 Northern Sinfonia Chamber Orchestra
Northern Sinfonia, acknowledged as one of Europe's
finest chamber orchestras, performs major concert series in Newcastle, Carlisle and
Teesside. From its base in Newcastle upon Tyne, the Orchestra acts as cultural ambassador
for the North of England through regular national and international touring. Recent tours
have included festivals in France and Spain and most recently Bombay and Germany, when the
Orchestra was joined by percussionist Evelyn Glennie.
In 2002 Northern Sinfonia will become resident in a new sixty million pound music
centre situated in Gateshead, on the south bank of the Tyne. The centre, designed by
Foster & Partners, will include concert halls of acoustic excellence, other
performance and rehearsal spaces and a new music education centre. Lead partners in the
project alongside Northern Sinfonia are Gateshead Council, Folkworks and Northern Arts.
Recordings and broadcasts form an integral part of the Orchestra's work. Recent CD
releases include Five Bagatelles for Naxos and Finzi's Clarinet Concerto,
which won the Classic CD award for the Best Concerto Recording for 2000. This was preceded
by the Orchestra's recording of Diana Burrell's music for ASV, which received a Classic CD
Living Composer award.
Recent releases from the Sinfonia have been Field's Piano Concerto (Vol.2), for
Naxos, featuring Benjamin Frith and Associate Conductor David Haslam and Mahler's
Symphony No.4, arranged for chamber ensemble by Erwin Stein. Future release this
summer will include the final sequel in the complete field piano concerto and
Handel’s Concerto Grossi directed by Bradley Creswick.
Augmenting the orchestra's work by widening the repertoire for both recordings and
concerts is The Sinfonia Chorus. Formed in 1973, The Chorus is made up of amateurs
from all walks of life committed to the quality expected when singing with an
internationally renowned professional orchestra.
Complementing concert activity, the Sinfonia also has a wide-ranging education and
community programme featuring a whole spectrum of activities from training schemes and
orchestras for amateur musicians through to residencies encompassing projects in schools,
hospitals, centres for people with special needs and residential homes. Northern Sinfonia
also runs an associated youth orchestra, Young Sinfonia, providing unparalleled
opportunities for talented young musicians throughout the North of England.
In February 1998 Northern Sinfonia launched 'Vaganza' - a new music ensemble
dedicated to the regular performance of major twentieth century classics, revisiting
exciting contemporary repertoire and introducing challenging new work. Providing a
platform for today's composers, the group commissions two composers a year. Vaganza made
its London debut at the Spitalfields Festival in June 1998 and appeared at the
Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival that autumn.
In Spring 2000 Vaganza will tour the UK on a Contemporary Music Network Tour when they
will perform a new commission from Northumbrian Piper Kathryn Tickell for pipes and
chamber orchestra, alongside works by John Casken, Stravinsky, Adams and Messiaen.
Northern Sinfonia's artistic team includes distinguished and creative associations
with Heinrich Schiff, Honorary Guest Conductor; Richard Hickox, Conductor Emeritus; John
Casken, Composer in Association and Baldur Brönnimann, Young Conductor in Association
Northern Sinfonia on Guild Music
Page revised 03.09.2000
| 
