SCOTTISH OPERA APPOINTS MUSIC ADVISER

World-famous baritone Sir Thomas Allen has been appointed Music Adviser to Scottish Opera. He will provide high level input and advice on musical and artistic matters while the Company continues the process of recruiting a Music Director.

A graduate of the Royal College of Music, Sir Thomas made his performing debut at the Royal Opera House in 1971 and quickly became world-renowned for his portrayal of the great lyric baritone roles, in particular for the title role in Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Greatly in demand on the international concert stage, extensive recordings have been made of his work many of which are regarded as definitive. In 1999, he was awarded a Knighthood for services to opera. 

He made his opera directing debut in 2003 with Britten’s Albert Herring for the Royal College of Music, and has gone on to form a close association with Scottish Opera in recent years, directing four critically acclaimed productions: Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, and Mozart’s trio of masterpieces The Marriage of Figaro, The Magic Flute and Don Giovanni.

At the beginning of 2014, he became only the ninth person to be awarded a Queen’s Medal for Music, an honour recognising outstanding contribution to the musical life of Great Britain.

Scottish Opera General Director Alex Reedijk said ‘Tom is a master of the artform and a talented musician and his phenomenal experience in the world of opera - singing, teaching and directing - will be a great asset to the Company. The work he has done with us over the last seven years means he has an invaluable insight and understanding of Scottish Opera and I am looking forward to working with him in this new role.’

Sir Thomas Allen said ‘For some time over the past few years, working with Scottish Opera in a directorial capacity has allowed me to confirm a lot of what I'd already suspected. There is, both in the head office at Elmbank and my regular place of work in the rehearsal studio, a spirit and willingness to collaborate that is hard to find anywhere. I've loved being a part of that feeling and it makes me very happy to accept an advisory position with the company and to play a part in its future.’

In addition to his international career in opera, Sir Thomas is Chancellor of Durham University, and Patron of Samling Academy, which identifies and nurtures the talents of emerging classical musicians from or studying in the North East of England.

art screen this week

The BBC’s arts documentary festival Art Screen gets underway tomorrow, Thursday 10th April, welcoming leading names from the worlds of film, broadcasting, art and music including Julien Temple, Jarvis Cocker, Kirsty Wark, Jeremy Deller and Andrew Graham-Dixon.   Boasting a diverse programme, Art Screen will screen the world premiere of Rio as its opening film on Thursday 10th April, in which acclaimed filmmaker Julien Temple returns to our screens with an exhilarating look at Rio de Janeiro, as it’s on the cusp of hosting two of the world’s most high-profile events later this year and in 2016. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Julien Temple, hosted by Kirsty Wark.   Programme highlights also include an exclusive Q&A with Brit-pop legend Jarvis Cocker following the film screening of The Big Melt on Friday 11th April, co-directed by Martin Wallace and a specially-selected documentary by legendary Hollywood director Martin Scorsese on Saturday 12th April, Italianamerican.     Taking place as part of Glasgow International 2014, Art Screen takes place in two of Glasgow’s renowned art spaces, Glasgow Film Theatre and Centre for Contemporary Arts from the 10th-13th April 2014. Art Screen will also show two world premieres of documentaries about Glasgow; Our Glasgow on Saturday 12th April, is produced by frieze magazine co-editor Jennifer Higgie and part of their frieze Video strand, and will lead the celebrations of Glasgow as a unique hub of creativity. And in the week the new Reid Building at The Glasgow School of Art is officially opened, Art Screen will screen the world premiere of the BBC documentary Facing Up to Mackintosh on Sunday 13th April, which charts the ultimate architectural challenge – how to design a building to sit opposite a Mackintosh masterpiece.   The CCA venue will screen the Arts in the Archives strand, offering an exclusive and unmissable collection of highlights looking back at television arts documentary making at the BBC, throughout its history. The venue will also host What Is The Art of The Arts Documentary?- a panel discussion chaired by broadcaster Kirsty Wark and featuring artist Jeremy Deller, award-winning film-makers Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard and broadcasters and art critics Andrew Graham Dixon and Tim Marlow. Art Screen at Night at the CCA follows each day of screenings and events with three nights of exclusive music and performances from special guests including a DJ set and live visuals from Jonnie Wilkes and Torsten Lauschmann on Saturday 12th April at 22:30.

PEEP/ANATOMY

I'll get around to making salacious comments about this later. In the meantime, another unedited press release which might be of interest to any performers....

PEEP/ANATOMY

…though keyholes of flesh…

Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2013, 7-9pm

Assembly at George Square Gardens

CALLOUT FOR PROPOSALS

ANATOMY is proud to announce a unique collaboration with Natural Shocks to curate a season of experimental performances inside PEEP, in George Square Gardens as part of Assembly’s Fringe programme.

PEEP is a brave new space: it was premiered at the Pleasance last year with a repertoire of theatre, but is expanding in 2013 to a full program of theatre, dance, cabaret, sound installation and live art. The audience are seated in private booths peeping on the unfolding show – but the artists can’t see them. It’s a peepshow, but definitely “not for the raincoat brigade” (The Guardian).

We are looking for exiting proposals of durational performances that capitalise on the venue’s unique spacing and connotations. Voyeurism, intimacy, the unseen, sex, gender, the body – we would actively encourage practitioners of all live art and performance to consider their discipline welcome and to engage with the space, theme and their own relation to the audience experience.

Accepted pieces may be programmed for 1-3 two hour slots over the course of August; please indicate in the form your interest in multiple performances, whether your work requires multiple performances to be fully played out, and what your availability is in August.

Entrance for each performance will be sold at £2 to encourage diverse audiences to sample PEEP; we anticipate high audience throughput, with audiences peeping in on just part of each performance, so proposals should keep this context in mind. Box office takings will be split 70/30 in the artist’s favour, net of all venue charges. Projected financial breakdowns are available on request.

More Bad News From The Credit Crunch

I fear that this is going to become a regular column on the blog, in which I present a press release from a venue that is either closing or under threat. After shedding a tear for The Brew House (which resides in what was once my favourite place in Wessex, Taunton), Hackney Wick's interestingly named ]performance s p a c e [ is getting worried.

Put into a panic by the conformation of the closure of Stoke Newington International Airport and the Old Vic Tunnels - in one of these cases, the old enemy of the arts, "development of the area" was mentioned - ]performance s p a c e [ is renewing its call for public support. 

I have little to add to the press release, so time for some cut and paste. If I don't write an original article soon, though, I'll get mistaken for a national newspaper. 

Due to the fast paced gentrification taking place in Hackney Wick, faces the same fate and desperately needs your help, now. ]performance s p a c e [ need to raise £6000.00 immediately and are running a crowd-funding campaign: I ♥ ]ps[ (please see HERE) and a series of workshops (please see HERE). The capital raised through these two initiatives is a the finale drive to save the organisation from closure.

]performance s p a c e [ is an entirely unfunded, artist led organisation and the only, performance art specific, studio and exhibition space in the UK. Radical, and challenging, they programme the work you seldom see anywhere else. They are partners of Live Art UK, the national network of Live Art promoters and to date have programmed performance, film, symposiums and workshops from artists such as: Ron Athey, Franko B, Amanda Coogan, Alastair MacLennan, Kira O'Reilly, Sheree Rose, Manuel Vason, members of Black Market International along with a plethora of emerging and mid career performance artists such as: Sinead O’Donnell, jamie lewis hadley, Benjamin Sebastian, Bean, Poppy Jackson, Hugh O’Donnell, Martin O’Brien, Dani Ploeger, Nicola Canavan & Lynn Lu. In a letter of support, Lois Keidan (Director, Live Art Development Agency) wrote:

“We see ]performance s p a c e [ as a critical partner whose contribution to the cultural landscape of the UK cannot be overestimated.” and as “...absolutely vital to a healthy culture and to the research and development of new artists, ideas and discourses.”

Flaneur zine recently interviewed the directors, Bean and Benjamin Sebastian. You can read  the interview HERE.

]performance s p a c e [ has continuously programmed new artists and maintained open access through FREE admission to ALL core programming. ]performance s p a c e [ supports hundreds of marginalised artists, nationally and internationally, all for the direct benefit of UK audiences, yet is being neglected by both local and national cultural bodies and funding organisations. To date, the organisation has had a total of six funding bids rejected by major funding bodies and despite regular requests, no support from local authorities.

This one of a kind artist led initiative needs your help NOW or it will close by April.

Don’t let another unique art space disappear.

I ♥ ]ps[- Please donate