Intern Diary: 180 Days of Summer

I know. You wish summer could be so long. Who wouldn’t daydream of sunny days, bright colours or contagious happy smiles?
Although you might get a bit jealous now, believe it or not, this year I somehow had a six month summer. It started sometime in February with brochures, research, planning sessions and lovely people, all heading towards the Spitalfields Music Summer Festival.  More like a time travel, every working day on Brushfield Street was directly related to June 2011, or most precisely 10-25 of June.  A lot of cups of tea, laughs, Tuesday meetings, brainstorming sessions, Learning & Participation workshops, leaflets and communications plans.

 And one day, Friday 10 June was actually here.  The Sounds of Spitalfields invaded the market and the summer frozen in time came to live. It was music all around for two weeks. From baroque, contemporary classical and jazz to an extremely one of a kind experience: a musical secret hidden under the monotony of an office. And what the audience is never aware of: an incredibly organised team taking care of every little thing and making sure that music reaches everyone the way it was supposed to.

I find it impossible to describe in words everything that I have experienced in my 180 days of summer.  But I guess music is not about explaining and wording. It’s definitely more about listening and enjoying.  And I’ve been surely meeting and listening to a lot of interesting people and enjoyed working within such a nice team, experiencing how a music festival is brought to life.  I will definitely miss that!

Ruxandra Mateiu
Marketing & Communications Intern

Late nights at the Village Underground

Tonight we welcome Barokksolistine along with members of I Fagiolini  to perform some really old pub-music all under the direction of Bjarte Eike.
Join us from 9.30pm for humour, anecdote, drinks and some 17th century pop music in a relaxed and informal setting!

Not sure what to expect? Have a look at Barokksolistine in action:

On Friday, Village Underground will also be host to  The Night Shift, with the OAE performing an all-Handel programme. Early in the evening there will be a pre-concert show by collaborators from the Roundhouse Experimental Choir and Circulate,  our group of Young Programmers, and afterwards DJ Postino will see us through til midnight.

Find out what the orchestra’s players think about the programme behind this  summer’s Night Shift in this video by the OAE:

Visit www.spitalfieldsmusic.org.uk for more info!

Diggers for Victory – James Weeks

James Weeks writes about the inspiration behind his new choral work The Freedom of the Earth. The following is an excerpt from his article published in this morning’s Guardian.

In the beginning of Time, the great Creator Reason made the Earth to be a Common Treasury, to preserve Beasts, Birds, Fishes and Man: but not one word was spoken in the beginning, That one branch of mankind should rule over another. And if the Earth be not peculiar to any one branch or branches of mankind…Then is it Free and Common for all, to work together, and eate together.

 As we wallow in our 21st-century mires of recession and environmental destruction, gluttonous children of a selfish and profoundly unequal society we seem to have no serious intention of reforming, it’s salutary to read these bracing words from a distant, more hopeful time. In 1649, as Parliament consolidated its triumph in the Civil War and Charles I mounted the scaffold, Gerrard Winstanley and his band of True Levellers climbed St George’s Hill, near Weybridge in Surrey, and began digging the earth to cultivate it for food.

Writing such as this, finding transcendence and exaltation in the simplest, most fundamental things in life, persuaded me to try and set Winstanley to music. Could it work?  Winstanley is about collective action, and the act of music-making, of rehearsing and performing, is itself a direct engagement with this idea. Collective music-making embodies the co-operation and togetherness that binds a society together, and none more so than choral singing, which, whether a hymn or a requiem, allows us to articulate a shared thought together, not negating the individual but gathering all into a harmony made of many different parts.

Winstanley’s words, the product of an individual mind but aspiring to a collective ideal, fit perfectly into the mouths of a choir. My new work, The Freedom of the Earth, for chorus and an ensemble of 10 players, presents these highly modern ideas about society through this pre-eminently co-operative medium. The relation of music and text I envisaged was not so much a traditional ‘setting’, but more of an incorporation of the words into the texture of the music. I imagined two quite contrasted types of group expression: firstly, a rhythmic and energetic type of music, modelled on the idea of a street demonstration, where many voices are raised in protest, sometimes altogether, sometimes apart, sometimes clearly, sometimes lost in the crowd. Then the second part of the piece, setting texts from Winstanley’s great manifesto The True Levellers Standard Advanced, moves out of the streets, away from the city and onto the land, weaving together many independent strands of hymn-like material in different sections of the choir, as Winstanley describes the work of the Diggers and their aims.

At the centre, between these two halves, stand the words Winstanley claimed to have heard “in a Trance”:

Work together, Eate Bread together, Declare all this abroad.

An incredibly simple phrase, embodying the deepest aspirations. A society built on these foundations would be a big society indeed.
James Weeks

The Freedom of the Earth will be performed by New London Chamber Choir and London Sinfonietta
Monday 13 June
Shoreditch Church
Book Now!

To read the full article as published by the Guardian, please click here.

Interview with Sophie Bevan

We chatted to soprano Sophie Bevan, soloist with The English Concert in Aci, Galatea e Polifemo about her career, her favourite reportoire and her role as Aci in Handel’s Opera:

You grew up in a family of musicians, surrounded by people passionate about music. Have you ever seen yourself doing something else for living instead of embracing a singing career?

As a young girl I played the piano and cello and was made to practice everyday. I think my parents imagined that I would be a pianist but as I grew older and my voice began to develop quickly and naturally it became obvious that this was what I was going to be doing for the rest of my life. I have, however, always secretly imagined that if I lost my voice then I would become an archeologist or even a gardener. I’d love to work somewhere exotic digging up bits of ancient flint or work in the garden of a beautiful grand house!

A lot of people dream about being singers when they grow up, what made you choose to embark on a journey towards opera in particular?

I didn’t choose to embark on a journey towards opera in particular. I started singing at the church my father is director of music at as a child, singing mostly 16th century polyphony which I loved and still love to sing on Sunday mornings. I then joined Berkshire Youth Choir and was picked out for solos, subsequently getting noticed at concerts and booked for local choral societies singing a lot of Oratorio. My family set up a mini opera group most involving family members which was where I first got a taste of singing Opera but during my time at the RCM I was still mostly singing Oratorio until I joined the Benjamin Britten Opera School. Now I like to sing a wide range of repertoire, both on the concert platform and on stage. I think it’s healthy for my voice to sing in a wide variety of styles.

Is there a particular moment in time that you associate with your breakthrough moment? How smooth was the transition from a talented student to a successful professional?

I don’t think I had a particular breakthrough moment. I was very lucky in that I started working professionally both chorally and as a soloist from about the age of 13 and all the way through school and college I was gradually getting more and more work apart from my studies. I suppose it was when ENO first asked me to cover Kate Royal as Poppea and sing the role of Love in their production of The Coronation of Poppea in my first year of opera school that I really started to get noticed. If I hadn’t sung for Kate for a few big rehearsals I might not have been offered the roles I was over the next few years.

You’ve been praised by audiences and critics for your powerful lyric-soprano voice and your thoughtful interpretations. What crosses your mind in the last 5 minutes before a performance starts?

I’m normally going through my words if it’s a recital from memory. If it’s a concert or opera performance I like to imagine my friends and family out there smiling at me and supporting me because it always fills me with confidence. Also, I sometimes imagine myself singing the best that I can and tell myself that I can’t wait to get out there and sing beautiful music to people who might never have heard it before. You always want people to leave having had a really memorable experience.

Is there a soundtrack that plays in your mind whenever you’re finding yourself in a stressful situation?

No! I normally have the music that I’m currently working on going round and around inside my head and I wish it would go away!

Does a favourite piece or repertoire relate to how well it matches your personality? Or is it more challenging to give a performance of a role totally opposed to the way you would describe yourself?

I love to play roles that are very different to the person I am. I’ve always loved a challenge plus it’s more fun to pretend to be someone else. Having said that, I love playing Susanna in Figaro both because she’s busy onstage most of the time singing beautiful music but also because I feel I can really relate to her and I think I would probably react just like her in her situations.

Have you ever performed with The English Concert before? What are you expecting/anticipating from this experience?

This is my first performance with The English Concert and I’m really looking forward to working with an ensemble that I’ve heard recordings of since I was a child and who have such a fantastic reputation for playing baroque music so beautifully and virtuosically. I hope to learn a lot more about the style of this kind of repertoire from experts and come away feeling as though I’ve made some wonderful music with some great world-class musicians.

How would you describe your Aci role in Handel’s dramatic Aci Galatea e Polifemo?

Despite being sung by a soprano, Aci is an earnest shepherd boy besotted by Galatea. He will do anything for her love. He will fight big giant monsters and kill himself to protect her! I imagine him as being courageous and strong but with a soft, poetic, loving heart. He shows a lot of character; he shows anger and hatred towards Polifemo and then love and sweetness to Galatea. It is a very dramatic role and one that needs a lot of  control vocally; testing the range of the soprano voice, the agility, and also the ability to sustain long beautiful phrases.

What would you most like the audiences to take away from your performance at Spitalfields Music Summer Festival?

I hope the audience comes away feeling elated and wanting to hear more! I’d like each person to have felt personally touched by the story and interpretation and moved by our performances.

See Sophie as Aci in Handel’s Aci, Galatea e Polifemo
Thursday 23 June 7.00pm
Christ Church Spitalfields
Tickets £5-£32
Book Now!

My first two weeks as an Intern: Stacey

Joining the vibrant team at Spitalfields Music during the month leading up to the Summer Festival is an experience like no other.  I have been able to observe, and participate in, the final yet critical stages of the work that goes into finalising this massive musical event.  Many of the projects that are happening at the festival have been going on for a long period of time and are finally coming to the pinnacle of performance, as is the case with the premiere of the opera We are Shadows, which has been in the making for two solid years.

Wednesday evenings and Thursday lunchtimes are the times for choirs to be tended to, and of course, also participate in as well.  Women sing East and Spitalfields Singers each have their own very distinct style, and both are wonderful examples of flourishing community choirs where the participants can create music whilst having a lot of fun.  My time in the office has been one of learning more about the ‘’ins and outs’’ of running various education projects, with all of them at different stages in their development.

While the days here at Spitalfields Music are underlined by the constant and almost inaudible hum ‘Festival, Festival, Festival, Festival’, I also find it very exciting that several of my projects focus on what happens after the Festival ends. Being involved in the work that allows the Festival the flourish, as well as the projects that are sustained throughout the year has been the highlight of my time so far at Spitalfields Music.  I can tell that each day gets more intense and exciting and I am eagerly anticipating my first Summer Festival; experiencing the events from the inside out.  I’ll see you there!

Stacey Kurtz
Learning & Participation Intern

Image credit: Women sing East by Suke Driver