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An Individual Spirituality
Contemporary music from London's
Trinity Laban Conservatoire,
heard by MALCOLM MILLER
Wailing chants of the Siksika, or Blackfoot, Indian tribe in Canada formed the musical inspiration for a stirring and strikingly original new viola concerto Siksika by the British composer Benjamin Ellin, given a riveting European première by the outstanding virtuoso Rivka Golani on 15 March 2011. The concerto formed the centrepiece of an imaginatively conceived programme entitled 'Postcard From ...' which explored the interaction of traditional/regional and contemporary/international elements in music from Australia, Poland, Estonia, the UK and Hungary, all beautifully performed at a concert by the String Ensemble of the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, a student orchestra conducted zestfully by Nic Pendlebury, at a well filled St George's Church, Bloomsbury. The richly resonant acoustics of St George's, one of Hawksmoor's six London churches, enhanced the String Ensemble's vivid sonorities, whilst the complex and demanding contemporary programme underlined their winning combination of professionalism and enthusiasm.
Benjamin Ellin composed his concerto Siksika for Rivka Golani who premiered it at the Fort Macleod International Festival in Alberta, Canada in 2010...
Copyright © 22 March 2011
Malcolm Miller,
London UK
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