Cambridge Music Festival attracts international artists

The full programme for Cambridge Music Festival has been announced and tickets are now on sale. Artists from around the world – including the USA, Russia, Germany and Austria – feature in an ambitious series of world-class events, from Wednesday 12 – Saturday 22 November 2014.

Highlights of the festival include a rare UK appearance by Philip Glass and his Philip Glass Ensemble performing some of his iconic works from the late 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s. The acclaimed Russian violinist, Viktoria Mullova, performs Beethoven Violin Concerto with the Philharmonia Orchestra, and we welcome the great Russian string quartet, the Borodin Quartet, and the renowned Berlin Philharmonic String Quintet. And the festival closes in Ely Cathedral with Britten’s War Requiem featuring Britten Sinfonia and local players and singers.

CMF also features a series of free activities featuring games, technology and some new music. MusicLab is a new interactive music technology installation for people of all ages. Housed in a massive truck, it can hold 30 people taking part in five activities – try out instruments, record yourself, sample using your own or provided sounds. At the end of the day, the public can go online to hear their creations and explore further the world of music.

Other free events include YouTube sensation, Manu Delago, with Aurora Orchestra, and a new work for keyboards, harps and electronics by FitkinWall. While the work of young composers and performers is showcased in a Young Composers Network event curated by local students.

Speaking about the Festival, director Justin Lee said: “I am delighted to welcome so many world-class artists to Cambridge this year’s festival, in particular a rare UK visit by Philip Glass and the Philip Glass Ensemble. The range and impact of his music has been immense, and it is as popular today as it was 40-odd years ago.

“Fundamentally, our aim [as a Festival] is to celebrate the very best Cambridge has to offer – such as our choirs and Britten Sinfonia – and to attract some of the world’s leading musicians to the city. Above all, I hope audience members find something here – whether it is mainstream or quirky – that they will enjoy and remember for many years to come.”

Under Lee, who was appointed in 2011, Cambridge Music Festival has become an annual event each November and is enjoying great success, attracting some of the world’s great artists, near-capacity audiences, and significant support from local individual donors and corporate sponsors.

For more information and bookings, please visit www.cammusic.co.uk


FULL PROGRAMME DETAILS

LARGE-SCALE CONCERTS

Wednesday 12 November    King’s College Chapel
BACH MAGNIFICAT
JS Bach: Magnificat BWV243, Brandenburg Concerto No.2, Cantata ‘Schwingt freudig euch empor’ BWV36 & Cantata ‘Ich Armer mensch BWV55

Helen-Jane Howells & Susanna Hurrell sopranos, David Allsopp countertenor, James Gilchrist tenor, Ben Appl bass
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Choir of King’s College
Stephen Cleobury conductor

Friday 14 November    Cambridge Corn Exchange
PHILIP GLASS & PHILIP GLASS ENSEMBLE
Excerpts from Philip Glass’s iconic works of late 1960s, 70s and 80s: Music in 12 Parts, Glassworks, Music in Similar Motion, Koyaanisqatsi (The Grid), The Photographer (Act III), Civil WARs (Cologne Section)

Sunday 16 November    West Road Concert Hall
VIKTORIA MULLOVA PLAYS BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: Violin Concerto*, Overture ‘Coriolan’
Haydn: Symphony No.82 ‘Bear’

Viktoria Mullova violin / director*, Philharmonia Orchestra

Saturday 22 November    Ely Cathedral
BRITTEN WAR REQUIEM
Amanda Roocroft soprano, John Mark Ainsley tenor, bass tbc
Britten Sinfonia, Cambridge University Chamber Orchestra
CUMS Chorus and choirs of Jesus and Girton colleges, choristers of Jesus College (Mark Williams director)
Stephen Cleobury conductor

CHAMBER MUSIC

Thursday 13 November    West Road Concert Hall
MOZART CLARINET QUINTET
Borodin: String Quartet No.2
Shostakovich: String Quartet No.11
Mozart: Clarinet Quintet

Borodin String Quartet, Michael Collins clarinet

Monday 17 November    St John’s College Chapel
BACH MOTETS
JS Bach: Lobet den Herren; Komm, Jesu, komm; Fürchte dich nicht; Singet dem Herren
With works by Schütz, Eccard and Melchior

The Cardinall’s Musick (Andrew Carwood, conductor)

Thursday 20 November    Jesus College Chapel
BERLIN PHILHARMONIC STRING QUINTET
Mozart: Divertimento in F major K138
Dvorak: String Quintet in G major, Op.77; Nocturne Op.40
Piazzolla: Summer & Winter from ‘The Four Seasons’
Bottesini: Variations on Bellini’s ‘La Sonnambula’ ▪  Bassini: La Ronde des Lutins

EXPERIMENTAL / ELECTRONICA EVENTS

Friday 14 November – free lunchtime concert    Mumford Theatre, ARU
AURORA & MANU DELAGO
Takemitsu: Rocking Mirror Daybreak
Martinů: La Revue de Cuisine
Manu Delago: Music for two acoustic toothbrushes; new work
Thomas Adès: Court Studies

Manu Delago hang, members of Aurora Orchestra

Friday 21 November – free lunchtime concert    Mumford Theatre, ARU
GRAHAM FITKIN & RUTH WALL
Wire-strung & lever harps, autoharp, pole tone generator and a Moog synthesizer all feature in this new work – Lost – by Graham Fitkin, based on music written for Ockham’s Razor, a dramatic aerial theatre show last year.

Graham Fitkin composer/keyboards & Ruth Wall, harps

YOUNG PERFORMERS & PARTICIPATION

Tuesday 18 November    Kettle’s Yard
YOUNG COMPOSERS NETWORK
Award-winning composers and students at Cambridge University curate a programme of new works by young composers, presented in association with Aldeburgh Young Musicians

Monday 3 - Thursday 13 November     In front of Cambridge Junction
MUSICLAB
MusicLab is a 13.5-metre truck packed with recording-industry and gaming technology to create a fun way into exploring music and music-making for people of all ages. Thirty people at a time (perfect for school classes and community groups) can take part in up to 6 music technology activities – from recording themselves singing and playing, manipulating sounds (sampling etc) to exploring the life of an orchestra (eg recording film scores and gaming soundtracks) to trying instruments.

MusicLab will also be open to the public and entry is free to all.


FESTIVAL BACKGROUND
The first annual Cambridge Music Festival under its new director, Justin Lee, was held in November 2012. World-class artists of the calibre of Murray Perahia and Andreas Scholl featured in orchestral, choral and chamber music concerts, alongside a programme of education and community events, and outdoor sound/light projections.

From 2012, the festival has become annual, based on a framework of music, education and technology – three areas for which Cambridge is renowned worldwide.

Cambridge Music Festival is indebted to its donors and sponsors: over 90% of Festival income, including box office sales, comes from commercial or private sources. for the 2014 Festival, supporters include: major sponsors TTP Group, Artemis Fund Management, Eversheds, Howard Group, RealVNC and Cambridge Water; corporate supporters are AshtonKCJ and Language Testing 123; not to mention the many generous individual donors.
The Festival’s patrons are Dame Mary Archer DBE, Nigel Brown OBE, Dame Evelyn Glennie DBE, Professor Michael Thorne, and Sir David Willcocks. The Festival Chairman is Andy Swarbrick.

Cambridge Music Festival originally grew out of a major celebration in 1991 to mark the bicentenary of the Mozart’s death. Local music groups, invited artists, schools and many parts of the community came together for a series of over 70 events across four weeks, organised and directed by Gillian Perkins. Such was its success, the Festival was formally constituted as a legal entity and a major Festival mounted every three years until Gillian’s retirement in 2009.

Festival themes in this period have been inspired by composers and aspects of Cambridge life: Elgar & British music; Schubert & Vienna; Architecture; Singing and French music; Mozart, Maths & Music; and Music & Evolution. The education and community work has attracted particular acclaim including a Royal Philharmonic Award nomination in 2006 for the ‘Orchestra in a Village’ project.


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Contact:
Justin Lee
Festival Director
justin67lee@gmail.com
07957 983406
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