Good running: contemporary music at this year’s Cheltenham Festival

There’s a veritable feast of contemporary music in store in July at this year’s Cheltenham Music Festival.

There’s a concert from the Choir of Royal Holloway and Dame Felicity Lott in a prgramme that will include Britten, Poulenc, Michael Berkeley, Anthony Pitts and a new piece by Gabriel Jackson.

The Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge bring a programme of Britten, Pärt, John Tavener and Howells, amongst other pieces.

The City of London Sinfonia perform Britten, Michael Zev Gordon, and Tippett‘s vivacious Concerto for Double String Orchestra.

Credit: Festival website

Brothers Colin and David Matthews are featured in a concert from the Schubert Ensemble, whilst the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group première The Lighthouse Keepers by David Sawer alongside the Feldman/Beckett Words and Music (Sawer appears In Conversation before the concert).

The music of Dai Fujikura features alongside music by Britten, Poulenc and Stravinsky‘s Rite of Spring in a two-piano concert extravaganza as well.

Lots to look forward too; lots of success to the Cheltenham Music Festival in July!

Looking to the future: LSO festival next week

We’re always on the look-out to let you know about other festivals featuring contemporary music, and an exciting week starts next Monday, as the London Symphony Orchestra’s LSO Futures begins a seven-day exploration of  the work of new composers, at the Barbican and St Luke’s.

Featuring in the festival are Tansy Davies, whose Wild Card lurked and menaced at the Proms in 2010, and whose bristling Neon looks boldly to the fore as it struts out:

as well as Jason Yarde, one of the New Music 20×12 composers contributing a commission to last year’s Cultural Olympiad that ran alongside the London Olympic Games.

Tansy Davies

John Adams’ boisterous Chamber Symphony makes an appearance in a concert also featuring Varese’s Ionisations and Stravinsky’s monumental Symphonies of Winds. Colin Matthews, who along with brother David is featuring in this year’s Cheltenham Festival, will also be In Conversation to talk about his life and music.

A celebration of young composers working on the frontier of contemporary music; find out more online here.