This year’s MUSICON concert series brings the world to Durham, with performers and composers drawn from the University music staff, the North East and further afield and with concerts that take us to Russia, Catalonia, Japan, Venice, Vienna and even into virtual reality.
There’s also a distinctive focus on the world around us, as Dr James Weeks, Chair of MUSICON explained when I asked him for his thoughts about this year’s season:
Climates have been on my mind a lot recently – the way ‘the weather’ can change in subtle or not so subtle ways and profoundly affect everything we do. I’m thinking not just about the actual climate (more on that below) but also political and economic climates. These seem to have been getting ever more gloomy and threatening in this country over the last few years, and for those of us concerned with the arts in our society it’s hard to find a meaningful response when the resources to do so are simultaneously becoming so meagre.
In amongst this, then, I’m just very glad this year that MUSICON is still here, and that we are still able to offer a full season of concerts despite unprecedented funding pressures. This year, a new partnership with Royal Northern Sinfonia is enabling us to bring their wonderful music-making to MUSICON not once but three times across the season.
Amongst our other offerings, the natural climate is addressed through a subtle ecological theme, from my own weatherworld quartets (25th November) to the very exciting SongPath event (21st June), which will take us on a tour through the spaces of the Botanic Garden.
As always I’m thinking about how to engage all the potential audience in Durham, and hope to bring in schools to experience our concerts and participate in workshops across the season; and after some successful choral workshops next year we’ll be featuring more of those in the new year. And finally, we are planning to pilot a strand of music talks and guided listening events at Hatfield College.
So we are certainly not hunkering down against the climate – MUSICON is still striding out into the rain! I hope there is something for everyone this year – we’re really excited and can’t wait to get started.
Although there are fewer ‘big names’ than in some seasons, this is more than compensated for by some of the fascinating and imaginative programmes, much of it music that we wouldn’t otherwise get a chance to hear. The prospect of being able to walk to concerts by Royal Northern Sinfonia is also very attractive, instead of having to do battle getting to the Glasshouse with the current traffic climate!
When putting together the listings for this season, the things that leapt out for me are James’s new quartets, with movements that require the players to replace their bows with fern fronds and cypress sprigs; the invitation to lose ourselves in the labyrinthine streets of Venice with Richard Rijnvos’s new work for solo harpsichord (I love hearing new music for ‘old’ instruments); newly discovered music from 17th century Venetian theatres and a fascinating evening of music inspired by Patrick Lafacdio Hearn. If, like me, you’ve never heard of Lafcadi Hearn, have a look at his wikipedia entry – he was an extraordinary figure, with a life-story that spans Greece, Ireland, Durham, the Americas and Japan.
You can find all of this year’s MUSICON concerts here, and if you’d like reminders about what’s coming up, do follow my facebook or instagram pages for regular updates.
