Ensemble 360 celebrates experimental composer Luciano Berio in his centenary year with a performance of some of his seminal works at the Royal Welsh College of Musical and Drama/Coleg Brenhinol Cerdd a Drama Cymru this month.

The ensemble will be joined by soprano Claire Booth to perform Berio’s 1964 Folk Songs, a work that explores the musical folk traditions of several countries and which provides a virtuosic vehicle for the artistry of the musicians.

Having developed a rich collaborative relationship through their ‘Pierrot Portraits‘ project, Ensemble 360 and Booth are delighted to present this powerful work, in which they will be joined by harp and percussion students from the RWCMD.

Folk elements run throughout the programme, which opens with Berio’s Quattro Canzoni Populari. Rebecca Clarke’s Prelude, Allegro and Pastorale for clarinet and viola evokes the rustic world, while Katherine Hoover’s Kokopeli for solo flute tells the story of the legendary hero flautist of the Hopi. Ravel’s exotic Chansons madécasses and De Falla’s Siete Canciones populares españolas complete the programme.

Preceding the concert, members of Ensemble 360 and students from the RWCMD will perform a selection of Berio’s Sequenzas, each of which explores the possibilities of extended techniques on the instruments for which they are written. Each Sequenza will be followed by a responsorial improvisation, setting the scene for the evening’s concert.

The pre-concert performance will be held in the Carne Foyer at 6pm on 20th November, with the concert taking place in the Dora Stoutzker Hall at 7:30pm. For tickets and further details. please follow the link below.

This event  comes on the second day of Ensemble 360’s residency at RWCMD to mark this important anniversary, during which they will workshop both the Folk Songs and Quattro Canzoni Populari with students across disciplines, coaching them side by side.

 

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