PAST EVENTS

October 2011
REHEARSAL ORCHESTRA DAY 2011

Mussorgsky-Stokowski Night on Bare Mountain
Lee Tsang (conductor)

Stokowski, a master orchestrator with a pioneering approach to audience engagement, is perhaps most famous for his role as conductor and arranger in Disney’s Fantasia. This special event provided a rare chance to hear live his thrilling large orchestral arrangement of a Russian work that has captured the imagination of generations.

The performance, led by members of Hull Sinfonietta, featured school pupils, students, teachers and local amateurs.

With an Introduction by Lee Tsang on Stokowski’s art of transcription and the different versions of Night on Bare Mountain.

Sponsored by: Department of Drama and Music, Hull Sinfonietta, Longcroft College, Doncaster Music Service

March 2011
Mahler's World

Mahler (arr. Stein) - Symphony no 4

Sarah Leonard (soprano)
cond. Lee Tsang

Followed by 'Mahler in Performance' by Professor Paul Banks (Royal College of Music)

October 2010
Rehearsal Orchestra Day

Tchaikovsky - Romeo and Juliet

cond. Lee Tsang

Performance preceded by 'Shakespeare in Music: A Brief Introduction' by Professor Christopher R Wilson

Sponsored by Doncaster Music Service and Excellence Hub

April 2010
Ursula Vaughan Williams: In Memoriam

Nathaniel Seaman - So to its certainty; Clocks and Times
Leonidas Sakellarides - Silence and Music; Place, Lullaby, Elegy (The Swans)
George Christofi - Rondel
Evis Sammoutis - Fearing Apparitions, This girl is dead (Ghost Shadows)
Alastair Borthwick - Time Being
Richard Tsang - There must be time for grief
Ralph Vaughan Williams - Four Last Songs

Sarah Leonard (soprano)
Lee Tsang (baritone)
Peter Sproston (piano)

Recorded live at Beverley Minster and Middleton Hall, 15-16 April 2010.

A preview of songs by Sammoutis, Sakellarides, Christofi and Seaman was performed at a composition workshop at 2.30pm on Friday 27 February 2009, Middleton Hall, Hull University. A post-event seminar with composers and performers took place at 2.30pm, Hull University on 16th April 2010.

A collection of songs by six award–winning composers with Hull connections. This unique commission features the lyrical, touching texts of the late poet Ursula Vaughan Williams, second wife of the celebrated composer Ralph Vaughan Williams.

• Dr Richard Tsang, President of the International Society for Contemporary Music and Visiting Fellow of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts
• Professor Alastair Borthwick, Head of the Department of Drama and Music and Head of Composition, Hull University
• Dr Thomas Simaku, Senior Lecturer in Composition, York University
• Dr Evis Sammoutis, winner of the 2008 Royal Philharmonic Society Award for Young Composers
• Dr Leonidas Sakellarides BMus (first class) MMus, PhD (Hull)
• George Christofi BMus (first class), MA (dist.), SPNM shortlisted composer
• Nathaniel Seaman BMus (first class), winner of the Hull Sinfonietta Most Promising Young Composer Award 2008.

Generously supported by the Vaughan Williams Charitable Trust and the PRS for Music Foundation.

For a new song anthology associated with this project (published in 2010), see Finding Ursula Vaughan Williams, ed. Lee Tsang and Philip Venables, http://www.uymp.co.uk/

February 2010
Crossing Continents

A programme of works by Richard Tsang including the Hull Sinfonietta commission The Music is but Momentary (Consolation). First performance recorded live 12 February 2010, Middleton Hall, Hull. This work has since been expanded for larger orchestra and performed by the Tokyo Philharmonic. Generously supported by the CASH Music Fund and the PRS for Music Foundation.

Friday 12 February 2010 Middleton Hall, Hull University

Hull Sinfonietta Chan King-tsun (donghsiao), Chin King (guzheng), Lee Tsang (conductor)

Works by Richard Tsang:

• Airstream (2002; UK premiere)
• The Music is but Momentary (Consolation) (world premiere) and works for solo donghsiao (long bamboo flute)

A programme of contemporary music that bridges the East and the West.

Chinese Flute Music by Chan King-tsun (donghsiao; dizi)
A demonstration concert of mixed contemporary and traditional solo Chinese flute music by visiting artist, Chan King-tsun, of the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts.

Post-event talk: 'Creative Musicking' by Professor Richard Tsang
Composer Richard Tsang is Professor of Music at the Hong Kong Institute for Performing Arts and President of the International Society for Contemporary Music.

October 2009
Rehearsal Orchestra Day

Barber - Adagio for Strings
Britten - Young Apollo (with Fei Fan, piano)
Bartok - Romanian Folk Dances

cond. Lee Tsang

Performance preceded by 'Encouraging Young String Players – A Psychological Perspective' by Dr Elaine King A talk directed at parents by Hull University’s specialist in the psychology of music performance.

Sponsored by Excellence Hub

October 2008
Welwick & University of Hull

Hull Sinfonietta Young Artists Programme

Authentic Chinese music performed by Meng Wang, Hull Sinfonietta’s Young International Artist of the Year.

Meng Wang (guzheng)

2004-2009
Lear Settings

Lear Settings - an animated music-film - is a response to Edward Lear's poetry ‘The Jumblies' and ‘The Dong with a luminous nose' and has been the basis for a range of education projects at primary, secondary and tertiary levels, and a special research paper on practice and Reach Out in music research.

For this music-film, pupils worked with professional animators, musicians and music technologists; the work features original music by Head of Composition Dr Alastair Borthwick performed by vocal tutor Sarah Leonard (soprano) and Hull Sinfonietta.

Presented as part of Hull Sinfonietta's Young Artists Programme in association with Creative Partnerships, Arts Council England and the Northern Film School, the film's numerous workshops have engaged pupils from Andrew Marvell Business and Enterprise College, Chiltern Primary School and St Andrew's Primary School, Kirkella. The film team welcomes the development of future workshops with other school groups.

Written, produced and co-directed by Lee Tsang
Animated and co-directed by Rozi Fuller
Music by Alastair Borthwick
Lyrics by Edward Lear
Sarah Leonard (soprano)
Hull Sinfonietta, conducted by Lee Tsang

October 2008
University of Hull

Hull Sinfonietta Young Artists Programme II
in association with Excellence Hub
STRINGS DAY: The Tchaikovsky Serenade

A day for year 7-13 string students (Grade 8 / very able Grade 7)

Students/schools should apply directly to the Excellence Hub CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION

FREE Information session for parents/carers

"Encouraging Young String Players – A Psychological Perspective" by Dr Elaine King
A talk directed at parents by Hull University’s specialist in the psychology of music performance.

FREE Concert

June 2008
University of Hull

THE BEAR
An Extravaganza in One Act

Music by William Walton
Libretto by Anton Chekhov
Lyrics by Paul Dehn

Amy Black (mezzo-soprano) as Popova
Andrew Slater (baritone) as Smirnov
Richard Wiegold (bass) as Luka

with

Lee Tsang (conductor)

A comic tale of love and betrayal.

March 2008
Patrington & University of Hull

Lee Tsang (baritone)
Sarah Beth Briggs (piano)
Heath Quartet with Pietro Lusvardi (double bass)

Settings of poetry by Ursula Vaughan Williams and George Herbert, with texts drawing on Greek mythology and tales of Eastertide.

November 2007

Hull University Orchestra, Lee Tsang (conductor)
in association with

Rachael Drury (violin)
Rod Skipp (cello)
Pete Smith (piano)

Mendelssohn Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Beethoven Triple Concerto, Op.56

In this collaborative event, a trio of Hull Sinfonietta soloists joins students from Hull University in a performance of Beethoven’s most delicately scored masterwork.

June 2007

Vivaldi. The Four Seasons (Soloist: David Greed)
Copland. Appalachian Spring (original version)
J. Strauss II-Schoenberg. Kaiserwalzer

This ever-popular programme also featured the public premiere of Matthew Lee Knowles' _Instances_', the winning entry of the Hull Sinfonietta Most Promising Young Composer Award 2006.

'thoroughly enjoyable'  'a wonderfully diverse programme' (Audience feedback)

Hull Sinfonietta Most Promising Young Composer Award 2006

As a result of the nationwide Hull Sinfonietta Composition Competition and Workshop held at the University of Hull, the panel is pleased to announce that 20-year old Matthew Lee Knowles from Scunthorpe has been granted the Most Promising Young Composer Award 2006.

As well as receiving a cash prize, Matthew had his piece 'Instances' for flute, harpsichord and three cellos performed by the Hull Sinfonietta in a concert in June 2007.

Supported by PRS Foundation for New Music, Hull City Arts, Hull University.

March 2006: Hull Sinfonietta Composition Competition and Workshop

Four new works were selected by competition:

Lester Hough (North Ferriby) - Looking for 'N'
Matthew Lee Knowles (Scunthorpe) - Instances
Geoff Cummings-Knight (Doncaster) - La Primavera
Edmunt Hunt (Matlock) - Airs and Dances.

During the workshop the works were rehearsed and recorded at the Middleton Hall, Hull University.

Supported by PRS Foundation for New Music, Hull City Arts, Hull University .

May 2007: Wilberforce celebration concert

'A wonderful concert … It was an experience I won't forget in a hurry. The programme was beautifully balanced and so well performed'
Gertrud Aub-Buscher (Hull Chamber Music Club)

This major educational project saw the Hull Sinfonietta working closely with Hull University Orchestra, Hull University Choir, local schools (in association with Creative Partnerships) and refugees.  The performance was a musical ‘finale’ to Hull University's WISE Conference on Slavery and Emancipation.

Elgar. Introduction and Allegro
Tippett. A Child of Our Time
Borthwick. Equiano's Lament (new commission)
Traditional. King Mansa Musa

In addition to Elgar’s glorious ‘concerto grosso’ for strings and Tippett's much-loved masterwork, the performance featured the premiere of Borthwick's tribute to William Wilberforce (recorded live), and djembe and African harp ensembles led by Seikou Susso (kora) in an African musical tale.

Soloists: Maureen Brathwaite (soprano), Margaret McDonald (mezzo-soprano), Bernard Abervandana (tenor), Andrew Slater (bass-baritone) and Ross Tomlinson (boy soprano).

June 2006
Dead - a play with live music. (first public UK performance).

Set in the Alps of 1913 and told in six scenes, Dead is a poignant, ultimately spiritually uplifting tale of one couple’s struggle to deal with the death of their son.

Text and music by Anton von Webern (translation by Anthony Meech).

In addition to the live performance in the Gulbenkian Centre, the production and music was recorded onto DVD for limited library distribution:

Tsang, L & Meech, A. [filmed/recorded June 2006; DVD produced August 2007] Musicology on Film: Vol. 1. Stream TV: Hull. Total running time c.140 mins.

Tsang, L. (executive producer, writer, presenter), ‘Webern’s Dead: Music and Musicality in the Stage-Play’. Includes the premiere performance of the unpublished ‘Four Orchestral Pieces, Opus 6' by Hull Sinfonietta. (c. 70’)

Meech, A (translator, director), Tsang, L (executive producer, conductor), ‘Webern’s Dead - Six Pictures for the Stage’ (world stage premiere). Includes a performance of Webern’s Five Orchestral Pieces, Opus 10 and the orchestral song ‘O sanftes Glühn der Berge’ by Hull Sinfonietta (with Margaret McDonald, mezzo soprano). (c. 30’)

The project was funded by Arts Council of England (Yorkshire), Kingston upon Hull City Council, PRS Foundation for New Music, Stream TV and Hull University.

June 2005

'Exquisite ...' '... sensational musicians...' 'Excellent preparation and delivery'
(Audience feedback)

The Sinfonietta performed in the Middleton Hall, University of Hull (26 June), as part of the Humber Mouth Festival 2005 . The event featured Prokofiev's Overture on Hebrew Themes, Benno Sachs' arrangement of Debussy's Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune, David Matthews' arrangement of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf and Alastair Borthwick's The Dong with a Luminous Nose (the sequel to The Jumblies). We were joined by children from Chiltern Primary School, Anna Myatt (star of Black Hair) and world-class soprano Sarah Leonard. Sarah is perhaps most famous for being the voice of the RTS award winning theme from the hit TV series Silent Witness (to hear a clip of 'Silencium', click here) and also Peter Greenaway's critically acclaimed film Prospero's Books.

Our guest leader for this concert was award-winning contemporary music specialist Mieko Kanno.

Funded by Humber Mouth Special Commissions 2005, Geo. Houltons & Sons Ltd, Hull University, Arts Council England (Yorkshire), Hull City City Arts.