As Borough New Music‘s new season begins on 3 October 2017, Artistic Director Clare Simmonds surveys the exciting new piano music on offer from October 2017 to June 2018.

Borough New Music sets out to share music by living composers and the music of today. In each of the eight Series of concerts this season, we feature a different instrument. For Series 2 – which is five free concerts every Tuesday in October 2017 at 1pm at St George the Martyr SE1 1JA – it’s the piano.

In fact, the piano became the featured instrument for this second Series simply because of the preponderance of piano premieres that month. These include a fascinating new piano sonata by Ben Gaunt, based around the architectural principles of light, written for the wonderful pianist Christopher Guild (24 October 2017); eight miniature ‘cryptograms’ by Patrick Nunn, each inspired by composers who have in some way influenced his output; and two works written specially for the virtuoso José Menor: a mighty five-movement cycle by Sam Hayden and a sparkling Toccata by fellow Catalan Tomas Peire Serrate (all on 3 October 2017). Plus there is a selection of new works written specifically for the pianists who will perform them, by composers Michael Worboys , Harry Palmer, Rotem Sherman and Toby Ingram – all outcomes of the 2017 Trinity Laban John Halford Piano and Composition Competition, a little-known public event held every April, which deserves high praise for its innovation.

But that’s just Series 2 – the tip of the iceberg. One of the most fascinating things about the piano is that every player makes it sound different. Over the 2017-18 season, we have the opportunity to hear the voices of 14 very different pianists. That includes established contemporary pianists such as Philip Mead (1 May 2018), who gave the UK premiere of George Crumb’s ‘Makrokosmos’ at the Southbank in 1977, and the first London performance of Henry Cowell’s piano concerto in 2013.

 

 

Plus, there is the master improviser Douglas Finch (17 April 2018), toy piano specialist Kate Ryder (20 March 2018), as well as Matthew Schellhorn  (30 January 2018), Aleksander Szram (26 June 2018), Christopher Guild (24 October 2017) and José Menor  (3 October 2017); and young artists such as Joe Howson, Ieva Dubova, Mahsa Salali, Rotem Sherman and Neus Peris Ferrer (31 October 2017). The pianist Ben Smith  deserves special mention not only for his repertoire for piano and electronics (14 November 2017), but also for appearances in six different concerts (November 2017 and February 2018)! Here he is performing Helmut Lachenmann’s ‘Serynade’:

 

 

It is always interesting to hear what a composer chooses to give a pianist to play – and what pianists write or improvise for themselves to play. With compelling musical material in hand, what else is important to them: the listener’s impression, the player’s strengths, or the instrument’s potential? When pianists compose, do they opt for an easy life, and write what they find straightforward, or do they demand the (almost) impossible, to show their superhuman virtuosity? (Sometimes I think that’s the equivalent of those gourmets who go for the hottest vindaloo on offer!) It is not hard to be mesmerised by the multifaceted capabilities of the piano, and the programme this season certainly explores that. From a world premiere by Joseph Horovitz (even though he is over 90!) on 30 January 2018, to Edward Henderson’s refreshingly alternative look at piano performance (10 April 2018), the bluesy, frantic etudes of Nancarrow (21 November 2017) to the works of Janet Graham, Haris Kittos, Daryl Runswick and Simon Katan, there is a compelling range of piano works to discover.

Borough New Music concerts take place every Tuesday at 1pm from 3 October 2017 to 26 June 2018 at St George the Martyr Church, Borough High Street, London SE1 1JA (just a short walk from London Bridge and Borough tube stations). Admission is free to all events, and light refreshments are served afterwards.

For a full programme, visit www.boroughnewmusic.co.uk.

Here is a selection of concerts in the 2017-18 season involving the piano (note the impressive number of premieres):

Series 2

Tuesday 3 October 2017, 1pm ‘Resonate’

José Menor (piano)

· Patrick Nunn (b. 1969) – Cryptograms I-VIII (2011-15) (PERFORMANCE PREMIERE)

· Sam Hayden (b. 1968) – Becomings (Complete) (2017) (WORLD PREMIERE)

· György Ligeti (1923-2006) – Piano Etude Book 2 No 9 Vertige (1994)

· Tomas Peire Serrate (b. 1979) – Toccata (2017) (WORLD PREMIERE)

Tuesday 24 October 2017, 1pm ‘Reverberate’

Christopher Guild (piano)

· Ben Gaunt (b. 1984) – Piano Sonata No. 1 (WORLD PREMIERE)

· Poul Ruders (b. 1949) – Piano Sonata No. 2 (1982)

Tuesday 31 October 2017, 1pm ‘Reward’

Trinity Laban John Halford Piano and Composition Competition Prizewinning Recital

Pianists: Joe Howson (winner), Ieva Dubova, Mahsa Salali (commended), Marisa Munoz Lopez (commended), Neus Peris Ferrer. Composers: Harry Palmer, Michael Worboys (winner), Rotem Sherman (commended), Toby Ingram

· Harry Palmer (b. 1994) – Birthday Song for Erwin (2017)

· Kaikhosru Sorabji (1892-1988) – Transcendental Etude 20 ‘con fantasia’ (1944)

· Thomas Ades (b. 1971) – Concert Paraphrase on Powder Her Face (2009) (Movts I & IV)

· Michael Worboys – Bone Memories (2017)

· Toby Ingram (b. 1998)- Into the Unknown (2017)

· Rotem Sherman – Home (2017)

· Hans Werner Henze (1926-2012) – Präludien zu Tristan (2003)

· Frederic Rzewski (b. 1938) – Piano Piece IV (1977)

Series 3

Tuesday 7 November 2017, 1pm ‘Last Words’

Patricia Auchterlonie (soprano), Antonia Berg (flute), Ben Smith (piano), Yoanna Prodanova (cello)

Salvatore Sciarrino (b. 1947) – Due melodie per soprano e pianoforte (1978)

· Ben Smith (b. 1991) – New Work (WORLD PREMIERE)

· Kate Soper (b. 1981) – Only the words themselves mean what they say (2010-11) (UK PREMIERE)

· Salvatore Sciarrino – Ultime rose (from Vanitas) (1981)

Tuesday 14 November 2017, 1pm ‘Babbitt-Haas-Emmerson’

Ben Smith (piano), Patricia Auchterlonie (soprano)

· Milton Babbitt (1916-2011) – Philomel (1964)

· Georg Friedrich Haas (b. 1953) – Ein Schattenspiel (2004)

· Simon Emmerson (b. 1950) – Time Past IV (1985)

Tuesday 21 November 2017, 1pm ‘Sensations’

PERFORMER: Ben Smith (piano)

· Robert Reid Allan (b. 1991) – The Palace of Light (2016) (LONDON PREMIERE)

· Colon Nancarrow (1912-1997) – Three Canons for Ursula (1988)

· Julian Anderson (b. 1967) – Sensation (2015-16)

Tuesday 28 November 2017, 1pm ‘Haikus’

FEATURED COMPOSER: Eva-Maria Houben

Antonia Berg (flute), Patricia Auchterlonie (soprano), Ben Smith (piano), Yoanna Prodanova (cello)

· Eva-Maria Houben (b. 1955) – Haikus for four (I, V, VIII, IX) (2003-04) (UK PREMIERE)

Series 4

Tuesday 16 January 2018, 1pm ‘Islands’

Carla Rees (flutes), Ian Mitchell (clarinets), Clare Simmonds (piano)

· Robert Percy (b. 1961) – Touching the Void (WORLD PREMIERE)

· Dan Kessner (b. 1946) – Genera

· Robert Percy (b. 1961) – New work (WORLD PREMIERE)

· Tom Ingoldsby (b. 1957) – The Cathedral (WORLD PREMIERE)

· Robert Percy (b. 1961) – Beacons (version for piano, flute and clarinet)

Tuesday 30 January 2018, 1pm ‘Muscle Memory’

Matthew Schellhorn (piano)

· Roger Briggs (b. 1952) – Jitterbug

· Robert Percy (b. 1961) – Chopsticks

· Edwin Roxburgh (b. 1937) – Prelude and Toccata

· Colin Riley (b. 1963) – Joplin Jigsaws

· Joseph Horovitz (b. 1926) – Pierrot’s Hornpipe (WORLD PREMIERE)

Series 5

Tuesday 6 February 2018, 1pm

Ben Smith (piano), Kirsty Clark (viola), Patricia Auchterlonie (soprano)

· Helmut Lachenmann (b. 1935) – Got Lost (2008)

· Peter Maxwell Davies (1934-2016) – The Door of the Sun (1975)

· Martin Lodge (b. 1954) – Pacific Rock (1999)

Tuesday 20 February 2018, 1pm ‘Songwriters of 2018’

Robert Reid Allan (glockenspiel/melodica), Ben Smith (piano, glockenspiel/melodica), Siân Dicker (soprano), Mimi Doulton (soprano), Delphine Mégret (soprano), Krystal Tunnicliffe (piano)

· Jake Dorfman (b. 1993) – Short Songs on Liberty (2016)

· Clare Elton (b. 1993) – Escape (2017)

· James Garner (b. 1992) – Emily Dickinson Settings (2015)

· Jules Pegram (b. 1991) – Valentines (2015)

· Mo Zhao (b. 1993) – Just Watching (2017)

· Rasmus Zwicki (b. 1979) – Fly Little Birdy (2017)

Tuesday 27 February 2018, 1pm ‘Two Sopranos, a Cello & a Piano’

Patricia Auchterlonie (soprano), Mimi Doulton (soprano), Urška Horvat (cello), Clare Simmonds (piano)

· Harrison Birtwistle (b 1934) – Nine Settings of Lorine Niedecker (1998-2000)

· André Previn (b 1929) – Four Songs for Soprano, Cello and Piano (1994)

· John Tavener (1944-2013) – Akhmatova Songs (selection) (1993)

Series 6

Tuesday 13 March 2018, 1pm

The Durufle Trio: Henrietta Hill (viola), Rosie Bowker (flute), Clare Simmonds (piano), Janet Oates (soprano)

· Rob Keeley (b. 1960) – Trio in One Movement (2017)

· Tom Armstrong – From Consort Music (2016): Monody & Concertino (WORLD PREMIERE)

· Janet Oates – Singings and Sayings (2017) (WORLD PREMIERE)

· Colin Riley (b. 1963) – New Work (2018) (WORLD PREMIERE)

· Rhiannon Randle (b. 1993) – New Work (2018)

Tuesday 20 March 2018, 1pm ‘Ear ring’

In collaboration with World Toy Piano Week

Kate Ryder, piano/toy piano

· John Cage – Suite for Toy Piano (1948)

· Stace Constantinou (b. 1971) – Cactus Prelude 6 for Toy Piano and Fixed Media(2014)

· Christian Banasik (b. 1963) – TRIMER for Toy Piano and Fixed Media (2001)

· Julia Wolfe (b. 1958) – Earring (2000); East Broadway for Toy Piano and Boombox (1996)

· Brian Inglis – New work for Toy Piano (WORLD PREMIERE)

· Yumi Hara – Farouche (2008)

· Katharine Norman (b. 1960) – Fuga Interna (begin) (2011)

· Meredith Monk (b. 1942) – Rail Road (travel song) for Solo Piano (1981); St Petersburg Waltz(1994)

· Stephen Montague (b.1943) – Mirabella – A Tarantella for Toy Piano (1995)

Tuesday 27 March 2018, 1pm

Loré Lixenberg (voice), Chris Brannick (marimba), Clare Simmonds (piano)

· Gregory Rose – Birdsongs for Loré, Volume 1 (WORLD PREMIERE)

· Gregory Rose – Quelques gouttes d’eau sur une surface (WORLD PREMIERE)

· Gregory Rose – Aphrodite and Adonis (UK PREMIERE)

· Gregory Rose – Music for a Kytherian Amphitheatre (WORLD PREMIERE)

Series 7

Tuesday 3 April 2018, 1pm

Elisabeth Swedlund (soprano), Jean-Max Lattemann (counter-tenor), Clare Simmonds (piano)

George Crumb (b. 1929) – Apparition: Elegiac Songs for Soprano and Amplified Piano

· HK Gruber (b. 1943) – Three Single Songs

· Ross Edwards (b. 1943) – The Hermit of Green Light

· Julian Grant (b. 1960) – The Owl and the Pussycat

Tuesday 10 April 2018, 1pm

Clare Simmonds, piano

· Edward Henderson – Black Box Flight Recorder (2012)

· Edward Henderson – Hold (2017)

· Edward Henderson – Tape Piece (2014)

Tuesday 17 April 2018, 1pm ‘Sound Clouds’

Douglas Finch (piano), Martin Speake (saxophone)

· Improvisations

Series 8

Tuesday 1 May 2018, 1pm

Philip Mead, Piano

· Tim Raymond (b. 1953) – Orbit of Venus (2014)

· Richard Blackford (b. 1954) – Sonata (2016) (LONDON PREMIERE)

· Jonathan Harvey (1939-2012) – Purgatory from 4 Images After Yeats (1969)

· Edward Cowie (b. 1943) – Preludes 1 and 2 from 24 Preludes (2004-2005)

· Lisa Reim – Pebbles (2004)

Tuesday 22 May 2018, 1pm ‘Cello, Electric Guitar & Piano’

Audrey Riley (cello), James Woodrow (electric guitar), Clare Simmonds (piano)

· Tom Armstrong – Diversions 3

· Stuart Beatch (b. 1991) – Three movements

· Joel Järventausta (b. 1995) – Elegy for Solo Piano (WORLD PREMIERE)

· David Ryan – New work (WORLD PREMIERE)

Tuesday 29 May 2018, 1pm

Joseph Spooner (cello) and Rebeca Omordia (piano)

· Matthew Taylor (b. 1964) – Sonata No. 1 (op. 29)

· Sally Beamish (b. 1956) – Gala Water (1994)

· Sally Beamish – The Wise Maid (1998)

· Matthew Taylor – Fantasy Pieces (op. 30)

Series 9

Tuesday 19 June 2018, 1pm

Janet Oates (soprano, flute), Clare Simmonds (piano), Jill House (mezzo soprano),

Nancy Johnston (cor anglais) Olivia Moss (soprano)

· Janet Oates – Atomic songs and fancies

· Jonathan Harvey (1939-2012)- Ah Sunflower (2008)

· Janet Oates – Blind Fool Love

· Tansy Davies (b. 1973) – Destroying Beauty (2008)

· Janet Oates – Arse-elbow (WORLD PREMIERE)

· Joel Järventausta (b. 1995) – New work (WORLD PREMIERE)

· Janet Oates – A Lover (WORLD PREMIERE)

· Frederick Viner (b. 1994) – New work (WORLD PREMIERE)

· Dai Fujikura (b. 1977) – Away we play

Tuesday 26 June 2018, 1pm

Aleksander Szram (piano)

· Hollie Harding – Suite P

· Janet Graham (b. 1948) – Sonata for Piano (2016) (WORLD PREMIERE)

· Daryl Runswick (b. 1946) – Scafra Preludes Book 2

· Haris Kittos – Athrós (2001)

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Clare Simmonds performs regularly as a soloist and ensemble pianist, and enjoys presenting unconventional programmes. From 2016-17 she was a staff accompanist at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama for Jane Manning’s contemporary song classes, as well as performing in several chamber groups. She also provides online marketing services to promote contemporary music and is a publicity consultant for Prima Facie Records.