“choral delights … blazing with pageantry” – 5* review of King for a Day
“With pomp and ceremony so much in the air recently … it was serendipitously appropriate that Jeffrey Skidmore should have chosen this programme of music connected with the respective courts of King George II and the “Sun King”, Louis XIV.
“This was a smoothly, effortlessly (though obviously meticulously rehearsed and choreographed) flowing sequence of music by Handel and Lalande. The latter composer has long been one of Ex Cathedra’s calling-cards, and here we relished many examples of his “royal” music, beginning with the rolling, burgeoning kettle-drums launching the Te Deum, heralding well-defined, well-weighted choral delivery.
“Many other Lalande choral delights followed, vocal soloists emerging as ever from within the choral ranks, instrumentalists from Skidmore’s judiciously-assembled Ex Cathedra Baroque Orchestra contributing expertly-delivered obbligati: Zoe Shevlin’s bassoon was a particular joy in La Grande Piece Royale, and James Johnstone brought so many discreet colours to the ever-present organ continuo.
“The Handel complement was naturally more familiar, beginning with a crisp, at first discreetly busy Arrival of the Queen of Sheba (complemented by Alec Roth’s lamenting Departure of the Queen of the Sheba, sorrowing oboes bidding each other farewell with memories of Handel’s strains).
“We also heard The King Shall Rejoice, associate conductor George Parris assured and confident as he coaxed cascading lines from the chorus, and finally Zadok the Priest.
“Such was the clarity of this account (natural trumpets and kettle-drums so blazing with pageantry) under Skidmore that I realised for the first time in my long life just what meretricious, rabble-rousing music this is!”
“truly magical” 5* review of The Traveller concert
“This truly magical concert came as the closing event to a mini-festival exploring an exchange and fusion of South Asian and European musical traditions. Presented by Ex Cathedra as part of Commonwealth Games Birmingham 2022 Festival, Unending Love Weekenders introduced audiences to stunning performers and performances from both musical traditions, as well as incorporating talks and workshops for adults, children and families in everything from Indian rhythms and traditional songs, to the wonders of Bollywood…
“This concert consisted of works by two astonishing creative talents. Roxanna Panufnik and Alec Roth are part of what might be described a new musical renaissance in the composition of choral music in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Both composers have local connections to, and commissions from, ExCathedra, and both are towering, yet incredibly humble, composers. They represent a kind of new, mostly secular choral music, which is full to the brim of exquisite beauty of melodic and rhythmic line; of shimmering, radiant harmonies, textures and timbres; a true and easy for the listener to follow musico-dramatic/poetic structure.
“In the works performed in this concert there is a perfect melding – or symbiosis if you will – of words and music. Moreover, there is perhaps what all artistic creatives hope for: a true, honest & sincere expression of the human condition – of our lived-experience and human emotions. It is certainly not the first time we, as reviewers, – and many other members of a Panufnik/Roth audience – have been moved to tears. In these composers – and indeed in the texts and authors they choose to set or to collaborate with – there is a real sense of authenticity and of a consummate, deeply felt storytelling.”
Unending Love Weekenders: South Asian and European musical exchange and fusion
We’re very excited to present a mini-festival exploring South Asian and European musical exchange and fusion, with outstanding performers from both musical traditions.
Presented by Ex Cathedra as part of Commonwealth Games Birmingham 2022 Festival, Unending Love Weekenders explores the meeting and melding of European and South Asian music in the 18th and 21st centuries.
And join us, as we welcome a mouth-watering line-up of talented musicians from Milap, Britten Sinfonia, and Ensemble Tempus Fugit, plus soloists Mark Padmore, Philippe Honoré, Vayu Naidu, Debipriya Sircar, Hugh Cutting, Jonathan Mayer & more!
In his programme note, artistic director Jeffrey Skidmore writes:
“It is a great pleasure to welcome you
to this project which has been a long time in the making and features many of
the artists from our region, the UK and from around the world. What an
extraordinary array of talent! I should like to thank all the funders who have
made this possible, and particularly Arts Council England. It promises to be a
great celebration of local, national and global culture.”
Calcutta (Sun 24 Apr, 7pm)
In the programme note, Ensemble Tempus Fugit’s Katie De La Matter sets the scene:
“For centuries, the music of European colonists and Indian musicians mixed in the streets and soirées of the English port city of Calcutta. By 1780, the city was full of harpsichords and fortepianos, with more arriving by ship each week. But harpsichords in India weren’t only used for European music: jam sessions took place with Indian musicians too. Some Indian songs were transcribed – in one case, into a manuscript for Sophie Plowden, the wife of an East India Company merchant. Plowden and her friend Margaret Fowke invited Indian classical musicians into their sitting rooms, and joined in at the harpsichord.”
Calcutta reimagines this musical exchange through a love story, between Indian Classical singer Debipriya Sircar and (Ferrier Prize winner 2021) countertenor Hugh Cutting. Music from Plowden’s collection is heard alongside that of English composers like Henry Purcell, whose music was well-known in Calcutta at this time.
Stage
direction is by Thomas Guthrie, including shadow puppetry.
De La Matter continues:
“The context for these cross-cultural forays was colonial, and co-existed with oppression. Plowden and Fowkes held the same privileged Enlightenment view that inspired other white Europeans to collect folk songs elsewhere.” However, she suggests “a sense of respect and mutual curiosity would surely have been necessary for European and Indian musicians to successfully fuse two such complex traditions for long enough to fill Plowden’s manuscript with music”.
Tickets priced £20 for adults, £8 for students and under 18s are available here.
The Traveller (Sun 1 May, 4pm)
The second performance in this mini festival brings us into the 21st century with music by Alec Roth and Roxanna Panufnik.
The main work is titled The Traveller, a collaboration between Roth and the best-selling author Vikram Seth (A Suitable Boy, An Equal Music).
Alongside 6 new poems, Seth draws from some 25 classic Indian texts from a rich variety of traditions and languages, including Sanskrit, Pali, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, and Tamil to fashion a piece that tells of the ages of life – from Unborn through Child, Youth, Adult etc.
The
Traveller will be performed by Ex Cathedra, Britten Sinfonia,
tenor Mark Padmore, violinist Philippe Honoré, narrator Vayu Naidu, and
conducted by Jeffrey Skidmore, with the children’s choir sung by Ex Cathedra’s
Junior Academy of Vocal Music and pupils from Lordswood Girls’ School.
Alongside
The Traveller are two works by Roxanna Panufnik which fuse the sound
worlds of choral and South Asian music: Child of Heaven commissioned by
Ex Cathedra setting a text about Dawn from the Rig Veda; and Unending Love,
which gives the festival its overall name. In both works, Panufnik embraces the
modes and rhythms of Indian Classical music.
Unending
Love,
setting Tagore’s famous poem, is for choir, Carnatic singer, Indian violins,
tabla, sitar and veena, and ends with an ecstatic, almost Bollywood-esque
climax. It is performed by Ex Cathedra and musicians from Milap, the Indian
arts and culture company based in Liverpool, who took part in the first
performance of the work.
Audiences
can hear Roxanna Panufnik talk about her approach to melding musical styles in
her pre-concert conversation with Milap’s Alok Nayak, at 2.45pm on Sunday 1
May.
FREE Family Activities
On the subject of Bollywood tunes, Ex
Cathedra’s project assistant and Royal Birmingham Conservatoire graduate Amrit
Sohal will deliver one of the Free Family Activities at the CBSO Centre (Sunday 24 April,
2.15pm-5.45pm). In this session, families will create vocal and rhythmic music
inspired by Bollywood films.
There will also be a session exploring
Indian rhythms and drumming styles with Milap’s internationally-acclaimed
percussionist Prathap Ramachandra. And Ex Cathedra’s very own
highly-acclaimed vocal tutors will facilitate sessions inviting people to share
their own family and traditional songs.
No prior musical experience is
necessary for any of these sessions. Children of all ages, parents and
grandparents are invited to just drop in – and have fun!
These free family activities sessions form part of a Creative City project generously supported by Birmingham City Council.
“a ravishing performance of this monumental work” – St Matthew Passion review
“Easter performances by Ex Cathedra, under the baton of their musical director, Jeffrey Skidmore have become a fixture of Birmingham’s musical calendar. There can be a danger, when a work is familiar and oft performed by a body of musicians, that a degree of staleness might develop. Not here. On the basis of Friday’s performance, it would seem that familiarity breeds depth and richness of understanding.
“This is a many layered work where a narrative of intense drama is punctuated by moments of intense spiritual reflection. The main driving force behind the drama is the Evangelist, here superbly sung by tenor Bradley Smith who drew on a broad tonal palette to colour his interpretation, ranging from effortlessly floated high pianissimos through to full voiced declamatory exclamations. This was well paced and convincing musical story telling raised to a high level. Themba Mvula gave us a vocally calm and grounded Jesus characterised by presence and depth of emotion.
“The chorus and other soloists serve both dramatic and reflective functions. In this respect Ex Cathedratotally captured the restrained but passionately meditative mood required by Bach’s Chorale settings and the violent, operatic vocal style called for in the ‘lynch mob’ choruses. Choir and soloists dovetailed beautifully in the movements where individual voices dialogue with chorus. There was a similarly wonderful sense of duet between solo singers and instrumentalists during the obligato arias, with a real feeling of shared expression…
“a ravishing performance of this monumental work.”
