Contemporary Music at NNF10

Michael Nyman & David McAlmont, John Cale, John McLaughlin and many others provide new music for the UK’s oldest city festival

The Norfolk & Norwich Festival (NNF) may be the oldest city based arts festivals in the country but for 2010 it features a bang up to date and richly varied programme of new and contemporary music that includes world premières, exhilarating jazz, contemporary classics, a classic rock album and ice cream vans. The Festival runs from 7 – 22 May.

The CD release of The Glare was one of the musical highlights of 2009, bringing together the dream pairing of composer Michael Nyman andDavid McAlmont, possessor of one of British pop music’s most sublime voices. On 7 May NNF reunites them to perform songs from the album live with Nyman’s band.

Antonio Forcione(7 May) has been described as ‘the Jimi Hendrix of the acoustic guitar’ but with his quartet of percussion, cello and double bass he creates a breathtaking trail all of his own with joyful excursions into jazz, Spanish, African and improvised music.

Five-star sell out sensation torch singer Camille O’Sullivan brings her extraordinary stagecraft to highly individual interpretations of songs by the like of Jacques Brel, Nick Cave, Tom Waits and David Bowie. She appears at NNF with her expressive 5-piece band on 9 May.

The Sargasso Trioare a Norwich based band mixing latin beats with electronica, folk, alt-country and playing more instruments between the three of them than most bands with two or three times their number would attempt. They are label mates with Groove Armada and Tom Vek and play a hometown show for NNF on 9 May.

Yorkshire-man John McLaughlinhas become one of the world’s foremost jazz guitarists since performing with the legendary Miles Davis on seminal recordings like In A Silent Way and Bitches Brew. In February he won a Grammy for his collaboration with Chick Corea and his new album On The One is released in April. He performs at NNF with his powerhouse electric band 4^th Dimension on 12 May.

Sisters Bianca and Sarah Casady are CocoRosie. Their music is inventive, irreverent and highly individual with such mavericks as Antony Hegarty and Devandra Banhart lining up to contribute to their ‘freak-folk’ ethereal love songs. The unique atmosphere of NNF’s intimate Spiegeltent will suit them perfectly on 13 May.

Classically trained John Cale has been one of the major figures in rock and avante-garde music since the mid sixties. Since leaving The Velvet Underground, which he co-founded with Lou Reed, he has worked with a virtual who’s-who of influential cult artists including Patti Smith, Nick Drake, Eno, Siouxsie Sioux, Iggy Pop, LCD Soundsystem and many others. His own solo recordings vary vastly in style from modern classical to rock and pop and 1973’s richly poetic Paris 1919 is a pinnacle of literary melancholic songs with lush orchestrations. He will be revisiting the songs from this landmark recording with band and orchestral musicians in Norwich on 14 May.

As the nine French musicians who comprise Zic Zazou take the stage bottles of red wine, chair legs and all manner of objects are transformed into musical instruments before your eyes creating joyous, fresh and totally unique musical theatre. Echoes of Tati, Zappa, Chaplin, Pierre Henry, Spike Jones and Edgare Varese can be heard amidst recycled punk, art rock, hybrid musette and brass band sounds. Some of France’s most distinguished virtuoso musicians and composers are in the band who appear on 14 and 15 May.

Saxophonist Jason Yarde appears with his stripped down Trio WAH! On 17 May. He writes and plays music that has been described as powerful, spiritual, evocative, rhapsodic, hair-raising and formidable and won the Contemporary Jazz Composition category at the recent British Composer Awards. He is a regular in the bands of jazz legends like McCoy Tyner and Sam Rivers.

Singer and songwriter Gwyneth Herbert is inspired as much by Janis Ian and Joni Mitchell as by those more associated with jazz and will be performing her witty, captivating vignettes on 19 May.

Norwegian’s Arve Henriksen and Jan Bang are the latest in a line of composers to write new work for The Voice Project Choir that includes Barbara Thompson, Andy Sheppard, Jon Hassell, Gwilym Simcock and Dennis Rollins. Trumpeter Henriksen and sampler/DJ Bang will collaborate with The Voice Projects co-director Jonathan Baker to create Recording Angel for the 120-voice open access choir. The musicians will perform the world premier alongside the choir and soloists on 21 May.

Another world première is Music For Seven Ice Cream Vans, the amazing creation of composer, sound designer and theatre director Dan Jones that will reach thousands of people at once. As dusk falls on 21 and 22 May a septet of ice-cream vans will weave spellbinding harmonies as their chimes call out to one another and the population of Norwich, starting at Norwich’s Mile Cross, the oldest council estate in England.

James Hunteris endorsed by no less an authority than Van Morrison who has described him as ‘one of the best voices, and best-kept secrets, in British R'n'B and Soul.’ His relaxed yet passionate vocal performances will provide a perfect Friday night of dancing at The Spiegeltent on 21 May.

Die Roten Punkteare dysfunctional German siblings Otto and Astrid, who have been described as a lipstick smeared, tantrum loving sonic collision between punk rock and Eurovision, or Spinal Tap meets Eddie Izzard in stand-up mode. They close NNF’s Spiegeltent programme in hilarious style with three nights of musical mayhem from 20 – 22 May.

Further information/images/review tickets from Steve Forster at sfp, 01603 661459 steve@sfppr.co.uk

Norfolk & Norwich Festival Artistic Director Jonathan Holloway and Executive Director Matt Burman are available for comment.

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Full listings follow.

Listings Info: Norfolk & Norwich Festival 2010

Festival Box Office 01603 766400 www.nnf10.org.uk

£5 tickets available for under 25s

 

7 May, 8pm

MICHAEL NYMAN AND DAVID MCALMONT - THE GLARE

Norfolk & Norwich Festival at Norwich Theatre Royal £36, £26, £21, £16, £6

 

7 May, 7pm

ANTONIO FORCIONE QUARTET

Norfolk & Norwich Festival at Norwich Playhouse £17

 

8 May, 1pm & 3pm

SOUTHERN COMFORT JAZZ BOAT - DixieMix Jazz Band £12

 

9 May, 8pm

CAMILLE O’SULLIVAN

Norfolk & Norwich Festival at Norwich Theatre Royal £23, £19, £15, £9, £6

 

9 May, 8pm

SARGASSO TRIO

Norfolk & Norwich Festival at Norwich Arts Centre £7

 

9 May, 1pm & 3pm

SOUTHERN COMFORT BLUES CRUISE - Michael Messer £12

 

12 May, 8pm

JOHN MCLAUGHLIN AND THE 4TH DIMENSION

Norfolk & Norwich Festival at Norwich Theatre Royal £31, £26, £21, £16, £6

 

13 May, 10.30pm

COCOROSIE

Norfolk & Norwich Festival at The Festival Spiegeltent £17.50

 

14 / 15 May, 5pm & 8pm

ZIC ZAZOU: THE MECHANICIANS

Norfolk & Norwich Festival at Norwich Playhouse £10.00, Under 16s - £6

 

14 May, 8pm

JOHN CALE - WHEN PAST AND FUTURE COLLIDE, Paris 1919

Norfolk & Norwich Festival at Norwich Theatre Royal £40, £35, £30, £20, £6

 

15 / 16 May, 5pm

SOUTHERN COMFORT BLUES CRUISE – Mark Flanagan £12

 

17 May, 8pm

JASON YARDE’S TRIO WAH!

Norfolk & Norwich Festival at Norwich Playhouse £17

 

19 May, 8pm

GWYNETH HERBERT

Norfolk & Norwich Festival at Norwich Playhouse £17

 

20/21/22 May, 8pm

DIE ROTEN PUNKTE

Norfolk & Norwich Festival at The Festival Spiegeltent £10

 

21 May – 22 May, 7.30pm-9.30pm

MUSIC FOR SEVEN ICE CREAM VANS

Norfolk & Norwich Festival on the streets of Miles Cross estate

 

21 May, 8pm

ARVE HENRIKSEN AND JAN BANG WITH THE VOICE PROJECT CHOIR

Norfolk & Norwich Festival at Norwich Cathedral £19, £14, £10, £7

 

21 May, 10.30pm

JAMES HUNTER

Norfolk & Norwich Festival at The Festival Spiegeltent £15

 

22 May, 1pm

SOUTHERN COMFORT JAZZ BOAT - DixieMix Jazz Band £12

 

Notes for editors

Norfolk & Norwich Festival works to harness the transformational power of culture and the arts to engage with audiences and communities throughout the East of England and beyond. It produces the international arts festival for the East of England, programming world class music, theatre, dance, circus, visual arts and children’s events for 16 days each May and delivers Creative Partnerships, the government’s flagship creative learning programme in 49 schools in Norfolk and Norfolk Open Studios, one of the UK’s largest and most successful open studios schemes.

Norfolk & Norwich Festival10 is made possible through support from Arts Council England East, Norfolk County Council and Norwich City Council, has National Express East Anglia as its principal sponsor and its MG Free outdoor programme is sponsored by May Gurney.