New London Orchestra
Encyclopedia
The New London Orchestra, based in London, was founded by Ronald Corp
in 1988, to perform rarely heard 20th century works. The Orchestra and Corp pioneered the music of Martinů
, now a familiar name with concert-goers, and have helped re-establish the popularity of ‘British Light Music' through a series of recordings on independent label Hyperion Records
. In the field of education, the Orchestra have devised projects which use music as a tool to enhance learning in the primary curriculum subjects of Maths, Literacy and Science, and found new ways to engage children in crucial learning and social skills. Based on the success of its 'Newham Welcomes the World' community project, the New London Orchestra is focusing its concert giving and outreach work in the local community in the London Borough of Newham
.
, Virgil Thomson
, Ravel, Kabalevsky, Honegger, Roussel
and Sibelius.
Building on the success of its 'Newham Welcomes the World' community project, from 2009 the New London Orchestra is focusing its concert giving activity in Newham
. This started in March 2009, with a concert at the Stratford Rex, a nightclub venue. The programme featured TV star Michelle Collins
narrating Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf
. This concert was followed by a performance at the Stratford Circus in May 2009 of Saint-Saëns' Carnival of the Animals. A concert series for 2009/10 is planned to follow. All of the New London Orchestra's concerts in Newham aim to be affordable and accessible, offering reduced price tickets to schools and local community groups and opening rehearsals up to school groups to experience the orchestra up close.
The New London Orchestra also promotes a Young Performers Concert Series at the Foundling Museum
, London. These concerts feature a selection of young award-winning musicians and singers in the UK, giving them a platform on which to perform a recital. Entrance to the concerts is free, with admission to the museum. The series is supported by the Musicians Benevolent Fund
. These fall into three categories:
A disc released in November 2009 features works for string orchestra by the composer Grazyna Bacewicz
who is celebrated in her home country of Poland, but less well-known abroad.
In late 2010, they issued the first digital recording of Rutland Boughton
's opera, The Queen of Cornwall. This garnered considerable critical acclaim, being voted 'Disc of The Month' in Opera magazine, March 2011, and 'Editor's Choice' in Gramophone, September 2011.
Other projects have included:
. Each year, the Orchestra work with different groups within the community to create new music and give performances. So far these have included primary and secondary schools, local sports teams, Look Ahead Housing and Care residents and theatre groups, and in the future it aims to incorporate dance groups (including Newham's world ranked cheerleaders, the Ascension Eagles), music groups, local heritage organisations and also cross-Channel groups. Its latest project culminated in a concert at the Stratford Rex in June 2009, featuring local sports teams performing anthems, alongside live orchestra and electronic music.
From the start of the 2011-12 concert season, the New London Orchestra became the first-ever orchestra-in–residence at Stratford Circus
in Newham, starting with a concert on 21 October called 'Sounds of London', and featuring a varied collection of shorter pieces by composers with London associations, from Haydn, Ketèlbey and William Alwyn
to Stephen Dodgson
, Phyllis Tate
, Eric Coates
and Robert Farnon
. The season continues on 2 December with a showing of the film The Snowman
accompanied by the New London Orchestra playing Howard Blake
’s music live, alongside other Christmas music.
Ronald Corp
Ronald Corp is a composer, conductor, and Church of England priest. He is founder and Artistic Director of the New London Orchestra and the New London Children's Choir. Corp is Musical Director of the London Chorus, a position he took up in 1994, and is also Musical Director of the Highgate Choral...
in 1988, to perform rarely heard 20th century works. The Orchestra and Corp pioneered the music of Martinů
Bohuslav Martinu
Bohuslav Martinů was a prolific Czech composer of modern classical music. He was of Czech and Rumanian ancestry. Martinů wrote six symphonies, 15 operas, 14 ballet scores and a large body of orchestral, chamber, vocal and instrumental works. Martinů became a violinist in the Czech Philharmonic...
, now a familiar name with concert-goers, and have helped re-establish the popularity of ‘British Light Music' through a series of recordings on independent label Hyperion Records
Hyperion Records
Hyperion Records is an independent British classical record label.-History:The company was named after Hyperion, one of the Titans of Greek mythology. It was founded by George Edward Perry, widely known as "Ted", in 1980. Early LP releases included rarely recorded 20th century British music by...
. In the field of education, the Orchestra have devised projects which use music as a tool to enhance learning in the primary curriculum subjects of Maths, Literacy and Science, and found new ways to engage children in crucial learning and social skills. Based on the success of its 'Newham Welcomes the World' community project, the New London Orchestra is focusing its concert giving and outreach work in the local community in the London Borough of Newham
London Borough of Newham
The London Borough of Newham is a London borough formed from the towns of West Ham and East Ham, within East London.It is situated east of the City of London, and is north of the River Thames. According to 2006 estimates, Newham has one of the highest ethnic minority populations of all the...
.
Concerts
The trademark of the New London Orchestra is its programming of unusual repertoire. Composers who have been particularly featured over the last 20 years include Martinů, of whom a piece of music was featured in every concert from the Orchestra's launch until his centenary in 1990, as well as works by those such as Satie, Ibert, MilhaudMilhaud
Milhaud is a commune in the Gard department in southern France.-Population:-References:*...
, Virgil Thomson
Virgil Thomson
Virgil Thomson was an American composer and critic. He was instrumental in the development of the "American Sound" in classical music...
, Ravel, Kabalevsky, Honegger, Roussel
Roussel
Roussel may refer to:* Roussel , French automobile manufactured from 1908 to 1914* Roussel Uclaf, a French company* Bois Roussel , French racehorse* Kirin-Amgen v Hoechst Marion Roussel, British court ruling concerning patents...
and Sibelius.
Building on the success of its 'Newham Welcomes the World' community project, from 2009 the New London Orchestra is focusing its concert giving activity in Newham
London Borough of Newham
The London Borough of Newham is a London borough formed from the towns of West Ham and East Ham, within East London.It is situated east of the City of London, and is north of the River Thames. According to 2006 estimates, Newham has one of the highest ethnic minority populations of all the...
. This started in March 2009, with a concert at the Stratford Rex, a nightclub venue. The programme featured TV star Michelle Collins
Michelle Collins
Michelle Danielle Collins is a British actress best known for her roles on television in the BBC soap opera EastEnders, as Cindy Beale, Coronation Street as Stella Price, and BBC dramas Sunburn and Two Thousand Acres of Sky...
narrating Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf
Peter and the Wolf
Peter and the Wolf , Op. 67, is a composition written by Sergei Prokofiev in 1936 in the USSR. It is a children's story , spoken by a narrator accompanied by the orchestra....
. This concert was followed by a performance at the Stratford Circus in May 2009 of Saint-Saëns' Carnival of the Animals. A concert series for 2009/10 is planned to follow. All of the New London Orchestra's concerts in Newham aim to be affordable and accessible, offering reduced price tickets to schools and local community groups and opening rehearsals up to school groups to experience the orchestra up close.
The New London Orchestra also promotes a Young Performers Concert Series at the Foundling Museum
Foundling Museum
The Foundling Museum in London tells the story of the Foundling Hospital, Britain's first home for abandoned children. The museum houses the nationally important Foundling Hospital Art Collection as well as the Gerald Coke Handel Collection, the world's greatest privately amassed collection of...
, London. These concerts feature a selection of young award-winning musicians and singers in the UK, giving them a platform on which to perform a recital. Entrance to the concerts is free, with admission to the museum. The series is supported by the Musicians Benevolent Fund
Recordings
The New London Orchestra has recorded over 20 discs on the independent label Hyperion RecordsHyperion Records
Hyperion Records is an independent British classical record label.-History:The company was named after Hyperion, one of the Titans of Greek mythology. It was founded by George Edward Perry, widely known as "Ted", in 1980. Early LP releases included rarely recorded 20th century British music by...
. These fall into three categories:
- British Light Music Classics and other light music, including works from America and Europe
- chamber orchestra repertoire by composers such as Poulenc, Reynaldo HahnReynaldo HahnReynaldo Hahn was a Venezuelan, naturalised French, composer, conductor, music critic and diarist. Best known as a composer of songs, he wrote in the French classical tradition of the mélodie....
, MilhaudMilhaudMilhaud is a commune in the Gard department in southern France.-Population:-References:*...
, Satie and Prokofiev - operettas by composers such as Arthur SullivanArthur SullivanSir Arthur Seymour Sullivan MVO was an English composer of Irish and Italian ancestry. He is best known for his series of 14 operatic collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including such enduring works as H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado...
, Sidney JonesSidney JonesJames Sidney Jones , usually credited as Sidney Jones, was an English conductor and composer, most famous for producing the musical scores for a series of musical comedy hits in the late Victorian and Edwardian periods....
, Lionel MoncktonLionel MoncktonLionel John Alexander Monckton was an English writer and composer of musical theatre. He was Britain's most popular musical theatre composer of the early years of the 20th century.-Early life:...
and Harold Fraser-SimsonHarold Fraser-SimsonHarold Fraser-Simson , was an English composer of light music, including songs and the scores to musical comedies. His most famous musical was the World War I hit, The Maid of the Mountains, and he later set numerous children's poems to music, especially those of A. A...
A disc released in November 2009 features works for string orchestra by the composer Grazyna Bacewicz
Grazyna Bacewicz
Grażyna Bacewicz was a Polish composer and violinist. She is only the second Polish female composer to have achieved national and international recognition, the first being Maria Szymanowska in the early 19th century.- Life :Bacewicz was born in Łódź...
who is celebrated in her home country of Poland, but less well-known abroad.
In late 2010, they issued the first digital recording of Rutland Boughton
Rutland Boughton
Rutland Boughton was an English composer who became well known in the early 20th century as a composer of opera and choral music....
's opera, The Queen of Cornwall. This garnered considerable critical acclaim, being voted 'Disc of The Month' in Opera magazine, March 2011, and 'Editor's Choice' in Gramophone, September 2011.
Education and outreach work
The New London Orchestra's curriculum-based education projects have sought to enhance children's learning in the key subjects of Maths, Literacy and Science through music-based activities. The Orchestra have worked in the London boroughs of Hammersmith & Fulham, Westminster, Camden, Lambeth, Southwark, Tower Hamlets, and Newham.Other projects have included:
- Residencies in schools for deaf children
- Workshops with adults with learning difficulties from Look Ahead Housing and Care Centres
- Reminiscence projects with the elderly in Camden
- Workshops with adults in homeless hostels in Camden
- Theatre projects with the Bloomsbury Theatre, including a collaboration with City & Islington college called Underground Reflections
Newham Welcomes the World
In 2007, the Orchestra devised an ongoing series of large-scale projects in the Olympic borough of Newham; working with a huge variety of people from across the borough of all ages, and collaborating with a number of local institutions including the Theatre Royal Stratford EastTheatre Royal Stratford East
The Theatre Royal Stratford East is a theatre in Stratford in the London Borough of Newham. Since 1953, it has been the home of the Theatre Workshop company.-History:...
. Each year, the Orchestra work with different groups within the community to create new music and give performances. So far these have included primary and secondary schools, local sports teams, Look Ahead Housing and Care residents and theatre groups, and in the future it aims to incorporate dance groups (including Newham's world ranked cheerleaders, the Ascension Eagles), music groups, local heritage organisations and also cross-Channel groups. Its latest project culminated in a concert at the Stratford Rex in June 2009, featuring local sports teams performing anthems, alongside live orchestra and electronic music.
From the start of the 2011-12 concert season, the New London Orchestra became the first-ever orchestra-in–residence at Stratford Circus
Stratford Circus
Stratford Circus is a contemporary performing arts venue in Stratford in the London Borough of Newham, east London. It was designed by Levitt Bernstein architects and built with funding from the National Lottery....
in Newham, starting with a concert on 21 October called 'Sounds of London', and featuring a varied collection of shorter pieces by composers with London associations, from Haydn, Ketèlbey and William Alwyn
William Alwyn
William Alwyn, CBE, born William Alwyn Smith was an English composer, conductor, and music teacher.-Life and music:...
to Stephen Dodgson
Stephen Dodgson
Stephen Dodgson is a British composer and broadcaster.- Biography :During World War II, he served in the Royal Navy. From 1947 to 1949, Dodgson studied at the Royal College of Music, where he later taught composition. In 1950, he visited Italy on a travelling scholarship, after which he taught in...
, Phyllis Tate
Phyllis Tate
Phyllis Tate was an English composer known for forming unusual instrumentations in her compositions. Her musical style has been called avant-garde and she is recognized for appealing to amateur performers and children....
, Eric Coates
Eric Coates
Eric Coates was an English composer of light music and a viola player.-Life:Eric was born in Hucknall in Nottinghamshire to William Harrison Coates , a surgeon, and his wife, Mary Jane Gwynne, hailing from Usk in Monmouthshire...
and Robert Farnon
Robert Farnon
Robert Joseph Farnon was a Canadian-born composer, conductor, musical arranger and trumpet player. As well as being a famous composer of original works , he was recognised as one of the finest arrangers of his generation...
. The season continues on 2 December with a showing of the film The Snowman
The Snowman
The Snowman is a children's book by English author Raymond Briggs, published in 1978. In 1982, this book was turned into a 26-minute animated movie by Dianne Jackson for the fledgling Channel 4. It was first shown on Channel 4 late on Christmas Eve in 1982 and was an immediate success. The film was...
accompanied by the New London Orchestra playing Howard Blake
Howard Blake
Howard Blake, OBE is an English composer , particularly noted for his film scores, although he is prolific in several fields of classical and light music...
’s music live, alongside other Christmas music.