Brian Elias: The Open Fund for Music Creators
This project will see Brian Elias’ first piano trio, commissioned by the Rautio Trio, performed at Kings Place in London and across the UK at multiple events in 2021. Alongside the performance will be a special pre-concert event screening the biographical film about Elias, ‘A Passage from India’ by Barrie Gavin.
At the heart of the project is the creation of new music, bringing fresh ideas to a traditional medium, the piano trio, as well as engaging audiences digitally. The Rautio Piano Trio, known for their innovative programming, will create a digital legacy with film, streamed workshop, podcast and live performances. They plan to make new music accessible to a wider audience, fully engaged online in current times due to the pandemic, with the aim of revealing fascinating insights into the composer’s creative world.
Elias’ first major orchestral work L’Eylah was premiered at the BBC Proms in 1984. He has since had his works performed and recorded extensively by leading orchestras and soloists including BBC Symphony Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, Jane Manning, Roderick Williams, Nicholas Daniels, Natalie Clein and the Jerusalem Quartet. Elias collaborated with Kenneth MacMillan on his final ballet The Judas Tree, premiered in 1992 at the Royal Opera House. The Judas Tree has subsequently been revived on numerous occasions and toured internationally. He has won two British Composer Awards – for Doubles (2010) and for Electra Mourns (2013).