ALASDAIR NICOLSON’S NEW FESTIVAL PROGRAMME 16-26 MAY 2014 INCLUDES INTERNATIONAL SENSATIONS: & THE THE HARLEM QUARTET and STACEY KENT PLUS A SPRING BANK HOLIDAY WEEKEND PACKED WITH

WORLD PREMIERES by JAMES MACMILLAN, RICHARD CAUSTON, and ALASDAIR NICOLSON Plus GOULD PIANO TRIO – PIPERS 3 – ROWAN HELLIER ISOBEL BUCHANAN - MUSICIANS OF THE GLOBE MARTYNAS LEVICKIS - GABRIELLA DALL’OLIO and SIR PETER MAXWELL DAVIES AT 80

THE HARLEM QUARTET IN BATH FOR THEIR ONLY UK APPEARANCE THIS YEAR

Equally at home with the classic string quartet repertoire as well as jazz and improvised music THE HARLEM QUARTET has been praised for its ‘panache’ by The New York Times and for ‘bringing a new attitude to classical music, one that is fresh, bracing and intelligent’ by the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Comprising Ilmar Gavilán violin, Melissa White violin Jaime Amador viola and Matthew Zalkind cello, The Harlem Quartet will play the Guildhall on Saturday 17 May at 7.30pm in their only UK concert in 2014.

Since its public debut in 2006 at Carnegie Hall, the New York-based ensemble has performed throughout the USA and internationally with a schedule that ranges from chamber performances at the White House at the invitation of President Obama to partnerships with jazz greats such as Chick Corea and Gary Burton and collaboration with the acclaimed violinist Itzhak Perlman. Their programme for Bath International Music Festival mixes classics of the repertoire with a recent piece by the jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, which describes the Creole traditions of New Orleans.

WORLD PREMIERES by JAMES MACMILLAN and RICHARD CAUSTON

Bath International Music Festival is proud to present three World Premieres for 2014. First, on Tuesday 20 May a new work for piano by acclaimed British composer James MacMillan. Piano Trio No 2 is a co-commission by Bath International Music Festival, Gould Piano Trio, Glasgow Music and the East Neuk Festival. It will be performed by the Gould Piano Trio for the first time in Bath, in a programme including work by Beethoven, Brahms and Maxwell Davies and will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3.

Richard Causton has also created a new work to be premiered in Bath by oboe trio Pipers 3. This concert, at 9.30pm on Thursday 22 May, is the first in a new late-night series for the festival taking place in the striking and atmospheric surroundings of Bath’s Old Theatre Royal, now a Masonic Hall. The trio will play classical, contemporary and folk, composed specially for this fascinating instrumental combination.

WORLD PREMIERE FOR HARP by ALASDAIR NICOLSON

Continuing the late-night series at Bath’s Old Theatre Royal and including the world premiere of a newly commissioned work by Artistic Director Alasdair Nicolson, Gabriella Dall’Olio performs a captivating programme. Gabriella is an internationally renowned harpist who plays regularly with the London Symphony Orchestra and Vienna Philharmonic. She offers a wide range of music for harp spanning eras and styles from Dowland’s Lachrimae to several recently written works at 9.30pm on Friday 23 May.

JAMES BOYD and MARTYNAS LEVICKIS

James Boyd is a virtuoso guitarist with a passion for uncovering and performing British music for guitar. His lyrical and moving programme at 9.30pm on Saturday 24 May includes work by Dowland, Tippett and Britten and a recent work by the talented young British composer Joseph Phibbs, written for Boyd in 2013.

The charismatic and chart-topping Martynas Levickis will also perform in the late- night series at the Old Theatre Royal on Sunday 25 May at 9.30pm. Martynas plays both contemporary and classical repertoire including Bach and Scarlatti on his accordion, as well as his own arrangements of folk music from his home country, Lithuania. This is an unmissable virtuoso performance from an amazing new talent.

2 TO SLEEP TO DREAM…. ROWAN HELLIER

Further exploring themes of sleep, dreaming and memory in a lunch time concert on Friday 23 May, Rowan Hellier, the young mezzo-soprano, accompanied by James Baillieu performs a programme of music by the supreme masters of the art-song and lied.

WW1 COMMEMORATIVE EVENT WITH BRITISH SOPRANO ISOBEL BUCHANAN

As the nation prepares to mark the centenary of the Great War, acclaimed British soprano Isobel Buchanan and her husband the actor Jonathan Hyde, accompanied by one of the world’s finest accompanists Malcolm Martineau, present a moving collection of words and music on the theme of war, specially created for Bath 2014. The programme on Monday 19 May at 7.30pm includes music by Poulenc, Schoenberg, Holst, Britten, Butterworth, Weill and Dylan.

SIR PETER MAXWELL DAVIES AT 80

The work of the Master of the Queen’s Music, Peter Maxwell Davies is celebrated in several events at the Bath International Music Festival programme in this, his 80th birthday year, and we are delighted to welcome ‘Max’ himself to Bath on Tuesday 20 May for a pre-concert talk at 6.45pm with Alasdair Nicolson and James MacMillan before the performance of his piano trio by the Gould Piano Trio at 7.30pm.

SHOPPING TO MUSIC

What better way to celebrate the work of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies than to focus on his lifelong passion for music in education. His Kirkwall Shopping Songs composed for the children of Orkney in 1979 will have an informal performance in St Michael’s Without at 1pm on Tuesday 20 May. The concert will also include some brand new Bath Shopping Songs composed by Alasdair Nicolson, Artistic Director of Bath International Music Festival and Maxwell Davies’s successor at St Magnus International Festival in Orkney.

MUSICIANS OF THE GLOBE

This world-renowned ensemble presents a programme of early music, specially created for Bath, in the beautiful surroundings of the Assembly Rooms on Friday 23 May. Entertaining ballads accompanied by the lute, bandol and viol on the theme of the Seven Deadly Sins, including an outrageously funny description of Death by Custard in what promises to be an unforgettable evening’s entertainment.

3 BATH PHILHARMONIA with ROWAN HELLIER under ALASDAIR NICOLSON

Bath’s own orchestra, with Nicolson conducting, presents a tuneful and romantic concert in the city’s Georgian ballroom, the Guildhall on Sunday 18 May featuring the rising young Scottish mezzo-soprano Rowan Hellier. The first half of the programme features Wagner and Mahler followed by Soldier’s Tale by Stravinsky and the life- affirming Appalachian Spring by Aaron Copland.

BANK HOLIDAY JAZZ

Kicking off the Spring Bank Holiday Weekend at 1pm at the Guildhall on Saturday 24 May is the multi-award winning Glasgow-based four-piece BRASS JAW. Recently named Ensemble of the Year in the 2013 Scottish Jazz Awards, Michael Owers trombone, Paul Towndrow alto saxophone, Konrad Wiszniewski tenor saxophone and Allon Beauvoisin baritone saxophone make Brass Jaw one of the most exciting groups currently on the UK jazz circuit.

‘A GREAT JAZZ DIVA OF OUR AGE’ (Kazuo Ishiguro)

STACEY KENT follows Brass Jaw into the Guildhall at 7pm on Saturday 24 May with Jim Tomlinson on saxophones and flute, Graham Harvey on piano, Jeremy Brown on double bass and Josh Morrison on drums

Grammy-nominated, worldwide jazz sensation Stacey Kent will present her new album The Changing Lights, which places her love for Brazilian music centre stage. Bossa Nova classics feature alongside originals by the song writing team of Jim Tomlinson and novelist Kazuo Ishiguro, who composed the title track.

ACCLAIMED CANADIAN JAZZ TRIO

On Sunday 25 May at 1pm the award-winning HUTCHINSON ANDREW TRIO bring their contemporary jazz sound all the way from Canada to the Guildhall. With CBC Galaxie Rising Star pianist Chris Andrew at its core, the trio mixes elements of swing, latin, oddmeter and acoustic groove, listing artists such as Robert Glasper, Aaron Parks and Brad Meldhau as some of their influences. They are winners of the 2013 TD Grand Jazz Award from the Montréal International Jazz Festival and their latest album Prairie Modern was the editor’s pick in the prestigious Downbeat magazine.

IIRO RANTALA

Iiro Rantala who plays the Guildhall at 7.30pm on Sunday 25 May is a unique artist. His career has traversed the realms of classical and jazz and seen him be performer, composer, TV presenter and concert organiser.

4 A fluent jazz improviser, a poetic composer, and a virtuosic classical pianist all in one, Rantala is one of Finland’s greatest contemporary musicians. Performing a diverse repertoire, from improvisations on Bach’s Goldberg to his original compositions, Rantala offers an evening of performance not to be missed

‘NOTHING SHORT OF ELECTRIFYING’ (The Scotsman)

At the Guildhall on Monday 26 May at 1pm, SIMON THOUMIRE & DAVID MILLIGAN, two of the finest exponents of the contemporary Scottish music scene play the Guildhall. On concertina and piano this highly entertaining duo combine intense jazz improvisation with traditional airs and dances of their native Scotland.

LAST CHANCE TO SEE THE HILLIARD ENSEMBLE AND GARBAREK PERFORM TOGETHER

Bath International Music Festival 2014 offers one of the last chances to experience one of the greatest musical partnerships of recent years, between British vocal quartet THE HILLIARD ENSEMBLE and long-time collaborator, Norwegian jazz saxophonist JAN GARBAREK.

The concert will be set in the magnificent surroundings of Bath’s vaulted Abbey at 8pm on Monday 26 May and the programme will draw largely from their acclaimed album Officium Novum.

The music of saxophonist Jan Garbarek has entranced audiences since the 1970s with its haunting and timeless clarity. Unrivalled for its formidable reputation in the fields of both early and new music, The Hilliard Ensemble is one of the world’s finest vocal chamber groups

For press enquiries: Tamsin Treverton Jones [email protected] 01452 741762/07980 585664 www.bathfestivals.org.uk Bath Box Office 01225 463362

5 About Bath Festivals

Bath Festivals brings leading international performers, writers and thinkers to Bath every year to inspire, entertain and challenge audiences of all ages and artistic tastes. The festivals champion diversity and collaboration, open people's minds, and showcase the work of both established and up-and-coming performers - all in the special setting that is Bath, a World Heritage Site, and one of the most beautiful cities in Europe.

Bath Festivals is the charitable organisation responsible for the internationally acclaimed Bath International Music Festival, the thought-provoking Independent Bath Literature Festival and the inspirational Telegraph Bath Children's Literature Festival. Bath Festivals provides year-round learning and participation opportunities for children, young people and adults through creative workshops, gigs, and master classes.

Bath Festivals acts as a central hub for the arts in Bath and North East Somerset, serving over 120 festivals, events and local arts organisations through the Bath Box Office, and supporting the Bath Area Cultural Forum. Bath Festivals earns a significant part of its income from box office sales and sponsorship, and, since the creation of the music festival in 1948, has also relied on grants, donations, and charitable giving in order to secure its national and international reputation and the contribution it brings to Bath's creative and cultural life. Bath Festivals is funded by Arts Council England through its National Portfolio programme and also receives support from Bath and North East Somerset Council.

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