Brett Dean welcomed as the BBC Symphony Orchestra’s new Artist in Association
The BBC Symphony Orchestra welcomes composer, conductor and violist Brett Dean as its new Artist in Association.
Published: 10 November 2014
The long association I've enjoyed already with the BBC Symphony Orchestra is, quite simply, the most significant relationship with a performing organisation in my compositional life.
The relationship runs for a period of three years, until the end of the 2016/17 season. The position will see a significant number of Dean’s works being performed by the BBC SO, three in the first year, as well as him working with the orchestra as soloist and conductor. In the 2015/16 season Dean returns as soloist in his own viola concerto which was premiered in the UK by the BBC SO in 2005 and will be conducted by the orchestra’s Chief Conductor Sakari Oramo. Further details of new work commissioned by the BBC SO will be released in due course.
The UK premiere of Dean’s The Annunciation heralds his new position with the orchestra on Wednesday 19 November. Inspired by, and commissioned for, the 800th birthday of Bach’s own Thomanerchor of Leipzig, where it was premiered, the piece depicts the journey of the three kings from darkness into light, in a four-part work for chamber orchestra and choir. The BBC SO is joined by the BBC Singers and conducted by Josep Pons.
On Friday 5 December the BBC SO will be joined by trumpeter Håkan Hardenberger for the London premiere of Dean’s trumpet concerto, Dramatis personae , for whom the piece was composed. The trumpet concerto's title refers to the different characters the composer associates with the instrument. Cast in three movements, the concerto draws equally upon comic strip scenarios and classical tales of heroism. The comic model is Charlie Chaplin's film Modern Times, in which the protagonist finds himself unexpectedly leading a band of striking workers. In the weeks leading up to the performance at the Barbican under Jukka-Pekka Saraste the concerto will receive its US, Australian, New Zealand and Swedish premieres with performances by the Boston, Sydney, New Zealand and Gothenburg Symphony Orchestras. These follow performances at the Grafenegg Festival, in Copenhagen, Birmingham and Leipzig.
The third and final work by Dean in the 2014/15 season is his dramatic oratorio The Last Days of Socrates written for legendary bass Sir John Tomlinson who performs the title-role under John Storgards. The oratorio dramatises Socrates’s trial with full orchestra and double chorus performed by the BBC Symphony Chorus on Friday 13 February.
Brett Dean said: The long association that I've enjoyed already with the BBC Symphony Orchestra is, quite simply, the most significant relationship with a performing organisation in my compositional life and career to date. It's the kind of relationship that all composers wish and long for; no other orchestra anywhere has played more of my music than the BBC SO. Coming from an orchestra with such a venerable and well-documented history of working with living composers, the invitation to formalise our relationship over the coming three seasons in the role of Artist in Association is both a great honour and extremely exciting.
Paul Hughes, General Manager, BBC SO, said: My first encounter with Brett's music was in 2001 when the BBC SO performed 'Beggars and Angels'. It was clearly music written by someone who knew orchestras from the inside, music of originality, clarity and distinctiveness that suited the BBC SO very well. Over a number of years we have performed much of Brett's music including the European premiere of his wonderful opera 'Bliss' as well as a number of commissions. Inviting Brett to consider a closer relationship with the orchestra seemed like the obvious next step, and one that is universally welcomed by our musicians, our management team and the wider BBC.
Dean's already established relationship with the BBC SO dates back to 2001 with the UK premiere of his orchestral work Beggars and Angels, followed by performances of Dispersal on the orchestra’s 2002 tour to Australia conducted by Sir Andrew Davis. Subsequent highlights included the world premiere of the Viola Concerto in 2005 with the composer as soloist, a BBC Proms performance of Vexations and Devotions in 2007 and the UK premiere of Dean’s opera Bliss at the Edinburgh Festival in 2010 in the staging by Australian Opera. Recent years have seen the BBC SO present a Total Immersion day devoted to Dean at the Barbican in 2012 and appear on a CD release on the BIS label featuring Vexations and Devotions and Testament with conductors David Robertson and Martyn Brabbins. This summer the BBC SO gave the UK premiere of Dean’s Electric Preludes at the BBC Proms conducted by Sakari Oramo.
