News
Concert at Kings Place, October 24th is cancelled
12 Oct 2015, 17:42This concert is now cancelled.
Sea Sketches for clarinet and piano will be performed in a BASCA concert on Saturday October 24th. It is part of the Equator 'Women of the World' festivities at Kings Place, London N1 9AG. There is a debate about women musicians at 2.30, and the concert follows at 3.20 - 5pm.
Tokaido Road in York
28 Sep 2015, 17:45On Wednesday October 28th 2015, Tokaido Road will be performed in the Lyons Concert Hall, University of York. For the current tour, this is the final performance. The performance is at 7.30, with a pre-concert talk at 6.30. Tickets from 01904 322439 or boxoffice@york.ac.uk.
Eight Studies for solo piano
4 Sep 2015, 16:05Matthew Schellhorn will play the Eight Studies (which were written for him) on Saturday September 5th: 7.30pm at St Saviourgate Chapel, York, in the 'Late Music' series.
Tokaido Road: summer performances
19 May 2015, 14:24Tokaido Road is on at the Gulbenkian Theatre in Canterbury, on Saturday May 23rd, 7.30.
On Saturday June 27th, 7.30, it is at the Alwinton Festival, in Northumberland.
On Saturday June 27th, 7.30, it is at the Alwinton Festival, in Northumberland.
Premiere, 'Fantasy for Four Harps'
19 May 2015, 14:20On Thursday May 28th at 7pm in Temple Church, London, EC4, the ensemble '4 Girls, 4 Harps' give the premiere of four commissions celebrating distinguished women from the past. My 'Fantasy' celebrates Millicent Fawcett.
London premiere Tokaido Road
17 Feb 2015, 17:55Tokaido Road receives its London premiere on Wednesday February 25th; 5.30 pm at the Milton Court Theatre, Barbican, London.
'Tokaido Road: a Journey after Hiroshige' was commissioned by Okeanos.
'Inspired by the Japanese
artist Hiroshige’s woodblock print series 53 Stations of the Tokaido, LeFanu
and her librettist Nancy Gaffield have created an existential journey in
speech, song, mime and dance with Hiroshige’s pictures projected. What with
unhappy love, treacherous rivers and wintry scenes, it’s rather like an
oriental Winterreise. We’re left with Hiroshige in old age, singing his own
epitaph, and the dying murmurs of the sho (Japanese mouth organ) and
flickerings of the plucked koto.
The strongest element in
Tokaido Road is LeFanu’s sensitive use of the combined western and Japanese
sound palette of the Okeanos ensemble, which combines the likes of sho and koto
with oboe, clarinet, viola and cello.
The piece is well paced and
meticulously thought through, with spare instrumental lines exquisitely woven
with the voices and deftly conducted by Dominic Wheeler. The director Caroline
Clegg and choreographer Nando Messias guide the body language of the old
Hiroshige (baritone Jeremy Huw Williams, speaking) and the young, travelling
Hiroshige (Williams, singing), the two lovers Kikuyo (Raphaela Papadakis) and
Mariko (Caryl Hughes), and Tomoko Komura’s superb mime artistry. Every word is
audible, every movement is eloquent and Kimie Nakano’s design remains long in
the mind’s eye.'
The Times July 8th 2014. ****
Orchestral premiere in Dublin
21 Dec 2014, 16:49'Threnody', a short piece for symphony orchestra, will receive its premiere in Dublin, NSO conducted by Gavin Maloney. The concert is at 1pm on January 13th, in the National Concert Hall.
North American performances, winter 2014/15
5 Dec 2014, 11:19Misterium Mirabile - Vancouver, November 29th 2014, Elektra Women's Choir.
Sextet 'A Wild Garden' - Boston, January 18th 2015, Collage New Music.
Sextet 'A Wild Garden' - Boston, January 18th 2015, Collage New Music.
Christmas carol: new publication
31 Aug 2014, 10:39Saint Ita's Lullaby, a simple SATB Christmas carol, has just been published by Edition Peters. The text is by the Irish poet James Harpur. It can be ordered (EP 72629) from the website or click on this link to download a set of choir copies.
http://editionpeters.epartnershub.com/Saint-Itas-Lullaby-23139.aspx
http://editionpeters.epartnershub.com/Saint-Itas-Lullaby-23139.aspx
Tokaido Road four-star review in The Times
31 Jul 2014, 10:20The Times, July 8th 2014
★★★★☆
The real hotspot of the Cheltenham Festival has become the intimate space of the Parabola Arts Centre: this year so far it has attracted..
and, best of all, Nicola LeFanu’s new music-theatre piece Tokaido Road.
Inspired by the Japanese artist Hiroshige’s woodblock print series 53 Stations of the Tokaido, LeFanu and her librettist Nancy Gaffield have created an existential journey in speech, song, mime and dance with Hiroshige’s pictures projected. What with unhappy love, treacherous rivers and wintry scenes, it’s rather like an oriental Winterreise. We’re left with Hiroshige in old age, singing his own epitaph, and the dying murmurs of the sho (Japanese mouth organ) and flickerings of the plucked koto.
The strongest element in Tokaido Road is LeFanu’s sensitive use of the combined western and Japanese sound palette of the Okeanos ensemble, which combines the likes of sho and koto with oboe, clarinet, viola and cello.
The piece is well paced and meticulously thought through, with spare instrumental lines exquisitely woven with the voices and deftly conducted by Dominic Wheeler. The director Caroline Clegg and choreographer Nando Messias guide the body language of the old Hiroshige (baritone Jeremy Huw Williams, speaking) and the young, travelling Hiroshige (Williams, singing), the two lovers Kikuyo (Raphaela Papadakis) and Mariko (Caryl Hughes), and Tomoko Komura’s superb mime artistry. Every word is audible, every movement is eloquent and Kimie Nakano’s design remains long in the mind’s eye.
Hilary Finch
★★★★☆
The real hotspot of the Cheltenham Festival has become the intimate space of the Parabola Arts Centre: this year so far it has attracted..
and, best of all, Nicola LeFanu’s new music-theatre piece Tokaido Road.
Inspired by the Japanese artist Hiroshige’s woodblock print series 53 Stations of the Tokaido, LeFanu and her librettist Nancy Gaffield have created an existential journey in speech, song, mime and dance with Hiroshige’s pictures projected. What with unhappy love, treacherous rivers and wintry scenes, it’s rather like an oriental Winterreise. We’re left with Hiroshige in old age, singing his own epitaph, and the dying murmurs of the sho (Japanese mouth organ) and flickerings of the plucked koto.
The strongest element in Tokaido Road is LeFanu’s sensitive use of the combined western and Japanese sound palette of the Okeanos ensemble, which combines the likes of sho and koto with oboe, clarinet, viola and cello.
The piece is well paced and meticulously thought through, with spare instrumental lines exquisitely woven with the voices and deftly conducted by Dominic Wheeler. The director Caroline Clegg and choreographer Nando Messias guide the body language of the old Hiroshige (baritone Jeremy Huw Williams, speaking) and the young, travelling Hiroshige (Williams, singing), the two lovers Kikuyo (Raphaela Papadakis) and Mariko (Caryl Hughes), and Tomoko Komura’s superb mime artistry. Every word is audible, every movement is eloquent and Kimie Nakano’s design remains long in the mind’s eye.
Hilary Finch