About Us
_for_web_1.jpg)
If you think classical music is dead, go hear Britten Sinfonia and see a healthy body bursting with vitality. This band seems to have its finger on the pulse without resorting to any trendy gimmicks.
David Nice, writer/broadcaster
A classical chamber orchestra on the opening night of the London Jazz Festival with a Tunisian oud player? Purists on every side must have been steaming from all orifices. But this is the future of music. And it works, as this exhilarating fusion showed.
Richard Morrison, The Times
One of Europe’s most celebrated and innovative chamber orchestras, Britten Sinfonia is praised for the quality of its performances and an intelligent approach to concert programming that is centred around the development of its players. Unusually it does not have a principal conductor or director but chooses to collaborate with a range of the finest international guest artists from across the musical spectrum as suited to each particular project.
Recent seasons have included projects with Thomas Adès, James MacMillan, Joanna MacGregor, Masaaki Suzuki, Alina Ibragimova, Dhafer Youssef, Paul Lewis, Nitin Sawney and the Michael Clark Company. In 2009/10 guest artists and collaborators include Christopher Hogwood, Efterklang, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Nico Muhly, Katie Mitchell, Mark Padmore, Pekka Kuusisto, Imogen Cooper, Stephen Layton and Polyphony.
Britten Sinfonia has residencies in Cambridge, Norwich, Birmingham and Krakow with a major concert series at London’s Southbank Centre and Wigmore Hall. The orchestra also performs in many of Europe’s finest concert halls and festivals including invitations this season to the BBC Proms, Latitude, the City of London Festival and venues such as the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Madrid’s Auditorio Nacional, Glyndebourne and London’s Barbican Centre. The group enjoys a blossoming international profile, a recent highlight being an acclaimed tour of South America. Later this year, Britten Sinfonia is touring to the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and Mexico, with further tours planed in the United States, Canada and a return to South America during the 2010/11 season.
Britten Sinfonia is frequently heard on disc on BBC Radio 3 and commercial radio. In Spring 2009 Songs of the Sky was released, the first on Britten Sinfonia’s Own Label in a partnership with Signum Classics. Future releases include a recording of Hindemith’s music (June 2009).
The orchestra has received many awards including the prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society Chamber Music Award in May 2009 for its Britten Sinfonia at Lunch series, the RPS Ensemble Award in 2007 in recognition of its work, a Gramophone Award in 2008 and the 2008 Arts & Business International Award.
26 March 2009
Calendar
Next Production
Latitude Festival
Southwold and Southwold
18 - 19 July 2009
Britten Sinfonia will perform at various points over the weekend at one of the UK's most exciting festivals. The festival boasts an eclectic array of performances and Britten Sinfonia will be the first orchestra to perform an entire solo set.
City of London Festival 2009
Mansion House, London
02 July 2009 7:30pm
Henning Kraggerud joins BS for a concert at London's Mansion House which showcases a whole host of creative and performing artists from across the Nordic and Baltic regions.
Latitude Festival
Latitude Festival, Southwold
18 July 2009 6:00pm
Britten Sinfonia will perform at various points over the weekend at one of the UK's most exciting festivals. The festival boasts an eclectic array of performances and Britten Sinfonia will be the first orchestra to perform an entire solo set.
Latitude Festival
Latitude Festival, Southwold
19 July 2009 11:00am
Britten Sinfonia will perform at various points over the weekend at one of the UK's most exciting festivals. The festival boasts an eclectic array of performances and Britten Sinfonia will be the first orchestra to perform an entire solo set.
Fen Soundscapes
St. Thomas a Becket Church, Ramsey
21 July 2009 5:30pm
Pupils from Ramsey Spinning Infants School and young people in Yaxley have been working with Britten Sinfonia and composers Jane Wells and Mike Challis to present the launch of their exciting interactive exhibition based on the sounds of the Great Fen, including a performance by musicians from Britten Sinfonia.
