Philip Venables

Tag: Pekka Kuusisto

  • Successful premiere for ‘Venables plays Bartók’ at the BBC Proms

    Successful premiere for ‘Venables plays Bartók’ at the BBC Proms

    Venables plays Bartók, my new violin concerto written for Pekka Kuusisto, received a warm response at its premiere at the BBC Proms on Friday 17th August, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Sakari Oramo.  A huge thanks to Pekka, Sakari, the orchestra, Ian Dearden and Jot Davies for their roles in the performance.

    Press reviews were generally good, including a 5-star review in Bachtrack (“something intensely moving, profound even, in the way the work unfolded”) and 4 stars in the Guardian (“virtuosity and substance”).  I also wrote a piece for the Guardian in the run up to the premiere about the providence of the piece and the life of Rudolf Botta, the main protagonist of the piece – you can read it here.

    The BBC Radio 3 broadcast is still on BBC iPlayer until Sunday 17th September. The preamble and interviews to the concerto begin around 18’30” and the performance (with the introduction by Pekka, which is part of the piece) at 27’30”.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/evv4mb/play/ajbpd4/b0bf4kvq

  • ‘Venables plays Bartók’ for BBC Proms

    ‘Venables plays Bartók’ for BBC Proms

    The BBC Proms announced their 2018 Festival a few weeks ago, including a new violin concerto that I’m writing for Pekka Kuusisto and the BBC Symphony Orchestra.  The piece will be performed in the Proms on 17th August 2018, conducted by Sakari Oramo.  It is kind of ‘radio music theatre’ with the violin as the main character, and the piece explores my own journey through learning the violin, to a moment when I met my teacher’s teacher, the hungarian violinist, teacher and refugee, Rudolf Botta.  It is all framed round nine short Hungarian folk dances or miniatures, collected or composed by Bartók, hence the double credit of the piece: Venables/Bartók – Venables plays Bartók.

    Tickets for the proms are available here.