Have you booked for our Rush Hour concert on 22nd October?
Hugh Webb, Bridget Carey and Nancy Ruffer play two pieces by new young composers, Declan Molloy and Phoenix Archbold – as part of our Rush Hour concert initiative showcasing the work of new composers.
£15 to include one (or several) glasses of wine. Book here.
Trio Notturno in the Salons of Vienna
We had a delightful evening with Trio Notturno, Jamie Akers, Rachel Stott and Eva Caballero on the 5th as they transported us to the salons of early 19th century Vienna. Here is Jamie talking about his nine string guitar before playing Rachel Stott’s Omens which it had inspired, following in the tradition of the time of combining spoken word with music.
Other composers included Anton Diabelli, Wenzel Thomas Matiegka, Franz Anton Hoffmeister, Johann Kaspar and Joseph Küffner with contrbutions from both Mozart and Beethoven. To give you a flavour, here are short extracts from Mozart’s flute quartet in D major arranged by Jamie for flute, guitar and viola and Joseph Küffner’s very jolly Rondo Russe-Hongroise.
Dublin Jack
Last Thursday I went to the most remarkable event at the South Bank; remarkable both in concept – it was a proto opera – and in its dramatic content.
Dublin Jack was performed by the Belfast Ensemble under their leader and the composer/librettist of the piece, Conor Mitchell. It is the first two acts of what will become a fully blown staged opera – an early chance for composer, performers and audience to delve into the principal characters as they develop. An exciting concept in itself – while the subject matter could not be more dramatic.
Jack Saul, raised in the slums of Dublin, ‘a fresh looking beardless face, with almost feminine features, auburn hair and sparkling blue eyes…and endowed by a very extraordinary development of the male appendage’ set up in London in the 1870s as a ‘professional Mary Anne’, running a roaring trade catering to the queer tastes of his aristocratic clientele. In 1881 he contributed to The Sins of the Cities of the Plain, a pioneering example of gay literature in English, and was then heavily involved in the Cleveland Street scandal in 1889. Although Saul himself was never charged with any offence the scandal caused a moral panic about homosexuality which swept across the empire resulting in brutal anti sodomy laws which remain in force in many parts of the world today.
The opera so far meets Jack in his establishment where a young recruit is being inducted into his work – and then moves to a private party where Jack and his associates have been hired to entertain. The moral ambiguity of both the sex workers’ and their ’employers’ position is all too clear and the fall out dramatic and horrifying.
I cannot wait for the full opera to emerge. I would have suggested that meanwhile you tried to make it to the last of the concert performances at the Outburst Arts Festival in Belfast on November 14th – but I fear it is already sold out.
Vexations – 17th – 19th October
Even if you don’t get to St Pancras Clock Tower for the live rendition of Erik Satie’s 40 hours of Vexations – a fund raising initiative for Help Musicians – don’t forget to log in and see it streamed.
For more, and to donate, go here.
And do not forget to look at our Upcoming Events page for other concerts not listed in this post.
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