had to search for it, but I've just uncovered that one of the 2007 Lichfield Festival commissions has been shortlisted for a 2008 British Composer Award. Terry Mann's Bells of Paradise, a co-commission between Lichfield , Norfolk & Norwich, Budy St Edmunds and Spitalfields Festivals has deservedly reached the final three in the Sonic Art category. For those that missed hearing it, cds are available but it will be difficult to replicate the 5.1 surround sound let alone the cathedral surroundings in which it was installed. This was a surprisingly profound and touching work and I wish it all the best when winners are announced on 2 December, and, almost more importantly, for future performances and installations. Gwilym Simcock's Lichfield Suite, a 2006 Lichfield Festival commission, was shortlisted for last year's awards but didn't win.
Thursday, 30 October 2008
Wednesday, 29 October 2008
where rivers meet
listening to Zoe Rahman and her brother Idris on Front Row last night reminded me that I had neglected to post anything about her imminent Abbotsholme Arts Society gig on Friday 31 October - a perfect antidote to Halloween madness. I first heard her latest cd Where Rivers Meet in a rough edit she sent me earlier this year, but had already heard of her wonderful jazz-inspired Bangali tunes from people who were at a particular Birmingham Jazz performance last December. Even though the disc was not in the final form, I could not help but listen to it repeatedly, and booked her for Abbotsholme immmediately. This is beautiful music that refuses to be categorised, and I cannot wait for Friday evening.Where Rivers Meet is launched in London on 4 November, and a whole lot of unanimously positive reviews can be found here.
Thursday, 23 October 2008
two interviews
Last week I did two interviews, neither of which had anything directly to do with the Lichfield Festival.
The first was part of the international ACRE project looking at the rise of the creative industries across the EU. This research focuses on why people in the creative industries choose to live and work in various cities. I was asked because I'm a foreigner involved in the creative industries who has chosen to live in Birmingham, one of the 13 cities selected.
The second was with The Independent, who was seeking my views on new degree courses in Festival Management. It felt slightly odd being approached for an opinion when there are other larger festivals all around the UK, but my 2p worth does seem to have made the paper.
Off early tomorrow morning for the the annual BAFA conference in Liverpool (which starts tonight) - a welcome opportunity to see colleagues and peers that I only rarely bump into.
The first was part of the international ACRE project looking at the rise of the creative industries across the EU. This research focuses on why people in the creative industries choose to live and work in various cities. I was asked because I'm a foreigner involved in the creative industries who has chosen to live in Birmingham, one of the 13 cities selected.
The second was with The Independent, who was seeking my views on new degree courses in Festival Management. It felt slightly odd being approached for an opinion when there are other larger festivals all around the UK, but my 2p worth does seem to have made the paper.
Off early tomorrow morning for the the annual BAFA conference in Liverpool (which starts tonight) - a welcome opportunity to see colleagues and peers that I only rarely bump into.
Wednesday, 15 October 2008
looking forwards
while recent news that the cathedral's £5m Herritage Lottery bid was unsuccessful will understandably alter their schedule of planned building work over coming years, we've been quietly, anxiously wondering whether any schedule revisions will have an even greater impact on the Festival than expected. Thankfully we have received assurances that the Festival will have use of the Lady Chapel in 2009 (there is a 1% possibility that we won't but that would be a surprise to both sides) and we can still plan on not having the cathedral at all in 2010.
The Lady Chapel, a venue we lose forever from next August onwards, will be sealed immediately after the 09 festival to protect the cathedral's organ while the Herkenrode windows are taken away for conservation. My original planning included commissioning James Macmillan to write a new work for the 2016 Festival when the seven windows were back to their former glory, but that was too far away to be a realistic discussion and was before I knew we wouldn't be able to continue performances there.
What was news to us was that we will probably not have the cathedral again in 2013 due to replacing the entire internal floor. I hadn't really thought to discuss things beyond 2011, but if we can do it once, doing it twice should not be a problem.
That said, I am currently obsessed with juggling what little income we anticpate for 2009 (taking into account the projected impact of current financial markets on sponsors, individual givers and ticket bookers) with what we might be able to afford to programme, and we may find ourselves in the position of radically changing the shape of the Festival, including how we use the cathedral, just to ensure our survival. For arts activity throughout the UK, I imagine survival will be a key indicator of success over coming years.
The Lady Chapel, a venue we lose forever from next August onwards, will be sealed immediately after the 09 festival to protect the cathedral's organ while the Herkenrode windows are taken away for conservation. My original planning included commissioning James Macmillan to write a new work for the 2016 Festival when the seven windows were back to their former glory, but that was too far away to be a realistic discussion and was before I knew we wouldn't be able to continue performances there.
What was news to us was that we will probably not have the cathedral again in 2013 due to replacing the entire internal floor. I hadn't really thought to discuss things beyond 2011, but if we can do it once, doing it twice should not be a problem.
That said, I am currently obsessed with juggling what little income we anticpate for 2009 (taking into account the projected impact of current financial markets on sponsors, individual givers and ticket bookers) with what we might be able to afford to programme, and we may find ourselves in the position of radically changing the shape of the Festival, including how we use the cathedral, just to ensure our survival. For arts activity throughout the UK, I imagine survival will be a key indicator of success over coming years.
Friday, 10 October 2008
champion of champions
last night at the 2008 Jaguar Land Rover Awards for Arts & Business, Ex Cathedra and Sandvik Ltd deservedly won the Business Link A&B Sustainability Award. Sandvik has been Ex Cathedra's principal education sponsor for nearly 20 years, so this award was a long time coming. That they went on to win the Jaguar Champion of Champions 2008 Award at the end of the evening was even better, and is great for the profile of Ex Cathedra (on the cusp of its 40th season), for Ex Cathedra Education, and hopefully for their ongoing relationship with Sandvik. As the A&B brochure detailed
I mention all of this because Ex Cathedra Education, with the support of Sandvik, helped the Lichfield Festival create our inaugural Festival Chorus between January and July this year. Without their support and experience, the chorus would never have off had such a wonderful start, and we certainly would not have achieved a performance of the calibre we did. So, hearty congratulations to Ex Cathedra and Sandvik and thanks again for your support.
At the forefront of this partnership is 'Singing Playgrounds', an inclusive programme that changes the culture of singing in a school community and which includes training and equipping children with the necessary skills to lead games in the playground.There is a little more about Singing Playgrounds here and here. It really is excellent, formative and unique.
I mention all of this because Ex Cathedra Education, with the support of Sandvik, helped the Lichfield Festival create our inaugural Festival Chorus between January and July this year. Without their support and experience, the chorus would never have off had such a wonderful start, and we certainly would not have achieved a performance of the calibre we did. So, hearty congratulations to Ex Cathedra and Sandvik and thanks again for your support.
Friday, 3 October 2008
endellions at abbotsholme
tomorrow night the Endellion String Quartet perform at the start of the 41st Abbotsholme Arts Society season. In such an intimate space as Abbotsholme Chapel, having such consummate performers will be a thrilling experience, but I wonder whether the fact we seem to currently only have half the audience I was expecting has anything to do with the current financial doom and gloom. I guess it could have something to do with their record label listing the wrong date, or it might just be that saturday night events in deep rural Staffordshire don't really work.
Other news just in is that Jennifer Pike, performing at Abbotsholme on 20 January, has just joined the BBC New Generation Artist Scheme - brava!
Other news just in is that Jennifer Pike, performing at Abbotsholme on 20 January, has just joined the BBC New Generation Artist Scheme - brava!
volodin in london again
three weeks after his London debut, Alexei Volodin returns on 12 October, this time performing Prokofiev Concerto No.4. While I missed Volodin's actual London debut, I was present the following night for what I considered to be a very exciting concert, despite feeling slightly stressed.*
Like me, the rest of the capacity Barbican audience enjoyed both the concerto and Gergiev's reading of the second symphony, there was a real buzz, and it was fantastic to hear a non-'stocking filler' interpretation of core repertoire. I'd managed to see Volodin during the day, but I had already heard how successful the night before had been (standing ovations, a few encores, very happy promoters and funders, and many orchestra members offering their congratulations, etc).
Therefore when the reviews started to land a few days later, I had no idea what was going on (neither did Volodin's management). It seemed that only the Guardian and classicalsource had anything positive to say about the concerts, and the Telegraph, Times and Independent tore the Rachmaninoff Festival, Gergiev, LSO and Volodin apart.
I am not a critic, and I respect the validity and point of critique whether I agree or not. However, as some comments felt particularly vindictive and unkind, especially for a young musician receiving a London debut, I could not help feeling that Volodin might have been unfortunately getting tarred with a perceived anti-Gergiev brush. When you take into account that Volodin had hardly received a bad review in the three years beforehand or since, then maybe the whole thing is an abberation. I guess we'll get some indication after his Prokofiev at the end of next week, but the proof will be in the reviews when Volodin and Gergiev tour with the LSO to Japan (Nov/Dec) and America (March), and whether Volodin gets booked for future LSO seasons.
*As mentioned previously, a coach of LFA members came down to London. I had gone through the timings and routes with the coach company, and despite leaving plenty of time to arrive, the coach pulled up at the Silk Street entrance one minute after the concert's advertised start time. I said at the time, and I'll say it again here - thank you Barbican staff for your calmness and professionalism and for your help in getting everyone seated just in time for Gergiev to walk on. By stretching the start time slightly, you had 20 extremely happy punters that had travelled 125 miles to be there.
Like me, the rest of the capacity Barbican audience enjoyed both the concerto and Gergiev's reading of the second symphony, there was a real buzz, and it was fantastic to hear a non-'stocking filler' interpretation of core repertoire. I'd managed to see Volodin during the day, but I had already heard how successful the night before had been (standing ovations, a few encores, very happy promoters and funders, and many orchestra members offering their congratulations, etc).
Therefore when the reviews started to land a few days later, I had no idea what was going on (neither did Volodin's management). It seemed that only the Guardian and classicalsource had anything positive to say about the concerts, and the Telegraph, Times and Independent tore the Rachmaninoff Festival, Gergiev, LSO and Volodin apart.
I am not a critic, and I respect the validity and point of critique whether I agree or not. However, as some comments felt particularly vindictive and unkind, especially for a young musician receiving a London debut, I could not help feeling that Volodin might have been unfortunately getting tarred with a perceived anti-Gergiev brush. When you take into account that Volodin had hardly received a bad review in the three years beforehand or since, then maybe the whole thing is an abberation. I guess we'll get some indication after his Prokofiev at the end of next week, but the proof will be in the reviews when Volodin and Gergiev tour with the LSO to Japan (Nov/Dec) and America (March), and whether Volodin gets booked for future LSO seasons.
*As mentioned previously, a coach of LFA members came down to London. I had gone through the timings and routes with the coach company, and despite leaving plenty of time to arrive, the coach pulled up at the Silk Street entrance one minute after the concert's advertised start time. I said at the time, and I'll say it again here - thank you Barbican staff for your calmness and professionalism and for your help in getting everyone seated just in time for Gergiev to walk on. By stretching the start time slightly, you had 20 extremely happy punters that had travelled 125 miles to be there.
post-3llw
five days now since the literature weekend finished up, and while we can barely see the floor of the main office because of the boxes of books yet to be returned to publishers, the feeling is that our wee weekend has once again been a success, despite intermittent rain for our outdoor events and two events unfortunately being cancelled, one due to numbers, one due to illness.
While it will take another week to work out how things might have gone financially (this whole venture is done on a shoestring), once again the Lichfield Festival has generated new audiences, promoted high calibre events at a time other than summer, promoted an art form desparate for support in this city, and kick started an annual offering of education work (280 students from five schools), all reasons why we started the literature weekend three years ago. It seems that we also have a 16% increase in tickets purchased. We'll eventually post a full round up on the Festival website.
Audience questions throughout the weekend were excellent and engaging, and from the comments we've so far received, audiences enjoyed all the speakers. The flip side is also true - author comments we've received show that they really enjoyed the Lichfield audiences, and for that matter Lichfield. It was a surprise to me that the majority of this year's authors were visiting Lichfield for the first time.
I still wish that I could programme more fiction with more confidence in the audiences that might come. Perhaps this sill be something I specifically tackle when we do this event again next autumn.
While it will take another week to work out how things might have gone financially (this whole venture is done on a shoestring), once again the Lichfield Festival has generated new audiences, promoted high calibre events at a time other than summer, promoted an art form desparate for support in this city, and kick started an annual offering of education work (280 students from five schools), all reasons why we started the literature weekend three years ago. It seems that we also have a 16% increase in tickets purchased. We'll eventually post a full round up on the Festival website.
Audience questions throughout the weekend were excellent and engaging, and from the comments we've so far received, audiences enjoyed all the speakers. The flip side is also true - author comments we've received show that they really enjoyed the Lichfield audiences, and for that matter Lichfield. It was a surprise to me that the majority of this year's authors were visiting Lichfield for the first time.
I still wish that I could programme more fiction with more confidence in the audiences that might come. Perhaps this sill be something I specifically tackle when we do this event again next autumn.
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