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Following on from the success of the first Choral Inspirations project in 2019, Sonoro has launched Choral Inspirations: Volume 2, a collection of six contemporary works for choir inspired by well-known ‘choral classics’ by Bach, Brahms, Elgar, Franck, Lotti and Mozart, written at a level that choirs everywhere will be able to sing.

Composers Rebecca Dale, Michael Higgins, Cecilia McDowall, Oliver Tarney, Gareth Treseder and Errollyn Wallen CBE have been commissioned by Sonoro to write new works for choir, each inspired by well-known choral classics, such as Franck’s Panis angelicus and J S Bach’s Jesu, joy of our desiring.

Artistic Directors Neil Ferris and Michael Higgins say, “We are so happy to be able to continue the ‘Choral Inspirations’ project and build on the outstanding success of the first set of new pieces in 2019. As well as introducing six new works into the choral repertoire, our aim is to encourage amateur choirs to have the confidence to sing more ambitious and contemporary music, and we are looking forward to introducing our wonderful new pieces to our partner choirs around the country.” Neil Ferris continues: “The composers of our new commissions have all been so skilful at writing at a suitable level for amateur choirs, without being simplistic.”

Composers & pieces

  • Edward Elgar/Oliver Tarney The Spirit of the Lord
  • A. Mozart/Errollyn Wallen Ave verum corpus
  • César Franck/Rebecca Dale Panis angelicus
  • Antonio Lotti Crucifixus a 8/Cecilia McDowall Crucifixus Reimagined
  • Johannes Brahms Geistliches Lied/Michael Higgins See, I am God
  • S. Bach/Gareth Treseder Jesu, joy of our desiring

All six pieces, and the 6 classic partner pieces, are recorded by Sonoro and released online as freely accessible video and audio tracks, both as tools to help choirs learning the works, as well as for anyone to listen to and enjoy. All twelve pieces are released in a new album,Choral Inspirations: Volume 2, available from Spotify, AppleMusic, Deezer and YouTube.

Sing with Sonoro

From July 2022 to March 2023, Sonoro will take all twelve pieces on tour to provide workshop, side-by-side performance and “come and sing” opportunities with choirs around the UK in Newcastle, Derbyshire, Chester, Reading and London. Led by conductor Neil Ferris and Sonoro’s professional singers, the workshops are open to all and aim to give choirs the confidence to sing more ambitious and contemporary music – and by touring and workshopping the music, it means that the new pieces get directly into the consciousness of choirs up and down the country. The project draws on the wide impact and success of Choral Inspirations Vol 1 in 2019 and contributes brand new music to the choral repertoire.

“Choral Inspirations with Sonoro will bring so much to the music programme at the University of Reading. Two outcomes are particularly important for us – an amazing opportunity for our students to experience sitting and singing next to professional musicians, and secondly, sharing the experience with singers in our local community and connecting through music.” – Victoria Ely, conductor & Artistic Director of Music at Reading 

Praise for Choral Inspirations: Volume 1

“Everyone enjoyed it hugely… the singers are still on a high!” Simon Davies-Fidler, Voices of Hope and Quay Voices, Newcastle

“Most enjoyable and inspiring.”

“A well-balanced programme of familiar and new pieces.”

Find out how you and your choir can get involved here

2019 Workshop at Newcastle (photo: Bruno Lasnier)
2019 Workshop at Newcastle (photo: Bruno Lasnier)
Recording Choral Inspirations 2 (photo credit: Helena Cooke)
Michael Higgins, pianist & composer (photo credit Helena Cooke)
2019 Workshop at Newcastle (photo: Bruno Lasnier)
Neil Ferris, conductor (photo credit Helena Cooke)
Recording Choral Inspirations 2 (photo credit: Helena Cooke)

About Sonoro

Sonoro, one of the country’s foremost ensembles, have gained recognition for their warmth of tone, colour and blend.

Combining a passion for excellence in choral music and choral education, Sonoro have rolled out education projects, side-by-side performances, conducting masterclasses and new commissions that have gained significant recognition.

“A rich, robust texture, abundant in vibrant colour and undoubted excitement.” The Guardian

Their performing programme has included appearances at internationally renowned festivals and concert halls, including the St Magnus International Festival, Orkney, the Wimbledon International Music Festival and King’s Place, London and in St Gallen, Switzerland.

“Outstandingly refreshing.” BBC Music Magazine

Their album Christmas with Sonoro was Christmas choice in the BBC Music Magazine in 2018, which followed on from their critically acclaimed debut Passion and Polyphony featuring works of James MacMillan and Frank Martin.

“Classical concerts seldom feel so downright uplifting.” The Scotsman

www.sonoromusic.com

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This atmospheric piece for solo piano, whose Afrikaans subtitle ‘Wind oor die Branders’ translates as Wind over the Waves, is by Richard Pantcheff  (b.1959). It comes from ‘Nocturnus’, a suite of six pieces written for different instruments; the final work in the suite is ‘4th December 1976’, written in memory of Benjamin Britten on the fortieth anniversary of the composer’s death. Pantcheff was mentored in composition by Benjamin Britten in the last years of Britten’s life, and his music displays a distinct affinity with Britten’s soundworld, as well as that of earlier English composers including Vaughan Williams, Herbert Howells, Gerald Finzi and Elizabeth Lutyens.

A prolific composer of choral, organ, chamber and instrumental works, Richard Pantcheff was trained in choral music and composition from an early age, initially as a chorister at Ripon Cathedral, and studied music at Christ Church, Oxford, under Simon Preston and Francis Grier. His music has been widely performed and praised for its originality and technical brilliance, combined with intellectual and emotional depth.

I discovered this piece through ‘De Profundis Clamavi’, a recent recording by British pianist, and friend of mine, Duncan Honeybourne. Duncan is a keen advocate of English music and a champion of lesser-known repertoire, and his recording on which ‘Nocturnus V’ appears (together with Pantcheff’s substantial Piano Sonata, of which he is dedicatee) contains no less than eight world premiere recordings.

The piece is minimalist in style. Its title ‘Nocturnus’ obviously suggests a Nocturne or night piece, and although this work makes stylistic reference to Chopin’s Nocturnes in its flowing accompaniment (almost continuous semiquavers to suggest both waves and wind), it is perhaps closer to Britten’s ‘Night Piece’ (which also appears on ‘De Profundis Clamavi’) and ‘Night’ from Holiday Diary in atmosphere, harmonic language and some of its textures. But while the middle section of Britten’s ‘Night Piece’ is unsettled, full of curious nocturnal twitterings and scurrying, Pantcheff exchanges the fluid semiquavers for a rising chordal figure in triplets which climaxes in fortississimo (fff) chords high up in the piano’s register. The effect is hymn-like and joyful. The music then subsides and pauses, before the semiquaver ‘waves’ return, now in the bass, with soft, piquant chords in the treble.

Although not particularly difficult (I would suggest this piece is around Grade 5-6 standard), the challenge for the player comes in retaining evenness in the semiquaver figures and sustaining long notes in the other register. Sparing use of the pedal will avoid muddying the sound in these sections, while the middle section requires greater projection and brightness of sound. It’s a satisfying piece to play as it offers the player plenty of scope for expression and “sound painting” to portray the music’s inspiration. 

‘Nocturnus V’ by Richard Pantcheff, played by Duncan Honeybourne

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An exhibition at The Georgian House in Edinburgh, opening in June, will tell the remarkable story of Felix Yaniewicz (1762-1848), a celebrated Polish-Lithuanian violinist and composer, who settled in Scotland and co-founded the first Edinburgh music festival in 1815. Alongside the exhibition, there will be a programme of talks, lecture-recitals and musical performances.

Josie Dixon, Yaniewicz’s great-great-great-great-granddaughter and founder of The Friends of Felix Yaniewicz, says: ‘Putting this exhibition together has illuminated so many aspects of Yaniewicz’s colourful story, featuring a Polish King, his encounter with Mozart in Vienna, escape from the French Revolution and a lost Stradivarius. We are thrilled to be sharing with the public for the first time a remarkable collection of heirlooms reflecting his life and career, in celebration of his musical legacy in Scotland.’

After a cosmopolitan career in Europe, Felix Yaniewicz arrived in London around 1790 and eventually made his way to Edinburgh where he lived from 1815 until his death in 1848. It was the discovery and restoration of a historic square piano bearing his signature that led to new research on his career and a project to celebrate his role in Scotland’s musical culture.

The Yaniewicz & Green square piano was the subject of a crowdfunding campaign in 2021, in partnership with the Scottish Polish community, with donations from all over Britain, Poland, Germany, Norway, France, Italy, Switzerland and the USA. Its arrival in Scotland last year was celebrated with two recitals hosted by the Polish Consulate in Edinburgh. The exhibition at The Georgian House will be the first opportunity for this beautiful instrument to be seen in public.

The exhibition ‘Music and Migration in Georgian Edinburgh: The Story of Felix Yaniewicz’ brings together a unique collection of musical instruments, portraits, manuscripts, silver and gold personal possessions, letters and autographs, many of them passed down the generations in his surviving family, and almost none of them seen in public before. Together, these will offer fascinating insights into the career of this charismatic performer, composer, impresario and musical entrepreneur, who left a lasting mark on Scottish musical culture.

This exhibition has been organised in collaboration with the Adam Mickiewicz Institute and co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland.

Barbara Schabowska, Director of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, says: ‘The figure of Felix Yaniewicz, an internationally renowned Polish-Lithuanian violin virtuoso, is a perfect example of how remarkably universal the language of music is. The exhibition, celebrating his fascinating travel-filled life, is a chance to initiate transnational dialogue – not only between Scotland and Poland, but also with everybody who finds themselves moved by Yaniewicz’s music.’

The exhibition will be accompanied by a programme of events in Edinburgh, including illustrated talks, lecture-recitals and musical performances at the Georgian House, and an ‘in conversation’ event at Ghillie Dhu with critically-acclaimed writer and broadcaster Armando Iannucci on music, migration and Scotland.

The exhibition ‘Music and Migration in Georgian Edinburgh: The Story of Felix Yaniewicz’, hosted by National Trust for Scotland and organised in collaboration with the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, takes place at the Georgian House, Edinburgh, from 25 June until 22 October 2022.

Events

Plus a special event for our festival weekend, at Ghillie Dhu:

Armando Iannucci
Account of the first Edinburgh Music Festival
Yaniewicz & Green square piano
Felix Yaniewicz
Yaniewicz & Green square piano

yaniewicz.org

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Birmingham International Piano Competition (BIPC) is to make a welcome return after a two-year hiatus caused by the pandemic. Under the proud custodianship of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire (RBC), part of Birmingham City University, Head of the Department of Keyboard Studies, Professor John Thwaites, will act as Artistic Director, with the initial rounds taking place in June and grand Final open to the public at the Bradshaw Hall on Sunday 3rd July 2022.

The Bradshaw Hall

Rejoicing in the revival of this important annual performance platform and contest for the brightest keyboard stars of the future, the City can continue to celebrate the long-cherished place it has occupied for so many years within the cultural life of Birmingham.

Professor Thwaites said, “We have designed BIPC 2022 to offer a wonderful opportunity to a wide variety of international artists currently living in the UK. The entrance fee is modest, we are allowing Free Choice programming, and all our live rounds take place in the Conservatoire’s flagship concert venue, Bradshaw Hall.”

With state-of-the art performance facilities, including the Conservatoire’s exceptional fleet of concert grand pianos, the Bradshaw Hall provides an ideal venue for the Competition heats and the Final.

“My hope is that those who travel to Birmingham will feel that the Competition has done everything possible to help them play at their best and to be rewarded accordingly”, added John Thwaites.

Professor John Thwaites

Proud Birmingham history

The BIPC has a legacy going back to 1979 when it was founded by and later named after, Gladys Lily Brant, who administered the Competition in the city for nearly two decades. The administration then passed to Town Hall/Symphony Hall and in 2017 the event was rebranded as Birmingham International Piano Competition before being inherited by the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, part of Birmingham City University, in November 2021. Previous winners of the BIPC can be found on the BIPC website, and include Mark Bebbington and Di Xiao, both of whom are on the RBC piano faculty.

Exciting future development

Now, as one of the foremost international performance platforms, and with a designated Administrative Director, Ella Lee, in place, this stellar event continues to provide young pianists aged from 18 to 28 an opportunity to further their career and perform in a world-class venue.

“Going forward, I feel the competition will really embody exactly what the Conservatoire is about: a unique atmosphere that challenges everyone to play at their very best, whilst never losing the wonderful undercurrent of support and community”, said Ella Lee. “It seemed an only natural fit for the Competition’s new home to be Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, given that it plays a major role in Birmingham’s musical landscape, and the Bradshaw Hall has already welcomed a myriad of world-class artists in the few short years since its opening. Ultimately, we are very happy to be providing further opportunity for young pianists to be heard, and to welcome new faces to RBC.”

2022 Competition

Over the course of two preliminary rounds – this year taking place on 23 and 24 June – four outstanding pianists will be chosen for the Final, to be held on 3 July, in which they will each perform a forty-minute recital in front of a public audience.

The international jury is to be drawn from across the music industry and will include Katya Apekisheva, Philip Fisher and Carole Presland.

BIPC programme and how to attend

Bradshaw Hall, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, 200 Jennens Road B4 7XR

23 June – preliminary heat (open to the public)

24 June – preliminary heat (open to the public)

3 July, 14:30 – Final (open to the public)

Tickets will be available on the door, and in advance via the website: www.bipcomp.co.uk

Previous winners www.bipcomp.co.uk/recent-winners.html

The Royal Birmingham Conservatoire www.bcu.ac.uk/conservatoire

Source: press release