Aberdeen’s acclaimed Sound Festival – will return later this year to support and highlight “endangered” instruments.
Since 2017, the festival – which champions new music – has been focusing on lesser-known instruments, starting with the bassoon followed by the viola, the oboe, the horn and the double bass.
For 2022, the festival will bring these five instruments together.
Former artists-in-residence Garth Knox (viola, 2018), Nicholas Daniel (oboe, 2019) and Ben Goldschieder (horn, 2020) will return and will be joined by Emily Hultmark (bassoon) and Elise Dabrowski (double bass).
Each musician will give a recital in addition to coming together in a concert featuring specially-commissioned works by Daniel Kidane, Electra Perivolaris and Lisa Robertson.
Focusing on five unusual instruments
Also returning to Sound Festival this year is the virtuoso Breton piper, Erwan Keravec. In addition to giving a solo recital, Keravec will be part of a major community project and will perform with his quartet, Sonneurs, making its UK debut in a concert featuring the world premiere of a new work by Laura Bowler.
Sonneurs brings together the instruments of the Breton piping tradition: the historic bombard (a precursor of the oboe), biniou kozh (one of the earliest Breton bagpipe) and the Scottish bagpipes along with the specially invented trélombarde (played by Erwan’s brother Guénolé) which acts as a counterpoint to the pipes and bombard.
Among the commissions to be showcased at this year’s festival will also be a new piano quintet from Sir James MacMillan which the music festival has co-commissioned with Haddo Arts, Cheltenham Music Festival and Spitalfields Music.
Sound Festival will run from October 26 to 30 in venues across the city with a programme of concerts, composition and performance workshops as well as family events.
Sound Festival to welcome talented musicians to Aberdeen
Fiona Robertson, director of Sound Festival, said: “This year we will conclude our focus on endangered instruments in series of solo performances and with a very special concert bringing together all five instruments in works we have commissioned for this very unusual ensemble from three young and exciting composers.
“Through the concerts, composition workshops, focus days and events with young people, we hope that over the years we have helped to raise awareness of the special qualities of these five instruments and encouraged more young people to consider taking them up.”
Full details of the 2022 Sound Festival will be announced later in the summer.
Conversation