SCOTTISH ENSEMBLE £10:11/12 SEASON

SINFONIA CONCERTANTE

With Lawrence Power, viola

Fri 17 February 2012

Haydn: Symphony No.44 in E minor ‘Trauer’

Luke Bedford: Wonderful Two-Headed Nightingale (world première performances)

William Alwyn: Pastoral Fantasia

Mozart: Sinfonia Concertante in E flat K 364

The Scottish Ensemble will give the world première of their latest commission, Wonderful Two-Headed Nightingale by young British composer Luke Bedford at Eden Court on Friday 17 February 2012. The Ensemble will be joined by unparalleled star viola player Lawrence Power in this concert, pairing with Scottish Ensemble Artistic Director Jonathan Morton as soloist in the new work and in Mozart’s famous Sinfonia Concertante.  As part of the Ensemble’s £10:11/12 Season, all tickets for this concert are £10.

One of the freshest voices in British composition, 33-year old Bedford has won several major prizes for his music and is Composer in Residence at London’s prestigious Wigmore Hall. The Ensemble commissioned Bedford to create a companion piece to Mozart’s famous Sinfonia Concertante using the same forces as the earlier composer’s work. Audiences in Inverness will be the very first to hear this brand new work for solo violin, solo viola, strings, oboes and horns before the piece receives its London premiere at Wigmore Hall on 24 February 2012.

On his Scottish Ensemble commission, Wonderful Two-Headed Nightingale, Bedford says: “I am delighted to have been invited to create a new work for the Scottish Ensemble. In particular, I am looking forward to the challenges of writing a new piece to stand alongside the work of Mozart and his Sinfonia Concertante. The Scottish Ensemble has a strong reputation for commissioning exciting new music, and I am very proud to join the rank of contemporary composers to have had works performed by this unique group.”

The rest of the programme of this concert features the Ensemble’s trademark blend of established classics of the string repertoire performed alongside new and unusual works for the unique forces of the UK’s only professional string orchestra. From Mozart, one of the early masters of chamber music, to Luke Bedford, audiences will hear how composers across the centuries have employed the individual characteristics of the viola, demonstrated by violist Lawrence Power.

Power is in demand across the world as a solo viola player and as a chamber musician and will be joining Scottish Ensemble Artistic Director Jonathan Morton as soloist in Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante, famous for its beautiful melodic phrases, and in Bedford’s Wonderful Two-Headed Nightingale. Power will also introduce audiences to an unfairly neglected 20th-century British composer: William Alwyn. Power will bring the idyllic pastoral scenes of Alwyn, reminiscent of contemporaries Vaughan Williams and William Walton, to life in a performance of the composer’s Pastoral Fantasia. Composed in 1939, Alwyn’s piece paints a nostalgic and poignant portrait of a landscape about to be altered forever.

From 7.15pm audiences in Inverness are invited to join soloist Lawrence Power to find out more about the challenges of preparing a brand new work for performance and about his life as a touring soloist.

The Scottish Ensemble’s £10:11/12 Season gives audiences the opportunity to experience first-class music making for the special flat-rate of £10. The Ensemble is committed to delivering first-class musical experiences to everyone, even in the current climate of economic uncertainty. Offering one of the best-value nights out available, audiences have the opportunity to try out for themselves the powerful and rewarding performances that this enterprising group is known for.

Source: Scottish Ensemble