̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Richard Causton

Music inspired by a survivor of the Nazis wins international recognition

ehs33 — Fri, 24 May 2019 14:18:19 +0000

BBC Radio 3 have selected a new orchestral composition by the Music Faculty’s Reader in Composition, Richard Causton to represent the UK at the annual International Rostrum of Composers to be broadcast across 27 countries worldwide. ̽��ֱ��Rostrum is run in association with UNESCO and the International Music Council.

̽��ֱ��piece - Ik zeg: NU - was based on a story of survival. Three quarters of the World War II Jewish population of the Netherlands were killed by the Nazis. One of some 16,000 Dutch Jews to survive the war was a relative of Richard Causton, Salomon Van Son (now 98 years old), who survived Nazi persecution hidden in a hay barn for almost three years. ̽��ֱ��farmer who hid him was interrogated by the Germans repeatedly but never revealed where he was. This work is based on Salomon Van Son’s memoir about his experience.

Richard explained, “ ̽��ֱ��title, Ik zeg: NU (‘I say: Now’) comes from Sal van Son’s ten-year-old great nephew, who remarked philosophically, ‘I say now now, and a moment later it is already history’.

“This child-like observation of how time passes seemed a brilliant description for music and how we experience it; but beyond that, it also describes life itself. We can never hang on to the moment, it is always slipping through our fingers. So my piece is about the passage of time and a homage to my 98-year-old relative, whose book traces the history of his Jewish family through four centuries, including his own years in hiding from the Nazis in occupied Holland during the Second World War.”

Richard constructed a new set of specially-tuned tubular bells especially for use in the piece, and together with the sounds of detuned vibraphones, a prepared piano and accordion, their haunting, resonant sound evokes the complex and elusive nature of passing time. ̽��ֱ��piece was commissioned by the BBC for the BBC Symphony Orchestra and was first performed at the Barbican Hall, London, in January to huge critical acclaim.

“Richard Causton's new work for the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Ik zeg: NU, holds two timeframes in play simultaneously, and brilliantly.” ( ̽��ֱ��Guardian)

“Now-ness and then-ness move in parallel in this spacious, beautifully constructed work.” ( ̽��ֱ��Times)

“It was a fabulously ear-tickling display of compositional skill, which every now and then took on a poetic resonance.” ( ̽��ֱ��Daily Telegraph)

Image: Richard Causton pencil score of Ik zeg: NU

A new orchestral composition - Ik zeg: NU by Richard Causton - has been chosen by BBC Radio 3 for worldwide broadcast.

BBCSO Credit Sim Canetty-Clark

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King’s College Chapel, 21 pianos, one very special performance

sjr81 — Mon, 20 Feb 2017 11:12:07 +0000

Taking place in King’s College Chapel on Tuesday (February 21) at 10pm, the Nocturne for 21 Pianos is a collaboration between composer and King’s College Fellow in Music Richard Causton, the Peterborough and Saffron Walden Centres for Young Musicians, King’s College Musical Society and Millers Music.

̽��ֱ��pianos, donated by Cambridge music shop Millers Music and worth more than £50,000, will then be gifted to local schools and institutions, who are being encouraged to apply to receive one of the instruments.

A reworking of Chopin’s original Nocturnes, the concert will see 21 local young musicians play 21 pianos simultaneously. With the pianos arranged in a large circle in the Chapel, it will be both a visual and aural spectacle, with a previous performance in 2010 described as “Eerie, ethereal and enchanting,” by ̽��ֱ��Times.

“This is a unique event for King's College Chapel and the sound and sight of 21 pianos in this wonderful space promises to be really memorable,” said Causton.

“As a child I studied at the Centre for Young Musicians, and I am very happy that pianists from the Peterborough and Saffron Walden branches of CYM will be joining forces with Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� students for this very special performance. It’s a fantastic chance to play in such an awe-inspiring space.”

All 21 pianos have been provided by Millers Music, in celebration of its 160-year anniversary, and its Norwich-based sister store Cookes Pianos, for its 130-year anniversary.

After the event, Millers will gift the pianos to schools and institutions across East Anglia, based on applications received via its website www.millersmusic.co.uk/21pianos. Submissions are now open, and those who apply will need to state why they believe their institution would benefit from a piano.

Entries will be reviewed by a panel of judges, including Richard Causton and Millers managing director, Simon Pollard.

Pollard said: “We’re thrilled to be collaborating with such a prestigious university that celebrates music education. As the oldest music shop group in the UK, we are dedicated to encouraging more young people in the region to embrace music, and gifting these pianos to local institutions does just that.”

̽��ֱ��21 Piano Nocturne concert is part of the Chapel Lates concert series, which Causton also curates. Attendees must arrive at 9.45pm for a 10pm start, with an estimated finish time of 10.50pm. Tickets are priced at £10 (concessions £5 and King’s members £2) and available to buy here and King’s College Visitors Centre.

Schools, community centres, churches and other education institutions in East Anglia are eligible to apply to receive a piano. ̽��ֱ��closing date for applications is Sunday, March 12.

One of the UK’s most iconic buildings will resonate to the sound of 21 pianos on Tuesday evening as part of a unique event involving a Cambridge composer, students, and young musicians from around Cambridgeshire.

This is a unique event for King's College Chapel and the sound and sight of 21 pianos in this wonderful space promises to be really memorable.

Richard Causton

King's College Chapel

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Birthday celebrations for renowned composer

pbh25 — Wed, 15 Oct 2014 11:21:38 +0000

A major programme to celebrate the career of one of Britain’s greatest living composers comes to Cambridge in November.

Secret Theatres: the Music of Harrison Birtwistle brings some of the most respected practitioners of contemporary music to Cambridge in celebration of Birtwistle in his 80th year.

̽��ֱ��Arditti String Quartet, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Oliver Knussen, Anssi Karttunen and Nicolas Hodges appear alongside the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge’s New Music Ensemble, Choir of King’s College and ̽��ֱ��King’s Men for this three day festival conceived by Cambridge ̽��ֱ��’s first Lecturer in Composition, Richard Causton.

Causton, a composer, is currently working on a new Piano Quintet commissioned by the BBC for the Nash Ensemble and his new work for cello solo, De Profundis (2014), will be given its world premiere by Anssi Karttunen on the last day of the festival.

Causton said: “Secret Theatres marks the most significant new music festival ever to be presented in Cambridge. Not only will it feature a range of works from across Birtwistle’s career, but will also provide entry points for student composers at all levels.”

On the Sunday before the beginning of the festival, Causton leads a practical composition workshop – Taking a Line for a Walk – for local sixth-formers, using Birtwistle’s music as a starting point.

During the course of the festival itself, student composers are invited to attend workshops with the Arditti String Quartet, listen to Birtwistle in conversation with Causton, and participate in one-on-one sessions with the composer.

With the works of Birtwistle at its core, Secret Theatres will also include world premieres by MPhil student Joy Lisney; doctoral students David Roche, Jae-Moon Lee and Patrick Brennan; and third year undergraduate student Alex Tay.

̽��ֱ��premieres are programmed alongside a UK première by Alexander Goehr, Emeritus Professor at the Faculty of Music and a close associate of Birtwistle since the 1950s, as well as works by faculty members John Hopkins and Causton.

̽��ֱ��programme runs from Thursday, 6 November to Saturday, 8 November.

Major anniversary celebrations will include world premieres.

Secret Theatres marks the most significant new music festival ever to be presented in Cambridge.

Richard Causton, Lecturer in Composition.

Tickets and information:

Tickets are available from: www.adcticketing.com or by calling 01223 300085
Full listings can be viewed here: www.cums.org.uk.

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Kettle's Yard New Music Series 2014

jfp40 — Wed, 22 Jan 2014 04:49:00 +0000

̽��ֱ��eclectic and wide ranging music series has been programmed by Richard Causton in his first year as Kettle’s Yard New Music Associate. Lecturer in Composition in the Faculty of Music, Causton has been described as “one of the finest of the new generation of British composers”, ̽��ֱ��Guardian. His inspirational programme explores themes of lineage, with several performances of works by teachers and their students. In the first concert on 26 January, the highly acclaimed Chroma Ensemble perform Causton’s award winning Phoenix (2006), alongside works by one of his Italian teachers, Franco Donatoni, and a newly commissioned piece by one of Causton’s students, Andrew Thomas. ̽��ֱ��series also celebrates Italian 20th century music, and the works of Jeremy Dale Roberts, one of the unsung heroes of British New Music.

̽��ֱ��second concert on 16 February, a memorial to Michael Harrison, Director of Kettle’s Yard from 1992 to 2011, presents new works by every one of the composers he appointed whilst Director - an extraordinary homage to his legacy and a chance to hear world premiers by composers including John Woolrich, Richard Baker and Kenneth Hesketh. Kettle’s Yard is delighted that the works will be performed by Anton Lukoszevieze, cello (a former New Music Associate) and Mark Knoop, piano.

On March 2 , Jeremy Dale Roberts’ Oggetti for piano (an homage to the Italian artist Giorgio Morandi) is presented alongside music by Morandi’s contemporary Luigi Dallapiccola and Dallapiccola’s pupil Edwin Roxburgh. ̽��ֱ��Kreutzer String Quartet (with cellist Bridget MacRae) will also be performing a vibrant string quartet by Dale Roberts on 25 May, which draws its inspiration from the art of Edvard Munch along with Virginia Woolf, Marina Tsvetayeva and Janaceks.

Further new commissions are showcased in the fourth concert on 27 April, in which ̽��ֱ�� third year music student Kate Honey’s substantial new work will be performed by Peter Sheppard Skaerved, violin and Roderick Chadwick, piano (kindly supported by the PRS for Music Foundation).

̽��ֱ��series also presents works outside the classical mainstream including the electronic music pioneer Trevor Wishart, with a selection of his electroacoustic works on 11 May. ̽��ֱ��programme closes with a final concert on 15 June, featuring Errollyn Wallen, a composer who is “not afraid to take risks in her music” (International Record Review), who will perform a selection of her own compositions. Wallen, MBE, was recently the recipient of an Ivor Novello Award.

To see the full programme and to book tickets: https://www.kettlesyard.cam.ac.uk/music/newmusic/

On Sunday 26 January Kettle’s Yard plays host to a dynamic programme of new Italian music to mark the start of its 2014 New Music series.

Richard Causton‘s Phoenix uses idiosyncratic techniques (slow-motion trills and tremolando, for example), to paint a vivid picture

Allan Kozinn, New York Times

Claire Shovelton

Chroma Ensemble

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