News

Bath Festivals is delighted to announce the appointment of Alasdair Nicolson as Artistic Director of Bath International Music Festival.   He will succeed Joanna MacGregor, who delivers her seventh and final festival in 2012. Alasdair will begin working with the Festival from February 2012, delivering his first programme in May 2013. He will be the Artistic Director for a minimum of three years.

Alasdair is an acclaimed composer whose work has been presented and broadcast internationally, with commissions and premieres in recent years with the London Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Nash Ensemble and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.  He is currently Artistic Director of the St Magnus International Festival in the Orkney Islands, and has led many other projects and festivals, including the Northlands Festival in Scotland and Sound Inventors, a national scheme for engaging young people with composition. He has also worked in theatre, dance, opera and on the concert platform, as well as writing music for television and film.   His appointment follows in Bath International Music Festival’s long tradition of leadership by practising artists, bringing both a particular creative sensibility to the role, and a direct practical understanding of the needs and interests of musicians.  As a composer, Alasdair’s work ranges from large-scale orchestral pieces, to operas performed by local communities, to scores for theatre shows in London’s West End.   He has a passionate commitment to engaging new audiences, and to supporting younger musicians and composers.   Some of his recent projects include an opera in Gaelic for the community on the Isle of Skye, and a large-scale performance of Mozart’s requiem bringing musicians and singers together from all over Scotland.   He also leads the composition course for young professional composers at St Magnus International Festival.  

Jane Drabble, Chair of Bath Festivals said “I am delighted to welcome Alasdair to Bath Festivals’ team of superb artistic directors.  He has exactly the skills and experience to build on Joanna MacGregor’s fantastic artistic achievements, as well as to grow the Music Festival’s engagement with our community.”

Alasdair Nicolson, said “I am excited to be joining the team of this wonderful festival and looking forward to starting programming. The city of Bath and its surrounding areas are so rich in history and architecture, and the Festival itself has a long tradition of music old and new. I can’t wait to get started bringing some of these things together as I begin to create the programme for my first festival in 2013.”

Alasdair’s first Bath International Music Festival will take place from 29 May to 9 June 2013, building on the Festival’s strong reputation for the excellence, diversity, innovation and inclusivity of its programme.

We are pleased to announce a series of two classical music concerts taking place in conjunction with the BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime and Live in Concert series. On Tuesday 27th March we welcome both The Escher String Quartet and Elisabeth Leonskaja to the Assembly Rooms in Bath to perform works written by Schubert.

The Escher String Quartet has received acclaim for its individual sound, unparalleled artistry and unique cohesiveness. The ensemble takes its name from Dutch graphic artist M.C. Escher and draws inspiration from the artist’s method of interplay between individual components working together to form a whole. They are one of the BBC’s ‘New Generation Artists’ for 2010-2012, a scheme that exists to nurture young musical talent.

Their lunchtime programme opens with Schubert’s String Trio in B Flat, an incomplete composition written in his nineteenth year, which demonstrates his youthful sparkle alongside his respect for the music of the Viennese masters. In contrast his String Quartet in A Minor, composed in his later years, seems almost a beautiful elegy for his lost youth. Hauntingly melancholic, it earns its nickname from the beginning of the Second Movement as it is based on a theme from the incidental music he had recently written for the play Rosamunde.

Elisabeth Leonskaja is thought of as one of the most celebrated pianists of our time. Her charismatic, passionate and intelligent playing has gained her international acclaim, and over the years she has been recognised as a well-nigh unsurpassable Schubert specialist.

Here she will be performing Schubert’s last two Piano Sonatas, composed during the final year of his life. Neglected during the 19th Century, it was only around the centenary of Schubert’s death that these pieces began to receive serious critical attention and acclaim. They are now regarded as essential works of the classical piano repertoire.

These performances will be broadcast live by BBC Radio 3 in the Radio 3 Live in Concert & Lunchtime Concert strand. Tickets for both the Lunchtime and Evening Concert are available now from Bath Box Office website or by calling 01225 463362.