The Berkeley Ensemble is a British chamber music ensemble that explores little-known twentieth- and twenty first-century British chamber music alongside a more established repertoire.
Berkeley Ensemble | |
|---|---|
| Origin | UK |
| Genres | Chamber music ensemble |
| Years active | 2008 – present |
| Website | www |
Founded in 2008 by members of Southbank Sinfonia, the ensemble reached the finals of the 2009 Royal Over-Seas League music competition and has since performed regularly in the UK and abroad.[1]
Their recordings and performances are regularly featured in the national press. Their album Lennox Berkeley: Chamber Works was selected by BBC Music Magazine as Chamber Choice in 2015,[2] and Lennox Berkeley: Stabat Mater was nominated for a Gramophone Magazine Classical Music Award in 2017.[3]
The ensemble revived the Cobbett Competition for chamber music composition (as The New Cobbett Competition) in 2014, with Sequenza for string quartet by Samuel Lewis as the first winner.[4]
Since 2016 the Berkeley Ensemble has curated the annual Little Venice Music Festival in London.[5] It celebrated its 10th anniversary with a performance at the Purcell Room in September 2018.[6]
The ensemble is named after the British composers Lennox Berkeley and Michael Berkeley.[1] Its patrons are Michael Berkeley and Petroc Trelawny.
Albums
editThe ensemble has released a number of albums, most notably:
- Cobbett’s Legacy: The New Cobbett Prize for Chamber Music (2019, Resonus Classics) received a 4-star review in The Guardian[7]
- Winter Fragments (2018, Resonus Classics) was praised for the ensemble’s “endlessly responsive playing” by Fiona Maddocks in The Observer[8]
- Stabat Mater: Sacred Choral Music by Lennox & Michael Berkeley (2016, Delphian Records) was nominated for a Gramophone Award[3]
- Lennox Berkeley: Chamber Works (2015, Resonus Classics) received a 5-star review in BBC Music Magazine[9] and positive reviews in the Telegraph[2] and Sunday Times[10]
- Clarion Call: Music for Septet and Octet (2014, Resonus Classics) received positive reviews in The Observer,[11] Gramophone Magazine,[12] The Strad,[13] and Classical Ear.[14]
References
edit- ^ a b "Berkeley Ensemble | Artist Page | Resonus Classics". www.resonusclassics.com. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
- ^ a b "Lennox Berkeley: Chamber Works, review: 'well worth a listen'". The Telegraph. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
- ^ a b "Gramophone Classical Music Awards 2017: the Shortlist". Gramophone. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
- ^ Andrew Clements. 'Cobbett's Legacy: The New Cobbett Prize for Chamber Music', in The Guardian, 1 August 2019
- ^ "About". Little Venice Music Festival. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
- ^ "125419 Berkeley Ensemble at 10 2018". Southbank Centre. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
- ^ Clements, Andrew (1 August 2019). "Cobbett's Legacy: The New Cobbett Prize review | Andrew Clements's classical album of the week". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
- ^ "Home listening: Charlotte Bray, Michael Berkeley and BBC Sounds". the Guardian. 18 November 2018. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
- ^ "L Berkeley". Classical Music. 11 September 2015.
- ^ Pettitt, Hugh Canning, David Cairns, Paul Driver and Stephen. "Classical, May 3". The Sunday Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ "Clarion Call: Works for Septet and Octet review – verve, imagination and jellyfish…". the Guardian. 23 March 2014. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
- ^ "Review". Gramophone. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
- ^ "Clarion Call. M. Berkeley Clarion Call and Gallop. Casken: Blue Medusa. Ferguson: Octet op.4, C. Wood: Septet | Reviews | The Strad". 17 July 2014. Archived from the original on 17 July 2014. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
- ^ "Recent reviews round-up 12 March 2014 | Classical Ear". 23 October 2014. Archived from the original on 23 October 2014. Retrieved 20 September 2020.