Transformations - Ensemble 360

Saturday 11 May, 8.30pm
The Showroom Cinema, Screen 4
Tickets: £10 / £7 Disabled & Unemployed / £5 Under 18s & Students
Please note: there is no concessionary rate for senior citizens for this event

‘Transformations’ is a partnership project between Showroom Workstation and Music in the Round marking two important centenaries that reshaped the economic and cultural landscape of Britain for decades to come – the birth of one of Britain’s greatest composers, Benjamin Britten, and the discovery of stainless steel right here in Sheffield. Bringing together Britten’s work with moving image and archive film, this innovative project will synthesise these art forms to create new and completely unique pieces.

A very special programme of film and music comprising four pieces:

BRITTEN: Six Metamorphoses After Ovid. Op.49 for oboe, performed as soundtrack to a newly commissioned film by artist Katie Goodwin WORLD PREMIERE

FILM: A rare screening of The Way To The Sea which includes music by Benjamin Britten and commentary by WH Auden

BRITTEN: Performance of Sinfonietta op.1 – for string quintet and wind quintet

CHARLIE PIPER: New work performed to film footage from the BFI archive – for string quintet and wind quintet – WORLD PREMIERE

Six Metamorphoses after Ovid is a series of varying portraits with contrasting colours and moods, evoking images from Roman poet Ovid’s mythical story. Oboist Adrian Wilson has been working with a local film-maker to produce a film which reflects and responds to the transformations depicted in the six movements.

The Way to the Sea is a documentary made in 1936 about the electrification of the London to Portsmouth railway line as part of a series of public information films with music by Britten and commentary by W H Auden.

Inspired by the highly evocative genre of film and music, our Associate Composer Charlie Piper has been working with recently restored film footage of stainless steel production in the 1930s from the BFI’s (British Film Institute) archives and has visited local working steelworks as part of the research process behind the composition of his new piece.

Please note the concert is one hour in duration with no interval.

Post-concert Q&A: Composer, film-maker and musician come together to answer your questions on the evening’s performance.

two centenaries

Benjamin Britten

Benjamin Britten was born on 22 November 1913 on the feast day of St Cecilia, the patron saint of music. His mother, a keen amateur singer, hoped he would – after Bach, Beethoven and Brahms – become the “Fourth B”, and he did indeed become a global musical figure. In just sixty-three busy years Britten wrote some of the most appealing classical music of the twentieth century and was hailed as one of the all-time great composers.

Stainless Steel

2013 marks 100 years since stainless steel was discovered right here in Sheffield by Harry Brearley. Rust-resistant, strong and hygienic, stainless steel was a breakthrough which would revolutionise everyday life and bring Sheffield to the attention of the world.

With thanks to the BFI.
Funded by the Britten-Pears Foundation, Arts Council England and the Foyle Foundation.
Generously supported by Stephen Terry.