2015 York Late Music concert series celebrates music of Judith Weir

Weir’s works feature in five of the eight concerts, including Saturday’s 7.30pm programme by soprano Ana Beard Fernández and pianist Ben Horden, who perform Weir’s “grand opera in three acts” for solo soprano, King Harold’s Saga.

Already this season, pianist Ian Pace has played Weir’s The King Of France at his March 7 concert. The Dark Inventions’ programme, in the one Late Music concert in 2015 at the National Centre for Early Music, will include Weir’s Sundew on May 2 and British pianist Matthew Schelhorn will play Weir’s The Art Of Touching The Keyboard on September 5 in his first Late Music concert.

“We’re also delighted to announce that Judith is writing a new piece for our 2015 season,” says concert administrator Steve Crowther.

“Her music is the theme that threads through this series, and so we wanted to commission a work for us and though she was really busy, Judith has written a fanfare to open our concert in June. When I got in touch with Judith’s agent for a fee, she insisted there wouldn’t be one, which was an absolute first for us. Incredible!”

Fanfare will be premiered by the exciting young violin, cello and piano ensemble Albany Trio on June 6. “It will be only three or four minutes long but nevertheless it’s an important world premiere commission in a programme entirely made up of female composers, performed by an entirely female group of musicians, which is fantastic,” says Steve.

That evening, works by Sadie Harrison, York composer Nicola LeFanu, Emily Howard, Charlotte Bray and Sally Beamish will be complemented by a new work by Haley Jenkins.

Meanwhile, York Late Music’s 2015 programme will be celebrating the music of Arvo Part and Terry Riley, who both turn 80 this year. Three Part works for solo piano will be part of Saturday’s concert, along with new works by Tom Gill and Steve Crowther himself, plus John Tavener’s A Mini Song Cycle For Gina and Michael Tippett’s Heart’s Assurance.

Riley’s In C, one of the very earliest minimalist pieces, will open the Late Music Ensemble’s programme under conductor James Whittle on August 1: one of three collaborations this year with the University of York.

The first, by Dark Inventions, will feature new York Late Music commissions by York composer David Lancaster and Ji Sun Yang; the second, by Everlasting Voices will open with William Brooks’ Crazy Jane, one of five commissions on July 4. The others will be by Jonathan Brigg, Stef Conner, Jon Hughes and Michael Parkin. In the third, the Late Music Ensemble will perform a new commission by Oliver Leith and a new work by Emily Crossland.

All the musicians in this ensemble are either postgraduate students at the University of York or past students there. “Their standard of playing is extremely high,” says Steve.

Matthew Schelhorn’s Late Music debut will introduce a commission by Colin Riley and will close with Petites Esquisses d’Oiseaux, Frenchman Olivier Messiaen’s last ever piano piece.

As in 2014, the final evening concert of the 2015 series will be given by Ebor Singers, the York choir conducted by Paul Gameson. Works by John Tavener, Gavin Bryars, Taverner and Nicholas Ashby will be joined by a Late Music commission by York composer David Power.

All these concerts will be preceded by a pre-concert talk at 6.45pm, with a complimentary glass of wine. This evening programme will be bolstered by lunchtime concerts organised by James Whittle. Among them will be Spanish Folk Songs for Voice and Percussion, performed by Ana Beard Fernández on July 4, and pianist Jin Hyung Lim on September 5, both starting at 1pm.

Ana Beard Fernández

“This will increase our quota of new works and hopefully our audiences too,” says Steve. “We have Arts Council funding, which is a big boost, but we have to use it wisely to make sure that our audience numbers go up, like they went up by 14 per cent from 2013 to 2014. Lunchtime concerts will help where we’re looking to increase our attendances.”

Evening tickets cost £10, concessions £8, per concert; lunchtime recitals, £5/£3, available at latemusic.org and on the door.

• IN light of the success of the York Unitarians’ series of Last Fridays concerts, they are to launch a programme of occasional Tuesday Lunchtime concerts at St Saviourgate Unitarian Chapel, York.
The first will feature University of York MA graduate Catherine Strachan on cello and York music graduate David Hammond on piano on Tuesday in a 12.30pm programme of works by Beethoven, written in 1815, by Debussy, written in 1915, and perhaps a premiere written in 2015.
Tickets cost £6, concessions £4, on the door.