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2007
Britten Sinfonia wins the prestigious
Ensemble Award at the Royal Philharmonic Society Awards. Our discography
grew in number and acclaim with recordings of Hartmann's Concerto Funebre
with Alina Ibragimova, Bairstow's Choral Music and Bruckner's Mass in
E minor and Motets. All were named Editor's Choice in Gramophone magazine
and received numerous glowing reviews.
Our Britten Sinfonia at Lunch
tour continued to be recorded for BBC Radio 3 and the tour expanded to
include Krakow, Poland, Aldeburgh, Cambridge, Norwich.
Our Easter concerts with Polyphony
were perofrmed to sell out audiences in Norwich and Cambridge whislt later
in the year Britten Sifnonia perofrmed at the Loidon JAzz festival with
Gil Evan directing, and toured with, amongst others Imogen COoper, aLINa
Ibragimova, Carolyn Sampson, Pekka Kuusisto.
Britten Sinfonia continued
its promotion of new music, featuring a new works by Tansy Davies, Huw
Watkins, Tarik O'Regan and John Tavener.
2006
Lux Aeterna, our Hyperion recording
of music by Morten Lauridsen, was nominated for a Grammy award.
Our highly successful series
of Lunchtime concerts at West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge, was broadcast
by BBC Radio 3 over four days from Tuesday 4 April.
Two past projects were revived
in April and May: Art of Fugue (renamed Bach meets Moondog) toured to
Dartington, Glasgow, Birmingham and Norwich, and our collaboration with
Henri Oguike Dance Company played to a sold-out Queen Elizabeth Hall.
2005
Britten Sinfonia is nominated
in the Ensemble category in the 2005 Royal Philharmonic Society awards.
The first of two recordings for Hyperion is released, featuring Morten
Lauridsen's Lux Aeterna, inspiring rave reviews from both sides of the
Atlantic. More...
Imogen Cooper makes her debut
with Britten Sinfonia, in performances of Mozart piano concerti.
Venus Blazing, a Contemporary
Music Newtwork Tour, directed by Lou Stein, featured a violin concerto
by Deirdre Gribbin andtwo celtic-themed pieces by MacMillan.
The entire east end of Bury St Edmunds
Cathedral was filled with a huge stage in May, for two performances of
Tiger dancing, a collaboration between BS and the Henri Oguike Dance Company.
It included new choreography to Tippett's Concerto for Double String Orchestra,
in the composer's centenary year.
We launched our first ever
lunchtime series, Britten Sinfonia at Lunch, at West Road Concert Hall,
Cambridge. The series featured five stunning world premieres by John Woolrich,
Jason Yarde, Tristan Rhys Williams, Kenneth Hesketh and Joseph Phibbs
alongside other chamber works such as Stravinsky's Octet and Purcell's
Fantasias.
Jacqueline Shave was appointed
leader in September.
2004
Tasmin Little directs Britten
Sinfonia in Beethoven Violin Concerto on tour, including a performance
at Snape Maltings.
Nicholas Cleobury stands down
as Artistic Director and takes the title Founder Laureate. For up-to-date
news on what Nicholas is doing now, please see his website www.nicholascleobury.net
Britten Sinfonia's Easter concerts
with Polyphony and Stephen Layton in King's College Chapel and Norwich
Cathedral lead to recordings of the two main works in the programme: James
MacMillan's Seven Last Words from the Cross and Morten Lauridsen's Lux
Aeterna. Both recordings are released next year on Hyperion.
Britten Sinfonia and The Hilliard
Ensemble give the UK premiere of Piers Hellawell's The Pear Tree of Nicostratus,
along with other vocal and instrumental works on the theme of love and
lust. The May tour visited Cambridge and the Salisbury and Chelsea Festivals.
Thomas Ades conducts Britten
Sinfonia for the first time at the Aldeburgh Festival in June, in a programme
including Harrison Birtwistle's The Fields of Sorrow. The concert was
broadcast live on BBC Radio 3.
Britten Sinfonia is invited
to play at the distinguished Donauschingen Festival in Germany. The orchestra
is invited to dine with the Royal family and to stay overnight in the
castle!
The final BBC Proms chamber
series from the V&A Museum in London is Britten Sinfonia premiering
The Coroner's Report by Simon Holt.
Joanna MacGregor gives the
thundering European premiere of James MacMillan's Piano Concerto No.2,
with the composer conducting.
A major tour with Nitin Sawhney
takes us to Brussels and around the UK in the autumn, including our debut
at the Royal Festival Hall. The Telegraph commented 'The Festival Hall
was packed with an audience that whistled and cheered its approval. One
felt there was a genuine meeting of minds between the orchestra and the
musicians around it'. More...
2003
Tour to Greece with Django Bates followed by a
UK tour featuring music by American John Zorn set against cartoon inspired
pieces by Janacek, John Adams and John Woolrich.
John Zorn
Following a national review
of the chamber orchestra sector, Arts Council England announces 100% increase
in Britten Sinfonia’s funding.
Britten Sinfonia nominated for two Royal Philharmonic Society awards:
best large ensemble and best concert series (for its 2002/03 concert series
in Cambridge and Norwich).
Performance at the prestigious George Enescu Festival in Bucharest follows
concerts in Brussels and Brugge.
New Cambridge and Norwich season is launched, featuring Tasmin Little,
Guy Johnston, Nicholas Daniel, Carole Cerasi and conductor Nicholas Cleobury
in his last season as Britten Sinfonia’s Artistic Director.
Joanna MacGregor directs a 9-date UK tour Art
of Fugue, playing to sell-out halls in Norwich, Cambridge and London's
Queen Elizabeth Hall. With Andy Sheppard and Shri Sriram as soloists,
the programme matched MacGregor's new arrangement of Bach's The Art of
Fugue with music by Moondog and Stravinsky. More...
Britten Sinfonia in 2003
2002
First collaboration with pianist
Angela Hewitt directing Bach and Mozart keyboard concerti in St John’s
Smith Square, London and Edinburgh’s Usher Hall.
Celebrations for the orchestra’s 10th Anniversary begin with a national
tour featuring Evelyn Glennie, including performances in Cambridge, Norwich
and Chelmsford, cities all closely linked with the orchestra’s development.
This is what the Times said in their preview of the tour:
“Britten Sinfonia, ten years old this autumn, is not only the East
of England’s ‘house’ band. It is also one of a new breed
of orchestras. They are unfettered by tradition, because they have none.
They run risks because they have discovered that, contrary to decades
of received music-business wisdom, it is risks that pull crowds. And they
are truly post-modern in outlook. They mix and match their programmes
with an outrageous glee that would horrify the venerable Philharmonics.”
Launch of a new concert series in Cambridge coincides with Britten Sinfonia’s
appointment as Cambridge University’s first Associate Orchestra.
Orchestra wins Anglia TV’s “Best Arts Event” for Light
& Shade coinciding with a CD release of music from the tour for the
Sound Circus label.
John Woolrich succeeds David Matthews as Composer in Association. Joanna
MacGregor and Nicholas Daniel appointed Associate Artistic Directors.
Britten Sinfonia outgrows King’s Parade offices. Team of eight staff
move to new offices in Sturton Street, Cambridge.
2001
Premiere of Parthenogenesis,
a new work by James MacMillan, who conducts the performance featuring
soprano Lisa Milne, baritone Christopher Purves and actor Anastasia Hille.
Debut at the Edinburgh International Festival, with further performances
of Parthenogenisis and a portrait concert of music by Stuart MacRae.
Britten Sinfonia returns to the Proms with Ian Bostridge, this time performing
Britten’s Nocturne, and also in the chamber Proms with Sam West narrating
Stravinsky’s Soldier’s Tale.
Following success of Django Bates tour, Joanna MacGregor is invited to
work with the orchestra. She directs a 10 date tour – Light and Shade
- featuring music by Arvo Part, Lou Harrison, Schnittke and a new work
from Nitin Sawhney. The tour is featured in a Joanna MacGregor South Bank
Show profile for LWT.
Promotional flyer for the Light
and Shade tour
Britten Sinfonia Community
& Education organises major projects in Cambridge, Norwich, Chelmsford
and Luton, including after school music clubs for young people –
Inside Out - funded by the Foundation for Youth Music.
Jonathan Barclay, Senior Partner at Mills & Reeve, succeeds Charles
Barrington as Chairman.
2000
UK tour with Django Bates and
his jazz group Human Chain. Django Bates writes a new work to celebrate
the Millenium – 2000 Years beyond UNDO. Concerts also feature Joanna
MacGregor peforming the Ligeti Piano Concerto.
Britten Sinfoina’s first tour to Germany includes performances at
Munich’s Gasteig and Frankfurt’s Alte Oper.
1999
Britten Sinfonia makes its
BBC Proms debut, featuring a new symphony by David Matthews, Mozart’s
‘Prague’ Symphony and Ian Bostridge performing Britten’s
Les Illuminations.
Alongside the Prom players from Britten Sinfonia run educational workshops
and performances in a prison.
1998
Landmark concert series Frank
Zappa and the Fathers of Invention, setting Zappa’s music against
Bach, Stravinsky, Varese, Ives and Steve Reich. Sell-out performances
given “in the round” in the Cambridge Corn Exchange attract
a wide audience, with 80% attending their first “classical”
music concert. This initiative is followed up later in the year with trumpeter
Guy Barker performing music from the Gil Evans/Miles Davies albums, set
alongside Stravinsky and ‘big band’ arrangements of Dunstable
and Gesualdo.
Flyer for Frank Zappa concert
series
Launch of a new concert series
in Norwich in partnership with the Norfolk & Norwich Festival. Nicholas
Daniel conducts the first concert, an all-Mozart programme.
David Matthews appointed as Britten Sinfonia’s first Composer in
Association. His first work, Burnham Wick, given in Birmingham for BBC
Radio 3.
1997
Britten Sinfonia awarded £150,000
from the Arts Council’s Arts for Everyone scheme for the development
of its work in the East of England.
A major UK tour with the mask and mime company Trestle, featuring a new
score from David Horne – Beyond the Blue Horizon.
First of several discs for Classic FM’s new label are made, featuring
Britten Sinfonia musicians. Nicholas Daniel, Joy Farrall and Kate Hill
record Mozart’s oboe, clarinet and flute concerti respectively.
“The finest performances from British soloists I’ve heard in
a decade” Norman Lebrecht, Daily Telegraph
1996
Orchestra works with tenor
Ian Bostridge for the first time with a young Daniel Harding conducting.
This successful collaboration leads to other concerts and an EMI recording
of Britten repertoire including Our Hunting Fathers.
Britten Sinfonia works with composer/conductor James MacMillan for the
first time in a performance of his Busqueda, narrated by Diana Rigg.
Germaine Greer joins Britten Sinfonia’s board. Administrative staff
increases to 5 people, requiring a move to new offices on King’s
Parade, Cambridge.
1995
Britten Sinfonia’s debut
CD is released to critical acclaim, featuring David Pyatt in the Strauss
Horn Concertos and the Duet-concertino and Serenade for Wind Op.7. It
wins a Gramophone Award.
Britten Sinfonia chosen to record Richard Rodney Bennett’s Partita
for Orchestra, a commission from the Association of British Orchestras
1994
Debut at the South Bank Centre brings further
critical acclaim. The programme includes Haydn’s Sinfonia Concertante,
Britten’s Nocturne (with tenor John Mark Ainsley) and Copland’s
Music for the Theater, as well as a new piece by British composer Philip
Cashian.
“This is undoubtedly an orchestra of which we are going to hear a
lot more” The Independent
“A major force not only in East Anglia, but in the musical life of
the nation” The Times
The number of concerts increases from 12 in 1993 to 27 in 1994, including
the orchestra’s first foreign tour, a residency at the Wratislava
Cantans Festival in Poland. Televised concerts include works by Tippett
(Symphony No.1 and A Child of Our Time) and Panufnik (Universal Prayer).
Chelmsford appoint Britten Sinfonia ‘Orchestra in Residence’.
Britten Sinfonia celebrates the 50th anniversary of Michael Tippett’s
A Child of Our Time in London’s Adelphi Theatre where it was premiered.
Soloists include Faye Robinson, Cynthia Clarey, Philip Langridge and Thomas
Allen and the concert is given in the presence of the composer.
Michael Tippett's A Child of Our Time
1993
Britten Sinfonia’s part
in Jonathan Miller’s production of Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos
provides the orchestra’s first critical success:
“Britten Sinfonia was a gleaming beacon in an account of this score.
The wind solos were ravishing, the string sound sumptuously warm.”
The Sunday Times.
Sir Michael Tippett becomes Britten Sinfonia’s President and Charles
Barrington is appointed Chairman with Charles Rawlinson as Deputy Chairman.
Following a grant from the Foundation for Sport and the Arts, Britten
Sinfonia appoints its first Education Manager to foster a community and
outreach programme alongside its concerts.
1992
Britten Sinfonia is launched
following an initiative from Eastern Arts and a number of key figures
including Nicholas Cleobury, who recognise the need for a world class
orchestra in the East of England.
The Britten estate grants the use of the name. Britten Sinfonia reflects
Benjamin Britten’s artistic vision: a commitment to early music as
well as new music, to music education and music performance of the highest
quality, a commitment to the East of England and an ambassadorial role
on the world stage.
Nicholas Cleobury becomes Artistic Director. Nicholas Daniel’s celebrated
group, the Haffner Wind Ensemble, makes up the wind section. Pauline Lowbury
appointed Leader and David Butcher as General Manager.
First concert takes place in Chelmsford featuring a mixed programme of
works by Bach, Copland, Stravinsky and Colin Matthews, illustrating the
new ensemble’s commitment to a broad range of entertaining repertoire.
Britten Sinfonia in 1992
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