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US Premiere of Luke Bedford's Wonderful No-Headed Nightingale at Aspen Music Festival

Jun. 04, 2014

US Premiere of Luke Bedford's <em> Wonderful No-Headed Nightingale</em> at Aspen Music Festival

On June 28, Luke Bedford’s chamber work Wonderful No-Headed Nightingale receives its US premiere at the 2014 Aspen Music Festival, with Sydney Hodkinson leading the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble. The eight-minute work, scored for ten players, received its world premiere in 2012 by the Ensemble Modern conducted by Oswald Sallaberger, and subsequently received its UK premiere by the London Sinfonietta in 2013.

The piece is a reworking of Bedford’s earlier Wonderful Two-Headed Nightingale, for violin, viola and chamber ensemble, which takes its title from a 19th-century poster advertising Millie and Christine McCoy, a pair of singing conjoined-twins. Bedford elaborates:

From early on in the composition process, I knew that the two soloists would be forced to play either identical or very similar music for most of the piece. I felt the tension between their combined, unified sound and their desire to break free from one another could be richly exploited. But I also knew that they would never be successful in tearing free. They would remain as locked together at the end of the piece as they were at the start. In creating this version for 10 players, I was forced to move the soloists back into the ensemble. Hence the new title - the two heads might have been removed, but the nightingale sings on.

For US premiere concert details, visit aspenmusicfestival.com.

To learn more about Luke Bedford, go to universaledition.com.

Luke Bedford
Wonderful No-Headed Nightingale (2012)
for chamber ensemble
flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, trombone, two violins, viola, violoncello, double bass
8’

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