Wales Feed

How to tour an orchestra to South America

2015-10-23T11:22:26+00:00

With over 17,000 miles to travel, transporting a full orchestra to South America with their 260 instruments is no mean feat. BBC National Orchestra of Wales’ Operations and Logistics Manager, Andy Farquharson explains how it’s done.

My job is essentially to ensure we get the right people (and their instruments), to the right place, at the right time. I’m there to support and manage the musicians, and try to look after all the 'behind the scenes' elements for them so that they can focus purely on putting on a great performance.

This tour to South America is certainly the biggest and most adventurous we've ever done. The Orchestra will perform in cities around South America but we’re also visiting places like Trelew in Patagonia – a place where no symphony orchestra has ever performed before! It's great to have a very good reason - the Patagonia 150 celebrations - to travel to such a different location.

The Orchestra members are assembled and ready!

Finalising the tour itinerary can take many months, and it’s a bit like a big jigsaw puzzle as a number of factors can impact upon plans. The instruments are travelling in two separate freight movements and to transport these and the rest of the equipment, it takes 45 large boxes with everything listed in a very large document. Some of the Orchestra’s instruments are very expensive so they need to be well looked after.

With such a large logistical operation, we’re lucky to have a huge local team on the ground in South America, who’ll be working closely with our Stage and Transport Managers, Andy and Mark.

There are a LOT of checklists before we depart and we check everything several times because if there are any errors, it can have a massive impact. And it’s not until everyone is back home, and all their instruments a few days after, that you really 'switch off'...before starting work on the next touring plans!

Follow Andy and BBC National Orchestra of Wales’ journey via social media on #NOWTour15 or visit bbc.co.uk/now

A Rugby Musical Spectacular

2015-09-25T17:00:00+00:00

“We can call it ‘Gareth Charles – The Musical’!”
Those were the words of Steve Austins, Editor Radio Wales in April this year. They made as much sense to me then as they’re probably making to you right now but let me try and explain.
Every year, BBC Radio Wales gets the chance to work closely with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. It’s always an exciting opportunity. Previous projects have seen the radio station take over the orchestra for a day and last year we put on a special concert with Mike Peters, front man of rock group The Alarm, who performed to orchestral arrangements of some of the band’s classic hits.

This time around we decided that it would be good to do something around the time of the Rugby World Cup, particularly the England/Wales match which is always a popular fixture with our audience.
We talked about trying to recreate the atmosphere of the last time Wales beat England in a spectacular 30-3 drubbing that clinched the Six Nations Championship for Wales in 2013, snatching the Grand Slam from England in the process. The atmosphere in the Millennium Stadium that day was exciting, intense and emotional, resulting in a particularly memorable and passionate commentary from our chief rugby correspondent Gareth Charles. Steve suggested setting some of those clips to music which would be performed by the orchestra.

I was tasked with developing ‘Gareth Charles – The Musical’ further.

It soon became apparent that just playing some radio commentary whilst an orchestra performed probably wouldn’t be the most scintillating thing for an audience to sit through. I started looking into using the TV pictures from that day too.

Eddie Butler introduces the evening of Rugby and Music

The piece also needed a narrator to tell the story of that day and I decided that Eddie Butler, former captain of Wales, eminent broadcaster and journalist, would be ideal to write the script.
Calling on the distant memories of my music degree I collated a list of suitably epic (and accessible) classical music that included Wagner’s ‘Ride Of the Valkyries’ and Prokofiev’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’. I collected a few choice phrases that had been penned by Eddie for some of his newspaper articles and recorded them in a rough approximation (certainly NOT an impersonation!) of his voice to demonstrate how the finished piece might sound with a mixture of music, commentary and narration.

It sounded great. The only problem now was that Eddie knew nothing about the project – yet. It took less than 3 minutes to sell the idea to him and he seemed genuinely excited to be involved.
Next we needed a film to show the audience who would be attending the event. I wanted it to have the same glossy, high production values which are associated with our Sport department’s output and I was allocated Chris Howells, one of their producers, who also had a musical background.

BBC National Orchestra of Wales prepare to strike up

Over the next few weeks Chris worked with Eddie and put together a 20 minute film that didn’t just tell the story of that historic day, it also investigated the historic rivalry between the two teams.
Musical scores were hired by the orchestra and additional players were drafted in – apparently some of the pieces required a larger orchestra than normal!

We released tickets to the performance and they sold out almost straight away. I found my days starting to be taken up with discussions about big screens, lighting rigs, set dressing, and a host of other things you wouldn’t normally come across in an average radio production. In addition to this, Radio Wales’ digital team were filming the event for our website. They had 6 cameras set up that they were going to edit into a visual spectacular to accompany the radio programme.

BBC NOW providing the soundtrack to the rugby video

By now this project, that had started as such a simple proposition, had grown into one of the most complicated projects I’d ever produced. We basically had a live orchestra trying to play along to a film that required them to hit certain points at specific times. In addition to this we had a live narrator who also had to hit certain points without crashing into excerpts of commentary that were on the film.

This made things particularly difficult for the guest conductor on the day, Kenneth Woods. If the orchestra played too fast or too slow they would be out of sync with the film. In the end, we had to give him an audio feed of the original guide track of music that we’d used to edit the film. He had this fed to his headphones and then had to keep the orchestra performing live at the same speed as the recording on the video tape – a musical equivalent of rubbing your head whilst patting your stomach!

Conductor Kenneth Woods with BBC NOW

Performance day arrived and I had a last minute crisis of confidence. Suddenly, on paper, the whole project seemed absolutely ridiculous and impossible! A further issue that came to light during rehearsals was the volume of the orchestra in relation to Eddie’s narration and Gareth’s commentary clips. Parts of Holst’s ‘Mars’ require the orchestra playing at full blast and they were in danger of drowning everything else out.

I needn’t have worried. I had a fantastic technical team with me who dealt with every issue that arose and after only two full run-throughs of the film we were ready to go.

The audience arrived, dressed in rugby regalia as we’d requested. The majority wore rugby shirts but there were also a few daffodil heads and face-painted dragons. People were treating this like a proper rugby match!

The first half of the evening was a straight forward concert. The orchestra played ‘musical representations’ of some of the countries Wales might meet on their way to the Rugby World Cup Final and then it was time for the main piece.

In the control room we had a collection of producers and engineers, each one controlling and cueing different parts of the production. The orchestra started the first bars of Vaughan Williams ‘Fantasia on a theme of Thomas Tallis’ and we were up and running.

The recording went without a hitch. Eddie and the orchestra were faultless. The audience behaved like they were at a rugby match, singing along with the National Anthem and cheering and clapping whenever a try or kick went over even chanting ‘Wales, Wales, Wales’ at one point.

I spoke to several members of the audience afterwards but for me the show’s success was summed up by one older gent who told me that he’d never been to a rugby match before but now, having attended this, felt like he had. Job done!

Job done!

You can hear Eddie Butler’s World Cup Warm Up at 9pm on Friday 25th September, and 1pm/6.40pm on Saturday 26th September on BBC Radio Wales and for 30 days after broadcast on BBC iPlayer Radio.

The film of the event is an iPlayer Exclusive which can be viewed on BBC iPlayer until Friday 2nd October.

Coda: Laura's last blog

2015-02-16T13:05:12+00:00

It feels like only a few months ago that I sat down to write my first blog entry for the BBC Wales Blog, and so, over 100 entries later, I feel somewhat reflective as I sit down to write this, my final blog.

I have learnt so much over the course of these last few years. Writing this blog has offered me an unashamedly self-indulgent opportunity to really delve into the works that we perform, to share my personal relationship with my instrument and work, and to develop and vocalise my opinions about what we do.

I believe, so fervently, that the arts are an integral part of our society, even, or perhaps especially, in this age of instant gratification where whatever you want, there is an app for that, and yet the time we have for our personal lives and needs seems to diminish daily.

A view from the strings - in rehearsals with Thomas Søndergård (photo by Betina Skovbro)

I believe that music, in particular, offers us a unique way of connecting with our most inner selves, of expressing and/or confronting emotions that are sometimes so intangible, or so deeply personal, that they are impossible to put into words. As the storyteller Hans Christian Anderson so eloquently put it ‘where words fail, music speaks’.

We at the BBC National Orchestra of Wales have an exciting 2015 ahead of us, with so many great works, both old and new to bring to our audiences around Wales, and further afield. Earlier this month we were joined by the wonderful young British pianist, Benjamin Grosvenor, considered one of the brightest lights of the keyboard in the world, for a fantastic performance of the first of Beethoven’s Piano Concertos. During the course of rehearsals programme, we worked with students from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, and on the concert day, with young musicians from the Swansea area.

As the seasons in Cardiff and Swansea wear on, we will also tour North Wales with young British conductor, Ben Gernon. In addition to this, BBC Cardiff Singer of the World is just around the corner, as is our Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular UK Tour. The first of our Sibelius recordings with Thomas will be released imminently, and we look forward to visits at myriad British festivals.

Of course, none of this would matter in the slightest if it wasn’t for you - our audience. The orchestras of the United Kingdom need the support of their audiences. We need your support. It is a cliché perhaps to say that we are nothing without our audience, but truly we are not. Music, the arts in general, are a shared experience, built upon the interaction and communication of the performer and the audience. In the absence of either party, the purpose of the other ceases to exist.

So, dear reader and listener - be vocal, be present. Get in touch with the Orchestra, let your views be heard, positive and negative alike, and help us to become the most exciting, vibrant, purposeful creative body we can be. We are not only one of the BBC Performing Groups, but also Wales’ National Orchestra, and we want to serve the artistic wants of our audience as best we can.

BBC NOW performing in Venue Cymru (image by Betina Skovbro)

It has been a privilege and a pleasure to interact with our audience through my blog, and I have enjoyed the messages I have received, and the conversations I have had with many of you about the work of the Orchestra, the music we play, and the incredible artists who we collaborate with. I look forward to seeing you in a concert hall, somewhere, soon.

This is the last in Laura’s series of blogs. Many thanks to Laura for all of her contributions over the years.

BBC NOW’s guest bloggers will continue to offer their insight into life in the Orchestra, right here on the BBC Wales blog.

A new generation of composers for Wales

2015-02-09T14:16:44+00:00

If you have visited the Orchestra’s website recently, you will have read the information relating to this year’s Composition: Wales event. The eight composers we will work with have now been announced and I am assuming they will currently be painstakingly combing their scores and parts, expunging any instrumentation errors, fine tuning their works, and writing their programme notes.

Since I joined the Orchestra, this is an event that has grown considerably in scale and is now spread over three days. The first of these days takes place on 11 February, and if you attend you will be able to watch the Orchestra workshop the composers’ scores.

In last year's project, seven composers worked with the Orchestra over three days (taken by Betina Skovbro, 2014)

So what does that actually entail? What is the point of ‘workshopping’? During these workshops, we briefly rehearse and perform each of the composers’ works, and then there will follow a period of interaction between the composer, conductor and orchestra on various technical and musical aspects of the work.

For some composers, it will be the first time they have had the opportunity to work with real live musicians (as opposed to hearing their work on a computer, or in a piano reduction, or in their head). This can mean that sometimes they need a little guidance with regards to how to express an idea practically on a particular instrument.

For example, rapid semiquavers in the bass area of a piano with one note in every four a note from the high treble range will sound fabulous on a piano, but the same effect is unlikely to be achieved if you ask a whole viola section to play this. This of course does not mean that the musical idea is invalid, simply that some consideration must be given as to how to achieve its expression. One of the primary purposes of this workshop is education, and so we aim to help the composer to better their ability to convey their ideas through writing intelligently for the instruments used.

In addition to this, the opportunity to work with an orchestra can massively broaden the soundscape of a developing composer. The sounds, colours, and textures an orchestra can create are infinite, and given the chance to control the orchestral forces there can then be a temptation to use everything at once, simply because it’s there (I know if it were me, I’d have church bells, organ, two sets of timps, double brass and 18 violas in everything…and an alto flute, I love the alto flute).

A composer from last year's project works with BBC NOW's leader, Lesley Hatfield

However, having had the opportunity to include everything (plus the kitchen sink) hopefully the composer can leave the workshop bowled over by all the tools at his disposal but with a more measured approach to using them - a more refined palate, if you will.

After a further day of workshops on 31 March, a selection of the eight works will then be chosen for presentation in a concert on 1 April. In the rehearsal on the day, the composers will be treated as though they were any other composer who has come in to work with the Orchestra.

They are expected to be able to answer any questions arising from the score that are unclear, to be able to answer on the spot any harmonic queries and to solve any other problems that arise, as well as give concise useful information about the expression of the piece. A pretty daunting task, but an amazing opportunity.

It must be an incredible sensation to hear the work you have put so much into come alive. I hope the eight participants are excited, and feeling rightly proud of themselves for being chosen, as we had an incredible response to the call for scores.

Find out more about BBC NOW’s Composition: Wales project by visiting the Orchestra’s website. Free tickets for all of the workshops are available by calling 0800 052 1812.

Delving into the music of composer Thierry Escaich

2015-01-23T10:00:00+00:00

After our last Scandinavian Connection concert, working with our wonderful Composer-in-Association, B Tommy Andersson, BBC NOW are continuing our run of new sounds for the new year! This Wednesday evening (28 January) will see us present a BBC Hoddinott Hall Composer Portrait, on this occasion focusing on the music of the French composer, organist and improviser, Thierry Escaich.

He is recognised globally as an instrumentalist (some of you may have caught him performing in Saint-Saens’ Organ Symphony at the BBC Proms in 2013). However, it may be fair to say that although Escaich has received a great deal of critical acclaim for his compositional work in both mainland Europe and the United States, in the United Kingdom his work is perhaps less well known.

The musical community is very much an international one, and I think it is such a shame when an artist makes a big splash elsewhere and yet we in Blighty don’t get the chance to experience their art and make up our own minds. This is why I believe the BBC NOW Composer Portrait concerts are so important; if you don’t experience something yourself, how can you really have an opinion on it?

We will present four works, Baroque Song, Miror d’Ombre, Vertiges de la croix and Three Motets. Three Motets is the earliest of Escaich’s works (1998) and will feature members of the BBC National Chorus of Wales with Chorus Director, Adrian Partington, at the organ. For 2006’s Miror d’Ombre, we are incredibly excited to be joined by cellist Xavier Phillips, and violinist, Jean-Marc Phillips-Varjabédian, of the Trio Wanderer. The Orchestra itself takes centre stage for 2007’s Baroque Song, and 2004’s Vertiges de la Croix, a work for large symphony orchestra inspired by the central panel of a Ruebens triptych found in the Cathedral of Our Lady, Antwerp.

Thierry Escaich (picture by Guy Vivien)

If you are fairly well up on your French, there are excellent interviews with Thierry Escaich available on YouTube that will give you a flavour of Escaich’s compositional approach and ideas.

Even better, in my opinion, are the great number of videos available of his improvisations at the organ. Without wanting to offend every organist in the country, the organ is not generally considered the most rock and roll of instruments, but under the fingers (and feet!) of Escaich, it becomes an instrument so far removed from the church services of my childhood that it is almost unrecognisable!

On a different note, the mentions of the BBC’s Ten Pieces have made terrific reading on Twitter and various other news and social media websites over the last number of months. We are so proud to have been a central part of this wonderful nationwide project, and members of our Orchestra have been busy getting out and about in schools right across Wales, working with teachers and students on further projects inspired by the film.

Tickets are already available and popular for our live Ten Pieces performance with Thomas Søndergård on 20 March - if your children enjoyed watching the film in the cinema (or on TV over Christmas), bring them along to experience the spectacle live. In the meantime, the accompanying e-book is available for free, and features members of the Orchestra talking about their instruments and favourite Ten Pieces works.

BBC National Orchestra of Wales explores the work of Thierry Escaich in a Composer Portrait on Wednesday 28 January, 7.30pm, at BBC Hoddinott Hall, Cardiff Bay. For more information and to book, visit the Orchestra’s website or call 0800 052 1812.

Bringing fresh music to Cardiff Bay

2015-01-19T13:07:58+00:00

Dark and murky as it is, I do love January. A new diary with blank pages waiting for exciting things to be put in, a fresh resolve to try new things/eat better/exercise more - a new year, filled with such potential, even in the bleakest days of winter, to me has a real forward looking freshness.

And so far this year, we have been spoilt with fresh sounds in BBC Hoddinnott Hall. We have just spent a number of days recording for International Womans’ Day (8 March), recording works by female composers of the early Twentieth Century. This is a period that really interests me (both my Bachelors and Masters thesis were based on this area of research), and there can be no doubt that up until at least the mid-Twentieth Century, composition, and to a very slightly lesser extent, high standard and profile performance, were considered unnatural and unsuitable pursuits for the female. Unless of course it was in a drawing room and in the interests of snaring a suitor. That was to be encouraged.

I often wonder how many incredible works our lives will never be enriched by because of this, so it was, for me, very exciting to record works by Ethel Smyth and Florence B. Price. We were joined by BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists Elena Urioste (violin) and Alex Frank-Gemmill, so really if the music making had been any fresher, our producers would have had to have foil packed it!

Principal Conductor Thomas Søndergård introduces BBC NOW's Composer-in-Association B Tommy Andersson

Now we are preparing for our first Afternoon concert at BBC Hoddinott Hall of 2015, where we will be joined by our Composer-in-Association, B Tommy Andersson for a special concert curated by him. When we performed B Tommy’s ‘The Garden of Delights’ at our season opener (was that really only in October?!), I was very much taken by surprise at the audience reaction to his music. It is seldom that I have seen such immediate and positive response to a work of contemporary composition from an audience, and I cannot wait to get to know more of this music (book your tickets now for our composer portrait of B Tommy on 25th February).

B Tommy Andersson

For this concert, B Tommy has chosen four works from his native Sweden, by composers whose music he admires and/or whose compositional style and approach has influenced him. Of course, if you’ve had a little look at the season brochure, you will already have noted that B Tommy has not just chosen the works for this concert, but that he will also be taking the conductors’ podium for it too. We will play works by Hilding Rosenberg, Ingvar Lidholm (who played the viola - just thought I’d throw that titbit in there!), Norman Ludvig (who composed a great sonata for viola and piano) and Hugo Alvfén.

Interestingly, most of these composers at some point studied with, or were strongly influenced by Wilhelm Stenhammer, whose work we have performed in the past. For many of them, their music is characterised by a sense of romanticism, and often folk influences, whilst also being forward-looking, and using a modern musical language.

So, fresh sounds for a fresh new year from Hoddinott Hall. Make it your new year’s resolve to come see your national symphony orchestra live and in the flesh, either at our home in Cardiff Bay, at St David’s Hall, Cardiff (where we are Orchestra-in-Residence), the Brangwyn Hall, Swansea, or any number of other venues around the country. Stay in touch via our website, on Facebook and Twitter. We really do hope to see you soon.

B Tommy Andersson conducts the Orchestra tomorrow (20 January) at BBC Hoddinott Hall. For tickets, call 0800 052 1812 or visit the Orchestra’s website. You can also catch up afterwards for 30 days via the BBC Radio 3 website.

On Wednesday 25 February, the Orchestra presents a Composer Portrait of B Tommy Andersson’s music. Visit the Orchestra’s website to find out more.

Discover more about the Orchestra's Scandinavian season by exploring their brochure online.

Christmas with BBC NOW

2014-12-17T13:44:31+00:00

How’s your Christmas shopping going? Have you wrestled with your fellow man over the last toys in shopping centres?

With each passing year, I find the run up to Christmas increasingly stressful; there is simply never the time to do all that you plan to do, meet all the people you plan to meet, nor the cash to gift all the gifts you would like to gift. Additionally, as reports of snow in Ireland begin to circulate, my annual ‘will I make it home for Christmas’ panic has begun in earnest.

In all the crazed tearing around that we put ourselves through during the festive period, how often do we miss out on actually enjoying this beautiful festival? How often do we not make the time to enjoy doing nothing, or being entertained, in our loved ones’ company (and passed out with exhaustion together on the couch post-Christmas Day feeding frenzy most certainly does not count)?

This Christmas, we at the BBC National Orchestra of Wales are offering audiences in Cardiff, Swansea and Haverfordwest the perfect antidote to the Yuletide onslaught, with festive concerts suitable for friends and family alike.

We will be joined by Welsh tenor, Wynne Evans at each concert, and our wonderful choirs – with Caerphilly Childrens’ Choir in Cardiff and BBC National Chorus of Wales; Ysgol Gerdd Ceredigion and BBC NCW (second night in a row!) in Swansea; and the Pembrokeshire Youth Choir in Haverfordwest.

Our presenter Wynne Evans

There will of course be seasonal family favourites, many of which have been specially arranged for the Orchestra by Welsh musicians Gareth Glynn and Jeff Howard, but this year I am particularly excited to play music from Disney’s ‘Frozen’. My Goddaughter Rosie is four years old and knows every word of the songs from this cartoon film, and I have to say I think the film itself is pretty good - at least Disney have finally made a princess who isn’t waiting around like some pathetic idiot waiting to be saved by some bland, drab knight in shining armour!

So, as you run around the shops desperately searching for the last few perfect presents, take a little time out and bring your loved ones to one of our Christmas concerts. Take a break from the hysteria of the British High Street at Christmas and let us entertain you and help you get into the Christmas spirit proper. Tickets are selling fast at all three venues, so you will have to be quick!

BBC NOW with Pembrokeshire Youth Choir

I am looking forward to my Christmas annual leave more than ever before. Having spent my summer break studying in Austria, I’ve not had the opportunity to visit my family for a very long stretch, and Christmas in Ireland is something very special to me.

You, however, can see/hear the Orchestra in action on a number of occasions over the Christmas period! Don’t forget to tune in to the Doctor Who Christmas Special on BBC One on Christmas Day, and then on Boxing Day, get your little kids and big kids alike settled in front of BBC Two to watch our cinematic debut Ten Pieces! There is also a free interactive audiobook complimenting Ten Pieces available now, featuring members of the Orchestra (including yours truly!), talking about their instruments.

We at BBC NOW HQ would like to wish all our audience members a very peaceful festive period and we look forward to sharing our music with you in 2015.

Limited tickets are available for all of BBC National Orchestra of Wales’ Christmas Concerts – call 0800 052 1812 or visit bbc.co.uk/now to book.