Juilliard FOCUS! 2013 Festival: The British Renaissance

[bluestateprommer]

While in NYC last week, I stumbled across an announcement of a festival of British contemporary music at the Juilliard School that began last Friday. This was the program for the first concert (1/25/13):

JONATHAN HARVEY: Sringara Chaconne (2008)*
ALEXANDER GOEHR: . . .a musical offering (J.S.B. 1985) (1985)
HELEN GRIME: Clarinet Concerto (2009)**
JOHN WOOLRICH: Envoi (1997)*
COLIN MATTHEWS (text by Christopher Reid): No Man's Land for tenor, baritone, chamber orchestra, and recorded sound (2011)

New Juilliard Ensemble
Joel Sachs, founding director and conductor
Kyle Bielfield, tenor
John Brancy, baritone
Bryan Conger, clarinet
Meredith Treaster, viola

* First performance outside of Europe
** New York Premiere

Several of the above works have been presented at The Proms, of course. This link should hopefully provide information on the remaining concerts, although one was tonight, so I'll paste the program for convenience, since it might not automatically show on the scrolling link:

http://events.juilliard.edu/focus2013.php

1/28/13 (i.e. tonight here in the USA):

RICHARD RODNEY BENNETT: Kandinsky Variations for two pianos (1977)
Yang Liu and Jiayan Sun, pianos

BRIAN FERNEYHOUGH: Cassandra's Dream Song for solo flute (1970)
Daniel James, flute

GEORGE BENJAMIN: Viola Viola for two violas (1997)
Fitzhugh Gary and Daniel Kim, violas

DEIRDRE GRIBBIN: What the Whaleship Saw for string quartet (2004)*
Caitlin Kelly and Emma Sutton, violins
Luke Fleming, viola
Andrew Briggs, cello

JUDITH WEIR: Piano Trio Two (2003-04)
Maria Semes, violin
Julian Schwarz, cello
Rozalyn Chok, piano

PETER MAXWELL DAVIES: Sonata for cello and piano, "Sequentia serpentigena" (2007)
Sofia Nowik, cello
Ari Livne, piano

* First performance outside of Europe

This must have been planned before the deaths of Jonathan Harvey and RRB, so that the inclusion of their works in this festival is an unintentional memorial for them now. Had RRB been granted more time, I dare say that he would have attended this concert in NYC. At least 3 composers with works on the programs are scheduled to be there, Michael Zev Gordon, Deirdre Gribbin, and Errollyn Wallen.

The first concert got a nice review from Anthony Tommasini in the NYT:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/28/arts/music/juilliards-focus-festival-at-alice-tully-hall.html

It's interesting to read his assessment of Jonathan Harvey, which is thought-provoking:

"Mr. Harvey increasingly seems the Messiaen of British music."

Were I in NYC now, I would happily attend at least one of these concerts. (Obviously this is unfortunately for me not the case, that I'm not in NYC now.) This is just more of an FYI for everyone here.

[Serial_Apologist]

While in NYC last week, I stumbled across an announcement of a festival of British contemporary music at the Juilliard School that began last Friday. This was the program for the first concert (1/25/13):

JONATHAN HARVEY: Sringara Chaconne (2008)*
ALEXANDER GOEHR: . . .a musical offering (J.S.B. 1985) (1985)
HELEN GRIME: Clarinet Concerto (2009)**
JOHN WOOLRICH: Envoi (1997)*
COLIN MATTHEWS (text by Christopher Reid): No Man's Land for tenor, baritone, chamber orchestra, and recorded sound (2011)

New Juilliard Ensemble
Joel Sachs, founding director and conductor
Kyle Bielfield, tenor
John Brancy, baritone
Bryan Conger, clarinet
Meredith Treaster, viola

* First performance outside of Europe
** New York Premiere

Several of the above works have been presented at The Proms, of course. This link should hopefully provide information on the remaining concerts, although one was tonight, so I'll paste the program for convenience, since it might not automatically show on the scrolling link:

http://events.juilliard.edu/focus2013.php

1/28/13 (i.e. tonight here in the USA):

RICHARD RODNEY BENNETT: Kandinsky Variations for two pianos (1977)
Yang Liu and Jiayan Sun, pianos

BRIAN FERNEYHOUGH: Cassandra's Dream Song for solo flute (1970)
Daniel James, flute

GEORGE BENJAMIN: Viola Viola for two violas (1997)
Fitzhugh Gary and Daniel Kim, violas

DEIRDRE GRIBBIN: What the Whaleship Saw for string quartet (2004)*
Caitlin Kelly and Emma Sutton, violins
Luke Fleming, viola
Andrew Briggs, cello

JUDITH WEIR: Piano Trio Two (2003-04)
Maria Semes, violin
Julian Schwarz, cello
Rozalyn Chok, piano

PETER MAXWELL DAVIES: Sonata for cello and piano, "Sequentia serpentigena" (2007)
Sofia Nowik, cello
Ari Livne, piano

* First performance outside of Europe

This must have been planned before the deaths of Jonathan Harvey and RRB, so that the inclusion of their works in this festival is an unintentional memorial for them now. Had RRB been granted more time, I dare say that he would have attended this concert in NYC. At least 3 composers with works on the programs are scheduled to be there, Michael Zev Gordon, Deirdre Gribbin, and Errollyn Wallen.

The first concert got a nice review from Anthony Tommasini in the NYT:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/28/arts/music/juilliards-focus-festival-at-alice-tully-hall.html

It's interesting to read his assessment of Jonathan Harvey, which is thought-provoking:



Were I in NYC now, I would happily attend at least one of these concerts. (Obviously this is unfortunately for me not the case, that I'm not in NYC now.) This is just more of an FYI for everyone here.

Thanks for sending this, BSP - would that someone would present something like this in the UK - a series of concerts on post-WW2 British composers (including neglected ones like Fricker) would redress serious gaps in the balance, especially if R3 broadcast them.

[bluestateprommer]

One more NYT review from this Juiliard Festival, with Mark Wigglesworth conducting:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/05/arts/music/the-juilliard-schools-focus-2013-festival.html

Interesting to see MW "pull an Olly" and repeat M-AT's Ceres at this performance, a trick that Knussen seems often to do. Here's a link to an article with all the programs in a row, which I wish I'd found earlier:

http://www.juilliard.edu/newsroom/releases/current/2013-January_FOCUS.php

It's interesting to see this quote at the end of the Juilliard article:

"*PLEASE NOTE: These starred works are thought to be having U.S. or American premieres, but the status cannot be confirmed because the scores are sold and publishers have no way to know when performances have taken place. When music is rented – as for the New Juilliard Ensemble and the Juilliard Orchestra – records of performances exist."