Category Archives: 2012 concerts

“Glass Harmonicas and Devil Automatons in Cardiff” – new review

17th century Devil Automaton by Manfredo SettalaA review of our concert in Cardiff last month takes it’s title from our eclectic programme of Berio, Woolrich, Mozart (arranged by Sally Beamish) and Philip Cashian: “Glass Harmonicas and Devil Automatons in Cardiff“.

It was the premiere of our newly commissioned Dectet “Settala’s Machine” by Philip Cashian, performed alongside five students from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. The work is inspired by Manfredo Settala’s seventeenth-century devilish automaton.

We also performed one of our favourite Mozart-arrangements – a commission by Sally Beamish for our “Mozart, Mechanical Marvels and More…” programme at the Wigmore Hall last year. Our audience clearly enjoyed it too!

“For me the undoubted musical highlight of the programme was Sally Beamish’s version of Mozart’s Adagio for Glass Harmonica (K.356)…The subtlety and clarity of Beamish’s writing here is a joy, and the interpretation we heard was utterly compelling.”

We’re looking forward to performing our Mozart-inspired programme again in the new year – and plans are afoot for a series of performances of Cashian’s “Settala’s Machine”.

A Classical Coffee: NLCE at Blackheath Halls, Sun 10th June

On Sunday morning, Mel, Neyire and Adam will be at Blackheath Halls in London, performing some French classics and a dash of Mozart. They’ll be exploring some interesting wind repertoire, with works by Ibert, Françaix and from Milhaud, Mozart’s lively Divertimento No.1 and the sonorous and expansive Trio from English composer Gordon Jacob. If you’d like to join them for a classical coffee on Sunday, there are still some tickets left – click here to book one.

You can also catch Mel, Neyire and Robert performing in a chamber production of the Magic Flute with Opera a la Carte, the week after next.

NLCE tenth anniversary coaching the National Youth Chamber Orchestra

NYCOThe NLCE has been quintet in residence at the National Youth Chamber Orchestra courses for ten years. Each year they enjoy spending several intensive days coaching young players on exciting chamber and orchestral repertoire. The orchestral repertoire is always performed without a conductor – so it makes for challenging but rewarding coaching!  This year’s programme includes Haydn’s Symphony No.99 and Kodaly’s fantastically colourful Galanta Dances. To celebrate their tenth anniversary this year, they will be combining forces with members of the NYCO woodwind section to perform an extract from their new commission from Philip Cashian – Cortege – a wind dectet especially written for the NLCE to play alongside young musicians. The performance will take place on Monday 2nd April, alongside Martin Butler’s Dirty Beasts, narrated by the highly charismatic Paul Rissmann.

NLCE at Lakeside Arts, Nottingham

On Thursday 1 March the NLCE will be performing at the wonderful Lakeside Arts in Nottingham.  Robert, Melanie, Neyire, Stephen and Adam are teaming up with the Dante String Quartet to perform Beethoven’s magnificent Septet in E flat, Spohr’s Nonet and a contemporary work by Martin Butler – his Nonet: Rondes d’Automne.

The NLCE performed with the Dante Quartet at last summer’s Cheltenham Festival and are delighted to be together again performing this exciting programme – especially Martin Butler’s work, which is an NLCE commission.

You can book tickets to the concert here.

All the world’s a stage: NLCE launch new programmes

We’ve just launched our new programmes for the 2012/13 season and audiences can expect some pretty riveting and unusual stuff!

The NLCE are already well-known for our unique performance style and innovative repertoire, but for this season we’re offering a theatrical take on chamber music with an intriguing programme of semi-staged works. A majestic procession to Byrd’s ‘Pavane & Galliard’, a staged performance of Berio’s Opus No Zoo which takes the performers around the stage and beyond and a unique performance of Rimsky-Korsakov’s famous ‘Flight of the Bumble Bee’…it’s certainly not your average chamber concert! We’ll also be revisiting Carl Nielsen’s fantastic ‘Wind Quintet’ (op.43), which we recorded back in 2009 to great acclaim and there’s a chance to hear a work by the inimitable Moondog – the twentieth century American composer, musician, poet and inventor of several new musical instruments.

Combining Word and Music has always been a big interest for us, and our family-friendly programme – ‘Telling Tales’ – is a culmination of some of our favourite works, performed with narrator. It includes a narrated version of Prokofiev’s classic ‘Peter and the Wolf’ and a wonderfully witty composition by contemporary composer Martin Butler based on Roald Dahl’s collection of poems Dirty Beasts.

That’s not to say the classics are forgotten  – as well as an indulgent programme of French fantasies (including the piquant Poulenc Sonata for Clarinet and Bassoon and Ravel’s glorious Mother Goose Suite) there is also a selection of unique arrangements of works by Mozart – including some unusual and little-heard works written for the mechanical organ.

To find out how the NLCE could perform one of our new programmes for your venue or society, do contact us.