European American Music Distributors Company is a member of the Schott Music Group

BBC Proms Features Premieres by Adès, Anderson, Davies, Eötvös, Matthews, Pintscher, Seither, Woolrich, with Focuses on Tippett & Britten

Jun. 26, 2013

BBC Proms Features Premieres by Adès, Anderson, Davies, Eötvös, Matthews, Pintscher, Seither, Woolrich, with Focuses on Tippett & Britten

For nearly 120 years, the BBC Proms has been revered for its inspiring programming and influential performances from the world’s leading organizations, and this year is shaping up to be no different. The festival, which runs from July 12 through September 7 in its home at the Royal Albert Hall, features several world premieres as well as many national premieres of works from the Schott/EAM catalogue.

Opening night at the Proms kicks off with the world premiere and BBC commission of a new work, Harmony, by Julian Anderson in a performance by the BBC Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Sakari Oramo. A Vision of the Sea by David Matthews, also commissioned by the BBC, receives its world premiere on July 16 by the BBC Philharmonic and conductor Juanjo Mena.

On July 17, the BBC Symphony Orchestra presents the world premiere of Thomas Adès’s Totentanz, for mezzo-soprano, baritone and orchestra.  The performance, led by the composer, features soloists Christianne Stotijn and Simon Keenlyside. Totentanz was commissioned by Robin Boyle in memory of Witold Lutosławski and his wife, Danuta.

Peter Eötvos’s second violin concerto, DoReMi, which was premiered by Midori and the Los Angeles Philharmonic in January, receives its UK premiere on August 29 in a performance by Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Philharmonia Orchestra with Midori returning as soloist. DoReMi was co-commissioned by the BBC, Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Leipzig Gewandhaus. Of the piece, Eötvös notes that “I liked the idea of returning to where I began as a youngster: putting voices above or next to each other like building blocks and finding pleasure in the variations of the successions.”

John Woolrich and Tansy Davies's new variations to the Irish dance tune Sellinger's Round premiere with the English Chamber Orchestra on August 24. In 1952, Benjamin Britten came upon the idea to use this tune as the basis for a set of variations for string orchestra, to be written collaboratively by six of the finest composers of the day: Lennox Berkeley, Arthur Oldham, Humphrey Searle, Michael Tippett, William Walton and Britten himself. With their newly commissioned variations, Woolrich and Davies become the most recent in a line of esteemed composers to contribute their iterations of the tune.

The world premiere of Charlotte Seither’s Language of Leaving, for orchestra and chorus, takes place on August 28 with Josep Pons leading the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Singers. Language of Leaving is a setting of text by the 17th-century poet Francesco De Lemene, which utilizes the singers as “spots of color.”

Music of two of the greatest 20th-century British music stalwarts, Benjamin Britten and Sir Michael Tippett, receive several performances throughout the Proms. Tippett is celebrated with performances of Symphony No. 2, Fantasia Concertante on a Theme of Corelli, a concert performance of his opera The Midsummer Marriage, and Concerto for Double String Orchestra. The festival honors Britten with performances of many of his most beloved works including Young Apollo as well as Phaedra, featuring mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly and the Britten Sinfonia.

Additional notable performances include the London premiere of Matthias Pintscher’s Chute d’Etoiles on August 18, the UK Premiere of Colin Matthews’s Turning Point on July 29, Frank Zappa’s The Adventures of Greggery Peccary on July 31, and Morton Feldman's Coptic Light on August 19.

For more information on the 2013 Proms, including concert listings and performance details, please visit www.bbc.co.uk/proms.

Thomas Adès
Totentanz (2013)
for mezzo-soprano, baritone, and orchestra
3.3.3.3-4.3.2.btrbn.contrabass tuba-timp-perc(6/8)-harp-pno(cel)-str
40'

Julian Anderson
Harmony (2013)
for orchestra
5'

Benjamin Britten
Phaedra (1975)
text (Eng) by Robert Lowell after Racine's Phèdre
dramatic cantata for mezzo-soprano and small orchestra
timp.2perc-hpd-str
15'

Young Apollo (1939)
for piano, string quartet and string orchestra
10'

Peter Eötvös
DoReMi (2011-2012, rev. 2013)
Violin Concerto No. 2
for violin and orchestra
3.2.3.2-2.2.1.0-3perc-hp-cel-str
24'

Morton Feldman
Coptic Light (1986)
for orchestra
4.4.4.4-4.4.4.1-timp.4perc.2hp.2pno-str
30'

Colin Matthews
Turning Point (2006)
2(1, 2.pic).afl.2.ca.2.bcl.cbcl.2.cbsn-4.3.4.1-timp.3perc-2hp-pno(cel)-str
18'

David Matthews
A Vision of the Sea (2013)
a symphonic poem for orchestra
3(3.pic).3(2.ca).3(3.bcl).2.cbsn-4.3.3.1-timp.3perc-hp-pno-str
20'

Matthias Pintscher
Chute d’Etoiles (2012)
for two solo trumpets in C and orchestra
3(3.pic, 2.afl).2.ca.2.bcl.2.cbsn-4.2.3.1- 4perc-hp.pno-str
22'

Charlotte Seither
Language of Leaving (2013)
for orchestra and chorus
text (It.) by Francesco De Lemene
3(2.pic, 3.afl).2.ca.2.bcl.2cbsn-4.3.3.1-4Schlg-hp-str
ca. 20'

Sir Michael Tippett
Symphony No. 2 (1956-1957)
for orchcestra
2(pic).2.2(Acl).2-4.2.3.1-timp.perc(cym, s.d, b.d)-hp.cel(ad lib).pno-str
32'

The Midsummer Marriage (1955)
an opera in three acts
libretto (Eng) by the composer
for two sopranos, two tenors, baritone, alto, bass/mezzo soprano, SATB chorus and dancers
2(2.pic).2.2.2-4.2.3.0-timp.2perc(tub bells, tri, gong, cym, s.d, b.d)-hp.cel-str
150’

Frank Zappa
The Adventures of Greggery Peccary
transcribed by Ali N. Askin, 2009
text (Eng) by Frank Zappa
1(afl.pic).1(ca).2(1.Ebcl.2.bcl.tsax).1-1.2(1.pictp.2.flugelhn).1.1-3perc- 2kybd-mand.2gtr.bgtr.hp-st
25'

News