Arditti Quartet and BCMG Celebrate Brian Ferneyhough's 75th Birthday

Brian Ferneyhough

Arditti Quartet and BCMG Celebrate Brian Ferneyhough's 75th Birthday

Two concerts and a talk will explore the composer's work and legacy on 9 December.

The Birmingham Contemporary Music Group and Arditti Quartet will present a day of concerts marking the 75th birthday of the British composer Brian Ferneyhough on 9 December.

Ferneyhough was born in Coventry and studied at the Birmingham School of Music (now Royal Birmingham Conservatoire), where the concerts will take place. He later moved to Amsterdam, and then to California, where he was Professor of Music at the University of California San Diego. He is best known for his association with the ‘New Complexity’ movement. 

Speaking about the composer’s work, BCMG Artistic Director Stephan Meier said

Brian Ferneyhough’s music overflows with shape, but in its core, it is melodic. It addresses narratives we all share: the dream of learning to fly; the experience of the failure doing so, and the still surviving hope that may one day be possible. Ferneyhough’s music is known for its complexity but we shouldn’t forget its humanity and diversity.

The day of events will begin with Ferneyhough in conversation with composer and lecturer Howard Skempton. The first concert, at 2.15pm, will feature his works Dum Transisset I-IV (2007) and Cassandra’s Dream Song (1970), performed by soloist Marie Christine Zupancic (flute), BCMG, Arditti Quartet and the members of the BCMG NEXT training programme. 

At 4pm, a concert titled Ideal & Flying Height, will see Arditti Quartet joined by soloist Oliver Janes (clarinet) and conducted by Emilio Pomarico in performances of Ferneyhough’s La Chute d’Icare (1988) and Funérailles I & II (1969-1980). Also featured in this programme will be works by composers with links to the Midlands: Jonathan Harvey’s Scena (1992), Michael Wolters’ Trauerkonzert (Funeral Concerto) (2000) and Charlotte Bray’s Beneath the Dawn Horizon (2008).

Tickets and further details can be found at www.bcmg.org.uk.

Published on 12 November 2018

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