800th Anniversary funds new composition

The grant allowed the Britten Sinfonia to commission a new work from Ryan Wigglesworth entitled Tenebrae. Tenebrae draws its inspiration from the from the literal meaning of the word tenebrae – shadows. Shadows are cast in various ways throughout the piece and develop along their own independent paths.

Composer/conductor Ryan Wigglesworth is a lecturer in Music at Cambridge University and a Fellow of Corpus Christi College. He recently made a successful debut appearance with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and has previously conducted the London Sinonietta and the Birmingham Opera Company. As a composer he has written for the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Singers and the Choir of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge.

Britten Sinfonia said of the funding: “We are delighted to be part of the University’s 800th celebrations. The difference contributions like this can make to the Britten Sinfonia is enormous. They allow the development of new works, recordings and pioneering performances; all help to drive forward the art form and provide that imperative impetus for creativity.”

The new work was premiered during the Britten Sinfonia at Lunch series which will come to Cambridge today, January 20. This concert will be recorded by BBC Radio 3 and broadcast in the spring. Ryan Wigglesworth will also conduct today’s concert at West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge.

For this series, the composer Oliver Knussen has been invited to choose the programme which features major works from the classical chamber repertoire alongside a work from his own catalogue. Among the pieces chosen by Knussen are his own Songs without Voices, Britten’s Phantasy Quartet and Schoenberg’s arrangement of Johann Strauss’s Emperor Waltz.

The tour continues through London, Birmingham and Norwich for the next week. Full details of dates, locations and tickets can be found following the link on the right.