We were honoured to be joined by the wonderful Sheila Hancock, fresh from her highly acclaimed performance in The Last of the Duchess, who kindly made time in her busy schedule to join us for the evening. She delighted us all with a reading of Robert Bridge’s poem ‘London Snow’, alongside Bridge Project students Samuel, Jahmelia and Nanette from Jessop Primary School who read ‘It feels like Christmas’ from the Muppets Christmas Carol to much applause!
We were delighted to raise over £5,000 and would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who donated. All in all, it was a thoroughly enjoyable evening and a wonderful way to start the festive season!
World Premiere of Martin Suckling’s violin concerto, de sol y grana,
receives rave reviews
The highly-anticipated world premiere of
Martin Suckling’s violin concerto, de sol y grana, commissioned by London Music Masters and funded through our hugely successful ‘Buy a Bar’ crowd-funding campaign, took place at Shoreditch Church in the opening evening of the Spitalfields Music Winter Festival in December. Under the baton of the talented, young conductor Hugh Brunt, LMM Award Holder
Agata Szymczewska and the
London Contemporary Orchestra dazzled the audience with a remarkable first performance of Martin’s exciting new work and it seems everyone was in agreement:
‘…Martin Suckling’s Violin Concerto [was] commissioned by London Music Masters (via an ingenious ‘Buy a Bar’ fundraising campaign) for the fine Polish fiddler Agata Szymczewska, who tore into its fiendish challenges with huge energy and technical resource…’
Richard Morrison | The Times
‘Its opening section was tautly controlled and powerful, soloist Agata Szymczewska dispatching volleys of notes with concentrated virtuosity…The technique and imagination on show throughout Suckling’s score was enormously impressive…’
Hugo Shirley | The Telegraph
‘…de sol y grana…leaves an impression of vibrant colours and wide-ranging thematic material brought together with considerable technical skill.’
George Hall | The Guardian
‘…it works because the solo part – Agata Szymczewska was the highly skilled violinist – pins down the character of each idea so deftly.’
Richard Fairman | Financial Times
The title is taken from an Antonio Machado poem and roughly translates as ‘of sun(light) and scarlet’. Martin describes the piece as comprising nine “bubbles of music, each behaving differently. Some hang in the air relatively serenely while others are considerably more volatile and unpredictable.” Agata’s compelling and energetic performance perfectly captured the unique qualities of each ‘bubble’, while admirably maintaining the high level of technical accuracy needed to perform this challenging and innovative work.
You can catch the second performance of de sol y grana with
Southbank Sinfonia on 24 May at St John’s Waterloo, 6pm.
LCO workshops with Ashmole and Jessop Primary schools
In music education there aren’t many challenges bigger than introducing a newly-composed violin concerto of staggering complexity to a school hall filled with eight-year olds. Yet with some careful planning and inspired creative leadership from LMM Animateur Jess Maryon-Davies, the
London Contemporary Orchestra with composer
Martin Suckling and LMM Award Holder
Agata Szymczewska did just that, and then some.
In two sessions the creative team managed not only to present the new work, de sol y grana, in a lucid and engaging way (the composer had rescored fragments of the piece commissioned for Agata and the LCO for the reduced forces available in the workshop) but also to create whole new compositions that were rehearsed and performed.
The 80 or so
Bridge Project students from Ashmole and Jessop schools who took part were creative equals to the RPS prize-winning composer. They generated ideas and motifs which were expertly and energetically realised by the musicians from the LCO. In a neat twist, Martin scored the works that the children were creating in real time and presented them to the group at the end of the day.
Martin was evidently delighted that the first audience for his new work was this group of receptive and excitable eight-year olds and the children, now in their second year of violin playing, seemed to enjoy the opportunity to engage in some musical rough and tumble with Agata and the LCO.
Watch the highlights of the day
here
