Details out this morning of the third Bristol Proms, a Universal-backed alternative to the BBC menu:
(press release)
Bristol Old Vic, 27th July – 1st August
Tickets on sale now from £5
The most innovative classical music festival in the UK – Bristol Proms – returns to Bristol Old Vic this July to bring together today’s leading musicians for imaginative and accessible performances of the highest creative standards.
Now in its third year, Bristol Proms has firmly established itself in the cultural calendar of Bristol and the UK as an unmissable opportunity to see world famous classical musicians perform in the exquisite environment of Bristol Old Vic, the oldest continuously open theatre in the UK.
For another year, the primary media partner for Bristol Proms is Classic FM. The station will be based in Bristol all week, with presenters Tim Lihoreau, John Suchet, Anne-Marie Minhall and John Brunning broadcasting live from Bristol Old Vic. There will also be extensive online coverage of the festival at ClassicFM.com, including video interviews with all headline performers.
Bristol Proms 2015 will open in suitably bold and rousing style with the first performance anywhere of the winner of the Bristol Fanfare Competition, making Bristol the first city in the country to have its very own official fanfare. Commissioned by Bristol Proms, the fanfare is Bristol Proms’ very special gift to its home city to honour Bristol’s upcoming 800th birthday.
This year’s programme builds further on Bristol Proms’ growing reputation for giving leading artists the space and freedom to engage with audiences of all ages and all levels of experience of classical music. Demonstrating the popularity and distinctive appeal of Bristol Proms to artists as well as audiences, for many of this year’s performers their appearance at Bristol Proms 2015 marks a return visit.
Highlights of Bristol Proms 2015 include:
- Miloš Karadaglić makes his Bristol Proms debut with ‘From Bach To The Beatles’, an intimate insight into the world’s most charismatic classical guitarist with a programme including a Bach Chaconne, Spanish classics, cool Latin music and brand new Beatles arrangements.
- The UK’s top trumpeter Alison Balsom will headline Bristol Proms 2015’s Wednesday nightprogramme with a performance in which she will be accompanied by a quartet featuring two trumpets, a cello and a harpsichord.
- Following her show stopping performance of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas by candlelight last year Pumeza Matshikiza returns for ‘My Life In Song’, a musical conversation and performance with Charles Hazelwood and his Bristol Proms Chamber Orchestra, including arias from Turandot, Carmen and Madam Butterfly, timeless South African folk songs and Pumeza’s own Xhosa poetry.
- Violinist Daniel Hope who once more returns to Bristol Proms, this year performing with a hand-picked ensemble of five to play the story of the fierce rivalry between Tchaikovsky and Brahms.
A full list of confirmed performances for Bristol Proms 2015 is below. Further artists and special events will continue to be announced in the coming months, ensuring that Bristol Proms 2015 is the most successful yet, keeping alive the spirited and vivid traditions of the 18th and 19thcentury Proms held at Bristol Old Vic to bring exciting and accessible music to life with ticket prices starting at just £5.
Tom Morris, Artistic Director of Bristol Old Vic: “Bristol Proms was imagined 3 years ago as a bold experiment to find ways to reintroduce classical music as an art form which touches the hearts of anyone who listens. We’ll use any tactics: state of the art technologies to access music in different ways, live interactive evenings, or intimate performances in total darkness. Nothing is out of bounds at Bristol Proms. This year, we’re pushing this further – taking music into the city, schools and to the next generation of artists and audiences. All this alongside some of the world’s greatest living musicians in the magical setting of our historic theatre.”
Dickon Stainer, President of Global Classics, Universal Music Group, said: “Bristol Proms has become an essential fixture and a beloved event in the UK cultural calendar. The feedback we’ve seen from our artists has been incredibly positive, demonstrating amply that Bristol Proms truly is something special. Bristol Proms is a wonderful festival for classical artists and classical music and I congratulate Tom Morris, Ingrid Sutej and the U-live team on another outstanding programme.”
Sam Jackson, Managing Editor, Classic FM, said: “Once again, Classic FM will play a central role in Bristol Proms. This world-class festival shares our vision and passion to make classical music available to everyone and we look forward to broadcasting live from Bristol Old Vic in July.”
Bristol Proms 2015 runs from 27th July to 1st August and features some of the world’s finest musicians including Alison Balsom, Miloš Karadaglić, Pumeza Matshikiza and Daniel Hope. More details of Bristol Proms 2015 can be found at: www.bristolproms.com.
BRISTOL PROMS 2015 CONFIRMED PERFORMANCES
Monday 27th July
DANIEL HOPE: TCHAIKOVSKY VS BRAHMS
Mr Bristol Proms returns to play the story of the fierce rivalry between two musical giants of the 19th century Tchaikovsky and Brahms. The programme for this intimate performance will include Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir de Florence and Brahms’ String Quintet Opus 111, heard in the context of an ideological war that went to the heart of the romantic movement.
Bristol Old Vic Theatre: 7.30pm
SACCONI QUARTET: BEETHOVEN’S OPUS 131 IN THE DARK
Continuing Bristol Proms tradition of kicking off the week with an intense auditory indulgence, the Sacconi Quartet perform Beethoven’s dramatic Opus 131 from memory in the dark and the half-light.
Bristol Old Vic Studio: 6.45pm
JON JAMES: BEETHOVEN UNWRAPPED
Bristol Proms associate Jonathan James returns to deliver six talks in the Bristol Old Vic Studio, exploring the beauty and secrets of this year’s programme and providing fascinating insights into the worlds of music and artistry for both newcomers and aficionados alike.
Bristol Old Vic Studio: 5.45pm
Tuesday 28th July
PUMEZA: MY LIFE IN SONG
An emotional journey through the unique musical life of the virtuoso soprano Pumeza Matshikiza. Reflecting upon her South African roots Pumeza will share her folk music heritage as well as launch into the operatic repertoire that made her famous. Pumeza will be joined by her early collaborator Charles Hazlewood and his Bristol Proms Chamber Orchestra. The programme will include arias from Turandot, Carmen and Madam Butterfly as well as timeless South African folk songs such as O Lili Lili Ha Lulu and Pumeza’s own Xhosa poetry.
Bristol Old Vic Theatre: 7.30pm
JON JAMES: A HISTORY OF CLASSICAL MUSIC IN 60 MINS
Fascinating insights for newcomers and the initiated.
Bristol Old Vic Studio: 6pm
Wednesday 29th July
LATE NIGHT TRUMPET WITH ALISON BALSOM
A late evening of immersive trumpetry, conceived by Alison Balsom and Adam Wright, featuring the music of Franceschini, Bach, Handel, Britten and Stravinsky and played on up to a dozen trumpets with harpsichord & cello continuo.
Bristol Old Vic Theatre: 9.30pm
PURE MINIMALIST BAROQUE: HAKON AND MARI SAMUELSEN WITH SINFONIA CYMRU
The new embaces the old in this astonishing programme interweaving the pure melodic structure of Bach with the intricate patterns of Philip Glass and Giovanni Sollima. The evening is conceived by the meteoric Samuelsen siblings from Norway, accompanied by the virtuosic young talent of Sinfonia Cymru.
Bristol Old Vic Theatre: 7.30pm
JON JAMES: PATTERNS IN MUSIC
Fascinating insights for newcomers and the initiated.
Bristol Old Vic Studio: 6pm
Thursday 30th July
ORCHESTRA OF THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT: THE NIGHT SHIFT
The Night Shift comes to Bristol Proms for the very first time. Two 30 minute sets from the musicians of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment featuring the music of one of England’s finest composers – Henry Purcell. This is music that’ll make your feet tap, stir your soul and touch your emotions, and importantly also accompanies a nice ale very well – Henry was after all, a great fan of the pub. It’s all set inside the Bristol Old Vic’s atmospheric Paintshop which will be transformed into a cabaret club complete with its own bar.
Bristol Old Vic Paintshop: 9.45pm
Friday 31st July
MILOŠ KARADAGLIĆ: FROM BACH TO THE BEATLES
A unique insight into the process, journey and musical passions of the world’s most charismatic classical guitarist, Miloš Karadaglić. The programme for this very special performance will include Spanish classics, cool Latin, a Bach Chaconne plus a brand new Beatles arrangement.
Bristol Old Vic Theatre: 7.30pm
JON JAMES: THE STORY OF THE GUITAR, FROM MANDOLIN TO STRATOCASTER
Fascinating insights for newcomers and the initiated.
Bristol Old Vic Studio: 6pm
Saturday 1st August
THE EREBUS ENSEMBLE: SONGS OF HOPE – IN 40 VOICES
The grand finale performance of Bristol Proms 2015 is a luscious experiment in surround-sound choral music inspired by the revolutionary polyphonic Tallis piece Spem in Alium (Hope in Any Other) for 40 voices: composed in an age where 4 or 5 voices was the norm. The Erebus Ensemble return to wrap the audience in rousing polyphony and alongside the magnificent ancient songs of Tallis and Striggio the programme will feature brand new commissions composed especially for this evening and this unique surround-sound experience.
Bristol Old Vic Theatre: 7.30pm
JON JAMES:
Fascinating insights for newcomers and the initiated.
Bristol Old Vic Studio: 6pm
JOHN RUTTER: IN CONVERSATION WTH JOHN SUCHET.
In the year of his seventieth birthday, the great British choral Composer John Rutter will select some of the pieces of music which have most inspired him, and some of his own compositions which now seem to him the cornerstones and turning points of an extraordinary career in composition.
Interviewed and hosted by the great musical wit and raconteur John Suchet, and resented in association with Classic FM.
Some time in the mid-1980s, I noticed that it had been nine months since the London Symphony Orchestra last saw its music director. Claudio Abbado had taken a short sabbatical to study Mahler’s ninth symphony and then got too busy with other engagements to attend to his London job.
I wrote a piece about his absence in the Sunday Times. Questions were asked at the Arts Council and a certain discomfort was felt at the long absence. Abbado’s contract was not renewed (apparently on his volition since he could not bear working in the dull acoustic of the Barbican Centre). Small storm, quickly over.
Few music directors ever live in London. Most choose London as a convenient landing-point between other commitments. No one is much bothered where the Philharmonia or LPO conductor happens to be.
But the LSO is not any other London orchestra. It is the oldest, the benchmark, the defining London orchestra. It is the city’s swagger band, its trophy orchestra, always giving of its best when the chief is a genuine Londoner. Andre Previn lived in Surrey when he was in charge. Colin Davis was at home in Islington. The LSO was at home with itself.
Now, after the fleeting visits of Valery Gergiev, the orchestra needed and deserved a conductor who was in London, of London, with London. Simon Rattle, a Liverpudlian, spent the early part of his career talking up the merits of other UK cities at the expense of London. He maintained a home in the capital for a few years, but he has never been a Londoner. Lately, he has gone on the record to say that his home and heart are now in Berlin.
When Rattle was voted chief of the Berlin Philharmonic, he announced at once that he would move to Berlin and master the German language (for the record, he still rehearses in English). Today, as the new chief conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, he will conduct its affairs from Berlin.
It’s hard to acclaim the Rattle succession with full-throated joy when he won’t be living in our midst.