Psappha: Beyond Borders
For:
Psappha/Hebrides Ensemble/ConTempo David Fennessy Commission and Tour
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The project is an artistic collaboration between three leading ensembles from England, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland: Manchester-based Psappha; Edinburgh-based Hebrides Ensemble; and Galway-based ConTempo. At the heart of the project is the commissioning and performance – in five venues in Scotland, England and the Republic of Ireland in October/November 2016 – of a new work for string sextet by composer David Fennessy.
Three Psappha musicians and three Hebrides Ensemble musicians will perform the new work together throughout the tour, with ConTempo contributing to the artistic programme in Ireland. The programme will also include Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht and Mark-Anthony Turnage’s string sextet Returning.
Psappha, Hebrides Ensemble and ConTempo were all members of New Music: New Audiences, a network of 31 of Europe’s leading ensembles which collaborated to develop new audiences for contemporary music between 2012 and 2014. All three ensembles have extensive experience of commissioning and performing new works, all share a strong commitment to making new music accessible to audiences, and all have similar artistic aims and outlooks, putting a strong emphasis on quality and on innovation.
The commission and tour are supported by the PRS for Music Foundation’s Beyond Borders scheme.
Composer David Fennessy says this of the project: “The ensembles share many characteristics whilst maintaining a clear individual identity. A fusion of both is bound to create a musical frisson.”