In video: Melvyn Tan

Melvyn Tan returns to Spitalfields this Summer for a programme brimming with Bach and brilliance. Alongside two of JS Bach‘s English Suites (Nos. 2 and 5) he will be giving the world premiere of works by 11 acclaimed British composers in Variations for Judith.

The variations are a series of short reflections on Bist du bei mir by GH Stölzel, arranged by JS Bach, and were written for Spitalfields Music’s former Executive Director, Judith Serota. They include contributions from composers Peter Maxwell Davies, Thea Musgrave, and Jonathan Dove and Judith Weir whose variations you can hear along with the theme in the video below.

Don’t miss Melvyn Tan on Monday 18 June at 9.00pm in Shoreditch Church (St Leonard’s). Book online now.

Making music on International Women’s Day

Today is International Women’s Day, and we thought this would be a great opportunity to celebrate the women who will be making music in our Summer Festival this June!

On Thursday 21 June, the Heath Quartet along with Dutch bassoonist Bram van Sambeek will be giving the first performance of Nicola LeFanu‘s new chamber work, Harlequin Memories.  The piece reflects on the life of a Shoreditch resident and wood-turner, and is part-inspired by a striking statue of a harlequin which was once in his possession.

In Melvyn Tan‘s Bach-inspired programme on Monday 18 June, the centrepiece comes in the form of Variations for Judith, a series of variations on J.S. Bach‘s arrangement of G.H. Stölzel’s Bist du bei mir by 11 of British music’s most celebrated composers. Each has a personal relationship with Spitalfields Music’s former Executive Director, Judith Serota and among the collection are works by Diana Burrell, Thea Musgrave and Judith Weir.

Also taking to our stages this Summer are soprano Dorothee Mields with Ton Koopman and the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, vocalists Anne Garner and Emily Barker who will be performing with Associate Artist Talvin Singh and as part of Undiscovered Spitalfields respectively. And who could forget our vivacious 50-strong ladies choir, Women sing East who along with their brilliant conductor Laka D will be revelling in two decades of popular classics and raising the roof of Shoreditch Church – not to be missed!

Happy Women’s Day everyone!

Booking now open for Summer Festival 2012!

So it’s still cold and miserable outside, and too dark in the evenings, but summer is hotting up Spitalfields Music HQ as booking is now open for our Summer Festival 2012!

Matthew Barley at Village Underground (Image: Alys Tomlinson)

Running from 8-23 June, the Festival is packed with more musical treats than ever! Leading the programme as our Associate Artists are the Gabrieli Consort & Players, cellist Matthew Barley and tabla player and music producer Talvin Singh. Between them they present an eclectic series of performances ranging from Purcell’s The Fairy Queen, and Stravinsky’s mass setting to a fusion of tabla, folk and electronic, a candle-lit performance of John Tavener’s The Protecting Veil and a search for the answer to the question, What’s Music For?

Paul McCreesh in Old Spitalfields Market (Image: Alys Tomlinson)

We welcome a number of music-theatre encounters, as The Sixteen return with a new commission from Alec Roth with Samuel Beckett’s Old Earth monologues. La Nuova Musica collaborate with Vignette Productions on Sacrifices: a new staging and installation around two baroque oratorios, and The Opera Group come together with the London Sinfonietta in Harrison Birtwistle’s tale of love and jealously, Bow Down.

Talvin Singh at Oxford House (Image: James Berry)

Alongside all this, Dutch cult sensation Night of the Unexpected makes its London debut, with a cocktail of experimental beats improvised jazz, composed repertoire and conceptual pop music. Late-night concerts from Melvyn Tan with Bach suites and new variations plus EXAUDI celebrating the beauty of John Cage’s vocal music. There’s also choral music of every flavour as the Monteverdi Choir go on a European choral pilgrimage, the Choir of Royal Holloway bring songs from the Baltic States and the distinct sounds of South American baroque from Florilegium and the Arakaendar Bolivia Choir.

All this and much, much more will be filling the extraordinary spaces of Spitalfields this summer! See our website for the full festival listings, or flick through the Festival brochure online.

Booking is now open: online 24 hours-a-day at spitalfieldsmusic.org.uk (just register an account if you’re new to us) or via the Box Office phone lines on 020 7377 1362 (open Mon-Fri, 10am-6pm).