Wigmore Hall Family Concerts / Story Tree

Conductor / Nicholas Collon
Principal players of Aurora Orchestra

Principal Players from Aurora return to Wigmore Hall for two family concerts, featuring a new commission from composer Luke Bedford, based around Willie and Hugh by children’s author Anthony Browne.

Stylistic Crossroads

Weill / Violin Concerto*
Hindemith / Kammermusik No.1
Korngold / 'Much Ado about Nothing Suite'
Schreker / Chamber Symphony

*Violin / Clio Gould
Conductor / Nicholas Collon

The climax of Aurora’s ‘From Vienna to Weimar’ residency, this performance surveys a selection of orchestral highlights from the interwar cultural melting-pot characterised by Austrian composer Franz Schreker in 1928 as a Stilwende, or ‘stylistic crossroads’. Korngold’s sparkling score to Shakespeare’s Much Ado about Nothing rubs shoulders with the youthful audacity of Hindemith’s Kammermusik No. 1, the cool clarity of Kurt Weill’s Violin Concerto (with guest soloist Clio Gould), and the lush textures of Schreker’s own Chamber Symphony.

'A typically inventive programme from the brilliant young Aurora Orchestra under their talented Principal Conductor, Nicholas Collon’ Evening Standard

Cabaret after Dark

The charismatic Loré Lixenberg, celebrated for her role in Jerry Springer: The Opera, joins pianist Iain Farrington and members of Aurora for a pulsating evening of cabaret music, including UK premières of songs by Spoliansky and Holländer, alongside well-know favourites by Kurt Weill.

Mezzo – Soprano / Loré Lixenberg
Conductor / Nicholas Collon

Chamber Contrasts

Hindemith / Quartet for Clarinet, Violin, Cello and Piano
Krenek / Serenade for Clarinet and String Trio Op.4
Weill (arr. Frenkel) / Seven Pieces from the Threepenny Opera
Schoenberg (arr. Webern) / Chamber Symphony No.1

Alexandra Wood / Violin
Principal players of Aurora Orchestra

The versatility and transparency of chamber music was perfectly suited to iconoclastic composers seeking to experiment with new sound worlds in the wake of the First World War. This diverse programme showcases neglected gems by Krenek and Hindemith alonsgide Webern’s extraordinary distillation for five players of Schoenberg’s first Chamber Symphony, together with transcriptions for solo violin of movements from Weill’s jazz-infused Threepenny Opera.

'As pacy and invigorated a reading of Schoenberg's Chamber Symphony No.1 as I've heard.' The Sunday Times

Copernicus Music Festival

Performance as part of the Copernicus Music Festival, a collaboration between K12 Conductors in Education, Trinity College of Music, Blackheath Halls and the Academy of Music in Krakow, which brings together students from all the UK music conservatoires.

Penderecki / Sextet
Gorecki / Kleines Requiem für eine Polka

Conductor / Nicholas Collon

Also featuring Emma Abbate (piano), Evva Mizerska (cello) and dancers Franziska Scherner and Karolin Bertilsson from Laban, in the following newly-choreographed works:

Krzysztof Meyer / Canzona
Romuald Twardowski / Meditation and Tango
Weronika Ratusinska / Blue Note

Aldeburgh Highlights

Three 45-minute concerts as part of the Aldeburgh Festival's 'Aldeburgh Highlights' residency at Kings Place.

6.30pm: Debussy & Gorecki
Debussy (arr. Sachs) / Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune
Gorecki / Kleines Requiem für eine Polka*

7.45pm: Mussorgsky's Pictures
Chopin (arr. Fernando) / Three Preludes
Mussorgsky (arr. Yu) / Pictures at an Exhibition

9pm: Chamber Classics
Ravel / Introduction and Allegro**
Schoenberg / Chamber Symphony

Conductor / Nicholas Collon

*Piano / John Reid
**Harp / Sally Pryce

Tickets: £17.50, £14.50, £11.50, £6.50, available online or on 020 7520 1490.

TRIPLE SAVER SPECIAL OFFER: Buy a pair of tickets for all three concerts for just £19.50 (£9.75 per person). Discount only available by telephone (0207 520 1490) or in person at the Kings Place box office: quote AURORA TRIPLE SAVER when booking; offer must be booked in advance.

BBC PROMS Young Composer's Competition

Aurora performs commissions by winners of the 2009 BBC Proms Inspire Young Composer's Competition (also broadcast on Radio 3)

BBC PROMS Young Composer's Competition

Aurora performs the winning entries for the BBC PROMS Young Composer's Competition (also broadcast on Radio 3)

Listen Up! Summer School

Aurora Orchestra and the Da Capo Foundation will provide 5 days of skills-building work for children aged 3-15.

Chris Willis / Boom Town

Guest conductor / William Carslake

Culmination of Listen Up! skills-building projects in 6 Hammersmith & Fulham primary schools. Delivered in collaboration with the Da Capo Foundation.

Deal Festival

Mahler / Symphony No.4 (arr. Klaus Simon)
Debussy / La Boîte à Joujoux (arr. Bowen)

Guest conductor / Benjamin Shwartz

For more information, please click here. This concert is supported by

Sounds New Festival

Chopin / Nocturnes (arr. Fernando)
Ligeti / Chamber Concerto
Penderecki / Sextet (UK premiere)
Lutoslawski / Chain 1
Gorecki / Concerto op.11
Szymanowski / Etude No. 3 (arr. Fernando)

This concert is supported by

Aldeburgh Residency & opening concert of Britten Studio

Schoenberg / Erwartung (arr. Faraew)*
Macmillan / A deep but dazling darkness**

*Stage Director / Frederic Wake-Walker
*Soprano / Rebecca Blankenship
**Solo violin / Thomas Gould

Listen Up!

Chris Willis / Boom Town

A performance with children from Westminster primary schools in collaboration with the Da Capo Foundation.

Tickets are free. Please contact jane@auroraorchestra.com to reserve a seat in advance.

Music at Oxford

Britten / Sinfonietta
Haydn / Symphony no.6 ('Le Matin')
Mozart / Symphony no.1
Copland / Appalachian Spring

Family Concert: A Wintery Tale

Programme to include excerpts from:

Ravel / String Quartet
Lully / Alceste
Haydn / Symphony No. 101 (Clock)
Vivaldi / Four Seasons

and seasonal favourites.

Birtwistle / Bach Measures
Lully / 'Alceste'
Haydn / Symphony no.8 ('Le Soir')
Macmillan / The Exorcism of Rio Sumpul

With members of the Capoeira Dance group ‘Cordão de Ouro’ and Mestre Ponciano.

More Info >>

BBC PROMS Young Composers' Competition

Aurora performs the winning entries for the BBC PROMS Young Composers' Competition (also broadcast on Radio 3)

For more information, please click here

Aberystwyth Music Festival

Byrd (arr. Muhly) / Two Motets
Britten / Sinfonietta Op.1
Ibert / Concertino da Camera for Saxophone and Orchestra *
Bach (arr. Muhly) / Measures
Hindemith / Kammermusik No.1

* Saxophone / Sarah Field

Aberystwyth Music Festival

Poulenc (arr. David Matthews) / The Story of Babar
Prokofiev (arr. David Matthews) / Peter and the Wolf

BBC PROMS Young Composers' Competition

Aurora performs commissions by winners of the 2007 BBC Proms Inspire Young Composers' Competition

For more information, please click here

Wigmore Hall

Poulenc / Le Bestiaire
Poulenc / Le Bal Masqué

Baritone / Sir Thomas Allen
Piano / Malcolm Martineau

Enchanted Tales

Reger (arr. Schoenberg) / Romantic Suite
Ligeti / Piano Concerto *
Brahms / Serenade No. 1

* Piano / Rolf Hind

Click here to listen to Reger’s Romantic Suite online.

More Info >>
Rolf Hind biography >>

Wyastone Summer Music Festival

Reger (arr. Schoenberg) / Romantic Suite Op.125
Nico Muhly / Concerto for Electric Violin *
Brahms / Serenade No. 1 in D major, Op.11

* Electric violin / Thomas Gould

Russian Tales

Stravinsky / Renard
Walton / The Bear

Fully-staged double-bill with Mahogany Opera
Directed by Frederic Wake-Walker

Russian Tales

Stravinsky / Renard
Walton / The Bear

Fully-staged double-bill with Mahogany Opera
Directed by Frederic Wake-Walker

Natural Expressions

Debussy (arr. Sachs) / Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune
James Williamson / Chamber Concerto
Mahler (arr. Schoenberg) / Das Lied von der Erde *

* Mezzo Soprano / Jane Irwin
* Tenor / Rob Murray

More Info >>

Aldeburgh Easter Festival

Mahler (arr. Schoenberg) / Das Lied von der Erde

Mezzo Soprano / Jane Irwin
Tenor / Rob Murray

Listen Up! Education Project in collaboration with the Da Capo Foundation

Aurora Orchestra and year 5 children from Chapel End and Handsworth Primary Schools present the premiere of 'Boom Town - a musical spectacular for children' by Chris Willis.

Al Bustan Festival

Wagner / Siegfried Idyll
Delius (arr. Ross) / The Walk to the Paradise Garden
Brahms / Serenade No. 1 in D major Op.11

 

Playing with Sparks

Byrd (arr. Muhly) / Miserere Mei & Bow Thine Ear
Nico Muhly / Concerto for Electric Violin *
Ives / The Unanswered Question
Debussy (arr. Bowen) / La Boîte à Joujoux **

* Electric violin / Thomas Gould
** Narrator-magician/ Neil Henry

Free pre-concert presentation: ‘Looking inside Debussy’s Toybox’ with the Little Angel Puppet Theatre - 6.15pm Concert Room (Supported by Guinness Asset Management and the Hattori Foundation)

Click here to read the recent New Yorker article about Nico, featuring Aurora, and here to visit Nico's website to listen a live recording of Aurora in the world premiere performance.

More Info >>

Spitalfields Winter Festival

Wagner / Siegfried Idyll *
Schubert / Mass No.6 in Eflat

With the Choir and Soloists of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge

Conducted by Geoffrey Webber
(* Wagner conducted by Nicholas Collon)

Hans Krasa / Brundibar

Aurora perform Hans Krasa’s children’s opera ‘Brundibar,’ first performed in the concentration camp, Theresienstadt, in 1943. Frederic Wake-Walker directs the cast of Jubilee Opera.

A Recovered Clarity

Schreker / Chamber Symphony
Wagner / Siegfried Idyll
Hindemith / Kammermusik No. 3 *
Stravinsky / Dumbarton Oaks

* Cello / Alexander Baillie

More Info >>

Rye Arts Festival

Brahms / Serenade No.1
Wagner / Siegfried Idyll
Elgar / Chanson de matin & Chanson du nuit
Stravinsky / Dumbarton Oaks

Cambridge Summer Music Festival

Elgar / Serenade for Strings
Chris Willis (and the Bristol School of Animation) / Life in the Key of Aaaargh!
Britten / Young Apollo *
Tippett / Divertimento on Sellinger's Round
Mozart / Piano Concerto No. 21 * ('Elvira Madigan')

* Piano / Benjamin Grosvenor

Projecting the Dream

Christopher Willis (and the Bristol School of Animation) / New Work
Copland / Appalachian Spring
Michael Torke / Adjustable Wrench
John Adams / Chamber Symphony

More Info >>

Raising the Curtain

Takemitsu / Rain Coming
John Adams / Gnarly Buttons *
Bach (arr. Webern) / Fuga a 6 voci
(from The Musical Offering)
Birtwistle / Secret Theatre

* Clarinet / Timothy Orpen

More Info >>