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Cheltenham's
International Festival of Music has always had a reputation for
combining the classical and the contemporary with consummate expertise.
This
year was no exception, with the event that attracted more publicity
than most the première of an interactive symphony written for the
ring tones of 30 mobile phones.
Hear
extracts from the symphony here.
Composer
Simon Turner's aim was to explore the full musical potential of
the mobile phone with an experimental piece using an orchestra of
up to 30 mobile phone users to perform a "New Ring Cycle" .
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| Director
Michael Berkeley put together another exciting festival. |
Marcus
Moore, who hosts the Poetry Slams at the Cheltenham Literature Festival,
said: "The work is supposed to be a bit of fun.
"I
just loved the idea of an orchestra complete with music stands tuning
up, playing in harmony and so on but what they are playing is the
fastest selling musical instrument ever - the mobile phone."
Marcus,
from Cirencester, said: "At all concerts the one mobile phone that
goes off is an anathema - here was one occasion when we could harness
those fascinating tones in a positive way! "
The
core of the work, premiered on July 20, was a performance by the
"Cheltenham SIM-phone-ya", a crack team of mobile-wielding performers
who "played" the ringing tones.
But
this year's music festival featured an impressive international
programme offering far more than just gimmickry, and demonstrating,
as festival director Michael Berkeley puts it, "the perfect
marriage of the cerebral and the emotional.
There
was plenty to enjoy for lovers of two of the world's greatest and
most popular of composers, Bach and Stravinsky, plus world premieres
by John Tavener and Per Norgard, the works of more than 60 other
living composers and the exotic sounds of India and Japan.
Recitals
in the historic setting of the Pittville Pump Room featured the
music of Schumann and a cycle of Beethoven's mid-period string quartets.
The
festival programme also featured exotic opera, early music, chamber
music, and performances by young artists at some of the county's
loveliest churches. Other artists include the BBC Symphony Orchestra,
Emma Kirkby and Anoushka Shankar.
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| Canadian
pianist Angela Hewitt played Bach at the Pump Room. |
There
was also all the fun of the Fringe, Cheltenham's biggest party,
aptly described as "the glue that brings the mainstream festival
and the local community together".
Featuring
everything from dancing
in the streets to events in pubs, clubs and restaurants, the Fringe
kicked off in spectacular style with the now-traditional Picnic
In The Park with firework finale at Pittville Park.
Find
about other Gloucestershire festivals on our festival
listings page.
Are
you organising a county festival? Tell us all about it at gloucestershire@bbc.co.uk
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