Life Is Elsewhere Edition: "If You Let It Happen, You'll Be Surprised How Beautiful, Deep, And Lyrical Even Challenging Contemporary Music Can Be"

"This year - 15 July, to be precise - is Harrison Birtwistle's 75th birthday. It seemed a good idea - well, absolutely vital - for us at the Bath international music festival to mark the occasion with some kind of celebration. But what started out as one concert quickly became several performances of different shapes and sizes, not all of them conventional. We have a theatre group retelling classic myths for children, an installation of electronic music in the ghostly workshops of the Museum of Bath at Work, an open-air marching band, big percussion pieces and intimate chamber works. All this climaxes in a big, ritualistic extravaganza of choral and brass music at Bath Abbey, with 70 performers." ...

Joanna McGregor "Quavers at the speed of light" The Guardian May 22, 2009


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Contemporary classical music which you won't find programmed on Classical WETA-FM or written about or reviewed in the Washington Post (although you can hear it at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts or the Library of Congress).

Birtwistle on Birtwistle (an early 'shocked' site excellent for children and youth).

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Photo credit: (c) Copyright controlled via the Bath Festival website.