In the House… with a piano

We thought it was time for another treat from our In the House project from our last Winter Festival. Composer Carter Callison and pianist Florian Mitrea worked closely together on a programme inspired by 9 Elder Street, one of the Georgian houses in the historic Liberty of Norton Folgate. Carter’s Dream Weavers was written especially for the occasion. Enjoy a recording and what Carter had to say of his experience writing the piece below.

‘My work on Dream Weavers began after accepting a commission for a site-specific piano work for the Spitalfields Music Winter Festival. The location happened to be a Georgian House that was built in 1726. The first inhabitants of the house were part of the silk weaving trade that was flourishing in Spitalfields in early 18th century England. When first visiting the house, I was struck by a sense of mystery that seemed to be embodied in the historic building.  I could not help but imagine myself relocated to the past by seeing the exquisite craftsmanship of the structure. In writing the piece, I decided to make liberal use of the piano pedal in an attempt to capture the mysterious elements of the house. The octatonic lines in the piano flow up and down, as I would imagine silk to be manipulated on a loom. It is my hope that this work dutifully portrays the historic beauty of this treasured part of English heritage.’

Read more about In the House from Programme Manager: Festivals, Ellie here.

My favourite place for… delicious pancakes

In a Shrove Tuesday special of Our Favourite Places, Spitalfields Music’s Development Manager, Camille De Groote divulges her passion for pancakes courtesy of our local Crêpeaffaire.

When I was asked to share my favourite place in Spitalfields with our blog readers, I did not have to think twice! Crêpeaffaire is my favourite place in Spitalfields, bien sûr. I am a massive pancake fan; whatever shape or size they come in – with egg and salmon for breakfast, delicious ham and cheese for lunch or yummy chocolate crêpes for desert! Every Saturday morning I make fresh pancakes – it’s my start to the weekend. However, during the week, having access to delicious crepes only 10 steps from our office is perfect! I always look forward to picking up my favourite snack on the way to our awesome Festival venues (Christ Church Spitalfields, Shoreditch Church, Village Underground and many more!)

Crêpeaffaire is my favourite place, because they do my favourite food, and they do it incredibly well indeed! I could do with a Bananalicious crêpe right now – banana and Belgian chocolate, mmmmmmm!

Camille De Groote
Development Manager

Crêpeaffaire, Spitalfields is at 16 Horner Square, Old Spitalfields Market, London EC1 6EW

Fire – A Festival Finisher

200 singers, horn ensemble, fire-artists and pyrotechnics in the open air of Spitalfields – it’s our Festival Finale, Fire!

Sample design for the performance of Fire by Mandy Dike & The World Famous

Fire is an exciting new work by David Bruce, and is the second of our PRS for Music Foundation New Music 20×12 performances this Summer. The piece uses texts from Vikram Seth and Yannai to revel in the spiritual relationship we as human beings have with fire, and we’ll be working with The Opera Group to bring this celebration alive in Spitalfields’ market area.

It’s also a unique opportunity to get further involved in this summer’s Festival, as we are looking for enthusiastic singers to join the chorus. If you would like to find out more download our e-flyer, or contact our Programme Manager: Learning & Participation, Natalie Ellis via email or phone 020 7377 0287.

In the meantime, do check out this video from composer David Bruce and The Opera Group all about Fire:

2012 Celebrations this Summer

With the Olympics coming to London this summer, we’ve lined up some exciting musical celebrations as part of the Summer Festival.

We’re pleased to be hosting performances of two new works from the PRS for Music Foundation’s New Music 20×12 commissioning scheme, which will open and close the Festival.

Ringing from the tower of Christ Church Spitalfields on Friday 8 June (and again on Saturday 23 June) will be Howard Skempton‘s Five Rings Triples, a new work for church bells celebrating public gathering. The work was premiered at the very start of the year in Kingston-upon-Thames and you can hear a short clip from the piece on the BBC website here.

Our second New Music 20×12 work comes from David Bruce and is called Fire. We’ll be posting more details soon about this new piece and how you can get involved in the performance!

In pictures: Schools at the Academy

Last week some of the pupils from our Neighbourhood Schools travelled to the Royal Academy of Music for the performance of Nelson, a new piece by John Webb, with student players and tenor Richard Dowling in full 18th century dress. We captured some of the rehearsal and performance, so thought we’d share them with you!

Images: Ruxandra Mateiu

Blogger Jon Jacob from Thoroughly Good also came along, you can read his review here.

Read more about the Neighbourhood Schools project, and how Nelson came together from Programme Manager: Learning & Participation, Cathy here.