Fables – A Launch Party

The Winter Festival is drawing ever nearer, and one particular milestone was the official launch of our collaboration with Streetwise Opera, Fables – A Film Opera. From a brisk walk through the cold, the Spitalfields Music staff arrived at Toynbee Hall to catch the end of a typically animated Streetwise participant rehearsal. Sadly, we weren’t able to stand and take in their music making as we were all put on duties of bow-tying, badge-pinning, glass-setting, bucket-filling, cordial-mixing and so on. Although, I did manage to escape to position the video camera for interviewing a variety of people involved in the project. (Look out for the results of this, to be exclusively released on the blog soon!)

“We all joined in for a rousing rendition of the sea shanty ‘Haul Away Joe’.”

The hubbub of arriving guests and filling glasses was soon interrupted by Spitalfields Music Chairman, Sir Alan Moses, who along with Streetwise Executive Director Matthew Peacock introduced us all to the partnership and the concept behind Fables. The stage was then taken over by Artistic Director Emma Bernard and the Streetwise participants who inventively retold the stories of Fables mixed in with a series of musical and visual previews.

We saw some striking footage from The Hartlepool Monkey, heard both lyrical and energetic excerpts from the scores by Mira Calix and Emily Hall, and all joined in for a rousing rendition of the sea shanty ‘Haul Away Joe’, used by Bellowhead composers Paul Sartin & Andy Mellon.

In the return to mingling, it was instantly clear from talking to both guests and participants that everyone in the room was excited to see the finished product, following the vivacious tit-bit we’d been treated to. Expect an audio-visual sensation on 17 December!

Michael Duffy
Marketing & Communications Intern

Fables – A Film Opera
Wednesday 17 December, 5.00pm, 7.00pm & 9.00pm
Shoreditch Church
Tickets: £15/£10
Book your tickets now!

My first two weeks… as a MAASer

The six MAASers (Music Animateur Apprentices) came together for the first time for our training day last week. Phil Mullen, our incredible leader for group work and leadership, described us as “the Marines of music leadership”, which is a bit scary! Phil’s session made me think about lots of aspects of working with groups that I haven’t consciously considered before – even if you naturally do them without thinking about it. It’s so good to be aware of things like how groups form, and how to make a good atmosphere in a session. I came away very inspired.

“The last week has been so inspiring that I find myself thinking about workshops all the time. My subconscious is trying to plan sessions for me!”

In the afternoon James Redwood led a session of songs and games to add to our workshop leader’s toolbox. I loved watching him work, particularly the little ways he encourages a group, like imagining eating a whole bottle of E numbers and having scary “E number eyes” to re-energize! We ended up with so many activities that our heads were all buzzing by the time we left, and fragments of songs were going round my head for days, which is great.

A few days later I attended my first project session with Women sing East, led by the amazing Laka D. The choir are all so nice and friendly, but most of all they are so enthusiastic about and committed to singing. As a classical singer I have never learned by ear and it was so refreshing to see Laka teach this way, and to hear the choir learn by repetition and building up of parts. It really built a sense of togetherness and by the end of the rehearsal the first song was already sounding really good. I look forward to becoming more involved in the group and learning more songs – it sounds like a very exciting term!

The last week has been so inspiring that I find myself thinking about workshops all the time. My subconscious is trying to plan sessions for me! In the next few weeks and months I’m going to try to shadow as many people in the world of opera and vocal leadership as possible. As well as learning a wide variety of approaches, games and songs, and making contact with people in the industry, I am also looking to see similar threads and progressions between activities so I can learn how sessions are planned and built up. I’m also beginning my second project, Madrigals & Fables with a Year 3 class, in a few weeks and I can’t wait to get started!

Penny Desbruslais
Music Animateur Apprentice

See the results of our MAASer’s project in Madrigals & Fables on Wednesday 15 December at 12.30pm, Christ Church Spitalfields.

Songs in the wires

One of our more unusual concerts, Songs in the wires, boasts an impressive and varied line-up bringing together performers and composers from Fables – A Film Opera. Taking Melanie Pappenheim, Rebecca Askew and Mara Carlyle – three incredible contemporary singers, who draw on a wide range of musical styles – coupling them with John Reid and Oliver Coates, both associates of The Royal Academy of Music and then finally underpinning it all with the critically acclaimed electronic stylings of Mira Calix, it becomes difficult to see how this concert can be anything short of breathtakingly beautiful!

The concert promises to deliver “the very best new music London has to offer” from Bellowhead members Paul Sartin & Andy Mellon; British Composer of the Year 2009, Mira Calix; the multi award-winning Emily Hall; and the ground-breaking theatre, dance and opera composer, Orlando Gough.

“Orlando Gough is a former member of the 80s band Man Jumping, who Brian Eno famously described as ‘the most important band in the world’”.

With an eclectic collection of artists and composers from such different musical backgrounds, Songs in the wires is destined to be unique in every possible way, and to celebrate this, we thought we’d give you a unique fact about each of the artists involved:

• Rebecca Askew is a member of Orlando Gough’s choir The Shout and regularly performs with Jeremy Avis & DJ Robin Whitnell using state of the art live-looping technology.
• Mira Calix put together her second album, Skimskitta, mostly using recordings of pebbles.
• Mara Carlyle made The Lovely, her first album, on a second-hand laptop in her flat while working shifts at a homeless shelter.
• Oliver Coates attained the highest degree result in the Royal Academy of Music’s history.
• Orlando Gough is a former member of the 80s band Man Jumping, who Brian Eno famously described as “the most important band in the world”.
• Emily Hall loves music from the 70s, including David Bowie, Lou Reed & Velvet Underground.
• Melanie Pappenheim, also a member of The Shout, makes regular vocal contributions to the Doctor Who soundtrack.
• John Reid has taken lessons in song interpretation with Malcolm Martineau and Rudolf Jansen.
• Paul Sartin & Andy Mellon are members of the band Bellowhead, who have their own real ale named after them!

Songs in the wires
Wednesday 15 December, 8.30pm
Christ Church Spitalfields
Tickets: £10, unreserved
Book now!

Keep checking the blog for some tantalising teasers about the Songs in the wires programme!

Update: Opera in Pieces

Learning & Participation Programme Director, Clare Lovett, gives us a slice of the action from the Spitalfields Music extravaganza Opera in Pieces.

Back from my much needed summer holiday and incredible trip to Japan and right back to work with a bang… the first set of auditions for our new commission Opera in Pieces, our community choir Spitalfields Singers have started up again (every Thursday lunchtime) with their Winter Songs project. The search for an Opera in Pieces venue continues, with lots of explorations of car parks, film studios and other amazing spaces in and around Spitalfields.  We now have the second fabulous draft of the libretto and Hazel Gould and John Barber have been having their respective project development meetings with the inspirational dramaturg, Ruth Little and composer, Jonathan Dove.

“If you know someone who would make a fine ‘rat’ or ‘man’, then we want to hear them.”

Coming up soon are open auditions for our two solo parts, The Rat (bass/baritone) and Toby (tenor) on 8 November.  For these crucial parts, we’re looking for professional singers at the start of their careers with not only excellent voices, but acting skills to match.  If you know someone who would make a fine “rat” or “man”, then we want to hear them.  For further information see our website.

In the chilly air of autumn turning to winter, we’re about to invite our schools involved in the project to do an outdoor photo shoot – no doubt there will be more information on this shortly, and shots of frozen children!  In the meantime, we’re running singing workshops with the magnificent Isabelle Adams in our schools to get them in full voice for their debut as rats in the summer.

For those interested in taking a less high profile part in Opera in Pieces, we need your voices too! We are looking for people to join in the chorus of office and everyday folk. Please contact Cathy Birch, our Programme Manager to sign up.

In the meantime, don’t forget to catch Opera in Pieces composer John Barber’s latest commission:

Consider the Lilies
7:30pm – Saturday 6 November 2010
Concert in support of the Helen Bamber Foundation
More information here

Find the audition information for Opera in Pieces here

[ Photographs by Jez C Self ]

Artist Focus: Retrospect Ensemble

Unlimited in their choice of historical repertoire, Retrospect Ensemble is on a journey to explore a vast range of music with a fresh approach. Founded and directed by Matthew Halls, they enjoy an annual Wigmore Hall series, international concert engagements and a relationship with the Korean National Opera. Not only that, they will be bringing our Winter Festival to a close!

In Improvviso, Retrospect will present a programme of instrumental music by Monteverdi’s close contemporaries, exploring the styles and sounds of the baroque era. These composers paved the way towards a musical style that has become so familiar. They did this, as you will hear, with harmonic boldness, exotic musical ideas and experimentation in new performing techniques. The infectious dance rhythms, mesmerising variations and lavish lyricism of these works will draw you in and leave you wanting more!

If you fancy making an evening of it Retrospect will be preceded by the sensational EXAUDI directed by our previous Associate Artist, James Weeks in a concert of Monteverdi’s Third Book of Madrigals. EXAUDI are celebrated for their interpretations of contemporary music, so we’re fascinated to hear what they can bring to Monteverdi’s madrigals and we hope you will be too! Look out for more about EXAUDI in an upcoming Artist Focus.

Improvviso
Friday 7 January, 8.30pm
Christ Church Spitalfields
Tickets: £5 – £22

Click here to book online or here for Box Office details.