Proms Saturday matinees
Natalie Clein plays music by Sir John Tavener and Sophia Gubaidulina
There are four Proms Saturday Matinees at Cadogan Hall, focusing on contemporary music with major premieres of new works by Georges Aperghis, Stevie Wishart and Sir John Tavener.
The first celebrates the 75th birthday of one of Britain's most respected contemporary composers, Sir Richard Rodney Bennett. The London Sinfonietta under Nicholas Collon performs his Dream Dancing and Jazz Calendar alongside Les citations by Henri Dutilleux, a composer Bennett admires, and Romanza by his late friend Elizabeth Maconchy ().
The London Sinfonietta returns with founding conductor David Atherton and pianist Nicolas Hodges for the world premiere of Champ–Contrechamp, a Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ commission by Paris-based Greek composer Georges Aperghis. This Prom also includes the UK premiere of Sir Harrison Birtwistle's Angel Fighter, inspired by the story of Jacob's fight with the angel in the Book of Genesis ().
Medieval-inspired vocal music is the focus of the third Saturday Matinee, jointly presented by the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Singers and Stevie Wishart's Sinfonye. Songs by 12th-century composer and mystic Hildegard of Bingen sit alongside two British settings of medieval texts – Britten's a cappella Sacred And Profane and Sir Harrison Birtwistle's Narration: A Description Of The Passing Of A Year, plus a set of four new songs by Wishart based on Hildegard's texts, another Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ commission ().
Cellist Natalie Clein and the Britten Sinfonia give the UK premiere of Sir John Tavener's Popule meus and, to mark the 80th birthday of Russian composer Sofia Gubaidulina, they are joined by the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Singers for The Canticle Of The Sun for cello, percussion and chorus ().
