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Programme Notes
We hope you enjoyed our musical adventure exploring the magical world of the wind quintet. We loved sharing this wonderful music with you and have compiled some further information on the music, the composers and the performers.
We would love to know your thoughts so please complete the audience survey above and keep in touch via our Instagram @MishMashProds
Thanks, the MishMash Team🎶🤩
About the music:
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- Eugène Bozza
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- William Grant Still
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- Valerie Coleman
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- Paquito D’Rivera
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- Alex Stopa
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- Judith Weir
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- George Frideric Handel
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- György Ligeti
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- Adolphus Hailstork
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- Wissam Boutstany
About the composers:
Eugène Bozza – 1905 – 1991 was a French composer and violinist. Rosanna, our Flautist has done some digging and discovered that although Bozza started out as a violinist, he went first onto conducting and then composing after suffering really badly from stage fright.
William Grant-Still – 1895 – 1978 was an American composer and the first African-American to conduct a US orchestra. To learn more visit williamgrantstillmusic.com.
Valerie Coleman – 1970 – is an award-winning American composer and flautist. To learn more visit vcolemanmusic.com or @valerie_coleman_music on Instagram.
Paquito D’Rivera – 1948 – is a Cuban-American saxophone player, clarinettist, bandleader and composer. To learn more, visit paquitodrivera.com or @paquitodrivera on Instagram. Paquito’s beautiful piece, Son, is built around just two ideas. The instruments either play a calm, meandering tune or an ostinato (repeating pattern) and they swap between the two roles. Lots of pop music uses ostinatos. You can listen to some examples here.
Alex Stopa – is an Australian-born drummer, percussionist and composer. To learn more, visit alexstopa.com or @alex.stopa on Instagram. We are excited to programme his piece Floorplay because it is a piece made entirely of body percussion. It uses stamps, claps, clicks, cheek and thigh slaps and four people playing together, often in pairs. Anyone could make up their own version!
Judith Weir – 1954 – is a British composer who served as Master of the King’s Music and was the first woman to hold this office. To learn more, visit judithweir.com. Tim, our Oboist, loves Judith’s Mountain Airs and says it’s like hearing distant bagpipes floating on the breeze… really sweet and gentle.
George Frideric Handel – 1685 – 1759 was a German-British composer well-known for his operas, oratorios, anthems and concertos.
György Ligeti – 1923 – 2006 was a Hungarian-Austrian composer of contemporary classical music. Fun fact about his Bagatelle’s for wind quintet – they were banned in Soviet Russia for being too wacky! Even though the other five bagatelle sound completely different, this one only uses five notes! C, Eb, E and G.
Adolphus Hailstork – 1941 – is an American composer and educator who studied at Michigan State University. He has written numerous works for chorus, solo voice, piano, organ, various chamber ensembles, band, orchestra and opera. ‘Bassoon Set’ is a fun series of pieces he’s written for solo Bassoon. This one, ‘Vivo’, is short and sweet and very fast – perfect for launching rockets!
Wissam Boustany – 1960 – was born in Lebanon and began his musical studies in Beirut. He moved to Britain in 1977, where he studied at Chetham’s School of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music, where he later became a teacher and taught our very own Meera. ‘And the Wind Whispered’ is one of Meera’s favourite pieces for solo flute! She says:
“This piece takes us all around the world, exploring musical styles from different cultures and the flautist is required to use all kinds of different sounds. Whilst it is a really fun piece to play, the heart of the piece is the message of a shared humanity across the world, regardless of country, culture or language.”
Our French Horn player Ben, has recorded this video introducing Valerie’s piece Red Clay & Mississippi Delta
About the performers:
Meera Maharaj: Flute and Piccolo
Meera enjoys a diverse performing career. Competition successes include first prize in the Royal Academy of Music Flute Competition and Dutch International Flute Competition, plus the Sussex Prize for Woodwind in the 2023 Royal Overseas League competition. Her duo with pianist Dominic Degavino featured as Countess of Munster Recital Scheme, Tunnell Trust and Park Lane Group artists. Since 2013, she has frequently performed with guitarist James Girling, as the Meraki Duo. They won the Concurs Internacional de Música Cambra Flauta & Guitarra. She also plays with harpist, Lucy Nolan as Hathor Duo and co-founded the flexi-ensemble – Meliora Collective. She graduated with Distinction in her Masters, studying with Michael Cox at the Royal Academy of Music. In 2017, she graduated from the RNCM, studying with Wissam Boustany and Laura Jellicoe. Meera has played at the Southbank Centre, Wigmore Hall, Kings Place and at the BBC Proms. She is Co-principal Flute of Chineke! Orchestra
Timothy Keasley: Oboe and Cor Anglais
Tim is an oboist and workshop leader based in Oxford. As an orchestral player, he has performed as Principal Oboe with English Touring Opera, Oxford Philharmonic and Southbank Sinfonia. He has also been broadcast as a concerto soloist on BBC Radio 3. He regularly leads creative projects for Wigmore Hall, the Royal Academy of Music and Southbank Sinfonia working with schools, care homes and early years settings. He has presented family concerts at the Queen Elizabeth Hall at the Southbank Centre, Wigmore Hall, and across the country with Street Orchestra Live in train stations, prisons, parks and libraries.
Benjamin Garalnick: French Horn
At the age of 12 Benjamin started his journey in music through a charity scheme in North-East London. Now 15 years later, he has a fulfilling career in classical music both performing and educating in the communities that helped him on his own life path. Benjamin graduated from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire in 2018 and a year later moved to Beijing to work with Orchestra Academia China where he featured on soundtracks for Chinese television and film. Upon his return to the UK during the pandemic he has found freelance work with Orchestra of the Swan, guested with Southbank Sinfonia, and worked consistently with Chineke! performing with them for Netflix, TFL, Disney, and twice at The BBC Proms so far. Having led educational workshops with their ensemble, he quickly found a passion for educating. Benjamin is now a lead brass mentor with The Chineke! Juniors, Nucleo, and teaches with Hillingdon Music and Wandsworth Music Academy; organisations that are all aligned with his values.
Daria Phillips: Bassoon
Daria began lessons on the mini-bassoon at the age of 7 as part of a council run project. She progressed through the various music ensembles within her borough before joining the music course at Junior Guildhall where she held the Bassoon Scholarship and, in her final year, received the Woodwind Prize. Daria has been invited to play with Chineke! Orchestra, an initiative that aims to promote diversity in classical music-making; on numerous concert tours and recordings. She was a Junior Artist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra (2016-17) mentored by the principal bassoonist, Jonathan Davies. Daria studied in The Hague with Gretha Tuls. She is currently completing her Masters at Guildhall School of Music & Drama. Daria enjoys encouraging young musicians to explore the art form and regularly works as a music mentor with various organisations. She is delighted to be sharing the joy of music alongside her ever joyful MishMash family.
Poppy Beddoe: Clarinets
Poppy studied Music at King’s College London, followed by a Masters at the Royal Academy of Music. As a soloist and a chamber musician, Poppy performs extensively throughout the UK and internationally. In 2021 Poppy released her debut album, Soliloquy with Ulysses Arts which features her own transcriptions of Bach and Hildegard of Bingen. She is the Artistic Director of the Berkshire Chamber Music Festival and an annual concert series in the South of France, and is also the current Artist in Residence of the Clifton International Music Festival. In 2022 Poppy was a visiting artist at the University of Houston, Texas, where she gave solo recitals, a masterclass, premièred commissioned music, and gave lectures on her Bach transcriptions and building a freelance career. Recently she recorded a concerto written for her by Matthew Taylor with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales which will be broadcast on BBC Radio Three in 2023 and released on disc by Toccata Classics.
About the creative team:
Sophie Rivlin: Director
Sophie is a London-based cellist who works primarily as a chamber musician, touring widely across the UK and abroad. Sophie has a particular interest presenting chamber music imaginatively to audiences via the means of theatrical concerts. Her work with MishMash started back in 2015 as a cellist in Hubbub: A Musical Adventure. Although still appearing on stage she is now also the company Creative Director as well as supporting new work as both Musical Director and Associate Director – including our recent coproduction in Sync with Scottish Ensemble. As part of an Arts Council England funded ‘Developing Your Creative Practice’ Award Sophie has recently completed the prestigious Jeunesse Oorkaan Academy training.
In addition to working with MishMash Sophie is a founding member of TROUPE who perform at venues including Wigmore Hall, Snape Maltings and in festivals such as Spitalfields, Oxford Lieder and the SESC Festival Música de Câmara in Brazil.
Alongside this chamber-music theatre work, Sophie plays regularly with various orchestras, contemporary music groups and chamber ensembles including the Oliveros Ensemble. She has also performed with dancers at venues such as the Place and Rich Mix and is featured on several best-selling recordings and on BBC Radio and television. Sophie has a keen interest in education work, teaching the cello and chamber music to students of all ages, doing workshops for orchestras such as ENO and the Aurora orchestra as well as founding the Singing Tree children’s choir in Mumbai, India.
Sophie’s role in the production is to lead the programming (deciding what we play!) and guide the musicians in how best to present each piece for our young audience.