melody, semiquavers in a lower voice in the right hand, and large jumps in the bass. The final section is a shortened version of the first (14 bars rather than 24) with characteristic cadenzas and elaboration, finishing with an arpeggio on F♯ major, falling at first, then dying away. Many consider this nocturne to be the best of the opus, stating that its musical maturity matches some of his later nocturnes.

CHOPIN Frédéric, Nocturne Op.48 No.1

Chopin’s Nocturne in C minor is among the finest of all his explorations of this form. More overtly dramatic than most of his other nocturnes, it begins with a solemn, halting melody in the right hand, supported by chords that have some of the characteristics of a funeral march. The result, though, is more lyrical and more plangent (reminding us of Chopin’s fondness for bel canto opera) than the austere tread of his most famous funeral march (in the B flat minor Sonata). The central section is a richly harmonized chorale in C major, that is – in due course –infiltrated and disturbed by a quicker, more chromatic figure in a triplet rhythm that eventually provokes an explosive climax – complete with Lisztian octaves – before the music turns back to the minor key, and the material from the opening. Here Chopin does something unexpected. The uneasy triplet rhythms that had disrupted the chorale are now transformed into a restless, agitated accompaniment for the melody, and it is only in the last two bars that the nervousness finally subsides.

 

This Nocturne was the first of a pair dedicated to a favourite Chopin pupil – Laure Duperré, the beautiful daughter of an admiral – and was first published in 1841 by Schlesinger in Paris. The following year, it was reviewed in the Revue et Gazette musicale by Maurice Bourges. Writing in the form of a letter to an unnamed Baroness, Bourges offers a description of the work’s design that was quite novel for the time outside the pages of composition treatises (Schumann was one of the few who had attempted something similar in the general musical press): ‘Here in a few words is an outline of the thirteenth nocturne. A first period, in C minor, is distinguished by the character of the melody that dominates it; the second, in C major, begins pianissimo; it belongs to the complex form that has been very aptly called melodic harmony; then it ends with a restatement of the first theme, accompanied this time by pulsating chords that give the general rhythm a new warmth.’

Nigel Simeone 2010

CHOPIN Frédéric, Nocturne Op.55 No.2

The second nocturne in E flat major features a 12/8 time signature, triplet quavers in the bass, and a lento sostenuto tempo marking. The left hand features sweeping legato arpeggios from the bass to the tenor, while the right hand often plays a contrapuntal duet and a soaring single melody. There is a considerable amount of ornamentation in the right hand. The characteristic chromatic ornaments often subdivide the beats in a syncopated fashion in contrast with the steady triplets in the left hand. It differs in form from the other nocturnes in that it has no contrasting second section, the melody flowing onward from beginning to end in a uniform manner. The monotony of the unrelieved sentimentality does not fail to make itself felt. One is seized by an ever-increasing longing to get out of this oppressive atmosphere, to feel the fresh breezes and warm sunshine.

BACH Johann Sebastian, Prelude & Fugue in F BWV880

Composing 48 keyboard pieces in all 24 keys was the sort of challenge Bach enjoyed. In each of the two parts of The Well-Tempered Clavier he brought together the musical couple prelude and fugue 24 times; twelve in minor keys and twelve in major. In the preludes, he gave free rein to his imagination, and demonstrated mathematical tours de force in the fugues. In contrast to the iron discipline Bach had to apply to his church compositions, here he could abandon himself without worrying about deadlines. This Prelude and Fugue in F is from the first part of the work and dates from 1722, although it contains some music that was written in the preceding five years. Bach described the target group for this collection of pieces as follows: “For both the education of the industrious musical youngster and the enjoyment of those well-versed in this material”.

About the Artists

Ensemble 360 musicians

Ensemble 360

Ensemble 360 has gained an enviable reputation across the UK for the quality and integrity of their performances. Formed in 2005, eleven musicians of international standing came together to take up residency in South Yorkshire with Music in the Round, establishing a versatile group comprising five string players, five wind players and a pianist.  Get a glimpse of them in performance here.

The Ensemble 360 musicians share a passion for the music which radiates through each performance. Their enthusiasm, drive and musicality captivate audiences both through the quality of their playing and their engaging spoken introductions. Due to the flexible nature of the group’s line-up the repertoire possibilities are enormous; anything from baroque duos, through classical quartets to new commissions for all eleven players.