Greenwich International Early Music Festival & Exhibition 2009
Miranda Harris
3 July 2009
Greenwich International Early Music Festival & Exhibition 2009
Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich, London SE10 9NN
12 - 15 November 2009
Information: www.earlymusicfestival.com or 01274 288100
In November the exquisite Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich will play host to the eighth Greenwich International Early Music Festival & Exhibition. This celebration of all things early music includes a diverse programme of performance alongside the world’s largest early music exhibitors fair, which features over 100 international instrument makers. This year the event is linked to the Festival of Time and Space which, as part of the International Year of Astronomy, explores the relationship between music and science.
The Avison Ensemble, named after the 18th century composer Charles Avison and known for furthering the revival of the once famous Newcastle Subscription Concerts he established, will open the festival in the Old Royal Naval College Chapel on 12 November. Led by Director and solo violinist Pavlo Beznosiuk their programme will include concerti from Handel Op. 6 and Vivaldi Op. 8, plus Herschel’s Violin Concerto in D minor. Herschel is known for his work as both a composer and astronomer and was a member of the original Avison Ensemble. The concert, therefore, sets the stage for an exploration of the historic links between music and science.
On the evening of Friday 13, the Trinity College of Music Choir and Baroque Orchestra will perform Handel’s exquisite oratorio The Triumph of Time and Truth. The piece bursts with vitality and virtuosity as it blends allegory with some astute early psychology in a moralistic debate between the characters Beauty, Pleasure, Time, Truth, and Disillusion. This blend of Baroque dynamism and ethereal beauty will be conducted by Paul Goodwin; Associate Conductor with the Academy of Ancient Music.
The next evening returns to the science and music theme as Trinity College of Music Early Music and Composition staff and students present a programme exploring the relationship between music, astronomy and art. The concert will include instrumental and vocal works written in Bologna by Albergatti and Cazzati along with contemporary works for period instruments and electronics, which will have been the subject of installations in the National Maritime Museum earlier in the festival. The Programme also includes a work for early instruments by Stephen McNeff, inspired by John Milton's 1683 visit to Galileo Galilei. At the time the great astronomer was old, blind and under house arrest in Florence, confined by order of the Inquisition, which had forced him to recant his belief that the earth revolves around the sun. Milton was thirty years old - his own blindness, arrest, and epic Paradise Lost were all to come and the encounter made a great impression.
During the festival Susan Sheppard – TCM professor and founding member of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment – will be performing Bach’s Six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello over five concerts. Susan was the first female cellist to issue a complete recording of the complete Bach suites to great critical acclaim, and this is an exciting opportunity to hear the popular and intimate works in their entirety.
In another highlight, Alison Crum – one of the best known exponents of the viol and President of the Viola da Gamba Society of Great Britain - will use the festival to launch her latest book The Viol Rules. Alison, a professor at Trinity College of Music, will also be offering masterclasses to Conservatoire/University students and amateur players.
Also performing at the festival: Maurice Steger, described by The Independent as the world’s leading recorder virtuoso, with Laurence Cummings (harpsichord); Pamela Thorby (recorder) and Huw Warren (Keyboard); The Warwickshire Waits; Rie Kosaka (voice and mediaeval harp) – last year’s winner of the Ella Kidney Prize for Early Music; Junior Trinity students performing music from their collaboration with Handel House Museum; and the Trinity College of Music Recorder Consort. Plus the biennial Moeck Competition for solo recorder playing returns and John Henry (harpsichord and clavichord) will present a masterclass in association with the British Clavichord Society. With many events free and ticket prices starting at just £2 it’s the perfect festival for the ‘credit-crunch’ wallet.
Wren’s baroque masterpiece – the Old Royal Naval College – provides the ideal historic setting for a festival of this kind. From Friday to Sunday the magnificent Painted Hall will echo with the sound of all things early music as The Early Music Shop presents the world’s largest exhibition of early musical instruments. The exhibition provides direct access to instrument makers from around the globe, as well as shops, music publishers, recording companies, societies and forums. Expect expert advice on, and demonstrations of, the widest range of instruments imaginable - from spinets, viols and sackbuts to hurdy gurdies, crumhorns and harpsichords.
For more information on the event, which is jointly hosted by the Early Music Shop, Trinity College of Music and The Greenwich Foundation, please see www.earlymusicfestival.com email enquiries@earlymusicfestival.com or call 01274 288100.
-ends-
For press information, interviews, press tickets and images please contact:
Miranda Harris, Trinity Laban PR Manager on 020 8469 9549 or at mharris@trinitylaban.ac.uk
Programme:
Thursday 12 November
19:45 The Avison Ensemble, Director and Soloist Pavlo Beznosiuk
Programme to include Concerti from Handel Op. 6 and Herschel: Violin Concerto in D minor
Old Royal Naval College Chapel
£16 (£12 concs)
Friday 13 November
Masterclass: Alison Crum (Viola da Gamba)
for Conservatoire and University level students
11:30 - 14:00 Theatre Studio, Trinity College of Music
Limited free admission
Trinity College of Music Recorder Consort
13:00 - 13:45 St Alfege Church
£2 on the door (no pre-booking)
Susan Sheppard (Baroque 'Cello)
JS Bach: Suites Nos. 1 and 2
14:30 - 15:15 Old Royal Naval College Chapel
£2 on door (no pre-booking)
Masterclass: John Henry (Harpsichord and Clavichord)
In association with the British Clavichord Society
15:30 - 18:00 Theatre Studio, Trinity College of Music
Limited free admission
Pamela Thorby (Recorder), Huw Warren (Keyboard)
17:45 - 19:00 St Alfege Church
£10 (£7 concs)
Trinity College of Music Choir and Baroque Orchestra
Handel: Oratorio - The Triumph of Time and Truth
19:45 - 22:00 Old Royal Naval College Chapel
£10 (£7 concs)
Saturday 14 November
Junior Trinity
Students perform music from their collaboration with the Handel House Museum, including student compositions inspired by Handel's time in London
11:00 - 11:45 Old Royal Naval College Chapel
£2 on door (no pre-booking)
Masterclass: Alison Crum (Viola da Gamble)
for amateur Viol players and consorts
11:00 – 13:30 St Alfege Church
Free
Susan Sheppard (Baroque Cello)
JS Bach: Suite No. 3
12:45 - 13:15 Old Royal Naval College Chapel
£2 on the door (no pre-booking)
The Warwickshire Waits
14:00 - 14:45 Old Royal Naval College Chapel
£2 on door (no pre-booking)
Susan Sheppard (Baroque 'Cello)
JS Bach: Suite No. 4
15:30 - 16:00 Old Royal Naval College Chapel
£2 on door (no pre-booking)
Rie Kosaka (Voice and Mediaeval Harp)
Recital by the winner and commended performers of the Ella Kidney prize for Early Music
17:30 - 18:30 Old Royal Naval College Chapel
£2 on door only (no pre-booking)
Trinity College of Music Early Music and Composition Faculties
Cantatas from the Italian Baroque juxtaposed with contemporary works for early instruments in a programme inspired by the International Year of Astronomy
19:45 - 21:45 St Alfege Church
£10 (£7 concs)
Sunday 15 November
Maurice Steger (Recorder) and Laurence Cummings (Harpshichord)
10:30 - 12:00 Recital Room, Blackheath Halls
£13.50 (£11 concs)
Festival Service
Susan Sheppard (Baroque ‘Cello) and the Rev’d Jeremy Frost (preacher) present JS Bach: Suite No. 5 with additional music sung by the Old Royal Naval College Chapel Choir
11:00 - 12:15 Old Royal Naval College Chapel
All are welcome to this Act of Worship in the Anglican tradition
Moeck Competition
International competition for solo recorder playing
13:30 - 17:30 Peacock Room, Trinity College of Music
Limited free admission
Susan Sheppard (Baroque 'Cello)
JS Bach: Suite No. 6
15:00 - 15:30 Old Royal Naval College Chapel
£2 on door (no pre-booking)
Notes to Editors:
Festival of Time and Space
Festival of Time and Space brings together music and science through a series of public performances, talks and events as part of the 2009 International Year of Astronomy. A collaboration between Trinity College of Music and the National Maritime Museum (NMM), events will take place throughout the Old Royal Naval College (ORNC) where Trinity is based, and the Maritime Museum site in Greenwich, which together form the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site.
Trinity College of Music
Located in the beautiful Wren-designed King Charles Court at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich, Trinity College of Music is one of the UK’s leading centres for the training of professional musicians. It is a creative and cosmopolitan community of performers, composers, teachers and researchers. The College runs a vibrant programme of performances and festivals as well as groundbreaking education, community and social-inclusion schemes. In 2005 Trinity College of Music and Laban, a leading centre of contemporary dance, came together to form Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. www.tcm.ac.uk
The Old Royal Naval College
The Old Royal Naval College began life as Greenwich Hospital, which was established in 1694 by Royal Charter for the relief and support of seamen and their dependants and for the improvement of navigation. Sir Christopher Wren planned the site, described as "one of the most sublime sights English architecture affords", and, during the first half of the eighteenth century, various illustrious architects, such as Hawksmoor and Vanbrugh, completed Wren's grand design.
In June 1705, the first Pensioners arrived and, by 1814, a total of 2,710 lived there. They lived on a diet of bread, beer and boiled meat and smoked their clay pipes or ‘chalks’ in the Chalk Walk, now the Skittle Alley. The Pensioners were given pocket money of 1s a week, which they supplemented by acting as caddies at Blackheath Golf Club and guides for visitors to Greenwich.
In 1869 the Hospital was closed, and in 1873 the complex of buildings became the Royal Naval College, where officers from all over the world came to train in the naval sciences. The Navy moved out in 1998 to merge with the RAF and Army at a new Joint Services Staff College in Shrivenham.
With the departure of the Royal Navy from Greenwich, responsibility for the Old Royal Naval College passed to the Greenwich Foundation. The Foundation is a registered charity established to look after, and interpret, the buildings and their grounds for the benefit of the nation.
