Soliloquies and Dialogues Live Performance Bristol

Music made in lockdown 

Arnolfini Gallery Bristol 11 June 7.30pm - 9pm

TICKETS 

Programme

For tickets to the Birmingham performance on 15 June 7.30pm CBSO Centre Birmingham please visit our event here.

Using the unpredictable events of COVID-19 as a stimulus for creativity, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group commissioned a series of new music pieces from composers around the globe during lockdown.  

Composers were asked to create pieces for solo artists and were connected with musicians over digital platforms to rehearse, refine, and record their music. Soliloquies and Dialogues shows the importance of connectivity and creativity during the most devastating of times, and that whilst we were all unified by lockdown, our reactions were still highly individual. 

On the path out of a live performance drought we are delighted to be sharing these new pieces with you during two world premiere performances at Arnolfini Gallery in Bristol on 11 June and CBSO Centre in Birmingham on 15 June. 

Experience contemporary music for a new creative era, and BCMG’s new partnership with contemporary art gallery, Arnolfini. This will be a poignant celebration of new things to come, and a reflection of the journey we have all taken together, yet on our own. 

Watch our collection of digital resources and videos of Soliloquies and Dialogues

Composers and Musicians 

Celeste Oram (b. 1990) counting steps* (May 2020, 5’)  

for solo trumpet with video projection 

Tristan Murail (b.1946) Les Ruines circulaires (2006, 7’) 

for clarinet and violin 

Ma Xiao-Qing (b.1996) Back to the Beginning* (April 2020, 7’) 

for reciting solo violin  

José DelAvellanal Carreño (b. 1998) speak, sing…*  (October 2020, 8’)  

for clarinet and electronics 

Donghoon Shin (b. 1983) Couplet* (April 2020, 3’30”)  

for solo violin  

Emily Howard (b. 1979) R* (May 2021, 6’) 

for solo perc  

Steve Reich (b. 1936) New York Counterpoint (1985, 11’) 

for clarinet and tape 

Harrison Birtwistle (b.1934) The Message (2008, 3’)  

for clarinet, trumpet and military drum  

Celeste Oram Counting Steps* (May 2020, 5’)  

for solo trumpet and a young trumpeter with video projection 

Performed by Birmingham Contemporary Music Group Musicians: 

Oliver Janes Clarinet 
Ryan Linham Trumpet 
Julian Warburton Percussion 
Colette Overdijk Violin 

*BCMG Soliloquies and Dialogues commissions receiving their live second performances, kindly supported by Sound Investors and donors to the BCMG at Home campaign 

speak, sing... is supported by PRiSM, The RNCM Centre for Practice & Research in Science & Music, funded by the Research England fund Expanding Excellence in England (E3).