Brett Dean Day at Wigmore Hall and Midori premiere
(February 2011)
Australian composer Brett Dean enjoys a sequence of UK events in coming months including the Wigmore Hall hosting a Brett Dean Day and the UK premiere of his new work for Midori (19/20 February)Following the success of Brett Dean's opera Bliss at last summer's Edinburgh Festival, the UK plays host to a wealth of performances of the composer's music over the coming months, celebrating his 50th birthday year. The Wigmore Hall leads with a major weekend focus, combining a Brett Dean Day of three concerts on Saturday 19 February with the UK premiere of his new work, Berlin Music, for violinist Midori on Sunday 20 February.
Brett Dean joins some of today's leading young chamber musicians for the Brett Dean Day, both as composer and performer. The morning concert (11.30 am) includes Eclipse performed by the Doric String Quartet, Demons for solo flute, and the London premiere of his recent string quintet Epitaphs with Dean joining the quartet as violist. In the afternoon concert (3.00 pm) Dean joins string players Jack Liebeck, Christopher Murray and Enno Senft with pianist Piers Lane in Voices of Angels, together with Poems and Prayers with mezzo Karen Cargill, and Piers Lane playing Dean's recent etudes to Bach, Janacek and Kurtág. At 6.00 pm Dean is in conversation with Tom Service before the evening concert at 7.30 pm, combining Dean's Recollections for mixed ensemble, with the viola solo Intimate Decisions, ending with Brahms String Quintet op.111 with Dean joining the Heath Quartet.
The following day, Sunday 20 February, brings Midori to the Wigmore Hall to give the UK premiere of Dean's Berlin Music, as part of an international tour. The violin and piano work, lasting 17 minutes, was commissioned by the Midori Foundation and is premiered at the Konserthuset in Stockholm on 13 February, followed by performances in Spain en route to London. Further performances are planned in the USA, including Carnegie Hall in New York on 23 March, and at future concerts in Japan.
Dean orchestral performances over the coming months include the London premiere of Komarov's Fall, one of the 'asteroids' commissioned by Simon Rattle and the Berliner Philharmoniker to accompany Holst's The Planets. At the Royal Festival Hall performance on 23 March the London Philharmonic Orchestra is conducted by Marin Alsop, with the programme also including John Adams's Doctor Atomic Symphony and The Planets. Komarov's Fall, named after the doomed Soviet cosmonaut, also forms the final movement of Dean's Three Memorials and is linked to one of his Short Stories suite of miniatures performed by Manchester Camerata and Nicholas Kraemer at the Royal Northern College of Music on 26 February.
Dean's work for flute and orchestra, Siduri Dances, receives its world concert premiere in Cardiff on 1 April. Flautist Adam Walker and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Thierry Fischer perform the ten-minute work at BBC Hoddinott Hall as part of the Arcomis International Flute Festival (1-3 April). Siduri Dances was written for Sharon Bezaly who recorded the work for BIS Records in 2009 with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra conducted by the composer (BIS-CD-1576).
> Visit the Wigmore Hall website
> Visit the London Philharmonic website
> Visit the Arcomis International Flute Festival website
> Further information on Work: Recollections
Photo: Mark Coulsen
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