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.:short biography:. | |
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Psappha — short biography The leading new music and music-theatre ensemble in the North of England, Psappha was formed in 1991 by its Artistic Director Tim Williams. With Nicholas Kok recently appointed as its first Principal Conductor, Psappha has an extensive and exceptionally varied repertoire of over 300 works and a reputation for technical assurance and interpretative flair. Its eight-strong regular membership encourages a refreshing diversity in the instrumentation of its repertoire, but its performances all bear the hallmark of sophisticated ensemble playing, marked by a high degree of communication and empathy among the players. Its distinctive concert series and mini-festivals have featured commissions and other premieres of works by a wide range of composers including Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (Psappha’s Patron), Anthony Gilbert, Gordon McPherson, Karen Tanaka, Ronald Caltabiano, Rebecca Saunders, John Casken, Piers Hellawell and Steven Mackey. In 2000 Psappha gave the premiere of MR EMMET TAKES A WALK, a music-theatre work by Maxwell Davies (with direction and libretto by David Pountney) which it co-commissioned. The production won the Manchester Evening News Theatre Award for Opera 2000, was enthusiastically received on European and UK tours, and has just been released on Psappha’s own CD label. Based in Manchester, Psappha has appeared throughout the UK, at such major music festivals as Aldeburgh, Bath, Buxton, Cheltenham, Huddersfield, Oxford and St. Magnus (Orkney); at the BBC Proms (where it made its sensational debut in 2004 with a late-night concert marking Maxwell Davies’s 70th birthday); and in Henze and Maxwell Davies portrait series in the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London. On the international platform, Psappha has made highly successful tours to North and South America, Australia, Belgium, France, Holland, Ireland, Jersey, Portugal and Spain. In 2004 it established its own CD label with unconducted performances of Maxwell Davies’s EIGHT SONGS FOR A MAD KING and MISS DONNITHORNE’S MAGGOT. It also has six recordings on a range of other labels. Education projects represent an important part of Psappha’s busy schedule both in the UK and abroad. Currently the University of Manchester’s Contemporary Ensemble in Residence, it collaborates with people of all ages, devising and participating in composition workshops and courses, and was awarded the Swatch City Life Award for Best Concert Series and Education Work. www.psappha.com February 2007 |
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