Proms at Battersea: BBC Young Composer (30.07.22)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

16:00 Saturday 30 July 2022
Battersea Arts Centre

Live at the BBC Proms: BBC Concert Orchestra and conductor Alice Farnham with brand new pieces by the BBC Young Composer winners.

Presented by Jess Gillam, live from Battersea Arts Centre, London.

Lower Juniors (12 – 14 years)
Isaac Bristow: 7.01
Theo Kendall: Title tbc
 
Upper Juniors (15 – 16 years)
Maddy Chassar-Hesketh: a thought on futures
Will Everitt: Triptych on 100 Years

Seniors (17 – 18 years)
Chelsea Becker: Retrospection
Jenna Stewart: Title tbc

Plus 2020 winner
Daniel Liu: Fanfares

BBC Concert Orchestra
Conductor Alice Farnham

New music has always been at the heart of the BBC’s mission, and composers ranging from Mahler to Missy Mazzoli have all received UK and world premieres at the Proms. Since 1998 BBC Young Composer has brought together young composers aged 12 to 18 to explore new ways of creating music as well as opportunities to share it, and today Alice Farnham and the BBC Concert Orchestra perform freshly minted orchestral works by some of the brightest (and newest) talents to emerge from the scheme. Be among the first to hear the next generation of British composers: with music by Chelsea Becker, Isaac Bristow, Maddy Chassar-Hesketh, Will Everitt, Theo Kendall, Daniel Liu and Jenna Stewart.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Interesting, but isn't it getting a bit late to be thinking of a title?

[Serial_Apologist]

Interesting, but isn't it getting a bit late to be thinking of a title?

The late, great and much-missed jazz trumpet player and composer Kenny Wheeler used to agonise over titles - one being a wonderful interlinked set of pieces for big band which he composed for the 1991 Cheltenham Jazz Festival, which included such great players as the bassist Dave Holland, the American guitarist John Abercrombie and the singer Norma Winstone. The eventual title he came up with was "Sweet Time Suite".

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

The late, great and much-missed jazz trumpet player and composer Kenny Wheeler used to agonise over titles - one being a wonderful interlinked set of pieces for big band which he composed for the 1991 Cheltenham Jazz Festival, which included such great players as the bassist Dave Holland, the American guitarist John Abercrombie and the singer Norma Winstone. The eventual title he came up with was "Sweet Time Suite".

I know. Writing the music comes from the inner being; thinking of a label is much more difficult. Getting GCSE music pupils/students to think of titles for their compositions can be an uphill struggle.

[bluestateprommer]

Yet another late listening Proms catch-up, with (at the risk of sounding extremely patronizing) expectations somewhat mentally adjusted, given that these are compositions by kids, after all. Perhaps the most consistent and sustained of the works was, ironically, the "oldest" one, Daniel Liu's Fanfares, delayed from 2020 for obvious reasons. Interestingly, Will Everitt's Triptych on 100 Years put me in mind of the Public Service Broadcasting "This New Noise" Prom, which I'd listened to before WE's new work (which, of course was premiered first before PSB's Prom).

The larger point, of course, is that these young people are getting a chance to showcase their creative work on a national stage, well presented by the BBC Concert Orchestra and Alice Farnham.