JAN-MAR 24
JAN-MAR 24
Talk
In conversation with Linda Hirst
The Green Room
The Grand, Folkestone
CT20 2XL
19:00
£10
Pay What You Can
Free for 25s and under
Thurs 25 January
Internationally-acclaimed mezzo-soprano Linda Hirst joins us to talk about her fascinating life and career, in conversation with John Woolrich.
Linda is especially known for performances of contemporary music, and has worked with composers including György Ligeti, Luciano Berio, Hans Werner Henze and Judith Weir. She was Head of Voice at Trinity Laban Conservatoire for 22 years, and is President of the Kathleen Ferrier Society. She has always worked across genre boundaries, recording with The Who, Nonclassical, Ivor Cutler, and more.
Listen to Linda’s Spotify HERE.
Talk
In conversation with Steve Dummer
The Green Room
The Grand, Folkestone
CT20 2XL
19:00
£10
Pay what you can
Free for 25s and under
Thurs 08 February
Steve joins us to talk about his work as a conductor, clarinettist, educator and all-round enthusiast for participation in music-making at every level.
He is involved in education work in the UK and abroad running courses and workshops for schools and adults including being a tutor director of the Junior Course of the European Youth Summer Music, and working with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra on their ‘Rusty Musicians’ orchestra. Recent work abroad has included the Sri Lanka Youth Summer Camp and regular trips to conduct the Nairobi Orchestra.
In conversation with Rūta Vitkauskaitė
The Green Room
The Grand, Folkestone
CT20 2XL
19:00
£10
Pay what you can
Free for 25s and under
Thurs 07 March
Lithuanian composer Rūta Vitkauskaitė joins us to talk about her music, in conversation with John Woolrich.
Rūta was director of Druskomanija festival and the workshop series The Process in Lithuania for several years, facilitator of New Music Incubator in Nordic and Baltic countries and across the EU, tutor of the ComposersPlus summer academy in Lithuania, and is the founder of the Glasgow branch of CoMA, Contemporary Music for All.
Workshop
Thurs 07 Mar, 15:00 - 18:00, The Grand, Free
Lithuanian composer Rūta Vitkauskaitė is an inspiring creative workshop leader.
She has initiated many experimental music projects, from collaborative groups to large-scale festivals. Her own music draws on a wide range of influences, including ethnic and ritual music from different cultures (African tribes, shamans of the North, Georgians, Arabs and Jews, or Lithuanian laments).
Rūta will be hosting an exclusive workshop for Folkestone New Music for all musicians on the day of the talk. Whether your interest is in improvisation, composition, or just trying something new - come along, tell your friends, and bring an instrument. To reserve your spot, email folkestonenewmusic@gmail.com.
Talk & Workshop
APR-JUL 24
APR-JUL 24
Performance
Nicholas Daniel (oboe) and Huw Watkins (composer/pianist)
The Green Room
The Grand, Folkestone
CT20 2XL
19:30
£15
Pay What You Can
Free for 25s and under
Thurs 18 April
Two extraordinary musicians, Nicholas Daniel and Huw Watkins, join us for an evening featuring music for oboe and piano by Bach, Harrison Birtwistle, Tansy Davies, Schumann, and John Woolrich.
Nicholas Daniel has long been acknowledged as one of the world’s great oboists and is one of Britain’s best-known musicians. He has significantly enlarged the repertoire for his instrument with the commissioning of hundreds of new works, alongside having a varied and exciting conducting career. He is a founder member of the Britten Sinfonia, the Haffner Wind Ensemble, Orsino, and the Britten Oboe Quartet. He is principal oboist of Camerata Pacifica, California’s leading chamber music ensemble, and is a popular guest at music festivals all over the world.
Huw Watkins is a British composer and pianist, who has written for the London Symphony Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the Hallé Orchestra to name a few. Watkins regularly performs across Europe and North America and has appeared as a soloist with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Britten Sinfonia, and the London Sinfonietta, whilst composers such as Philip Cashian, Tansy Davies, and Helen Grime have written concertos for him.
“Daniel is past praise in his virtuosity and eloquence.” (Gramophone Magazine)
"What an amazing musician Watkins is, this unfailingly dependable and musical pianist who seems to be everywhere. If he caught a cold most of Britain’s summer festival season would collapse.” (The Telegraph)
Listen to Spotify HERE.
Listen to Spotify HERE.
Talk & Performance
The Green Room
The Grand, Folkestone
CT20 2XL
19:00
£10
Pay what you can
Free for 25s and under
Fri 03 May
Join us for an exciting evening where Tansy Davies (composer) and James Fisher (artist) discuss their work in progress with John Woolrich (composer), accompanied by audio visuals. We’ll then be treated to a solo set by Tansy from 8.30pm accompanied by James Fisher’s video projections.
Borne out of a fascination with nature and shamanism, and a grinding rhythmic energy, the music of Tansy Davies has been described as both “sleek, hot, earthy” and “transparent, brazenly beautiful”. Her music is championed by ensembles including New York Philharmonic, Ensemble Intercontemporain, and Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, and at festivals including Ultima, Présences, Donuaueschinger Musiktage, and Warsaw Autumn. Between Worlds, an operatic response to 9/11, was premiered by English National Opera in 2015, and in 2018 her chamber opera Cave was premiered with Mark Padmore, Elaine Mitchener, and London Sinfonietta. She has taught composition at both Royal Academy of Music, London, and, at the Bloomington School of Music, Indiana. Recent projects include Nightingales: Ultra-Deep Field for Arditti Quartet, Monolith: I Extend My Arms, for the strings of Britten Sinfonia, and a residency at Concertgebouw Amsterdam culminating in the ensemble piece Soul Canoe.
James Fisher is a British painter and printmaker. His paintings are rich in colour and texture, drawing on the flat aesthetic of relief printmaking to achieve layers of decorative patterning. James presents the viewer with deceptive surfaces – imagery appropriated from pop culture and art history add to his complex and illusory visual language.
Listen to Spotify HERE.
Performance
Thomas Adès (piano)
Fri 24 May
The Green Room
The Grand, Folkestone
CT20 2XL
19:30
£15
Pay what you can
Free for 25s and under
We are absolutely thrilled to welcome Thomas Adès, one of the world’s foremost musicians, renowned as both a composer and performer worldwide, to perform an evening of piano works in our wonderful seaside town.
A prodigious composer, conductor and pianist, Adès was described by the New York Times in 2007 as one of today’s “most accomplished overall musicians.” From exquisite chamber pieces to stage works, his diverse body of work immediately connects with audiences, and assesses the fundamentals of music afresh.
As a conductor, Adès appears regularly with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw, and Finnish Radio Orchestra. He was the inaugural Artistic Partner with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, with whom he premiered a Concerto for Piano and Orchestra with Kirill Gerstein as a soloist in March 2019. Other recent works include Dawn, a chacony for orchestra at any distance (2020), Shanty – over the Sea for strings (2020), and Märchentänze for solo violin and piano/orchestra (2021). Air – Homage to Sibelius for violin and orchestra was premiered at the 2022 Lucerne Festival, where Adès was Composer-in-Residence.
Adès will perform works by Janáček, Stanchinsky, William Marsey, Nancarrow, and his own work.
Listen to Spotify HERE.
Watch Youtube HERE.
Talk & Performance
Music by Louise Drewett, Isabella Gellis, Sun Keting and Zhenyan Li, performed by Lotte Betts-Dean, Joseph Havlat, and Pavel Ralev
This event, curated by Louise Drewett, presents new and recent work by Louise alongside fellow London-based composers and Royal Academy of Music alumnae Keting Sun, Zhenyan Li, and Isabella Gellis. The programme includes threads of personal heritage through pieces that reference folk music and Buddhist philosophy. Other key themes include natural imagery of landscapes and seascapes. These themes are explored in songs and short instrumental pieces, performed by Lotte Betts-Dean (mezzo-soprano), Joseph Havlat (piano), and Pavel Ralev (guitar), alongside discussion with the composers.
There will be a FREE pre-concert talk with the composers - all are welcome!
The Community Room, 19 The Bayle, CT20 1SQ
Performance:
Parish Church of St Mary and St Eanswythe
CT20 1SW
19:30
Talk:
The Community Room, 19 The Bayle
CT20 1SQ
Performance:
£15
Pay what you can
Free for 25s and under
Talk:
Free
Weds 19 June
Talk
John Harle is an Ivor Novello award-winning composer, saxophonist, record producer and educator whose work spans across musical genres from classical to contemporary pop. John is the composer of operas, around fifty concert works and over 100 film and TV scores including the theme to BBC1's Silent Witness and the epic score to Simon Schama’s A History of Britain. He is the recipient of an Ivor Novello award and two Royal Television Society awards for Best Music.
“He must be the most sought-after saxophonist in the world now.” (The Australian)
Listen to Spotify HERE.
The Green Room
The Grand, Folkestone
CT20 2XL
19:00
£10
Pay what you can
Free for 25s and under