The Copland 125 Festival Takes Shape!

It’s less than 7 months until Aaron Copland’s 125^th Anniversary which I’ll be celebrating in Bristol, UK with the Copland 125 festival. Now, I know that 125 is not a typical anniversary to celebrate and I am well aware that there are also plenty of other composers with equal justification and more round numbered anniversaries this year (Maurice Ravel, Pierre Boulez, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and Dimitri Shostakovich). However, time is very much of the essence for me.

If I wait to celebrate Copland 150, I will be very old and if I wait for Copland 200, I will be very dead!

Hence, the Copland 125 Festival occupies a great deal of my daily thoughts – how and what to celebrate, where it will be performed, who will perform it, how to make it cost neutral and what will come next after the dust has settled.

The plan has changed and been scaled back since the original iteration where I tried unsuccessfully to get Arts Council England funding. The great news is it’s gradually taking shape. Here is what I hope to the programme will include:

Copland 125 Festival: Day 1 Thursday 13^th November

Lunchtime concert at St George’s – Sound World Ensemble – Inspiration, genesis and dedications

The festival will kick off with a chamber works by Copland and his contemporaries performed by the Sound World Ensemble. The current plan is to include Copland’s monumental and rarely heard Sextet, Roy Harris’s Concerto for Clarinet, piano and string quartet (which inspired Copland’s later work) and other chamber pieces dedicated to Copland by his peers and contemporary composers. Chances are we will hear pieces by Elliott Carter, Darius Milhaud, Leonard Bernstein, Morton Feldman and Juan Orrego-Salas.

Conductor Elinor Cooper and pianist Allan Schiller

Evening concert at St Mary Redcliffe Church – Allan Schiller, University of Bristol Singers and Elinor Cooper – A Fanfare for Copland

A celebration of Copland through works for organ, piano and chorus. Claire Alsop will get the party started with an organ transcription of Fanfare for the Common Man which will no doubt make the church shake. Allan Schiller will play Copland miniatures and tributes as well as Joan Tower’s Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman No 6. He’ll also accompany the University of Bristol Singers conducted by Elinor Cooper in some of Copland’s wonderful choral music such as At the River and The Promise of Living alongside Morton Lauridsen’s O Magnum Mysterium.

Copland 125 Festival: Day 2 Friday 14^th November – Copland’s 125 birthday

Lunchtime concert at Victoria Rooms – Nathan Williamson and others (TBD)

One of Copland’s early masterpieces was his Piano Variations which consists of 20 electrifying variations rattled off in 12 minutes. Pianist Nathan Williamson will play the piece in full alongside a couple of other compositions inspired by this seminal work by Morton Lauridesen and Sheila Silver. I am requesting Bristol University students to write their own variation tributes lasting 1 minute 25 seconds long. Some of these will be performed.

Clarinettist Emma Johnson

Evening chamber orchestra concert at St George’s – Bristol Ensemble and Emma Johnson– Happy Anniversary!

We will say Happy Birthday to Copland with some of his most iconic works – Quiet City, the Concerto for Clarinet, Harp and Strings and the rarely heard original, full-length version of Appalachian Spring for 13 instruments. This is well known Copland but with a twist. The original ballet has a section of very modernist music that was excised from the suite. Hearing this back in the early 90s is what started me on my own journey. We are delighted to announce that the world-renowned and in demand clarinettist Emma Johnson will be joining the Bristol Ensemble for the concert.

Copland 125 Festival: Day 3 Saturday 15^th November

Pianist Nathan Williamson

Lunchtime solo piano recital location TBD – Nathan Williamson

As part of the festival we are ensuring that some of Copland’s neglected works are performed. The piece that is top of my own personal shopping list is his Piano Sonata which I have never seen played live. I am thrilled that pianist/composer Nathan Williamson who has recorded this work will be here to play it alongside some Copland portraits by fellow composers and one of his own compositions.

Evening orchestral concert at St George’s – Brandon Hill Chamber Orchestra with Tamsin Waley Cohen – Copland, his peers and influence

Violinist Tamsin Waley-Cohen

Although considered as the Dean of American Composers. Copland was always keen to build bridges by programming and conducting works by fellow composers and mentoring early career composers. Back in the 1930’s Roy Harris was more famous than Copland but today he is virtually unknown and unplayed. I want to change this and I am sure that Copland would want to help resurrect music by his old rival. Haris’s Violin Concerto from 1949 is one of his best works which I liken to a Lark Ascending from the prairie grass! The Brandon Hill Chamber Orchestra will be joined by internationally acclaimed soloist Tamsin Waley-Cohen who will give it a UK premiere. Throughout his career, Copland frequently acknowledged his peers through dedications. His Eight Poems of Emily Dickinson were each dedicated to a fellow composer. We are currently seeking a top class soprano to be involved. The third piece to be played is yet to be decided but will shine a light on one of the many modern day, female composers who is creating vivid, challenging but accessible music today. Watch this space!

Copland 125 Festival: Day 4 Sunday 16^th November

Four Motets at St Mary Redcliffe Church

As part of the morning service at St Mary Redcliffe Copland’s beautiful but seldom heard Four Motets will be sang by the St Mary Redcliffe Choir conducted by music director Joe Cryan.

Afternoon Children’s Concert at St Mary Redcliffe Church – Copland Plus with Allan Schiller

I will be joined by pianist Allan Schiller to present a short 45 minute concert for people of all ages but specifically aimed at children. We will be showing how Copland’s music painted pictures by showcasing some of his early works such as Petit Portrait and Three Moods. Allan will also play some miniatures by Roy Harris and there will also be a chance for a singalong to the Ira Gershwin tune The Younger Generation. The concert will be educational and engaging and hopefully will inspire a new generation of classical music lovers. As the church will be open to anyone, the concert will not be ticketed.

Evening concert at the Mount Without – Sound World Ensemble – Copland’s Legacy

The final concert will focus on music composed since Copland’s death in 1990. Most of the works played will be by living, breathing composers that have benefitted from Copland’s legacy (Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Copland House residencies) or been inspired by his music. A wonderful finale to a fantastic few days.

Some of these events are still needing to be bolted down but the above gives an idea of what I intend to deliver. If you love Copland then the Copland 125 Festival is for you. Please keep these dates in your diary and I really hope to meet you in Bristol.

If you can’t come but are behind the principles of this venture then I would welcome your support through the Copland 125 crowd funding appeal. I am personally underwriting the concerts with up to £10,000 from my own funds to make sure that all artists and venues get a fair deal. However, I cannot be sure of the level of support required as this depends on the number of bums on seats. Please give generously. All donors will be acknowledged on this website and in programme notes. Also, please know that any surplus funds generated will be used to get more modern classical music played. You have my word on that!

As a parting shot I would like to call on the libretto by Horace Everett (Erik Johns) to Copland’s opera The Tender Land. This really does say all that needs to be said on how to collectively come together to make something imporant happen. Thank you all in advance for your support for what should be a tremendous few days in celebrating a great life and legacy!

For many a year I’ve known this field and know all the work that makes her yield.
Are your ready to lend a hand?
I’m ready to work, I’m ready to lend a hand.
By working together we’ll bring in the harvest, the blessings of harvest.

We plant each row with seeds of grain and providence sends us the sun and the rain.
By lending a hand, by lending an arm
Bring out, bring out from the farm
Bring out the blessings of harvest.