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October 15, 2009

Let's talk Osvaldo Golijov and climate change
Bach ~ Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G BWV 1048
Osvaldo Golijov ~ Last Round
Interval
Vivaldi ~ Four Seasons
Astor Piazzolla arr. Leonid Desyatnikov ~ Four Seasons of Buenos Aires
This programme is being performed by the Britten Sinfonia in Norwich on Sunday (Oct 18). I am giving a pre-concert talk with Thomas Gould who is co-leader of the Britten Sinfonia. Tom is also guest leader of the McGill Chamber Orchestra in Montreal and is something of a contemporary music specialist, working with composers such as Nico Muhly.

Sunday's concert is titled Eight Seasons. Apart from being a cracking band the Britten Sinfonia is one of the few classical ensembles that are environmentally aware. Last December they teamed up with Greenpeace to play at the UN meeting on climate change in Poland, and they travelled there by train and coach, two of the most environmentally friendly methods of transport. By contrast the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington DC has teamed up with Cunard to play on cruise ships, one of the least environmentally friendly methods of transport.

Sadly, environmental concerns do not seem to be a big deal for the classical music industry, unlike the antics of Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna. Back in 2007 I suggested we ask How green was my concert? and no one was terribly interested

My photo was taken in late September on the foreshore of the Lac du Der Chantecoq in France when the water in the man-made lake was at a very low level due to the lack of rainfall. We used a diesel car and mountain bikes plus a cross-Channel ferry to reach the photo location. I am receiving two complimentary tickets for the Britten Sinfonia's Eight Seasons concert for presenting the pre-concert talk. Photo is (c) On An Overgrown Path 2009. Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Originally from On An Overgrown Path, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on Oct 15, 2009 at 05:13 PM

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