In the lead up to Spitalfields Music Festival 2021 (1 – 11th July) we decided to create a series of podcasts about the Festival, instead of handing out programmes (due to Covid-19 safety measures), and to act as a legacy piece following the festival. Together with our wonderful friend, podcaster and writer, Jon Jacob from Thoroughly Good, we created this series. We hope you enjoy listening!
Episode 1: What’s in the Spitalfields Festival 2021
Jon Jacob speaks to composers Errollyn Wallen, Edmund Finnis, Howard Goodall, and David Fennessey about their new works, including a tribute to those carers who lost their lives in the first wave of the COVID pandemic.
Episode 2: Errollyn Wallen’s ‘After Winter’ and Howard Goodall’s ‘Never to Forget’
As London emerges from the extended interval caused by coronavirus, Spitalfields Music and our friends at London Symphony Chorus and City of London Sinfonia pause to reflect on the impact of the last year, and join in presenting two aural memorials: ‘Never to Forget’ by Howard Goodall, and ‘After Winter’ by Errollyn Wallen.
Episode 3: Alicia Jane Turner discusses ‘a place to call home’
Alicia Jane Turner is a composer, sound designer and performance artist whose work spans contemporary theatre, live art and experimental music. At Spitalfields Festival 2021 Alicia stages an installation dedicated to queer spaces both real and virtual in an 1800s flat above The George Tavern in East London. In this podcast, Jon Jacob speaks to Alicia Jane Turner about their thinking behind the installation.
Episode 4: Composer David Fennessy discusses his new work ‘Aberdeen’
This new work is inspired by the deeply personal story of the instrument being played, a cello built in part by Sonia’s father. Aberdeen is a new collaboration between David Fennessy, Sonia Cromarty and Tim Cooper – developed with Edinburgh-based theatre company Magnetic North – which explores memory, location, objects, and family-ties.
Commissioned for Spitalfields Music and sound, in partnership with the Royal Philharmonic Society, through the generous support of an anonymous donor.
Episode 5: Composer Charles Amirkhanian discusses his work
Ahead of the world premiere by Charles Amirkhanian on Wednesday 7 July, Jon Jacob speaks to Armirkhanian about his work and what inspires this minimalist composer and sound artist.
Episode 6: Composer Edmund Finnis on his Spitalfields Festival 2021 premieres
Edmund Finnis talks with careful consideration and precision. And those qualities are also reflected in his compositional process and his musical language. Jon Jacob speaks to the composer about his two premieres in the Spitalfields Festival 2021.