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NEWS

LATEST CONCERT PROGRAMMES ARE NOW AVAILABLE!

To see what fantastic treats we have in store for you in our next concert, take a sneak peek at the concert programmes below! Featuring the second-ever performance by Cecilia McDowall's Theatre of Tango, acclaimed baritone Jeremy Huw Williams, and brilliant conductor Nicholas Collon, these concerts are not to be missed!

To book tickets for Friday's concert, please visit the St. John's, Smith Square booking page, or telephone 020 8688 9291.

To book ticket for Saturday's concert, please visit the Fairfield Halls booking page, or telephone 020 8686 1996. This concert will also feature a pre-concert conversation featuring Cecilia McDowall and Nicholas Collon, starting at 6.30pm.

Friday 27 January, 2012 - St. John's, Smith Square

Saturday 28 January, 2012 - Fairfield Halls

 

 

RHYTHM, PASSION AND DRAMA: COMPOSER CECILIA MCDOWALL ON THEATRE OF TANGO

Composer Cecilia McDowall tells us about the inspiration for Theatre of Tango, the piece being performed by the LMP and baritone Jeremy Huw Williams at the end of the month.

What was your inspiration for the piece, and where do you, as a composer, find inspiration generally?

For a few years now I have been having lessons in the Argentine tango – I don’t profess any great achievement here but it is a dance form I find endlessly fascinating, both technically and musically. It seemed only a step away to try to translate some of my feelings about the dance itself into music. The virtuoso violinist David Juritz (and former Leader of the LMP, for whom it was written) is also a fine exponent of tango music (he runs the London Tango Quintet) and we discussed the tango idiom as I was writing Theatre of Tango and he played excerpts of what I had written for him. I find inspiration in many places – poetry, art, dance, ideas – inspiration is everywhere. The tricky part is trying to find the best way in which to capture the idea.

Why did you need to re-set of the song cycle, and how do you feel it has altered, if at all, your composition?

The text (for baritone solo) was originally two dark but vibrant poems by Borges and one eerie poem by Neruda. The whole work was called Tales from South America. Having been given an indication that copyright permission would be forthcoming I went ahead using these poems and the work received its premiere last May from the Welsh Chamber Orchestra. Unfortunately, when the possibility of recording the work with the Ulster Orchestra (conductor George Vass) came up in the autumn, copyright permission was withdrawn. The Borges estate wouldn’t give permission, so that was that. The Neruda estate didn’t reply. So it was plan B. And it had to be a quick plan B.

I had recently collaborated with the poet and broadcaster Seán Street on a new choral work, Shipping Forecast, which attracted a lot of media attention last summer. So, I plucked up the courage to ask if he would consider writing three new poems, all about different aspects of tango, all within a week! I knew I was asking a huge amount of Seán and I just hoped he would say, “yes”. His poetry is beautiful to set and his poetic ideas, rich. Asking anyone to write poetry to fit into the footprints of music which already exists is a difficult task but to do it in a short space of time, well, that is not easy by any standard.

What effect do you think the performance will be for local audiences, and perhaps those who have never attended a classical music concert before?

I quote from Seán Street:

“The work, for baritone, violin and orchestra, is in three movements; The Dance, Ghost Light and A Tango of Time, and moves the listener through the sensual world of the dance itself, on to the dark of a hall haunted by the ghosts of long dead musicians, to the drama of death in the night, the flash of passions and a fatal blade.” Theatre of Tango is intense, rhythmic, passionate, full of character and vibrancy. The premiere caused a terrific buzz of excitement.

How does the work of Seán Street complement the composition?

With a new text we had to have a new title, Theatre of Tango, which comes from the last poem of Street’s trilogy. The work begins with The Dance, set in a place where the tango, dark and alluring, ‘full of lost hearts eaten by shadows merging in flickers’, brings the dancers together in rhythmic intensity, passion and nostalgia. The second movement, Ghost Light, eerily evokes the tango played by phantoms like a cry that comes ‘over wind and grass, the rattling bones of rain's dark thunderclap voice drumming’. It is by turns spectral, haunting and harsh. It is in the third movement, A Tango of Time, that the Argentine tango comes most fully to the fore; passion and violence stalk through the music like fate; with shades of menace and ruthlessness Time steers its dance towards the inevitable, ‘this nemesis’. Seán’s three poems fitted into place where the Borges and Neruda had once been with just a little adjustment here and there. Because time was short I couldn’t alter the orchestral accompaniment in any way; only the vocal line took some alteration to give the best stress and emphasis to Seán’s sinuous poetry.

 

Theatre of Tango will be performed by the LMP on 26th, 27th and 28th January. For more information and how to book tickets, please see our Concerts page.

 

LONDON MOZART PLAYERS SEEKS ORCHESTRAL INTERN

The London Mozart Players offers an insightful opportunity to work as part of the dynamic administrative team at the orchestra's office in Croydon, South London. We are looking for individuals with a keen interest in classical music and the ambition to build a career in arts management. Internships are specific to the successful candidate's interests and experience can be gained in the follow areas of arts management:

• Marketing and PR
• Fundraising
• Education and Community work
• Orchestral Management

Internships run on a 6-month basis, although slightly shorter periods will be considered based on the successful candidate's circumstances.

For more information and to apply for the position, please see the Vacancies page of this website.

The closing date will be 27th January 2012.

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