Blog

Thursday 5 January 2012

2012 Schedule

A very Happy New Year!

2011 was full of new initiatives and collaborations with old freinds and colleagues. 2012 promisses to be a fascinating period of development in the area of musical archaeology, with further work on the reconstructed Tintignac Carnyx, re-examination of the the acoustics and reconstruction of the Deskford Carnyx, and exploration of what I believe to be their closest living relative: the Karnai of Uzbekistan. In addition there will be all sorts of wonderful things happening with Trio d'ART, Pandora's Box, Red Shift and Tam Lin - so keep checking us out from time to time!

John

Schedule 2012

January 12 to 15

Royal Conservatoire Den Haag, Netherlands.

John Kenny resident at Impro Intensive 2012 Festival, giving recitals and workshops in collaboration with pianist David Dolan and leading improvisers from all over Europe.

http://www.koncon.nl/nl/Nieuws%20en%20concerten/Impro%20Intensive%202012

January 19 to 22

Aveiro, Portugal: ANIMUSIC Organological Congress

John Kenny will give lectures demonstrations and perform The Mouthpiece of The Gods featuring music for Celtic carnyx, Uzbek karnay, trombones, pod trumpets, and conch.

https://sites.google.com/site/animusicpt/httpsitesgooglecomsiteanimusicptintroduo

Friday February 3rd, 8.30pm

The Atrium, Alison House, 12 Nicolson Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9DF. 

John Kenny and George Nicholson premier new works for trombone electronics as part of the 2012 soundings festival:

Saturday February 4th 8.00pm

Fife Jazz Festival: John Kenny performs with the Scottish Swing Orchestra

February 9 to 12

Conservatoire Real, Madrid, Spain.

John Kenny to give a recital and direct as series of masterclasses.

February 27 to March 2

Wroclaw Conservatoire, Poland

John Kenny to direct a series of workshops, and perform a recital including the premier of a new work for solo trombone dedicated to the City of Wroclaw.

March 7th 7.30pm

St. Andrew’s Byre Theatre 

John Kenny & leading jazz trumpeter Colin Steel perform “Robinson” by Richard Ingham: a double concerto for trumpet, trombone, big band and poetry narration

March 14 & 15

"Throat" by John Purser.

Recording complete version of John Purser’s seminal trio “Throat” for soprano, carnyx & percussion, at St Mary’s Walthamstow, London. Sarah Leonard, soprano, Joby Burgess, percussion, John  Kenny, carnyx, in celebration of the composer's 70th birthday.

Saturday 31 March, 7.30 PM

St Paul’s Covent Garden, London Eclectic Voices
Scott Stroman, conductor
John Kenny, trombone

Program:

April 14th, 7.30pm

Mid Argyle Arts Centre

Tam Lin

John Kenny, narrator, trombones, recorder & fujara, Dick Lee, clarinets, recorder & sax and James Ross, piano

May 1 & 2

Guildford University, Surrey

John Kenny will judge the University Brass Prize, and also give a recital and workshop with pianist Clive Williamson.

June 26 to July 3rd

On tour with The Brewhouse: Orkney St Magnus Festival, Northern Ireland, Deal in Kent.

July 4 & 5

Paris International Trombone Festival: John Kenny performs with French flutist Jean-Luc Menet

Program:

July 6 & 7

City of London Festival

HeadSpace Ensemble performs new work by Nigel Osborne

August 13 to 19

Pandora's Box on tour in Scotland

Venues: Hatton Castle, Perthshire, St Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh, Crichton Chapel, Midlothian. Program details and times to be confirmed.

Sunday 30 October 2011

So, what's up Doc?

Life is busy, but full of fascinating projects: in addition to my very full schedule of teaching at Guildhall in London, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow, and St. Mary’s Music School in Edinburgh I am continuing work on a research project with fellow members of La Banda Europa into the relationship of language patterns and musical style and articulation. This took me in August to Slovakia to spend a week with the bagpiper maker and fujara player Ujaj Dufek, and to Bordeaux in September to work with the vielle a roue master Pascal Lefeuvre in September. Both meetings were stimulating and form the basis of future performing collaborations – the next stages will see me working with Armenian Duduk, Zurna, Clarinet and Dahul player Vahe Hovanesian and Roma trumpeter Bojan Petrovic.

Trio d’ART is about to release a short documentary film, shot at the Michael Tippet Centre in Bath during a recording session in July – this will be available for viewing on the Carnyx & Co website shortly (watch this space!), and the sackbut/trombone trio Pandora’s Box (Emily White, Miguel Tantos and myself) will shortly appear as part of the Carnyx & Co project portfolio.

On October 11th the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland hosted a wonderful performance lecture given by Clarence Adoo and Rolf Gelhaar, demonstrating the potential of the Head=Space instrument and setting out our vision, hopes and aspirations for the future. The Opera Studio was packed to capacity, and we even had to turn folk away – the audience included musicians, specialists in the field of spinal injuries, scientists, and organisations and individuals already deeply involved in developing artistic projects for a huge spectrum disablement. HeadSpace Ensemble is living proof of the power of music, given the right tools, to “level the playing field” between disabled and able bodied performers. In addition  to hoping to generate future performances with Clarence and the Head=Space instrument Rolf needs to carry on his development of this wonderful virtual instrument, and we need to find a way to make it available “over the counter” to an international market at a price within reach of a normal domestic pocket. This conference was a tremendous leg-up, and thanks to all at RCS who made it a reality!

Anyone interested in photography might like to take a closer look at the new shots of Pandora’s Box, Carnyx Brass, Emily White and myself on the sleeve booklets of our duo album Secret House (to be released shortly on the Brass Classics Label) and myself playing the carnyx, because all have been taken by the Edinburgh based photographer and sound designer Hugh Beauchamp – I love his work, and anyone who wants to look deeper should go to his website: http://www.hughbeauchamp.com/

For friends and colleagues close to home in Scotland, if you’re free on Sunday 13th November it would be lovely to see you at the Reid Concert Hall at 6pm, when Martin Parker and I are doing a recital featuring a new piece with the wonderfully irreverent title “Grunt Count” for trombone and interactive computer program. Martin and I met up as members of Stephen Deazley’s “Music in the Brewhouse” project, and have been developing duo ideas for some time now, but this is our first official outing as a duo. All welcome!!

So here’s a flavour of the next few months, more details to follow:

Forthcoming Events:

Sunday November 6th, 2011 - 7pm

10th Birthday Event & First Concert in the Norwich 12 Series
http://www.chamberorchestraanglia.co.uk/future-events.html
Chamber Orchestra Anglia Artists

Paul Archibald Trumpet
John Kenny Trombone
Simon Limbrick Percussion
Anonymous Benedictus Domino (8th Century)
John Kenny Fanfare for Headspace
Trad. arr. Limbrick Sumanya
Raul Tudon Toledo Play of Shadows for solo marimba
Trad. arr. Limbrick Awo-Awo
Howard Skempton Arcade for solo drum
Anthony Holborne Three Dances

The Soldier's Tale Stravinsky
Sharon Andrea Choa Conductor
Simon Smith Leader
Nigel Rees Narrator
Narrated by Nigel Rees, presenter of Radio 4's Quote...Unquote

Thursday November 10th, 7.30pm, Newport Riverfront Theatre, Wales:

Final performance of the award the Music Theatre Wales award winning production of the chamber opera“Greek” by Mark Anthony Turnage. For details, contact:

Music Theatre Wales

Pascoe House
54 Bute Street
Cardiff CF10 5AF Tel: 029 2049 8471
General Enquiries:
enquiries@musictheatrewales.org.uk

November 12th, 7 to 8pm

School of Arts and Cultures, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 7RU, United Kingdom.
An evening of new music theatre works developed by students in collaboration with John Kenny during a week long series of workshops.

Sunday 13th November 6pm
Reid Concert Hall, Bristo Square
http://www.ed.ac.uk/maps/buildings/reid-concert-hall
John Kenny and Martin Parker perform works for trombone, carnyx and electronics including the premiere of the trombone version of GruntCount by Martin Parker, Leo Dreaming by John Maxwell-Geddes, and The Voice of the Carnyx by John Kenny.
The performance is part of the Soundings Festival; http://www.music.ed.ac.uk/soundings/

In 2012:

Friday February 3rd, Soundings Festival, The Atrium, Edinburgh University

John Kenny, trombones, George Nicholson, synthesised piano, Martin Parker, sound projectionGeorge Nicholson: Dedans, Gerard Pape: Makbenach IV, plus new works by Vivian Barty Taylor and Martin Parker.

February 9 to 12: Performance, masterclass and workshops at the Conservatoire Real, Madrid, Spain.

February 17 to 19: Trio d’ART in residence at the Newark Brass Festival

February 27 to March 2: Recital, symposium and masterclass at the Wroclaw Conservatoire, Poland.

Wednesday March 7th, Byre Theatre St. Andrew’s:  “Robinson” a poem by acclaimed Scottish poet, Brian Johnstone with music composed by Richard Ingham. Accompanied by the Jazz Studio directed by Richard Ingham, with special guests Colin Steele (trumpet) and John Kenny (trombone).

July 4 & 5, Paris International Trombone Festival: John Kenny & Jean-Luc Menet perform music for trombone, carnyx and flute/alto flute, by Etienne Rolin and John Kenny.

July 6 & 7, City of London Festival: John Kenny directs the HeadSpace Ensemble with Clarence Adoo, in a newly commissioned work by Nigel Osborne.

July 9 to 15, Paris: John Kenny & Gerard Pape developing material for an electro acoustic music theatre work to be premiered in 2013, in collaboration with bass clarinettist Harry Sparnaay.

Best wishes to all our readers!

John Kenny

Monday 26 September 2011

busy busy 2011

Writing from Gatwick Airport waiting to board a flight to Bordeaux seems a good moment to post a long overdue blog! The first half of 2011 seemed to whizz by in a blur of continual travel to teach in London & Glasgow whilst trying to keep up with my own practice and writing. The juggling act seems to be getting harder as I get older - I was frequent taking a night train to London, starting to practice at GSMD by 8am, teach 10 to 5, then practice, write and rehearse until 9pm. Those are long days! However, I love the teaching (if not the travelling) and life is full of wonderful projects as ever:

I've been delighted to play two fascinating projects with Ensemble Modern this year, the first in April a CD album of music by the Kazahk composer Jamillya Jazylbekova, the second a production of Luigi Nono's extraordinary opera Prometeo at the Salzburg Festival. It's always such a pleasure to work with this group, with many friendships going back 25 years, they ALWAYS play with 100% commitment.

Another high point has been the commencement of my research project looking at the influence of language production and accent inflection upon musical style and articulation. I went straight from Salzburg to spend a week at Bojnice in Slovakia with the bagpipe maker and fujara player Juraj Dufek, meeting and playing with musicians steeped in that wonderful carpathian tradition - and encountering one of the oldest wooden lip reed instruments in Europe, the Slovak "trombita". I am now on my way to work with the virtuoso vielle a rue player Pascal Lefeuvre near Bordeaux.

This is my 2nd visit tobordeaux in three weeks: last September I was invited to join the team of archaeologists and scientists working to reconstruct the fabulous Tintignac Carnyx, discovered five years ago on the edge of the dordoigne region. Ten days ago I was over in France to give the first public demonstration of the newly completed 1st reconstruction, by the French craftsman Jean Boisserie. His work is magnificent, a virtuoso demonstration of a lifetime's skill. We now move on to a second reconstruction using entirely original materials - as with the Deskford Carnyx, my task is to breath life into this fabulous beast!

Another pleasure has been taking part in an extended Music Theatre Wales tour of "Greek" by Mark-Anthony Turnage. This chamber opera launched Mark on the international stage in the 1980's and is rightly regarded as a modern classic. This is the best production I've ever seen, with a superb vocal quartet and top class ensemble, it has attracted rave reviews everywhere we've performed.

Monday 27 June 2011

Tam Lin

6 performances at Venue 67, Valvona and Crolla, 19 Elm Row:

August 21, 22: 5.45pm
August 24, 26: 10.30am
August 25: 1pm
August 28: 3pm

Admission £10/£8. Duration 1 hour.

Venue 67 Box Office: 0131 556 7800.

Thursday 13 January 2011

The Secret life of the Trombone

Happy New Year to all our readers! My first exciting performance project of 2011 is the début of a new trio with two of my favourite trombonists: Emily White and Miguel Tantos. We haven't named the group yet (ideas much appreciated) so are currently flying under the banner "Kenny, White and Tantos" - and our first performance will take place in the ancient church of St Martin in the beautiful village of Nibley in Gloucestershire.

Since all three of us have extremely broad musical and artistic tastes, the program will include early music on sackbuts, violin and recorders, contemporary music using all the "tricks of the trade" and solos from each of us. In future we intend to work with both theatrical and multi media elements, but on our first outing it's all about trombone - and the secret life therein.

A special focus is the music of my dear friend Brian Lynn - we will be performing all three of his trios, Steak & Kidney Supper, Ba-Dee-Doo-Dup, and Bachy Things. Written during the Taverners Trombones days, these are justifiably regarded as classics of the trombone repertoire, but it is very rare to hear all three of them in one program!

If you're anywhere near Dursely, Stroud, or Bristol on January 22nd, Nibley is just up the road!

Tuesday 12 October 2010

I love Poland!

Let me mail my colours firmly to the mast: I love Poland!

I'm currently writing in a delightful cellar bar in old Gdansk, having arrived a couple of hours ago and checked into a hotel which was originally a Napoleonic arsenal, and is still attached to Gdansk Conservatoire both as a visiting artists' resort and a commercial enterprise. This is very convenient for me, because I am about to embark on a week of exploratory music theatre workshops for instrumentalists and eurythmics students, leading to a concert next Friday.

This is the 2nd time in less than a month that I have been involved in a fascinating and challenging project in Poland - in September I collaborated in the Gabrieli Consort's astonishing Berlioz Requiem on 10th century instruments in Wroclaw, a southern gem set on islands on the river Oder. Wroclaw is an urbane, relaxed central European city brimming over with culture, and undoubtedly boasting the finest and quirkiest public art I know anywhere in Europe, as well a coffee culture spilling onto stately boulevards of Habsburg grandeur. Their willingness and ability to stage a major event like that Berlioz Requiem betokens a confidence currently is short supply in the uk.

My first visit to Gdansk was last May, when Paul Archibald and I adjudicated their International Brass Competition, joined by Helen Reid in a Trio d'ART recital. My own solo piece "La Belle et la Bette" caused quite a stir, and was clearly the spur for my current invitation.

Gdansk is very different to Wroclaw, an historic Baltic port, once a member of the hanseatic league which dominated northern trade, fought over and occupied by Germany and Russia, rebuilt after 1945 in the image of it's 18th century glory - and the flash point of Lech Walessa & Solidarity's struggle against the Soviet Polish puppet regime in the late '80s, Gdansk can truthfully claim to have started the avalanche which toppled communism. Now host to preponderately German & Russian tourists, stuffed with excellent restaurants and craftsmen working Amber and silver, it is also home to a major performing arts establishment.

And so to bed, perchance to dream... for tomorrow my work begins in earnest!

Tuesday 5 October 2010

John Kenny's Red Shift

Thanks to the indefatigable Bill Kyle, doyen of Scottish jazz producers, Red Shift is proud to be performing as part of the inaugural series of "twin cities" gigs taking place in Glasgow and Edinburgh this autumn. We will be on at the Glasgow Arts Club on Wednesday October 20, and Edinburgh Jazz Bar on Thursday October 21. A new addition to our line up will be Mike Owers (Scottish National Jazz Orchestra, and we'll be hitting out with new music by Chick Lyall, Tom Bancroft, Rick Taylor, and Chris Greive. Please come - tell a friend; if you don't have any friends, tell your enemies!!

EDINBURGH:
The Jazz Bar, 1a Chambers Street, Edinburgh EH1 1HR
Phone 0131 220 4298
Web: www.thejazzbar.co.uk
Email: info@thejazzbar.co.uk

GLASGOW:
Glasgow Art Club, 185 Bath Street (at Blythswood St), Glasgow G2 4HU
Phone 0141 248 5210/5265
Email: manager@glasgowartclub.co.uk
Website: www.glasgowartclub.co.uk

Tuesday 24 August 2010

Dartington 2010

 

I have been teaching and performing at the Dartington International Summer School since 2003, initially as a soloist, one year as part of the Bone Lab team, and subsequently as a member of Trio d’ART with pianist Helen Reid and trumpeter Paul Archibald. Dartington is a magical place; it’s imposing Great Hall set in beautiful and peaceful sculpted woodland gardens is possibly my favourite recital hall anywhere in the world. Every year my week at DISS has been a magical experience, three concerts a day given by world class performers, enthusiastic students of all levels working in an informal but productive atmosphere, exciting new works and often hugely enjoyable multi media events produced by the likes of Stephen Montague or Orlando Gough. But 2010 has been a very special year, because Gavin Henderson, the artistic director who has done so much to ensure the health and survival of this extraordinary even, has retired after 26 years at the helm. Gavin is a remarkable man at every level, a person of indefatigable enthusiasm, huge and varied cultural interests, and above all a visionary artistic strategist; he has succeeded in combining the highest international artistic standards with an utter lack of snobbishness.

One only has to look at the roll call of artists who have gone to Dartington over the years to see that Gavin has been able to attract the most astonishing talent, and both teachers and students have come back time and again, often for almost 30 years. Money doesn’t buy that kind of loyalty – Gavin described it once to me as “a family” and I have been honoured to be a part of that wonderful gathering. This year, Trio d’ART gave yet another world premier, this time of Peter Swan’s new trio, coupled with Juraj Filas’s masterpiece Panta Rei, originally a DISS commission. Virtually every evening for five weeks, fanfares composed as farewell gifts to Gavin were performed including one of my own – and Stephen Montague composed a large scale piece “Gavin Farewell” for winds, brass, percussion and car horns which also featured Paul and myself. It was a wonderful week, the end of an era – Bon Voyage Gavin!!

Photo: Stephen Montague, Paul Archibald, John Kenny, and Gavin Henderson under the arched door of Dartington Great Hall. 

Sunday 1 August 2010

Carnyx Brass at the Malta International Arts Festival, July 5th to 8th.

I have wanted to visit Malta since I was a teenager. This medieval island fortress, steeped in the mysteries of the Knights of Malta, combined with its defiance and resilience in the face of relentless Luftwaffe bombardment during WW2, is today a bustling and densely populated community, with a highly active cultural life. Paul Archibald and I luxuriated in the air conditioned splendour of the Hotel Phoenicia by night, but by day the trio rehearsed in the subterranean garage of Etienne’s family home (our horn player Etienne Cutajar is a native of Malta who now lives and works in Scotland) preparing our festival program for the evening of Thursday 8th July. The midday temperature was soaring to the late 30’s, so we were happy enough to be underground – but by late afternoon we had always done enough playing and went out to play, swimming off the rocks blow Valetta, in a “wine dark and blood warm sea”.

Our recital took place in the magnificent courtyard of the former residence of the Grand Master of the Knights of Malta, surrounded by Baroque splendour, palm trees & vines, tinkling fountains, and wheeling swallows. Our program included both solos and trios, and was very generously received (review below), but one feature that didn’t appear on the program, and which I found enchanting, was the presence of artist Jeni Caruna who painted throughout the entire recital. She worked silently and swiftly, setting down impressions of the performers and performance in strong, dashing swirls of colour – not simple pencil or charcoal sketches, but large painted canvasses. I was delighted to see how well she captured Paul Archibald’s persona – I’ve known Paul for 30 years, and her work reflects his presence better than any photo! To see more of her work, follow this link: www.artistsdirectory.co.uk/GalleryProfile.aspx?a=77

My flight out on July 9th was late evening, planned to give me a whole day of exploration. As luck would have it, one lady in our audience turned out to be an expert on the prehistoric archaeology of Malta – and this is incredibly rich, with Neolithic and Megalithic remains of a quantity and quality uniquely concentrated in several temple sites, giving an insight into a powerful pre-classical and pre-Celtic European culture that can be seen in far flung corners of our continent. Malta is a well spring of this culture, and Clotilde Mifsud acted as my guide for a totally engrossing eight hours. So much to see, so much to discover – here’s to the next time!

Thursday 6 May 2010

Welcome back

As all visitors to the Carnyx & Co website can see, it has been substantially overhauled (and greatly improved) since mid April. In many ways this had been long overdue - but shortly after my return from "The Mystery of Poe" in April, we discovered that our site had been polluted by a hacker, and used to send out vast quantities of spam! We were forced to take the site off the net for nearly two weeks and thoroughly wash it out - I say "we" but apart from re-writing and lots of enjoyable artistic discussion, my thanks go out to Robert Moss, our ever patient and endlessly constructive web developer, who burned all the midnight oil. THANKS Robert!!!

This first blog on the new site is actually an introduction to a Guest Blog. On April 14th I went down to Sheffield University to share an public workshop with composer George Nicholson, who is currently writing a new interactive electro acoustic piece for trombone, which we will premier in November. However, that evening George performed in and directed a tribute concert to the late, great Henri Pousseur, who died recently. My long time friend and colleague John Whiting knew Pousseur well, and I asked him to write about that concert for Carnyx & Co. Here's the result:

On April 12th 2010 at Sheffield University, George Nicholson gave us a rare opportunity to hear live performances of the late great Belgian composer, Henri Pousseur. In George’s programme notes he made much the same point that I had made last year in my Guardian obituary, namely that in several respects he was well ahead of his time:

  1. When his contemporaries were still preoccupied with ringing the changes on serialism, he was returning to more accessible forms that could be both composed and comprehended without the aid of a slide rule.
  2. He anticipated by several years the democratization of composition, creating forms that invited the participation of the performer and even the listener.
  3. He unashamedly incorporated musical quotation with the freedom that renaissance composers enjoyed in their endless adaptations of L’homme armé.

I have two favourite contemporary compositions with whose performance I was intimately involved. One was Pousseur’s Tales and Songs from the Bible of Hell, for which I assembled the pre-recorded tape; the other was Luciano Berio’s Sinfonia for symphony orchestra and double vocal quartet, for which I frequently amplified the voices. Both of them made constant and highly inventive use of musical quotation: Pousseur of Dowland’s Flow my tears and Berio of (among others) Mahler’s second symphony. From George I learned of the remarkable connection between them, which was "[Pousseur’s] system of harmonic nets, by which means he could integrate the characteristic harmony of any historical period into an all-embracing musical world. (At about the same time Berio consulted him about his methods and came away with the confidence to write the Mahler‑based movement of his own Sinfonia...)"

George and I share the privilege of having known and worked with Henri years ago. My own experience goes back to 1978 when his long association with Electric Phoenix began; George’s was even earlier in 1966-7 in Durham University Summer School sessions on 20th century music and a couple of years later after an SPNM Birmingham session when he had Henri all to himself on a three-hour return train journey. Neither of us will ever forget his passionate enthusiasm, always simmering just below the surface, and his readiness to share it.

We also share an incredulous indignation that, down through the years, Henri has been so neglected in Britain, and both of us have been able to make a small contribution towards remedying the situation. This concert was a veritable jewel box of glittering gems, giving us a chance to hear him from the multi-faceted perspectives of structured improvision, multi-media (Votre Faust as originally conceived) and a richly embroidered eclecticism that wove the musical fragments into a tapestry so totally integrated as to suggest that their composers must have been awaiting such an apotheosis.

In addition we had a piano solo from George that paid eloquent tribute to Gerry Mulligan in a timeless flow of variations on a six-part chord that was like listening on a really good high, in which you could stop the music in your head and concentrate on a single harmonization before allowing it to move on. (Back in the 60s I had such an experience with a Bach organ fugue, but that’s another story . . .)

©2010 John Whiting