22nd October 2004
Royal Philharmonic Society and the PRS Foundation; supporting new music
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra appoints Stephen McNeff as inaugural RPS/PRSF Composer in the House
Over the past two years, the Royal Philharmonic Society and PRS Foundation have been working together to develop projects that complement the traditional commissioning process. Their aim is to create the time and space that will enable composers to create new work, and encourage audiences and musicians to engage more fully in the creative process.
Last year, the RPS, in association with BBC Radio 3, launched Encore, a scheme that gives rarely performed contemporary works a second hearing - with every work supported by carefully developed contextual programmes funded by the PRS Foundation. Now, the two organisations have come together again to create Composer in the House with the aim of re-establishing the composer at the heart of orchestral life. Under the scheme, four composers will work intensively with four symphony orchestras at the very centre of the artistic team.
The first orchestra to participate in Composer in the House is the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. The first resident composer to be appointed is Stephen McNeff, who will take up the position in October 2005. Further Composer in the House residencies will follow in consecutive years.
Marin Alsop, Principal Conductor, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, comments:
"I applaud this scheme which will support a creative collaboration between the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Stephen McNeff. †It is vitally important for orchestras to perform new works and to be engaged in the creative process. †I personally respond to the drama, orchestral colour and rhythmic intensity which characterise Stephen's music."
Stephen McNeff comments:
"I am delighted to be working with the BSO, an orchestra I have heard and admired for very many years. †I have strong connections with the Orchestra's region and look forward to a renewed opportunity to make music there in a rich and varied way. †I believe that music should be able to communicate to a large number of people without compromising its adventurousness, and the Composer in the House project provides a perfect opportunity to work with the BSO musicians and audience in a way that enables us all to move forward together and leave something of lasting value."
Tony Fell, Chairman of the RPS comments:
"Composer in the House is the latest scheme to join the portfolio of work that the RPS currently undertakes to support the work of composers in the UK. This support comes in many forms, all rooted in the society's founding principals of "Creativity, Understanding and Excellence". For more mature composers, there is the prestigious Elgar Bursar (currently held by Lyell Cresswell), and for composers under the age of 29, the RPS Composition Prize, which offers two commissions annually. And then, of course, there is Encore, which over the course of the next three years will roll out performances of underplayed contemporary works nationwide".
David Francis, PRS Foundation manager, adds:
"Composer in the House represents a new take on how composers work with orchestras. This goes beyond a simple residency because the composer will become part of the orchestral team. There is a real opportunity in this project for creative exchange between the composer and orchestra members, which the partners see as an essential element in the development of 21st century orchestral repertoire. We are delighted that the BSO has responded so positively to working with the PRS Foundation and RPS in their mutual quest to provide new opportunities for British composers".
Further press information from:
Sophie Cohen, RPS, on 020 7428 9850 sophiecohen@blueyonder.co.uk
Notes:
About The PRS Foundation
The PRS Foundation (PRSF) is the UK's largest independent funder purely for new music of any genre.
The PRS Foundation is an artistically driven organisation which aims to promote and support the creation and performance of all genres of music, and to help people enjoy and understand the new music they experience. In order to energise the new music landscape in the UK, PRSF directs its support towards creatively adventurous and pioneering musical activity.
In just over 4 years, PRSF has successfully funded over 1000 new music initiatives, to the tune of nearly £5million. Its funding and partnership activities have enabled many groundbreaking collaborations and projects. In addition, PRSF actively supports new music projects throughout the UK, which help to inspire musical creativity in young people. It has been widely praised for its culture of efficiency, easy access and fast decision making, and for its free expert advice service for potential applicants. This open-door culture and flexibility has contributed to the breadth of PRSF's outreach.
About the Royal Philharmonic Society
With the recent sale of its archives to the British Library, the RPS is now entering a new phase in its artistic development. Whilst continuing its existing areas of activity, the society is also developing a series of individual projects, such as Composer in the House, which it hopes will prove centrally important to the future of music.
Stephen McNeff
Stephen McNeff has composed for opera, music theatre and drama in the UK, the USA and Canada, was Composer in Residence at the Banff Centre, and worked with Comus Music Theatre and the Canadian Opera Company. His music has won awards in Toronto and the Edinburgh Festival, and he has been widely performed and recorded in the UK and Europe, Singapore, Japan and North America. His collaborations span a broad range of music making, from the Canadian Brass (and the New York Philharmonic and Boston Symphony Brass), to the percussion quartet Ensemble Bash and Joanna MacGregor's Sound Circus series at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester.
His music for children is widely played and broadcast. Music theatre works have been heard at the Covent Garden Festival (The Wasteland at the Donmar Warehouse), the Lyric Theatre Hammersmith (Slump), the Edinburgh Festival (Aesop) and BAC (Passions). His most recent opera, for the Unicorn Theatre in collaboration with the Philharmonia Orchestra, was.based on Philip Pullman's novel, Clockwork.
It toured nationally earlier this year, including a three week sell-out at the Royal Opera House Linbury Studio (ROH2) where it was enthusiastically reviewed . Matins for the Virgin of Guadalupe, written for soprano Patricia Rozario, was premiered at Dartington International Summer School and London in 2002, and featured at this year's Cheltenham International Festival of Music. Other recent premieres include, in July 2003, McNeff's Cello Sonata, with soloist Zoe Martlew. The Winged Lion for Wind Orchestra was heard in its completed form at the Royal Northern College of Music in March 2004.
Future plans include a Clarinet Concerto for internationally renowned soloist, Linda Merrick, and a companion work for Schubert's Trout Quintet. Other projects in development involve new work with Royal Opera House Education and a commission from the Philharmonia Orchestra for the 2007/8 season.
About Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, founded in 1893, serves a wide audience in the South West of England and beyond from its base in Poole with approximately 130 concerts annually.The charismatic American conductor, Marin Alsop, is starting her third season as Principal Conductor. Last season her critical success was capped with two prestigious awards: The RPS Music Award for Conductor and Gramophone's Artist of the Year Award.
During the 2004/5 Season, Naxos will release three CDs of the BSO and Marin Alsop: Shaker Loops, featuring the music of John Adams; Symphonies 2 & 3 of Philip Glass and Bela Bartok's Miraculous Mandarin. A broadcasting agreement with the BBC, launched in the 2002/3 season, provides nine Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra broadcasts each season on BBC Radio 3.
The BSO Education Department, with the participation of 30 players from the Orchestra, undertakes over 600 workshops annually in schools, hospices and community centres. Kokoro, the Orchestra's contemporary ensemble, has performed over 25 concerts in the last two years featuring such British composers as Peter Maxwell Davies, Harrison Birtwistle, Thomas AdËs, Mark Anthony Turnage, Michael Berkeley, Colin Riley and John Tavener.
The BSO has enjoyed budget surpluses for the last four years whilst attendance figures during the same period have risen by 33%.
In 2005, Marin Alsop and the BSO will tour Spain, including two performances in Madrid.
Each Composer in the House residency will result in at least one major commission (to be broadcast on BBC Radio 3) and one small-scale work, plus performances of existing work during and in the lead-up to the start of the residency. The composer will be given access to extra rehearsals and have the chance to lead workshops and work intensively with individual players. He/she will also be involved with the artistic life of the orchestra, given insight into artistic decision making, programming and the organisation's education programme and help devise ways to engage audiences with new repertoire and the creative process.