60 seconds with…Kate Kelly: Programme Director for Festivals

Kate Kelly joined us just before the Summer Festival as our new Programme Director for Festivals and we’re thrilled to have her, and her programming expertise, as part of our team.

We thought we’d fire off one of our ’60 seconds’ interviews with Kate, so you can get to know her a little better…

1.       What was the first CD/LP/Album you bought?

I actually didn’t start buying music until quite late – my parents have quite an extensive collection of LP’s so we used to listen to loads of classics like Dire Straits and the Rolling Stones. Unfortunately I think the first LP that I bought was by Vanilla Ice, although I’m not sure I should be admitting that.

 2.       Who’s your favourite composer?

I tend to fluctuate depending on my mood – but Bach remains a firm favourite.

 3.       Last concert/gig you went to?

Last week I went to Wilton’s Music Hall to see Alina Ibragimova with visuals by The Quay Brothers – I was blown away by Alina’s technical ability and inherent musicality, and the programme worked so well in that beautiful old building.

4.       What did you want to be when you grew up?

A dancer – I still harbour the dream.

 5.       You have a bit of a flair for adventure – what’s the craziest thing you’ve done lately?

A skydive straight after the Summer Festival! I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone – and I didn’t break anything which was a bonus!

 6.       What were you doing before Spitalfields Music?

Many things! I am a flautist, so I have spent quite a lot of time abroad playing with orchestras in Hong Kong and Portugal as well as touring and doing TV and radio work back in UK. I also worked for companies such as Serious, BBCSO and the Proms and directly before coming to Spitalfields  I spent a year producing the jazz and folk strands at Kings Place.

 7.       What excites you most about working with Spitalfields Music?

I love this area – I think the East end of London displays incredible diversity and opportunity, and its history is fascinating. I find the fact that SM has a vast pool of inspiration on its doorstep very exciting, and am very much enjoying meeting the eclectic and interesting artists and people associated with SM.

 8.       What / who inspires you?

People who are selfless.

If we are talking artistically then there are many who inspire me. Diaghilev, Freud, Martha Graham and Bach have always inspired me, either for their ingenious minds, the fact they continually pushed boundaries or that they changed perceptions of art during their lifetime. I am also inspired by the creative ways in which artists and musicians continue to produce concepts of quality and innovation during our time in the face of ever-diminishing funding and support.

 9.       Without giving too much away, what can you tell us about the Winter Festival this year?

We have an exciting mix of beautiful music, tantalising food, and someone suspended from the ceiling of Christ Church………more anon!

Booking for the Winter Festival will open mid September but keep checking our website for updates, or follow us on Facebook or Twitter

60 Seconds With…Clarinettist Stuart King

Clarinettist with CHROMA, Stuart King took some time out to answer our quick-fire questions about his inspirations, performing with CHROMA and his favourite venues:

What’s the most played track from your MP3 player/CD collection?
Richard Strauss – Metamorphosen

What did you want to be when you grew up?
A chef

What would you most like your audiences to take away from your performances?
A feeling of having shared a musical adventure with me.

Why did you choose to play the clarinet?
When I was a small child a group of musicians came into my primary school and played Peter and the Wolf. I instantly fell in love with the clarinet. I went home and plagued my parents until they bought me my first instrument.

What inspires you?
Nature

What’s your favourite venue to perform in?
There are so many wonderful places to perform, but aside from the big purpose-built halls, the village hall on Fair Isle in the Shetlands is one of the most magical places. Music is woven into the fabric of the community and the audience there, though small, lives and breathes each performance with you. Every time I share my music with the audience and musicians there I am reminded what a unique gift it is.

What do you like about working with Spitalfields Music?
Spitalfields Music has always been fearless in its programming of new, experimental or challenging music alongside more standard repertoire. This visionary approach is all too rare in the UK and is something to be cherished.

Who’s your favourite fictional hero?
Batman

Do you have a favourite piece or repertoire to perform, if so what?
Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time

What do you like about performing with CHROMA?
CHROMA is my family. We have grown up with each other. Making music, being creative and sharing a deep connection through music with people who are so close to you is a privilege. The energy that we share in the ensemble is all about positivity – it’s all about our passion for sharing our love of music with our audiences.

Sum up CHROMA’s Summer Festival event in three words:
Spiritual
Dynamic
Zesty

Stuart will be performing the world premiere of Rolf Hind’s Spitalfields Music commission, Sit, Stand, Walk at Christ Church Spitalfields this evening (Monday 20 June) at 7.30pm.
Tickets £10
Book now!

60 Seconds with The Simonsound *Guest Post!*

Festival artist and seasoned interviewer Nick Luscombe took over our regular 60 Seconds With slot to chat with The Simonsound who will be performing on 22 June as part of our Village Underground evening Nick Luscombe Presents…

Tell me when did The Simonsound project begin?
The seed that went on to become The Simonsound was sewn about 4 or 5 years ago when Matt Ford (AKA DJ Format) asked me to work with him on a project for BMG. We’d worked together before as I’d always helped Matt mix his DJ Format material, but this time Matt wanted my input on a project that involved sampling old Chappell Library material  to make new tracks. He’d been given access to the Chappell Library to plunder but was getting frustrated with the limitations of sampling. He was aware that I’d been experimenting with electronics inspired by the early pioneers and thought it might be interesting to combine the two. Initially we had no bigger plans beyond doing a couple of tracks but soon realised that we could take it further. Around the same time I’d been involved in producing a 12 part radio series for Resonance FM called ‘Welcome to Mars’ which told the story of weird science and science fiction during the ‘50s, and I’d created a lot of sound cues and musical intermissions for this , some of which ended up being developed into tracks that appear on our debut LP Reverse Engineering.

How did you manage to recreate the album so well live?
Reverse Engineering is most definitely a ‘studio’ album and this reason alone makes it difficult to adapt for a live show, especially without pulling a full band and mini orchestra together! The combination of me playing synths, tape loops, fx and percussion with Laura providing vocals and flute (and an additional singer Rosi Lawlor for this show!) is a good dynamic that works well on stage. In addition to the sound, a pre-recorded synchronized video projects moving and still images from the ‘50s and ‘60s. Man’s conquest of space, new advances in technology and early computers are all represented alongside clips that show the fascination with ‘inner space’, or ‘the mind’, prevalent during the ‘50s and ‘60s.

What can people expect from your show at Spitalfields Music’s Summer Festival this year?
Imagine you have purchased a ticket into space, a space that takes in both the inner and outer realms of the mind and the cosmos. Along the way you will slip from one to the other, all the time guided by synthesised tones, oscillations, modulations, voice and flute from the ‘other’ dimension.

What are your plans for the rest of the year?
Well we’ve currently got a 7” single out on Battered Ornament Records called ‘Inside Your Bones’. It’s a collaborative single with Laura J Martin and has an amazing sleeve by Luke Insect. I’ve just finished a remix for a new artist Beta Hector which should be available soon on Tru Thoughts Records. His debut LP is out in August and well worth checking out. There will also be a couple of Simonsound tracks coming out on DJ Format’s new album sometime later this year.

I’m always trying to fit in more time for writing new material and this is ongoing, working towards a second Simonsound LP. There is a new track with Laura J Martin on the go and lots of other seeds that will hopefully grow into some interesting songs.

We are playing at Soundwave Festival in Croatia in July. More details -
http://www.soundwavecroatia.com/

4 things that are pushing your buttons right now

• Mala Morska Villa – film and soundtrack. A stunning Czech take on the Hans Christian Anderson tale ‘The Little Mermaid’, with a soundtrack to match.

• Natural Yoghurt Band ‘Tuck in with the..’ – The new LP from NYB continues their take on odd instrumental library music. Beautiful sleeve too.

• Found Objects blog. A Hauntological Dumping ground. http://found0bjects.blogspot.com/

• Practical Electronica – a film documentary about Fred Judd, a little known UK pioneer of electronic sound and music. It is being made by a friend of mine, Ian Helliwell, and I’ve been lucky enough to get some sneak previews. Find out more here http://www.ianhelliwell.co.uk/practical_electronica.htm

Your website debsite details please!
www.thesimonsound.com
Blog – http://thesimonsound.tumblr.com/

60 Seconds With… Tomasz Pokrzywinski

This summer we are pleased to be welcoming Polish baroque orchestra, Arte dei Suonatori. As they prepare for their London debut here in Spitalfields, we caught up with Principal Cellist, Tomasz  Pokrzywinski, for this week’s 60 Seconds With…

What’s the most played track from your MP3 player/CD collection?
There is no single track. I listen to many things. If I had to pick my favourite song I wouldn’t be able to do it. But my favourite album is The Beatles’ Abbey Road.

Where’s your favourite place in London?
I have my secret places connected with important memories… So it’s more about these memories rather than places.

What did you want to be when you grew up?
I don’t remember, but probably a musician – my grandfather was a musician, my father is a musician, so it was kind of obvious…

What would you most like your audiences to take away from your performances?
Music is not what’s written on paper. Music is what happens within us and between us.

What inspires you?
Meeting new musicians, working with them and learning about their approach to music.
And Nature.

What’s your favourite venue to perform in?
Witold Lutoslawski Concert Studio of Polish Radio in Warsaw.

What do you like about working with Spitalfields Music?
Professionalism.

What do you think your breakthrough moment was?
I think there were many. Perhaps the most important were: Meeting Jaap ter Linden during one of the Early Music Summer Academies; coming to study with Alison McGillivray; going to Gambia for three weeks to learn about their music.

Do you have a favourite piece or repertoire to perform, if so what?
Bach, Bach and Bach

Who’s your favourite fictional hero?
hmmm…

Who are your real-life heroes?
I think that the real heroes are the ones we will never hear of.

Arte dei Suonatori June 13th book tickets now!

60 Seconds with… Simon Hewitt Jones

This year’s Summer Festival sees the world premiere of Who is My Neighbour? an east meets west collaboration between Britain’s Fifth Quadrant and Palestine’s Dal’Ouna. We’ve managed to grab 60 seconds with Fifth Quadrant’s Simon Hewitt Jones to find out a little bit more about him…

What’s the most played track from your MP3 player/CD collection?
An appalling piece of 80s’ pop that I use to get up in the morning! The most played Classical track? Beethoven’s Grosse Fugue.

Where’s your favourite place in London?
I love the area around Green Park and Piccadilly. So much history, so much green space!

What did you want to be when you grew up?
Until I was 11, I wanted to be a train driver! Since then, I’ve always wanted to be a violinist.

What would you most like your audiences to take away from your performances?
A feeling of having been taken somewhere in a way they weren’t expecting.

What inspires you?
Truly innovative ideas, and old musicians who are generous with their wisdom.

What’s your favourite venue to perform in?
I love big concert halls for orchestral performances, but also strange and unusual venues for chamber music.

What do you like about working with Spitalfields Music?
I love the creative attitude that Spitalfields has as an organisation. I love the freedom to to take risks and do something exciting.

What do you think your breakthrough moment was?
Realising that presenting something truthful to an audience is only possible by serving the music. 

Do you have a favourite piece or repertoire to perform, if so what?
I like most music, but virtuoso violin music and great chamber music never fail to excite me!

Who’s your favourite fictional hero?
Postman Pat was always a big role model.

Who are your real-life heroes?
Yehudi Menuhin, Pablo Casals, Leonard Bernstein and Daniel Barenboim.

To find out more about Fifth Quadrant and Dal’ouna’s joint project including video footage of their trip to Palestine visit www.roadtojericho.com

Book tickets for this exciting event now!