Backstage in September
Caring for, not just taking care of ... Venues and their caretakers
I am listening to …
Nico Muhly’s viola concerto’s 2nd movement (2014) with a beautiful theme or ‘dreamy landscape’ as he puts it:
The second movement is a long series of slowly-shifting drones in the strings, with a long, plaintive viola solo. The violist’s intervals expand and expand, culminating in a vertiginous tuba solo and a large orchestral explosion. Out of this, a dreamy landscape comes into view and fades away.1
I am looking at …
this small and charming concert venue, housed in an an 18th-century listed building in Rotherhithe, East London, and home to Sands Film, an independent film studio and international costumier.
Sands Films created the Music Room in their film studio as a response to the pandemic, offering the use of the studio facilities2 to stream live events as a means to support artists. They have continued since, excited by the possibilities of a hybrid format that sits somewhere between live and recorded performance. With an open-door policy and no charge for seats or online access, Sands Films Music Room fosters a culture where the arts are accessible to all.
The original set was build for The Children's Midsummer Night's Dream, a 2001 film based on Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night's Dream , involving children from the surrounding housing estates. Therefor the size is slightly smaller than you would expect, making a visit even more magical.
I recently went to a concert and was bowled over by the building, set up and especially the people who make it all happen (and the music wasn't bad either ;-).
I am reading …
Foster, by Claire Keegan, a stunningly beautiful novella about family, affection and care, with an incredible emotional depth achieved with the most sparse and ‘careful’ use of language. It is a Shaker’s approach to writing, focusing on finding beauty, tenderness and utility in simple and reduced forms, reflecting in a way the main characters and their stories.
The narrator is a young girl, sent to live with unknown relatives, the Kinsellas, whilst her parents, already overwhelmed by too many kids, poverty and exhaustion, expecting the arrival of another baby. The reader only indirectly learns about the girl’s home life, through the things she onotes and observes in her new surroundings. The care and love the girl experiences over this summer are in equal parts a revelation and painful recognition. Her loyalties are torn, though on a walk with Mr Kinsella she realises: "It's a hard feeling but as we walk along I begin to settle and let the difference between my life at home and the one I have here be." An unassuming but important first step into a different future.
I am thinking about …
the Nordic Concert Halls, an international league consisting of major concert halls and performing arts centres in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Greenland, Faroe Islands, Finland and Iceland, I came across the other day. Nordic Concert Halls was founded in 1983 and counts 21 members. The league’s total audience capacity exceeds 70,000.
“The purpose of Nordic Concert Halls is to safeguard and promote the mutual interests of the members. The members are obligated to cooperate in order to promote cultural life in the Nordic countries.”
This made me look for a British version, which seems to be BACH, the British Association of Concert Halls, and a ‘national body which represents major concert halls around the UK’.
“BACH members have a significant effect on their local and regional audiences, businesses and communities through their classical music programmes and integrated community engagement work. Together we showcase the best artists, ensembles, and orchestras from around the world, and make our towns and cities better places to live, work and visit.”
And that’s it. There is nothing else to be found on the website. No goals, aims or reason given why this association exists. Just imagine the power that could be harnessed by such a ‘league’? I might overestimate their possible influence, when working together, but I do see possibilities. (This is the first time I had a look at this alliance, so I really hope I missed all sorts of activities.) Worryingly, the latest news on their website are from 2020, the latest tweet from 2022. And the only statistic I found online dates from 2017/183.
If the recent years have taught us anything it is that we need to shout about what’s happening to the arts - the amazing, the bad and the ugly - from the rooftops, and use every platform available.
and I like
this article about ‘redefining the chamber ensemble’, written by The Hermes Experiment’s Anne Denholm (harp) and Marianne Schofield (bass), and discussing the huge impact composer collaborations have had on the growth of the ensemble and their refusal to be defined by genre.
Thanks for reading, see you soon!
Kirsten
PS There is a lot of reading, listening, research and travel involved in my line of work; I stumble across many interesting things and ideas I can't just leave behind so I decided to write about them and share with you.
https://www.wisemusicclassical.com/work/54303/Viola-Concerto--Nico-Muhly/
Sands Films has its own soundproof stage, workshops, costume department, set construction workshop, cutting room, cinema and other services needed to make films.
https://www.colinscolumn.com/british-association-of-concert-halls/