Performances & Interviews
Programme
- songbirdsongs(14 mins)excerpts
- Le merle noir(6 mins)
- Mad Maudlin’s Search for Her Tom O’Bedlam(5 mins)
- Molly's Song 3(11 mins)
- Rinaldo – 'Augelletti, che cantate'(5 mins)
- Eight Songs for a Mad King(32 mins)
Performers
- Marcus Farnsworthbaritone
- Jennifer Francesoprano
- Tom McKinneyguitar
- Sian Edwardsconductor
- Olivia Fuchsstage director
About This Event
Dating from the mid-19th century, Wilton’s is the world’s oldest surviving music hall. With its tumbledown beauty and colourful history, it’s the perfect space for a staged performance of Peter Maxwell Davies’s Eight Songs for a Mad King – a dramatic monologue exploring the crazed fantasies and crumbling visions of George III.
The fluttering and chattering of the king’s pet bullfinches which run through the work find an echo in bird-inspired pieces by Messiaen and Handel, as well as Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer John Luther Adams.
Sian Edwards conducts the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, with exciting young British soloists Jennifer France and Marcus Farnsworth.
There will be no interval
A limited number of Promming tickets will be available for cash only on the day from Wilton's Music Hall for £6.00. Raffle tickets will be handed out on a first-come, first-served basis which gives you the opportunity to buy a Promming ticket from 1.30pm (for the 3pm performance) and from 6pm (for the 7.30pm performance).
Once you have received a raffle ticket, you are free to leave the queue until 1.5 hours before the performance starts. Please make sure you return at least 30 minutes before the performance otherwise you will not be guaranteed entry.
See below for information about this venue.
Image: Sian Edwards © Katie Vandyck