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World Premiere of Francisco Coll's Ceci n'est pas un Concerto with Thomas Adès and Birmingham Contemporary Music Group

Dec. 08, 2016

World Premiere of Francisco Coll's <em>Ceci n'est pas un Concerto</em> with Thomas Adès and Birmingham Contemporary Music Group

On December 10, the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group (BCMG) gives the world premiere of Francisco Coll’s Ceci n’est pas un Concerto (“This Is Not a Concerto”), scored for soprano soloist and a 15-piece ensemble, conducted by Thomas Adès. The premiere takes place at the CBSO Centre in Birmingham, England and features Elizabeth Atherton as soloist. Ceci n’est pas un Concerto, commissioned by BCMG as part of its “Sound Investment” commissioning program, is a tragicomedy, incorporating theater with music. The program also features a performance of Gerald Barry’s Wiener Blut, for chamber ensemble, which was a 2000 BCMG Sound Investment commission. Of his new work, Coll writes:

Ceci n'est pas un Concerto is a fake Piano Concertino, in which the soprano is the real soloist. The text, by the composer, is a scene played out as an 'absurdist' dialogue between the singer and another character, represented by the pianist, who remains verbally silent. Surrealism plays an important role in this piece, not only because the work creates an impossible world in a very realistic way, but also because it seems that the music is filling a lack of hope through humour and irony. The title is a variant of ‘Ceci n'est pas une pipe’ by René Magritte.   
 

Born in 1985 in Valencia, Francisco Coll is a former student of Thomas Adès and, in fact, Adès’s only pupil to date. Coll has composed five orchestral pieces, a chamber opera (Café Kafka) and several ensemble and chamber works, with commissions from the London Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, among others. In 2010, Coll was chosen to represent Spain at the UNESCO International Rostrum of Composers. 

For more information on Francisco Coll, visit fabermusic.com. Details on Gerald Barry's music can be found at schott-music.com.

Francisco Coll
Ceci n’est pas un Concerto (2016)
for soprano and 15 players
1.1.1.0.cbsn-1.1.1.0-2perc-pno-str(1.1.1.1.1)
18’

Gerald Barry
Wiener Blut (2000)
for chamber ensemble
1.1.1.bcl.1-2.1.0.0-str(1.1.1.1.1)
14’

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