12th December 2015, 7:30 p.m.
Linlithgow Academy Theatre
Wind Quintet
Tickets: Full £12, Concession £10, Student £5
Aleksandra Henszel (flute), Siobhan Parker (oboe), Ross Montgomery (clarinet), Jenna Sloane (french horn), Christopher McShane (bassoon)
Searle: Pilgrim of Curiosity
Debussy: Suite No 1
Mozart: Serenade in E flat major, K375
Hallam: Dance Suite.
ATHENAEUM WINDS is a diverse, adaptable and lively group with a passion for performing, and for making classical music accessible to all. In 2012 they were awarded the title of Enterprise Music Scotland Residency Artists (2012-2014). Also In 2012 the group were awarded the Mary D. Adams Prize for Chamber Music at RCS, and in 2013 were highly commended for their performance in the Governors Recital Prize for Chamber Music.
The programme is a mix of a new multi- media composition, arrangements of familiar classical items, and jazz styled music. It features a new and unusual audio/visual piece by Composition lecturer at RCS, Oliver Searle. Oliver will attend the concert and will introduce his piece, which is entitled “Pilgrim of Curiosity”. The 7 movements describe in music and imagery journeys to visit religious sites in various parts of the world. The journeys start by boat from places in the USA, Europe and Scotland and travel through influences of a range of cultures before reaching their destinations in places as diverse as Indonesia, China, Serbia, Italy and Scotland.
More familiar will be an arrangement for Wind Quintet of Mozart’s Serenade for Winds in E flat K375.
This will be followed by a suite of music by Debussy, arranged for Wind Quintet. The latter, entitled “Suite No.1” comprises arrangements of preludes from his first book for piano, entitled “Minstrels” and “La Fille aux Cheveux de Lin” (The Girl with the Flaxen Hair), plus the jazz-influenced piece “Golliwogg’s Cakewalk” Children’s Corner.
Jazz and dance styles feature in the final exuberant item, “Dance Suite”, composed for Wind Quintet by Norman Hallam, formerly a clarinet player with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. This lively and witty piece has 4 movements which are: Waltz, Bossa Nova, Quickstep and Charleston.
Athenaeum Winds was has the conventional quintet make up of Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, French Horn and Bassoon. The players are also involved in educational work, and they will be giving a workshop to pupils at Linlithgow Academy in the week prior to the concert. We hope that some of the pupils who take part in this will come along, perhaps with their families, to hear the main performance.
Introduction to Oliver Searle and “Pilgrim of Curiosity”
Oliver is currently Creative and Contextual Studies and Composition Lecturer at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. He originally studied in Aberdeen to become a classroom teacher of music, and subsequently completed a masters Degree and PhD in Composition at RCS. He has written works for the National Youth Choir of Scotland, The Hebrides Ensemble, The Scottish Reed Trio, The BBC SSO, NYOS, The RSNO, and other groups. He has had works performed at festivals worldwide.
In describing “Pilgrim of Curiosity” he says:
Although I am not a spiritual person, I am endlessly attracted to visiting places of worship wherever I have been in the world, and consider them an instant view of the culture of a city (or country) and its people. I am also constantly amazed by the sacrifice that people have made to realise these structures, and am often left with feelings of awe and wonderment at the results of this labour of spiritual love and devotion to faith. In “Pilgrim of Curiosity” I recall journeys across water I have taken, each ending at some of the more surreal and exotic places of worship that we visited. This piece explores some of these amalgamations of culture, in several distinct movements:
Blue Benedictine: Chicago River Tour to the church of San Miniato al Monte, in Florence, Italy.
Millport Godzilla: Staten Island Ferry (NYC) to Cathedral of the Isles, Cumbrae.
Waverley Dawn: The Waverley Paddle Steamer (Island of Arran, Scotland) to Wat Arun (Temple of the Dawn), Thailand.
Orthodox: Kintyre fishing boat (in Scotland), to St Cyril and Methodius Serbian Orthodox Church, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Illinois Acceptance: A trip on a peddle-boat on a lake in the Englischer Garten in Munich, to the Baha’i Temple, in Illinois
Namu: A water taxi down the River Clyde, in Glasgow, past the Govan parish Church, ending up at the Haedong Yonggungsa Temple.
Selamat Tinggal: Speedboat from the island of Kerrera (Scotland), to the Masjid Jamek mosque in Kuala Lumpur.
Mulled wine and mince pies will be served in the interval.