New French Song

A project to create new settings of the poetry of France

PREMIÈRE DATE : TUESDAY 13TH JULY 2004 at 7.30 pm
PURCELL ROOM, SOUTH BANK CENTRE, LONDON

 Impulses:

• Our recent recital programmes of music by Fauré and Poulenc, which have evoked a strong interest in the work of the French poets from Hugo (b.1802) and Verlaine (b.1844) to Éluard (d.1952) and Aragon (d.1982)
  
  
• Our commitment to new art, in particular that which marries the worlds of literature and music
  
  

		Alison Smart is currently soprano with the BBC Singers. In this capacity she regularly broadcasts as soloist, and has acquired unrivalled experience of a vast range of new music through working with the world's greatest composers and conductors.
			Katharine Durran has developed highly acclaimed parallel careers as solo pianist, exponent of new music and song accompanist. Current projects include refreshing yet faithful interpretations of J.S.Bach's Toccatas and Goldberg Variations.
				Their recent CD, Peripheral Visions, on the Metier label, includes music by James MacMillan, Judith Weir, Elizabeth Maconchy, Gabriel Jackson, Robin Holloway, Maxwell Davies, George Nicholson and Nicola LeFanu and has been described as "A typically adventurous collection of contemporary British song" (The Times) "A welcome gathering. Without this sort of exercise few of us would be able to stand back and consider the progress of songwriting either nationally or internationally" (Record Box) and  "Independent-minded…impressive" (The Sunday Times)

Aims:

·           To enlarge the existing repertoire for voice and piano

·           To work with composers who are looking to push out the frontiers of their art whilst also absorbing and building upon the great literary and musical works of the past; to this end we have invited twenty composers each to make a new setting of a 19^th or 20^th century French poem

·           To encourage student composers to explore modern European literature, whether they be at school or in further education; to this end we will invite student composers to set French texts and give subsequent composers' workshops in schools, colleges and universities

·           To make a CD recording for public release and worldwide distribution, thereby bringing these new works immediately to the widest possible audience

 The composers:  

·          Diana Burrell, Graham Fitkin, Bob Chilcott, Nicola LeFanu, Will Todd, Adam Gorb, Howard Skempton, 
Judith Bingham, Gabriel Jackson,  Ed Cowie, Michael Finnissy, Helen Roe, John Casken, Sadie Harrison, 
Roger Redgate, Andrew Keeling, Laurence Crane, Eddie MacGuire, Tarik O'Regan & Hugh Wood

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