A World-Class Period Instrument Ensemble for Oxford
We are pleased to announce that our 2019 Baroque Strings course will run on October 31st and November 1st 2019 at the Oxfordshire Centre for Music. We are planning a spooky theme to tie in with Halloween! For more info and to sign up please click here.
Hugo Hymas performs Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers on February 9th in Summertown.
You are joining IT&T and the Summertown Choral Society for Monteverdi’s Vespers on February 9th. Do you have a particular favourite among Monteverdi's works? And if so, what is it about this piece which distinguishes it above the others?
Difficult question! His 5 part madrigals are amazing, for instance Hor Che’l Ciel, but there are also his operas - L’Orfeo is the best. But the Vespers is undoubtedly his masterpiece for me - it takes the listener on an incredible musical journey.
Your career encompasses concert performances and staged operas. Are there any particular challenges or delights associated with performing in a staged opera, in comparison to a concert performance?
With Opera it is very liberating to move around a stage without the score - it can really free the music making up and it is so satisfying when it all comes together. Recent challenges though include sitting on the floor 20 meters from the conductor...
Which projects, professional or personal, are you particularly looking forward to in the coming months?
I’m particularly looking forward to singing the role of Jupiter in a staged Semele (Handel) later this year, another phenomenal piece of music!
There is considerable interest at the moment in the music of William Hayes. BBC Radio 3's 'Early Music Show' yesterday featured 'O be joyful in God, all ye lands' from 'Ceremonial Oxford' by The Choir of Keble College, Oxford, on which IT&T appears.
You can listen to the full disc on our Listen page.
“Superbly stylish and convincing”.
We are glad to have received such a warm review of our Oxford performance of Handel’s ‘The Triumph of Time and Truth’ in the British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies, written by Anna Brunton. Read the full review here.
We are pleased to have heard that the Bishopsdown Charitable Trust will be supporting our IT&T InSpires scheme in 2019. Our vision is to make it possible for all 11 to 18 year olds in Oxfordshire to experience workshop and live performance opportunities, as well as working with historical bows and instruments. Historically informed approaches to performance have a wonderful potential for students to learn about the science, evolution and development of instruments, as well as the historical and social contexts of the music. This scheme is unique in Oxfordshire and we are delighted to be delivering it in partnership with the Oxfordshire County Music Service.
An American colleague of mine sometimes wears a t-shirt telling us that ‘Life is short; Opera is long’. If you live your life caught in the jaws of this dichotomy between brevity and urgency then you probably understand the textspeak TL; DR. In which case might I redirect you to our ‘At a Glance’ which Aliye will be forwarding shortly. This newsletter is particularly long and contains very little news.
Having borrowed from Handel in choosing our name, it seems only fitting that ‘The Triumph of Time and Truth’ can now be used to describe IT&T’s activities this Autumn. Not only did the oratorio form the backbone of our Autumn concerts with performances at the Tetbury Festival, King’s Place, London and the Sheldonian, but to my mind it identifies a shift in IT&T’s presence and a feeling that the orchestra is now being embraced by the Oxford audience.
Our season began in September with Digital Spaghetti, a fitting platform for the talents of our virtuosic leader, Bojan Cicic. When I first heard Bojan perform Locatelli’s Il Laberinto Armonico about 6 years ago, my reaction was to laugh in disbelief – not only that a composer would write something so mad, but that someone could actually play it. Ever since I have wanted everyone to hear Bojan perform that piece, and to realise the extent of his talent. I loved that we made our concert in the Holywell Music Room on September 22nd happen, for that reason. I think of Digital Spaghetti as the ‘thinking man’s totty’ of baroque music, in that it combines sophisticated composition with an irresistibly popular appeal. It’s the sort of programme we perhaps don’t get enough of in Oxford, a sort of guilty pleasure amidst a landscape rich in intellectual challenges.
But there is no shame in enjoying Art – I am most definitely in Philip Larkin’s camp here. His ‘enormous Yes’ epitomising what the arts mean to me – the ultimate affirmation of humanity and human experience.
This feels particularly apposite as I return from the latest Charity Futures conference in London. This is the third consecutive year I will have had the privilege of attending this conference at the invitation of Woodford Investment Management, and it is always a remarkable experience.
As a classical musician one can often feel like a fly-on-the-wall of real life: nothing ever seems to apply to us – categories and surveys never allow for the vagaries and uncertainties of a musician’s life, and people look blankly at me as I try to explain why I can’t regularly attend on a Tuesday, or why I shouldn’t pay exorbitant car insurance because, despite being ‘an entertainer’, I don’t give lifts to celebrities.
It’s a bit like that at Charity Futures. These are all intelligent people with proper jobs in challenging and worthy fields. They also understand what the speakers are on about and ask probing questions at the end. But no matter how alien an environment it can feel to a musician who also helps run a charity which has one administrator and three volunteers, there always comes a moment when I want to get up and shout, “That’s us! That’s what we do!”
This year that moment came when Roman Krznaric, who addressed ‘Planning for The Long Now’ (the need to think not in months but in millennia), asked us to discuss with our neighbour our most important experience of ‘Long Thinking and what it meant to us.’ Suddenly the Alien became the Native, for ‘The Long Now’ is where we classical musicians live. In particular early musicians trying to imagine and reproduce the vision of composers from hundreds of years ago, and act as conduits in entrusting that legacy to future generations. One of the intended interpretations of the word ‘Instruments’ in our name.
It is ironic that the moral of Handel’s oratorio ‘The Triumph of Time and Truth’ is belied by its very existence. Handel might have us believe that Beauty is transient and only Truth endures. But Art alone can be both beautiful and true. One wonders if Handel was a Long Thinker and if he is smiling now.
One of the other speakers at the Charity Futures conference was Andrew Mackay, a former senior officer in the British Army who commanded 9,000 soldiers in Afghanistan. Central to his story was his need to know why he and his troops were in Helmand and how he had gone about answering that question and validating their presence there.
Again that sort of question is in our minds this weekend and is underlined by our Sheldonian concert this Friday, In Memoriam. Ticket sales are always an anxiety for a group in its infancy, but alongside our annual Messiah, In Memoriam promises to be our largest audience ever. Proof surely of the enduring power of music to express those ‘Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears’ and which we, as humans, will continue to experience.
Judith Evans, Concerts Manager
“A terrific CD, and most warmly recommended.”
Cathedral Music magazine has printed a glowing review of ‘Ceremonial Oxford’, the disc which we made with The Choir of Keble College, Oxford under Matthew Martin. Buy your copy here.
“Under the baton of Edward Higginbottom the playing was extremely smooth”.
Music OMH has published a fine review of our performance at King's Place last week. Read the full article here.
"Band, choir (very effectively sited up in the Kings Place gallery) and soloists together drew every gramme of drama out of this endlessly various – and often ravishing – score. Higginbottom’s alert and cleverly-paced direction put a spring in everybody’s step…”
Read the full Arts Desk review of our King's Place concert on Friday night here.
“This is the most packed season we’ve had in Oxford,” Edward says. “What we’re wanting to do is engender a local audience who know and love us, who turn out for us, and who know that we’re their period orchestra.”
Read conductor Edward Higginbottom’s recent Oxford Times interview here.
Tenor Nick Pritchard joins IT&T for ‘The Triumph of Time and Truth’ in October, as well as the ‘Messiah’ by candlelight on December 22nd.
You are joining IT&T for Handel’s ‘The Triumph of Time and Truth’ in October, and his Messiah on December 22nd. Do you have a particular favourite among Handel’s works? And if so, what is it about this piece which distinguishes it above the others?
It's a total cop-out to say, but there are just too many pieces that do so many different things to pick out just one! Obviously The Messiah is one of Western Culture’s pillars of achievement, and I adore the fact that it takes up most of my time every December, but I have a soft spot for his Ode to St. Cecilia for its range in representing so many magical facets of music and Jephtha is a total gift for a tenor and is dramatically utterly gripping (the same goes for Samson!). I could listen to his Concerti Grossi all day too.
Having been a choral scholar in Oxford was the transition into opera something that you had always wanted to do?
Yes, I think so, although I've never been one for a ‘five-year plan’, so it wasn't something I necessarily intended to move on to, but I did a lot of it while at university, and loved it all. While stage work is very important to me, concert repertoire is a big part of my professional life too, so the time I spent as a Choral Scholar has proved invaluable to the stuff I do now. The daily commitment, the teamwork and the level of musical excellence needed in that environment were all steep learning curves for me, which have provided skills I use daily. Work in the choir stalls and on the opera stage are more linked than people realise, I think!
Which projects, professional or personal, are you particularly looking forward to in the coming months?
Professionally, I'm looking forward to a recital in the Oxford Lieder Festival with fellow ex-New College musician, Ryan Wigglesworth, doing some Bach Cantatas with Harry Bicket and The English Concert at the Wigmore Hall, Bach’s Easter Oratorio with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and his St. John Passion in the USA with Jonathan Cohen, back home in London with Stephen Layton and the OAE, and of course in Spain with IT&T!
The ‘project’ I'm looking forward to the most though, is getting married at the end of the year to my wonderful fiancée, who is also singing with IT&T this month in the choir. It's certainly taken up a lot of our time recently, but we can't wait!
Nick joins IT&T for Handel’s ‘The Triumph of Time & Truth’ this month.
Edward Higginbottom explores the historical context of Handel's The Triumph of Time and Truth in Early Music Review ahead of our three performances in October. More here...
Corporate support for IT&T
For the last couple of years, IT&T has been fortunate enough to be amongst the many charities receiving support from Woodford Investments. As such, we have been afforded a glimpse into a very different environment from that of Baroque music and benefitted from the type of thinking that goes into building a successful business - until relatively recently, an approach quite alien to the Early Music world.
Developing IT&T
IT&T is now firmly established as a local community resource. Only last week I received enquiries for four concerts from a variety of local sources which is hugely gratifying and encouraging. But we don’t want to be satisfied with that - we are still pursuing our ambition of establishing a regular concert series in Oxford and of becoming a regional presence. Last month, Woodford’s way of thinking had me meeting a fundraising consultant in London, with a view to establishing a development strategy for IT&T. I find this business approach fascinating: with grandparents who ran a Gentleman’s Outfitters in Rhyl I have always suspected that perhaps I am closer to a shopkeeper than a musician!
IT&T needs you!
Anyway, the good news is that we are actually doing a lot of the right things and that time and stamina will do much for IT&T’s development. The even better news is that our instinct that you, our audience, is our greatest asset has been officially confirmed, which somehow makes me feel more courageous about involving you. Establish a significant following and a market for IT&T and the rest will follow.
IT&T has developed at an unprecented rate in the last four years, with the result that we now need your help- there is simply too much ground for Gay, Aliye and myself to cover. That help might come in many shapes and sizes - let me give you an example: the most recent addition to the IT&T ‘office’ is Jessica Osborne, a Friend with accounting experience who has taken over the day to day finances of IT&T and provided very welcome relief from this considerable responsibility. We are hugely grateful to Jessica and fortunate to benefit from the expertise she brings with her. We know the IT&T audience has talents in abundance - fundraising and marketing skills would be invaluable, but even if you don’t possess these, you could still hold the key to increasing the number of our supporters and improving our resilience.
The Grapevine
Very early on we established that word of mouth was our most effective marketing tool and we have now been advised to capitalise on what is essentially an extension of this, by tapping into existing networks with a connection to our audience. Your network might be a Residents’ or Neighbourhood association, a choir, or a company noticeboard, whether real or virtual. You might simply forward our ‘Forthcoming concerts’ to people who live in your road, or buy an extra ticket for a friend, or possibly you work for a company that could be persuaded to sponsor a local entreprise if we were to encourage them with a couple of complimentary tickets? Another possibility is arranging a fundraising concert in your home or that of someone you know, with suggestions of people we might invite as potential sponsors.
Getting involved
On a more practical level, we always need volunteers at concerts, so if you fancy ‘playing shops’ in the box-office or schmoozing potential donors at a drinks reception, do let us know! All of this support would help us and would nurture a genuine feeling of ownership in IT&T which is our ambition for Oxford.
In order to facilitate this new initiative, you will be sent our ‘Forthcoming concerts’ in a separate email!
The news bit
We are now in the final third of our 17/18 Season, but with many enticing events still to come. We very much hope to see you either performing with the Summertown Choral Society on May 19th (there’s a network!) or at one of IT&T’s exciting new collaborations in June and July. If you plan to attend our intriguing Friends’ soirée at Worton Organic Garden on June 2nd, why not bring someone new to IT&T with you? Finally, do come and support us in the sumptuous surroundings of Longborough Opera and enjoy the quintessential musical experience of the English summer.
Judith Evans
Concerts Manager
Hayes disc released
Definitely the most exciting moment so far in the journey that is IT&T was hearing the opening bars of ‘Ceremonial Oxford’ for the first time - our own tiny claim on immortality! Details of the release later in this Newsletter - do order your copies online and support an Oxford choir and orchestra performing the music of an Oxford composer which, together, we made happen.
IT&T’s progress
I remember, about this time last year, looking at the IT&T diary and marvelling at the orchestra’s rate of development since 2014. I thought that, possibly, novelty was playing its part and the level of sustainable activity would settle after a couple of years. On the contrary, it continues to increase apace and I am literally in awe of IT&T’s success. As I have said before, the feeling is less that we have carved out a niche and more that we have uncovered a pre-existing niche in this extraordinary city.
It was a great moment when Aliye produced our 2017/18 brochure - evidence of increased financial resilience bringing with it the potential for forward planning. I knew one or two dates would come in after publication, but in fact, the orchestra’s season has increased beyond all expectations with a breadth of activity which has resulted in an inspiring and fulfilling work environment for the many musicians we have been able to employ. I hope our existence has also enhanced the lives of our audience, participants in our workshops, worshippers at evensong in various colleges and aspiring professionals who have played alongside us.
2018 so far...
Since our Season brochure has been overtaken by events, you will be updated in this Newsletter, but, before that, a quick recap of the last few weeks.
January and February are traditionally ‘resting’ months for freelance musicians following the flurry of Christmas concerts, but not so for IT&T. Early January saw a four-day project with the University baroque ensemble, ‘The Bate Players’, culminating with a side by-side concert in New College Chapel on January 12th. Led by IT&T’s leader, Bojan Cicic, this was a fascinating exploration of seventeenth and eighteenth century string music - Bojan’s area of expertise. As a double bass is not generally used in this repertoire, but the Bate Players include a double bass player, I was exposed to this music myself for the first time. I definitely learned as much as any of the students and felt there was a tangible exhilaration in the concluding performance. This is the sort of experience I would have loved to have had as a music student - to play alongside seasoned professionals on the same desk, but for me now, as that seasoned professional, the experience was equally valuable. It is a wonderful thing to perform beside a burgeoning musician. The professionals bring a well-honed instinct for timing, musical function and ensemble, which is combined with the students’ youthful energy and passion. The result is always stimulating and at its best you even get a sense of that elusive elixir which is Creativity.
In contrast, The Bach Project part II: the Concerto, found us playing a very different role. IT&T’s Dan Edgar performed alongside predominantly ‘modern’ violinist Alexander Janiczek in Bach’s Concerto for two violins, we also accompanied James Boyd in what some think is a spurious concerto for viola and were then joined by Natalie Clein for a performance of the Sixth Brandenburg Concerto, featuring IT&T’s Rachel Byrt alongside James Boyd as the two viola soloists. This idea of combining modern musicians and those dedicated to historically-informed performance is a controversial one, but again, as in the collaboration with the Bate Players, at its best both parties learn from and inspire the other.
On February 6th, Headington School hosted ‘A Day with IT&T’, for GCSE and A level students presented by Jeremy Summerly of St Peter’s College. The initiative of Headington’s new Head of Music, Aimee Bassett, students sang, played, listened and hopefully learned. Feedback from the day was extremely positive.
Then followed IT&T’s two appearances at the Keble Early Music Festival: Edward Higginbottom’s Abendmusik on February 22nd with a programme of his favoured French baroque music; and on the 24th a concert of Mozart’s Jupiter symphony and Requiem. This was a real highlight for me. It is rare these days for an early music group to perform this repertoire except with a choral society because the cost of the brass instruments can be prohibitive. While accompanying amateur choirs is a valued part of IT&T’s work, playing the Requiem with Keble College Choir again had the same appeal as playing alongside the Bate Players. To be immersed in the sound of those young voices, many of whom are performing the Requiem for the first time, is extremely moving.
That brings us to March and the busiest time in the baroque musician’s diary: Easter. March 4th saw a trio of IT&T musicians performing in Buxtehude’s Membra Jesu Nostri at evensong in St Edmund Hall, then the 6th was the first of IT&T’s three performances of Bach’s St John Passion, this one in Somerville College Chapel, conducted by William Dawes. This is followed by another performance of the St John on Saturday in Peterborough Cathedral conducted by Steven Grahl, who has just been appointed Director of Music at Christ Church. Our third St John Passion is on Sunday, with New College Choir under Robert Quinney (tickets available only to Friends of IT&T). We hope to see many of you there.
Our final concert in March is with the Merton College Choir under Ben Nicholas in Bach’s B minor Mass on the 25th. Please see the website for booking information.
Following a break for Easter, IT&T will next be appearing in the Holywell Music Room on April 27th in the third instalment of the Bach Project. With eminent soloists Claire Booth and Ian Bostridge this promises to be a treat for both players and audience alike.
Looking ahead, another treat for Friends of IT&T is Jonathan Rees’s performance at Worton Organic Garden on Saturday, June 2nd which forms the second part of our series, ‘All Roads Lead to Bach’. This recital will be accompanied by a delicious meal of organic produce from the garden and I know it will be a very special evening.
IT&T is looking forward to our new collaboration with the Oxford Bach Choir in the Sheldonian on June 9th, followed by another new collaboration, this time with Magdalen College Choir on July 1st.
Perhaps I should apologise for this Newsletter being so long, but hopefully, even if you don’t read it, you will enjoy with us this evidence of Oxford having taken IT&T to its heart.
Judith Evans
For many of you, a report on our Messiah in University Church on December 16th will not be news, because you were there. However, I can’t embark on news about our 2018 activities without first describing something of this day from an IT&T perspective.
Since our very first concert in the Holywell Music Room back in September 2014, when I found myself still in the box office in my lucent blue get up while the rest of the orchestra was already on stage, I have found wearing the two hats of Management and Player a difficult juggling act (a bit like that mixed metaphor). As a player of more than 20 years in the Academy of Ancient Music I am as casual as the next person about getting back to my seat after a 17 minute (not the prescribed 15 minute) coffee break and no longer suffer heart palpitations as I sit in gridlock on the M40 less than an hour before the start of a rehearsal in Waterloo. Not so at IT&T! I find myself morphing into a Miss Trunchbull-style character at the slightest sign of a laissez-faire attitude or a concert dress of the wrong hue. It’s not a side of myself I like, yet the conflict in roles has my head spinning and I seem unable to resolve this ongoing identity crisis while continuing to ‘work’ and ‘play’. I therefore decided that since I was unable to undertake the Spanish trips because of family commitments, I would step down from participating in the concert and concentrate my energies on rolling out the day like a seamless red carpet for musicians and audience alike.
In the event, that decision proved more stressful than anticipated and the carpet was decidedly rucked in places (not least when we discovered in November, that a carol service had been scheduled in University Church during our one and only rehearsal!). I discovered that one definite advantage to playing in the concert is that it effectively removes you from the melee at the door. It’s a weird experience, as an adult, suddenly finding yourself in an unfamiliar role, but one you have observed many times and thought simple, only to discover not only is it more difficult than it looked, but also that you’re not very good at it: faced with an advancing mass of audience members I couldn’t work out how to get the Returns list to work; I couldn’t remember what the person I had just sold a ticket for looked like; I couldn’t find space for everyone because despite having shuffled along the pews several times in order to work out seating capacity, people don’t come in a standard size, especially when it’s cold and their coat has come too.
The worst of it was the concert. I had never heard the Messiah before except from within an orchestra and I was looking forward to the passive luxury of being a punter. But from the second it started my ear was glued to the bassline, experiencing all the niggles of the technical aspects of playing the part with none of the highs of performing. It wasn’t that I felt critical of the performance, more of Handel. Perhaps not the fully-fledged audience version of Miss Trunchbull, but a backseat driver nonetheless. I adjourned to the Old Library in order to escape myself.
About two hours twenty minutes later I stood in the doorway to hear the Dona Nobis Pacem and the Amen. At the end of a long work, the final page always brings a sense of release - you can stop worrying how sore you’re bottom is from sitting on the edge of a bass stool for two and a half hours, soon you will no longer be shivering/sweating (it is so rare to be the right temperature in a concert) and there is a long, thirst-quenching alcoholic drink awaiting you. But without all the physical discomforts of performing, in that last five minutes there was just that sense of transcendence that Handel both intended, musically and emotionally and in which he had faith and which was greeted by a standing ovation. A standing ovation is a very moving thing: a rare demonstration of unanimity in modern life and a collective, wordless expression of something inexpressible. A fitting response to Handel’s music.
Last year, IT&T’s Messiah was the first ever concert to sell out in University Church. This year, the audience’s response has had repercusions for health and safety and may prompt the introduction of a numbering system in the church (hurray! I won’t be dragging chairs into the front row at 5.02pm). Not only this, but the concert sold out two weeks sooner than last year and we have already had booking enquiries for next year.
This phenomenon that is the Messiah happens annually and is universal. It reminds me of that tv advert I used to see urging us that ‘A dog is for life, not just for Christmas’ - I want to say that about music. People will tell me openly they don’t like classical music, but will religiously sit through two and a half hours of the Messiah without ever considering coming to another concert; like the audiences in Kenwood stoically enduring an open-air concert in the pouring rain, but who wouldn’t dream of coming into a concert hall. It must be the same for vicars at Christmas.
But the two IT&T tours to Spain have inspired us to undertake something more inclusive in 2018. We will, of course, maintain our annual performance in University Church (December 22nd at 5pm, booking opens Sept 1st), but in addition we are planning a ‘Community Messiah’ earlier in December in the Sheldonian to which we will invite the choirs with whom we collaborate, to sing alongside Oxford Voices in the ‘big’ choruses and include players from Oxybaroxy (the Oxford County Music Service’s baroque youth orchestra) alongside IT&T. It is one of the great roles we at IT&T are privileged to occupy in Oxford - that of uniting diverse elements from within the city and university and establishing something truly communal. If you sing in a choir and would like to share the discomforts of performing a piece that lasts two and a half hours, on a hard seat, please get in touch! You will undoubtedly also get to experience the thrill of being part of a large-scale musical enterprise, which is unforgettable.
IT&T’s 2018 Season has expanded considerably since we went to print in September, so please keep an eye on email updates or check the concerts page on our website. This Friday, January 12th at 8pm in New College Chapel, Chris Bucknall, Director of Music at St Edmund Hall and Associate Director of IT&T, will direct a side-by-side concert with the Bate Players and members of IT&T. Programme and booking information is available on our website. This collaboration promises to be an enriching experience for all parties, where the freshness and enthusiasm of the Bate Players meets the experience and deeply crafted approach of IT&T.
This is followed by the next instalment of Natalie Clein’s ‘Bach Project’ presented through the University Music Faculty with booking via Ticketsoxford. The concert, in the Holywell Music Room , on Saturday January 27th is an exciting collaboration between ancient and modern, with IT&T accompanying ‘modern’ soloists Alexander Janiczek and James Boyd, alongside our own Daniel Edgar. The concert is preceded by a discussion led by distinguished Bach scholar, John Butt.
February sees Matthew Martin’s second annual Keble Early Music Festival. As last year, this features IT&T in two concerts: the first, on Thursday February 22nd, an intimate Abendmusik directed by Edward Higginbottom with a programme for soprano and small ensemble; the second a much larger scale concert, featuring two of Mozart’s greatest compositions - his Requiem and Jupiter Symphony - the former conducted by Matthew Martin and the latter, by Edward Higginbottom. I’m particularly looking forward to this, because it will be fascinating to work with two such profound musicians, one trained by the other, who nonetheless have very different conducting styles. There can’t be many cities in the world with this concentration of musical excellence.
Earlier in February, on Saturday 3rd, the Summertown Choral Society and IT&T will appear in the first of two collaborative concerts this year. This concert in St Andrew’s, Linton Rd features Handel’s wonderful ‘Israel in Egypt’ - perhaps the most dramatic of Handel’s oratorios and definitely my favourite.
March, of course, brings with it Passion season and Aliye will shortly be in touch with a booking invitation for Friends to IT&T’s St John Passion with New College Choir, conducted by Robert Quinney on Sunday March 11th. To avoid last year’s confusion, please note the start time is definitely 3pm!
We very much hope to see you at some or all of these varied concerts. It is nice to feel that, as an orchestra, we are starting to get to know our audience.
Happy 2018.
Judith Evans, Concerts Manager.
The Spanish have a great affection for the Messiah. They are also proud custodians of some truly impressive concert halls not just in the major cities, but even in smaller towns- the UK really has nothing to compare! Added to this, Spanish banks have a long tradition of generous sponsorship and thanks to one such donor IT&T and Oxford Voices were delighted to be invited back to Spain following a one-off performance in Barcelona two years ago.
Our first port of call was Santander in Northern Spain in early December. A choir of 250 voices from various regional choirs had been rehearsing for several months in order to join forces with us for the concert. We arrived in time for an evening rehearsal where an interpreter was on hand for Edward, whose wit was clearly translated and nuanced appropriately judging by the laughter coming from the choir at the right moments. A huge amount of collective energy and good will helped create a very enjoyable concert.
On the second leg of the tour, following IT&T’s Oxford Messiah on December 16th, we flew to Las Palmas in Gran Canaria. As a musician one regularly has to try to convince friends and family that concerts abroad are work, not a holiday. On this occasion however the trip did start off feeling remarkably like a very enjoyable winter break. Our first evening was spent strolling along the esplanade of Las Palmas beach, stopping for the occasional gin and tonic (large ones!) or tapas. The following morning a group of us took a bus up into the mountains and managed to fit in quite a serious hike, as well as lunch, before returning to rehearse in the evening. Once again we were collaborating with massed local choirs who seemed delighted to be working with Edward, and the concert was very well received.
Even when repeating one concert programme several times on tour there are always new challenges to do with changing acoustics in each venue as well as the problems encountered when musical instruments (particularly baroque string instruments) travel. The choir and orchestra took some time to adjust to Auditorio Alfredo Kraus in Las Palmas in particular: to begin with the orchestra seemed very small in such a huge space. In contrast, the Palau de la Musica in Barclona seemed relatively intimate with a much easier acoustic. This was the fifth performance of the Messiah the Palau had hosted in recent weeks, and national newspaper, El Periodico, summed it up: ‘One of the most brilliant and faithful interpretations of this monumental piece that we have heard in recent years… the precision of this choir of extraordinary quality is astonishing as is the balance achieved between the different vocal parts. No less astonishing is the balance between the choir and the orchestra, made up of excellent baroque specialist musicians.’
A delightful five hour train journey, much of which was along the coast, took us to our final destination, Alicante. We were a particularly harmonious group, many of us having worked together over the years in different ensembles as well as IT&T. Unusually there were four family pairings amongst us: two of brother and sister, and two of parent and child. In many ways IT&T feels like a family, and the close links with Oxford Voices added another layer of cohesion to the concerts as well as during the ‘down time’. It was lovely to return to the hotel after our last and very enjoyable concert to find opened bottles of Cava awaiting us. For the next couple of hours the bar staff were run off their feet while IT&T celebrated the end of a busy year and a very happy collaboration with Oxford Voices and Edward Higginbottom. ‘It’s rare to have the opportunity to attend such a brilliant interpretation of Handel’s Messiah as this…The orchestra shone throughout, stimulated by the conducting of Edward Higginbottom.’… (El Mundo)
Many thanks to Caroline Higginbottom who worked tirelessly to organize this tour. She has many years of experience taking New College Choir abroad, and although she was not responsible for young children there were perhaps similarities in behaviour - a forgotten passport here, an intrument there...!
We look forward to returning to Spain soon, as El Periodico remarked, ‘this performance is worth repeating’.
Gabriel Amherst
Since my last newsletter, ‘The Road to Romanticism’ launched IT&T’s 2017/18 Season on October 6th in the Sheldonian Theatre. As IT&T's first sortie into nineteenth century repertoire, this concert was a bit of a leap in the dark: would we be able to uphold standards with more technically demanding repertoire, given extremely limited rehearsal time? Would our audience even be interested in hearing later repertoire on period instruments and what would they make of a well-known violin concerto played on gut strings? Despite a nail-biting few weeks when it looked as if IT&T was facing financial ruin, all came good at the eleventh hour and from a personal and professional point of view, the concert was a huge success. Which means a loss of only £8,000!
On the day, Gay was elsewhere and both Aliye and I were playing, so there was more than the usual amount of extraneous pressure, including a photo shoot outside the Sheldonian and a period of about half an hour when no one knew where Bojan had got to! But during the Hebrides overture I found myself marvelling at the colours conjured by the period winds and experiencing something of the awe the nineteenth century audience must have felt towards what was new and extraordinary music of its time. I love those moments that validate what we do - Wordsworth’s ‘spots of time’, or Joyce’s ‘epiphanies’- a moment of intense focus in which you simultaneously participate but also observe yourself and understand that this is what life is about.
The one aspect of that evening I was most proud of was creating the opportunity for Bojan to play the Mendelssohn. As we all know, our society is intrigued by ‘celebrity’ and orchestras rely heavily on ‘names’ to sell tickets. But what makes a name and how do you get one? The most obvious way would seem to be by exposing the most talented performers to audiences. But this is more easily said than done, as I recently had underlined in an exchange I had with an orchestral manager. Both Bojan and I play in the Academy of Ancient Music. Following ‘The Road to Romanticism’, I suggested they should programme the Mendelssohn, but the reply was that the financial loss would be too great: to get the equation of musicians’ fees and ticket sales to balance, given the overheads of an established orchestra, you need a huge hall and a ‘name’ to fill it. This is the bottom line, literally, and it governs so much of modern life.
But if established groups won’t risk inviting an emerging soloist, then how is a soloist to emerge? At IT&T, our mission is a bit different. Because we manage the group voluntarily in order to create excellent regional work and a genuine community resource, it means we can be a bit more adventurous and actually increase the profile of emerging soloists. Bojan often describes himself as ‘a musician’s musician’, by which he means he thinks his performing lacks showmanship and is esoteric. But I think Bojan underestimates himself. There is something tremendously compelling about his performing, his sense of rhythm is irrepressible and the thoroughgoing nature of his musicianship gives a sense of rightness to his every nuance of phrasing. The Mendelssohn with minimal vibrato obviously sounds very different from the flamboyance and overt passion of some modern interpretations, but reports of the first performance indicate that it was, in fact, given without vibrato. Bojan’s performing is like a Jane Austen novel: the passion is implicit and, to my mind, more intense for being so. Indeed, one member of the audience at the Sheldonian was overheard to say Bojan’s was the most beautiful rendition of the concerto she had ever experienced. So it is not only musicians who think Bojan worthy of being celebrated.
But this catch 22 situation of a soloist having to be known to an audience before he or she can become a soloist interests me, because it means you, the members of our audience, have a great deal of power and influence.
I recently attended a conference on ‘Charity Futures’ in London, at the invitation of Jonathan Smith of Woodford Investment Management, one of IT&T’s corporate sponsors. There were three compelling speakers who presented possible versions of the world in the near future. The first, Mark Stevenson, provided a mind-boggling glimpse at the current technological advances that will become familiar to us all within the next 15 years: driverless cars; 3-d printers;energy extracted from thin air. But whatever the specifics, one thing is certain: artificial intelligence will govern much of everyday life. And that will bring fundamental change, because it will no longer be Logic that is most prized (because it will be everywhere), but Creativity, or, to put it another way, that uniquely human attribute - the Imagination.
And suddenly, our work at IT&T seemed more profound - less of a personal passion and more of a legacy for the future. We have always sought to provide for the future, with our GCSE projects, free tickets for schools, side-by-sides with undergraduates and, more recently with school-aged children, but at that conference in London, the future appeared knowable and very close and I felt optimistic that we, at IT&T, are doing exactly what we should be doing as musicians and ensuring that the future world is based on the very best of human capabilities and not on the worst.
And you, members of IT&T’s audience, have the power to make this happen. As the second speaker at ‘Charity Futures’ argued, Economics is nothing more than human nature: we are social animals and when we see our neighbour buy something, our instinct is to follow. That’s how clothes become fashionable, how kitchens all start to look the same, how recycling has become accepted and how Bojan becomes a name and IT&T endures. All you have to do is be the social animals you are: come to concerts, bring your family and friends and tell your acquaintances. If you prefer the modern version of gossip, then apply that most powerful of tools: social media. Human nature will do the rest, but if you’re lucky enough to be wealthy, then a donation would be great too.
My mother complained that the last IT&T Newsletter wasn’t personal enough, so I’m just doing what I’m told. If you are similarly biddable, there are going to be a lot of exciting concerts in the future. Thank you for your support.
Judith Evans, Concerts Manager
I know several people who hate February and consider it to be the low point of the year. For me, however, that point comes in November as we enter the suffocating tunnel of winter and by this time, it’s as if one can sense the earth shifting on its axis, the quality of light changes and I feel myself emerging once more into the outside world.
Our concert on February 10th in the Holywell Music Room is a wonderful opportunity to venture out and bask in an exploration of human love in its various manifestations, from savage jealousy, through serene enjoyment, to the tragic. The programme includes Bach’s cantata ‘Weichet nur, betrübte Schatten’, thought to have been composed for his own wedding and sung here by young soprano, Katherine Crompton. So why not eschew that overpriced meal on Valentine’s Day and celebrate, more originally, with us on the 10th, by considering the tremendous creative effect this overwhelming human emotion has had on two of the greatest composers ever: Bach and Handel? Tickets are still available online at www.timeandtruth.co.uk and at the Holywell from 6.45pm on the night of the 10th.
Shortly afterwards, IT&T will assume a central role in the Keble Early Music Festival, with Edward Higginbottom’s 9pm ‘Abendmusik in Lübeck’ on February 23rd and the B minor Mass on Saturday 25th at 7.30pm. These concerts demonstrate two extremes of music-making, from the intimacy of a handful of musicians in the first, to the massed choirs of Keble, St Peter’s and Merton colleges, alongside Voices of Time and Truth, in the second. Details of both these concerts are on our website and the B minor Mass can also be booked there. Details of the rest of the Festival can be seen on the Tickets Oxford website.
We still have about 6 tickets left for Friends to attend the St John Passion in New College Chapel on Sunday 12th March at 3.30pm. This is a truly awe-inspiring setting in which to appreciate this profound work and for IT&T to play with one of the world’s best and longest-established choirs a great privilege of living in Oxford. If you are not yet a Friend, this could be your opportunity to support us. Just getting the chance to be part of this St John Passion makes the starting subscription of only£60 per year a very good deal!
In the time since my last newsletter, there have been some very exciting developments for 2018 which could see Instruments of Time and Truth progressing to a new level in terms of its profile. I hope these plans will firm up shortly. In the meantime, thank you for coming to our concerts and for enjoying them. It has been inspiring to receive your appreciative comments and emails and to remind us that even this newsletter ultimately has a human purpose.
Judith Evans, Concerts Manager.
This newsletter is likely to be something of an oldsletter since I feel this is a good moment to look back at the Autumn and all we acheived, as well as anticipate the exciting developments of 2017.
Back in November, IT&T was about to embark on its busiest patch ever, which included our London debut and first appearance on national radio.
But first, to rewind just over three years, when we initially broached the idea of starting an orchestra with Edward, I have to confess my heart sank slightly at his enthusiastic mention of French baroque, not least because little of the repertoire includes the double bass. Fast forward to November 25th 2016 when I found myself, as a direct result of this enthusiasm, a redundant bass player in the audience at King’s Place. Not only could I not remember the last time I had been to a concert, but, I’m ashamed to say, watching ‘Tous les Matins du Monde’ was probably the full extent of my exposure to French baroque music.
I found myself, a sceptic, reluctantly being seduced by this unfamiliar sound world and enchanted by the melifluous playing and singing. Add to this the persuasive combination of wit and scholarship which is the trademark of Edward’s commentaries and I gradually discovered what a wonderfully enjoyable experience it is to go to a concert. As a musician myself, part of me was able to observe the players on stage and know the effort of concentration and the force of will that goes into any performance: a bit like walking a tightrope, it’s all about focus and self-belief (and lots of practice), yet, miraculously, none of this is apparent. In King’s Place, it was subtly metamorphosed into a seamless and hypnotic performance of this extraordinary music. It totally reinforced my faith in the effect of classical music on the human psyche and the validity of our efforts at IT&T.
It was extremely heartening that the previous week’s performance at the Holywell yielded audience numbers as great as those in London - testament to our evolving reputation in Oxford and the crucial role you all play in that as regular supporters. I listened to In Tune with a combination of nerves and pride, again knowing what an outer-body experience it is playing in a sound-proofed box above Langham Place, yet knowing your performance is being listened to by thousands, probably battling home through rush-hour traffic. Nerve-wracking stuff, but again presented with the shiny veneer of accomplished performers. A great milestone for IT&T. Hopefully, next time, Sean Rafferty will have been prepped by the BBC pronunciation dept in the matter of Bojan’s name!
Far from resting on our laurels, the following day saw IT&T occupying our annual slot in the Wotton Concert Series, which now feels like the start of Christmas. There’s something incredibly special about the combination of Cotswold stone, twinkly lights and the promise of an open fire at that time of year. Working with both Ben Hoffnung and Sir Martin Smith (in our Tetbury Messiah on Dec 11th) is like revisiting friends and has a familiarity that enhances the music - the hospitality we received on both occasions being, literally, the icing on the cake. Thank you Elise and Margie! Both thoroughly enjoyable occasions for orchestra and audience alike.
Sandwiched amongst all this was our first Friends’ Evening at Bruern Abbey which included a chamber concert followed by dinner and was a huge success. As the number of our Friends increases, we are conscious of fulfilling our promise to them of providing unique events and opportunities and are optimistic this will become a regular series.
Our final concert of the year was, of course, our sell-out Messiah in the University Church. This was the first time we have completely sold out since our debut concert in the Holywell and this time, in a venue twice the size. Far from the usual nail-biting scrutiny of ticket sales, this time our worry was the dwindling number of seats available compared to the deluge of requests we were getting. Eventually we released 50 unsighted tickets in the Chancel with mixed results - probably an experiment we would not repeat. However, rather sadly, University Church has decided hosting a concert that close to Christmas is not for them, so our vision of the IT&T candlelit Messiah as an Oxford institution is currently stalled. However, we have other ideas of which I will keep you informed.
Finally, to the Present. Our next concert, on February 4th in St Andrew’s, Linton Rd, is the conclusion of the Christmas Oratorio embarked upon last year with the Summertown Choral Society. This is a wonderful community event with astounding music, so do come along (although SCS has a significant following of its own!)
This is closely followed by a Valentine - inspired concert entitled, ‘The Food of Love’, in the Holywell Music Room on Friday, February 10th. This programme of Handel and Bach includes elements from the current Edexcel GCSE syllabus on which we are presenting two workshops in St Edward’s School on 6th February. This educational collaboration enables us to subsidise rehearsals for the concert whilst providing us with rehearsal space and is exactly the sort of joined-up thinking needed to survive in the 21st century. We get to play in St Edward’s wonderful new concert hall and, for the first time, Chris Bucknall, who has co-ordinated our tertiary level education work so far, will direct the group in the Holywell. Chris has a wealth of experience in education work through his involvement with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, so his workshops should be inspiring to all participants, both on and off-stage. The Holywell programme is inspired by this repertoire, but broadened and promises to be delighful for any audience.
This brings us to Matthew Martin’s first Keble Early Music Festival. Matthew has been indefatigable in his efforts to raise both money and the profile of this Festival culminating in five days of events from 21st to 25th February. IT&Tis privileged to have been invited to present two concerts: the first, Abendmusik in Lubeck, on the 21st, directed by Edward; and the second, the finale of the Festival, a performance of Bach’s B minor Mass on Saturday 25th. This is a very ambitious project combining the choirs of Keble, Merton and St Peter’s colleges with Voices and Instruments of Time and Truth. Conducted by Matthew himself, Edward will make an appearance at the keyboard!
Sunday March 12th is the date of this year’s performance of the St John Passion with New College Choir under Robert Quinney. There is a limited number of tickets available exclusively to Friends, so please send your requests to info@timeandtruth.co.uk . If you would like to come, but are not a Friend, this could be your opportunity to become one for little more than the price of a pair of concert tickets!
We are very excited to be collaborating with Ben Nicholas and the Choir of Merton College for the first time, as an ensemble, in a Music at Oxford concert on Saturday, May 6th. This programme includes my all-time favourite Bach cantata, ‘Christ lag in Todesbanden’. Exquisitely gloomy!
Gabriel and I are meeting today with Edward to discuss future plans. I am pleased to say we ended 2016 sufficiently in the black to start planning our next Sheldonian concert. We are working on the details of our first Spanish tour next December, which I hope will segue into another Messiah on December 23rd somewhere in Oxford which will possibly involve a new approach more favoured by the Arts Council! We are also in discussion with an amateur choir in Oxford which I hope will produce a new collaboration.
All that remains is for me to offer my heartfelt thanks to you for supporting our endeavours. There is no denying running an orchestra is a slog, day in, day out. But it is a slog punctuated by exhilarating performances and profound fulfilment. it is only having you, the audience, that makes any of it possible. So, thank you, Happy 2017 and see you soon.
Judith
Judith Evans
Concerts Manager
I am writing this on what I consider to be a quintessential November afternoon - no real daylight to speak of, cold with a steady, persistent rain. Thankfully, between now and Christmas, IT&T has possibly its busiest and most exciting couple of months so far, so there is plenty to look forward to in our concert diary.
Our next concert is Le Coucher du Soleil in the Holywell Music Room on Friday 18th November at 7.30pm. This little-known world of the French baroque is a lifetime passion of Director Edward Higginbottom's and the colours, flexible rhythms and quirkiness of this repertoire inform Edward’s very approach to music. Come and hear him in his element, alongside Parisian-trained Bojan Čičič and Dan Edgar, talented violinist and musicologist. Supported by the exquisite gamba-playing of Susanna Heinrich the ensemble provides the setting for emerging-talent, soprano Robyn Allegra Parton. It promises to be a musical treat.
The concert is, of course, being repeated as IT&T's London debut in King's Place the following Friday - November 25th. In between the two, the ensemble is being showcased on BBC Radio 3's ‘In Tune’ on Monday 21st November from 4.30 - 5.15pm. This is the first national recognition of Instruments of Time and Truth and is a very exciting development for us with the opportunity to reach an audience of thousands.
In terms of publicity, this month has seen a sharp rise in media coverage for IT&T, starting with an interview with Edward in the Oxford Times this week and requests for articles or listings from Roundandabout, Cotswold Life, Cotswold Allure and Oxford Today. Please keep your eyes open for mentions of us that you might be able to share with friends, family or neighbours: word of mouth still being the most effective publicity amongst the concert-going public in Oxford. With your help, we can increase our local audience little by little and shore-up the orchestra's resilience in these tough times.
Last summer saw our first designated concert for Friends of IT&T at Worton Organic Garden - a solo violin recital, given by Bojan, with supper in this delightful setting. We are extremely grateful for the invaluable support we receive from Friends and are now pleased to be able to offer them the opportunity of attending a private concert at Bruern Abbey School on November 19th. The programme is Mozart Clarinet quintet K518 with Antony Pay, Haydn's ‘Emperor’ quartet and Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. Please contact Aliye Cornish at timeandtruthoxf@gmail.com for more details.
November 26th is the occasion of our annual appearance in the Wotton Concert Series, Wotton-under-Edge, conducted by Benedict Hoffnung. This year sees an increased presence from IT&T as Ben has chosen to raise the musical profile by using our own professional choir, Voices of Time and Truth. I feel a huge sense of satisfaction at being able to offer fellow-musicians excellent local work - just a few concerts like this can really enhance the lives of otherwise itinerant musicians, as well as the experience for the audience. This year, Ben has moved away from the baroque to an all -Mozart programme.
In December we will be performing the Messiah twice in two different formats: on Sunday, December 11th at 5pm in Tetbury we will perform it as we did last year in the University Church - with a choir of 12 who also sing the arias ( how it was first performed by Handel's choir); and on December 23rd at 5pm in the University Church, this time with the more conventional ‘modern’ format of a choir and four soloists. The first concert will be conducted by Sir Martin Smith in what is his local church, under the auspices of the Tetbury Music Festival and the second will be conducted by our own Director, Edward Higginbottom. There was much discussion about dates for the Oxford concert - there being few available weekends in December and multiple performances of the Messiah, but we felt putting the concert as late as the 23rd really made it part of the celebration of Christmas and the setting of the University Church at that time of year is perfect. The timing of the concert at 5pm means it should be over by 7.45pm allowing the possibility of a Christmas get-together afterwards. Tickets are selling fast, so book early to avoid disappointment.
As ever, we are working hard on fundraising to ensure the future of IT&T. Our next project will be a concert in the Holywell Music Room on Friday, February 10th to tie-in with our new GCSE workshop which is to be hosted by St Edward's School.
Thank you for supporting us and we look forward to seeing you soon.
Judith Evans
Concerts Manager
