Flautist and composer Valerie Coleman was named Top Classical Woman of the Year by Performance Today in 2020 and one of the top 35 female composers in the world by The Washington Post. Born in Louisville, Kentucky in the same suburb as Mohammed Ali, Coleman was raised by her mother and sisters after her father’s sudden death. She says she was fascinated by the flute as a toddler and would pick up sticks and twigs in the garden and try to play them. She started composing at a young age too and had completed three symphonies by the age of 14. Umoja is her signature composition. It was originally written in 2001 for women’s choir to celebrate the first day of Kwanzaa, an annual celebration of African-American culture. It now exists in many different variations. The title translates as ‘unity’.

_{Note by Rachel Leach}

1 Perdix perdix (partridge)
2 Vanellus vanellus (lapwing)
3 Carduelis cannabina, emberiza calendra (linnet, corn bunting)
4 Tyto alba (barn owl)
5 Pyrrhula pyrrhula (bullfinch)

Sally Beamish is an English violist and composer who was awarded an OBE in Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II's 2020 Birthday Honours for services to music. Born and raised in London, she is now much more closely associated with Scotland where she made her name. In 2000 while working on an oratorio, Sally became fascinated with a list of Latin bird names in the text that she was setting. She says she was particularly intrigued by how closely their names matched the sound they made and she started to notate their birdsong. This quickly turned into a five-movement piece. Each movement represents one bird with one of the instruments having a more prominent part, as follows:
1 – horn
2 – oboe
3 – flute, piccolo
4 – bassoon
5 – clarinet

_{Note by Rachel Leach}

1 Allegro
2 Andante
3 Assez lent – Allegro scherzando

Jacques Ibert was a French composer whose career covered a lot of different genres – ballet, opera and music for plays and films. He was born into a wealthy family and had piano and violin lessons from the age of four. He then played the piano for silent films before entering the Paris Conservatoire and winning the prestigious scholarship Prix de Rome on his first attempt, despite the horrors of World War I interrupting his studies. These ‘three short pieces’ were written in 1930 as incidental music to a comedy play about two scheming brothers trying to get rich quick by marriage. The Allegro matches the mood of the play and is fast and farcical. The Andante is a lullaby for flute and clarinet with the rest of the ensemble joining at the end. The finale (Assez lent – Allegro scherzando) begins seriously before turning into a witty dance.

_{Note by Rachel Leach}

Friday 17 November 2023

Relaxed Performance

Johann Sebastian Bach Badinerie from Orchestral Suite No 2 in B minor
Christoph Willibald Gluck arr Mike Magatagan Dance of the Blessed Spirits from Orfeo ed Euridice
Turlough O'Carolan Concerto
Claude Debussy Syrinx
Benjamin Godard Waltz from Trois pièces brèves
plus a selection of Irish jigs, reels and hornpipes

Patricia Moynihan flute
Sophia Rahman piano

Angie Newman BSL interpreter
Rachel Leach presenter

Relaxed concerts are particularly suitable for individuals or groups who feel more comfortable attending concerts in a relaxed environment. Everyone is welcome, including people who have sensory and communication impairments, learning disabilities, or who are neurodiverse.