Grisey: Quatre Chants - Digital Guide

Welcome

Welcome to the concert this evening.

Gerard Grisey’s Quatre Chants is a modern masterpiece which is rarely performed. The London Sinfonietta commissioned the work and then gave its world premiere shortly after the composer’s untimely death. We are excited to be performing it again now, alongside other works which will make up what we hope is a deeply engaging concert experience for you. We are pleased to be working again with Jack Sheen and Nina Guo. They bring brilliance and verve with them, driven by a passion for new music and sound worlds. 

The London Sinfonietta has a long tradition of commissioning which dates back to its formation in 1968. Nearly 500 commissions later, and we are still driven by a passion to perform new music, helping to create a new repertoire that takes the art form forward. It’s very rewarding to explore the masterpieces of past centuries, yet all those works were new once and some have taken their own time to find their place in the standard repertoire. So now, by enabling composers to write new works and then have them heard in world-class performances, we believe we are playing a vital role in the music ecology. There are risks in this, and not every work finds its place. Yet, repeatedly placing faith in composers and their imaginations is – for us – one of the most important things we can do as an organisation.

We have recently launched our Sound Ignited campaign which seeks to raise money to underwrite the commission and performance costs of 8 works. We would be so grateful if you decided to join in by donating and share the journey with us and the composers towards new works being performed which may become part of a repertoire for the future.

Andrew Burke
Chief Executive & Artistic Director
andrew.burke@londonsinfonietta.org.uk

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Tonight's Programme

6.15-6:45pm: Pre-Concert Talk - Back to Basics... An Introduction to Gérard Grisey with Julian Anderson and Jack Sheen

7.30pm: Evening Concert

Cassandra Miller  for mira (5')
Rebecca Saunders  Stirrings Still II (12')
John White  Drinking and Hooting Machine (5')
Gérard Grisey  Quatre chants pour franchir le seuil (40')