Something for the weekend: Paris with Jonas

Jonas Kaufmann's new album of French arias, entitled simply L'Opéra, is out next week. Being JDCMB readers, dear friends, you are probably going to like it, so here is Sony's beautifully made trailer, narrated by the man himself.

He strikes a fine balance between known and unfamiliar repertoire, with the presentation on the video informal but informative, classy but unpretentious. He's accompanied by the magnificent Orchestra of the Bavarian State Opera from his home town of Munich, conducted by Bertrand de Billy. Ludovic Tézier joins him for the Pearl Fishers duet and Sonya Yoncheva for scenes from Massenet's Manon that even blissed out my cat, Ricki, not thus far noted for his appreciation of anything other than supremely refined playing of Mozart piano sonatas.

The album also includes dark-hued accounts of Massenet's 'Pourquoi me réveiller' from Werther and the Flower Song from Bizet's Carmen, but culminates in the glory of Berlioz's Les Troyens, performed with multifarious colour and vast, mature, refined authority. We hope you love it as much as we did.

Release date is 15 September and there's more info here.

To the Conway Hall be true

As the capital's concert series gear up for the new season, here is a spotlight on an undersung yet extraordinarily valuable venue in central London. Still, you might not know about it unless you'd been lucky enough - as I was - to have been taken there every Sunday night right through your childhood and adolescence to hear and learn the chamber music repertoire.

My father was a regular at the Conway Hall's South Place Sunday Concerts and I went along from the age of about 8, mesmerised by hearing great live music at close quarters and contemplating the mysterious quote above the proscenium arch, 'To Thine Own Self Be True' (it's from Hamlet). A while ago the London Chamber Music Society moved its Sunday concerts to Kings Place and Conway Hall started its own. The first concert for 2017-18 is this Sunday, 10 September, 6.30pm: the Tippett Quartet and pianist Emma Abbate play a delectable programme of Haydn's String Quartet Op.103 and the piano quintets of Schumann and Dvorák.

I'm not sure I'd be here now without those Sunday concerts' influence. So I got together with the pianist Simon Callaghan, who's in charge of the programming, and asked him what it's like to run them.

The Badke Quartet rehearsing in the Conway Hall.
(I remember that lamp from when I was a kid...)

JD: Simon, how did you come to be running the concert series at the Conway Hall?

SC: In May 2008 I met Giles Enders who was then the manager of Conway Hall at an English music event at the Royal College of Music. We chatted and I became very interested in this historic place I had never heard about, and its potential as a first-rate concert venue! I visited the following week and the idea of me taking over as Director of Music was born. I won't lie and say it's been easy - it was a steep learning curve - but I've enjoyed every minute, especially the opportunity to hear wonderful chamber music every week and get to know lots of world-class musicians.

JD: Please give us a few vital statistics about the hall?

SC: The hall seats just over 400 people and is cherished for its wonderful acoustic, no doubt enhanced by the mainly wooden fittings throughout. Players of all instruments love experiencing the warm, intimate atmosphere and it is particularly suited to small chamber ensembles. The music can be enjoyed from any part of the hall but I particularly enjoy the centre of the balcony where the full 'bloom' of the sound can be absorbed!

The London Mozart Players and Howard Shelley. Photo: Tonmy Lam

JD: I’ve been going to the Conway Hall most of my life, as my father used to take me to the Sunday evening series. What does the place mean to you? What is it that inspires such loyalty in its audience?

SC: I think the 'down to earth' atmosphere coupled with the consistent high quality of the music making is what inspires such loyalty in our audience. Added to this is the variety of repertoire on offer, which draws a healthy number of new audience members each week. Since the first time I went there in 2008, I have grown ever fonder of the whole place and particularly the main hall, where every member of the audience can see the words 'To Thine Own Self Be True' above the stage throughout the performance, adding a contemplative element to the experience of the music.

JD: When you’re dealing with an audience who love their Beethoven quartets but might not be so open to unusual pieces, how do you handle the balance between pleasing them and attracting new people with other repertoire?

SC: This is a issue I'm not sure I will ever get to the bottom of! Our audience come from very varied backgrounds and while there is indeed a good number of people who come every week, our more adventurous programmes tend to attract lots of new people, which is great. I've also spoken to lots of our regulars recently who have developed quite an appetite for a greater variety of repertoire, so we are getting there. Contemporary music performance is something that traditionally was very common at Conway Hall, so I'm keen to do more of this, and perhaps even to commission some new works.

A Valentine's Day concert...

JD: What are the chief challenges you’re facing with this series at the moment? How would you like it to develop from here?

SC: The exciting developments and growth in our series in the last couple of years have left me greedy for more. My main challenge now is to make sure more and more people get to know about Conway Hall and especially the wonderful musical events that happen there. I speak to people almost every week who have recently discovered it and wish they had done so years ago.  It usually only takes one or two concerts for people to become hooked!

JD: Please can you point out a few highlights of the new season?

SC: It's very tricky to choose! Every concert has a real 'raison d'être'. We have our usual offering of string quartets and piano trios of course, but we're straying a little off the beaten track with a violin and guitar recital, and pre-concert performances featuring repertoire for harp and double bass, and even electric guitar. Balancing the programme we start and end the autumn series with two great piano quintets and two great clarinet quintets. There really is something for everyone.

JD: What would you say to encourage newcomers to attend a concert at the Conway Hall?

SC: I would pass on to them the comments that I've heard from many newcomers. They love the hall and its acoustic, of course, but what is special about Conway Hall is the atmosphere.  We are not stuffy, not overly formal, we just want to create the best ambience for everyone to enjoy the music and bring the audience and performers as close to each other as possible. Everyone in the audience has a chance to chat to everyone else if they so wish over a drink in the interval, and I know many long friendships that have been born through a mutual love of music and attending concerts at Conway Hall.

Crying Quietly: is anyone listening?

In this guest post for JDCMB, the 18-year-old composer and writer Jack Pepper, from Surrey, makes an impassioned plea to stop the closure of Dorking's Performing Arts Library. 

Crying Quietly: is anyone listening?

Save Surrey’s Performing Arts Library

Jack Pepper

Jack Pepper

This year, Surrey County Council needs to make savings of more than £100m, and as a result Dorking’s Performing Arts Library – which holds a plethora of scores, books, play scripts, libretti and records - is potentially facing the chop. For the sake of music, musicians, education, and our country’s heritage, we must not let this cultural goldmine close.

We hear a lot of grumbling nowadays. ‘Austerity’ is a familiar word, and it seems impossible to check a Facebook feed or an online journal without someone writing about what in their opinion is a ‘national disgrace’. But this blog is not political – the Surrey Performing Arts Library has faced closure in the past – and I do not seek to condemn one political party or endorse another. Instead, I’d like to shift the focus back to music.

That’s what the Surrey Performing Arts Library does so well. With countless orchestral and choral sets, miniature scores, valuable music history books and records, this building is far more than an efficiency saving. It is a cultural treasure-trove, and for musicians like me it is invaluable. Before a rehearsal up in London, I can rent a score and save hundreds of pounds a month. Equally, I can purchase a music history book for £1 that you could only find for £30 anywhere else. 

This library opens music to all. After a visit today, I have emerged with the writings of Wanda Landowska, the scores for Bach’s English and French Suites, an encyclopaedia of rock and pop music, and countless other volumes. I am hugely excited at the thought of the new discoveries that such books present; pieces of music I have yet to hear, composers I have yet to discover, and new areas of interest that are yet to open up. The books I have come away with today will no doubt inspire many a future composition of mine by exposing me to new ideas and possibilities. All for less than £20.

Some people may argue that this is just a library. But I argue that a library is far more than a building with some books; it is a symbol of our willingness to invest in education, culture and accessibility to the arts for all. Some too often see libraries and cultural centres as soft targets; because they don’t attract thousands of visitors a year, nor grab the national headlines frequently, they are too often side-lined. But they provide a vital service, and one that can hardly be measured in monetary terms. 

Libraries such as this open up music to all. Who doesn’t get a thrill from listening to a symphony? Who doesn’t recognise the power of a song that, despite having forgotten the names and faces of their closest relatives, triggers something in the mind of a Dementia-sufferer that allows them to recall the lyrics? The treasures discovered at a library stay with you for life. Libraries give inspiration to composers like me, and motivation to explore the breadth of what music has to offer. The treasures of our past are only accessible through such resources.

But it means even more than this. To protect this library, and countless others like it, means protecting not just our musical past, but also our musical future. Not only does the Performing Arts Library preserve the works and ideas of past musicians, but in making them available to today’s community, the Library also ensures that the work of the future is secure. Libraries such as this are an indication of our country’s willingness to invest in its own heritage, education, and in both its past and future. It is a statement of intent. So much more than ‘just a library’.

It would be careless to so flippantly discard such a vital national resource. Choosing to protect the Surrey Performing Arts Library is a choice to protect our community’s culture; a choice to allow young musicians like me to continue to access the best resources that will give us every opportunity to advance our musicianship; a choice to prove that we love the music we write so frequently about. It is precisely this love of music – not political character-assassination – that should make you sign the survey below today. 

When you have the choice to protect the music and education you value – you wouldn’t be reading this blog if you felt otherwise – then please take it. We must have this discussion because what it at stake is so much more than politics, or a mere building. This is a choice to defend the music that gives us all so much pleasure. This is a choice to make this music accessible to all.

Jack Pepper

PLEASE FILL IN THE SURVEY HERE:

https://www.surreysays.co.uk/libraries-service/38ff7ab4/

Jack is an 18-year-old composer and writer from Surrey, who will soon start studying Music at Oxford University. Having written a fanfare for the Royal Opera House in 2016, he has since composed for Classic FM’S 25^th birthday, in association with the Royal Philharmonic Society. The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic are performing this commission in October 2017. As a writer has appeared on the Gramophone and RPS blogs, and as a reviewer for Opera Today.

Catch-up

I've been quiet this week, despite some noisiness elsewhere.

This week things have been moving faster than I can. There was the posting and reasonably swift subsequent removal by Entrée, the youth organisation attached to Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, of a promotional campaign featuring a model's pert behind being 'upskirted' (Air on a G String, geddit, geddit, ha bloody ha? How to attract millennials to classical music? um.) And the ignoring of Amy Beach's 150th anniversary next week by every major American orchestra. And Radio 3 announced it's going to do "slow radio" (for which read "the sound of paint drying" or, worse, "RELAAAX!"). And the Proms are ongoing and I've missed the lot.

Mostly I've been stuck at my desk writing a keynote speech for the Women's Work in Music Conference at Bangor University next week. I haven't given a keynote speech before and it's fairly scary. I am therefore trying to imagine channeling my late sister's spirit. She was unique: amazonian, humourful, intellectually sharp as a diamond: her sardonic ferocity could have carved the Sunday roast. And she would not have written a first draft that's 20 pages long...

So that's been time-consuming, and I'm having tendon problems in both ankles and one arm, so I'm trying to take up yoga, which currently makes everything else hurt as much as the tendons.

And if you want to hear me making a total fool of myself, please come to the Gower Street Waterstone's on 18 September at 6.30pm in which I'll be taking part, with seven other authors who are very brilliant people, in Unbound's next pledge party. It's the book equivalent of Dragon's Den: we each have five minutes to pitch for your support... Info and booking here.

Meanwhile, juggling seven more project ideas which all need considerable development before anything can become real in any of them.

Therefore there's a blogging backlog and with any luck I may catch up soon. Back to the speech now...

A very big noise: ONE DAY ONE CHOIR

'One Day One Choir' sounds singular. But hang on a mo: no fewer than 55 countries are now taking part in this gigantic day of celebration to bring peace (both inner and interpersonal) to us all through singing together. 

One Day One Choir has snowballed in the past three years: next month it will enjoy its biggest event yet, including the participation of 30 cathedrals. Its website describes it as "an inspiring global peace initiative which uses the harmonious power of singing together to unite people around the world on Peace Day, September 21st". It's still building, though, with a special eye on 2018, the final year of the World War I commemorations, so there could be no better time to step up, get involved and add your voices to the worldwide mix.

I asked its instigator and organiser, Jane Hanson, how and why she started on the project and where it goes from here.


JD: What’s the idea behind One Day One Choir? Why this, why now?

Jane Hanson

JH: ODOC arrived as a vision over a period of weeks in 2013. It was always clear that it would be about inspiring/motivating people to sing together for peace and using the amazing powers and qualities of singing to connect and unite people. 

I had been troubled about the unrest in Syria for some time, riots had been taking place in the UK and I was constantly being asked by children what was going to happen and how could they stop being scared. I kept thinking about what was happening and asking myself what could I do to make a small contribution for the better. 

I’d sung in choirs almost all my life (as had my parents and grandparents) and I’d also done research and radio work for the BBC on the power of music and singing together - so I knew this was something that anyone, anywhere in the world could do. I had seen the special and powerful effect singing together had achieved in many communities around the world.  Singing unites and uplifts people more quickly and effectively than almost any other human activity, and I knew it could make a difference by bringing people together and helping them to focus on thoughts and ideas around peace and unity. I’d also run the London Philharmonic Choir, so had connections and had helped out on global choral concerts for Voices for Hospices. I thought that by getting people singing together around the world, I could create something that offered an opportunity to anyone, anywhere, to have a small voice for peace and to feel connected to others with the same aim.

Vladimir Jurowski adds his support

Vladimir Jurowski was part of the vision. I went to him and asked for support, which he gave by bringing the LPO on board and adding his name as an ambassador for the project. Then I had to try and find funding and support for a launch concert. While all these ideas were running around in my head, the government announced that a chunk of money was becoming available to fund projects linked to the World War I commemoration, 14-18, so I thought perhaps I could run a project during these years and get people to unite in their communities and sing together for peace. Unfortunately, despite best attempts and a personal letter to me from the PM saying that ODOC was a very exciting idea, no money from this vast fund was to be forthcoming as it was only for projects linked to and directly commemoration WW1 events, and definitely not for peace projects... 

I almost gave up many times - but something always happened to keep me going. Everyone I spoke with thought the project was a brilliant idea and insisted I carry on. Three months before Peace Day 2014 I had lots of support, but still no funding, when - out of the blue - Radio 3’s The Choir stepped up and offered us a launch concert in the piazza outside Broadcasting House. This, along with media that had built up around the project, kicked us off on 21 September 2014. A conglomerate of choirs comprising The Mixed Up Chorus, London International Gospel Choir, Gospel Oak Community Parents Choir, Cheam Common Infant School Choir and The London Philharmonic Choir sang separately and together in an event broadcast live on Radio 3 and - with the help of various groups and supporters - 100,000 other people around the world also signed up to sing for peace.

JD: What does it take to organise events as big as this? How do you get people involved and spread the word.

JH: Faith, effort, determination, time and commitment - plus the support of friends and others who feel strongly about doing something for unity, community and peace and who love singing. I still do all this for free in my ‘ spare' time, so we don’t have the outreach and impact we would have if we had funding, wider support and back up and staff. But we’re still not doing too badly: lots of people know about us now. I do what I can do in the time I have and try and reach out to other groups who are interested in the same things and who try to help us by spreading the word and by finding some media support as well. 

First one school in Argentina joined in;
this year, six or seven participate

Most of our outreach goes through the website, Facebook and people who have already sung with us and share our values. One man has driven around the UK visiting cathedrals and peace centres and asking them to come on board, a music student in Kansas brought eight choirs on board last year and there are more stories of people taking up the ‘baton' and helping the project to run.

We are also now getting support from Sing UP, Music Mark and Making Music and an increasing number of people love the project and help out by reaching out and spreading the word to others - though obviously we would love LOTS more.

JD: Do you think music can bring peace? If so, how?

JH: By itself, of course, not directly, although singing can be a very peaceful and positive and uniting activity. We are looking at peace of all kinds in this project. We’re not just about non-violence but - perhaps more importantly - about inner peace, and thinking about ways to build and maintain peaceful existence with each other in families, schools, work place, communities, etc. Certainly when people sing together a very powerful bonding takes place. 

The Sixteen's recent Poulenc CD
with a dove, symbol of peace

Singing has been shown scientifically and psychologically to connect and unite people more than any other activity - some people even go as far as to say that that is its purpose. Vladimir Jurowski, for example, definitely believes that singing together has a special sociological power or purpose and helps people and communities to connect and keep linked in a positive way. Then there is the view of Bernstein: “This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before.”

It is also a good teaching tool, especially in schools that work with the project to introduce notions and lessons/thoughts on what peace is and how to help achieve it personally and at school, as well as singing which is the fun and widely connecting part for children. For some schools where singing has taken a back seat of late, it provides a great opportunity to get the whole school singing by coming to it from a different direction. And teachers want ways to communicate with children about global issues, dealing with conflict and talking about peace. More and more schools are signing up, all over the world - already including more than 500 in Pakistan.

JD: Where would you like the project to go from here?

JH: I’d love some big organisation or media group to offer help to take this to more and more people and to help us create a big concert next year that can be screened or streamed to a huge audience around the world. I feel more like the guardian of the project than the owner; it needs help and support now from or wider community groups and leaders.

I would like as many people as possible around the world to engage with the project and sing for unity and peace with us - especially children and schools - and I’d like people to do this more spontaneously themselves in the future. To sing in a pro-active way in their communities without having to be on a social media video, for example, and to reach out to others to bring them together. If there were an annual peace singing event, I’m sure people would love it.

I also want people to take the thoughts and ideas we share about unity and peace (and singing) into their everyday lives, using them however they can to help themselves and their communities - and to be empowered and to have fun with it. 

JD: What would you say to encourage people to take part?

JH: Most people love singing and I don’t really know anyone who doesn’t want to live in a more peaceful or united world. So I would simply ask them to think about this and then get together with a few (or lots of) other people and add their voices to the others singing out.  

It’s not necessary to put on a concert, although people do. You can sing one song to be part of it - anything appropriate for peace (we have some free songs on the website) or you can dedicate something you are already doing, e.g. evensong or chants in temples and mosques or even a pre-planned rehearsal or concert. The Sixteen have just dedicated their concert on 21 September and will be mentioning us before they sing, and the monks at Quarr Abbey on the Isle of Wight and at Wat Buddhapadipa Thai Temple will be dedicating their chanting to ODOC and inviting the public to join in. The Wat is organising a special chant event for ODOC this year.

And this is a great and easy project for schools to join, as the whole school can sing in assembly. We provide free songs and support - and children and teachers who’ve already joined us love it.  Increasing numbers of schools now connect with others, or invite parents in to join them

If that’s not inspiring enough, then singing itself is super-good for us in so many ways - it has multiple health benefits including the fact that singing regularly in a choir improves your entire immune system. It literally helps to make us feel uplifted and happy because of the chemicals it stimulates in our brains and it’s a great social activity. Singing connects us to others better than anything else and when we sing together our hearts literally start to beat at the same time. (Our supporter Mark Elder loves that fact)

JD: What do you personally feel about it? What would you say to inspire others?

Karl Jenkins adds his call for participants

JH: At the moment a lot of long days and sleepless nights!  But I know it’s worth it, too, because every time a group signs up or sends a positive message or feedback, there’s a calm inner feeling that you know this is a right thing to be doing and that some people, somewhere, are feeling inspired or supported by it. That’s especially true when it’s children and schools, or people who wouldn’t be singing together with others in any other way. And it feels great every time we get a sign-up from a new country or a well-known group or choir.

What drives me? Well, when you start something, then you have to finish it, as they say, especially when you’ve set very clear and public timelines and intentions! And there's a strong inner knowledge and guiding force that things have to be done to help people find ways to unite with a common voice, as our world seems to have become even more troubled than when the project started. Singing or chanting together is one of the only ways that they can do that - so the aim is to provide a common platform where people can sing their own tunes in their own words and languages, but still create a common harmony and be united with others. 

I don’t even think I have a choice to do this, really. I think it was there in the ether just waiting or wanting to happen and I happened to be the person that had to do it. And anyway, my friends and supporters wouldn’t let me stop now even if I tried - especially as there’s only just over a year to go to our 2018 target!

If you have a vision, a passion, a strong belief or a gut feeling that you can or could do something that matters, to you or other people, then believe in it and keep going, however hard it seems to be! Reach out for all the support you can get. You’ll be amazed how many strangers can step up to help - and keep going.  And don’t attach too much to a specific outcome because, as we have seen with ODOC, it might not go quite the way you pictured, but if the idea is good it will go the way it’s meant to go. Go with the flow. And keep going.

You can find more info on how you can become part of One Day One Choir at the website, http://www.onedayonechoir.org

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