UNIVERSITY NEWS LAST UPDATED : 23 JULY 2010
Birmingham Conservatoire Composition Tutor in Proms
This year's BBC Proms includes a piece by one of Birmingham Conservatoire's tutors in composition, Howard Skempton.
Howard Skempton's Lento will be performed by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Ilan Volkov, as part of Prom 47, on Saturday August 20th.
From his publishers website: www.oup.com/uk/pressreleases/jackson_proms/
'Lento' is music of extraordinary directness and simplicity. It is an enigmatic and hypnotic work within which shifting modal chords progress through the orchestra to create a chorale-like, almost architectural form beneath a calm melodic surface.
"Lento, by the British miniaturist Howard Skempton, must surely be heading for cult status… it is captivating in its simple wistfulness." BBC Music Magazine Pick of 1992.
'Lento was commissioned by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and premiered on 12 March 1991 at the Barbican concert hall, conducted by Mark Wigglesworth. A CD is available on NMC label (NMCD005); it is NMC's most consistently-selling recording since its release in 1992.