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Julian Anderson Nominated in Two Categories in the 2024 Classical Ivors Awards

Oct. 25, 2024

Julian Anderson has been nominated in two categories in this year's Classical Ivors Awards: "Best Chamber Ensemble Composition" for Mitternachtslied and "Best Orchestral Composition" for ECHOES.

Mitternachtslied, for soprano and ensemble, is set to a text by Friedrich Nietzsche, and was premiered in February, 2023 by soprano Ania Vegry and the Das Neue Ensemble under the baton of Stephan Meier at the Kleiner Sendesaal des NDR in Hannover, Germany.

ECHOES was premiered by bass-baritone Davóne Tines and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Oliver Zeffman on July 7, 2023 at Barbican Hall. The premiere performance of ECHOES was featured on the first major European classical Pride concert dedicated to featuring the music of queer composers valued for their contribution to classical music. Oliver Zeffman noted: "Classical music owes a lot to LGBT people, it’s worth saying so, and Pride is the moment for it. So yes, there’s purpose in a classical Pride concert."

ECHOES was commissioned by Oliver Zeffman on the occasion of the concert for Pride month. In addition, Anderson dedicated the work to him in friendship.

Additionally, the Nash Ensemble, led by Martyn Brabbins, celebrated their 60th anniversary on October 5 with a concert at Wigmore Hall with a program that featured songs by Julian Anderson, including THUS, based on Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, "Rain in Summer." Soprano Claire Booth was the soloist. Richard Morrison of The Times noted: "The songs draw on a mixed bag of texts, from 19th-century poets to a stoic email sent by a fellow composer during the Covid lockdown. What they have in common is their catalyst-like effect on Anderson’s imagination. The music is vivid, volatile and virtuosic, with a remarkable range of sonorities drawn from those five instruments. It also has a frantic, almost demonic energy — especially the Longfellow setting THUS, where Booth and the players added stamping, clapping and (from the soprano) yelping to the more conventional sounds. In short, gloriously bracing and uncompromising — a perfect celebration for an ensemble that has always embraced the new."

Listen to Julian Anderson's Litanies (2018-19):

Julian Anderson/Litanies/Alban Gerhardt, cello/Hong Kong Sinfonietta/Christoph Poppen, conductor

To learn more about Julian Anderson, visit schott-music.com.

Julian Anderson
Mitternachtslied (2022-2023)
for soprano and ensemble
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4'
View the score

ECHOES (2023)
for orchestra
for baritone, chorus, and orchestra
text (Eng) by Gerard Manley Hopkins
pic.2.3(3.eh).2.bcl.2.cbn-4.3.3.1-3perc-hp-str
11'
View the score

THUS (2023)
for soprano and ensemble
text by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow from the poem "Rain in Summer"
fl(pic).cl(bcl)-pno-vln.vc
5'

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