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Total Immersion: Brian Ferneyhough

with the BBC Symphony Orchestra

Saturday 26 February 2011, 11am

Barbican, Silk Street, London EC2Y 8DS
part of the BBC SO 2010-11 Barbican Season series

Brian Ferneyhough leads this season's Total Immersion pack into action. Although the breathtaking energy and spontaneity of his music defy conventional description, one critic came close to the mark by styling the thrilling complexities of one of Ferneyhough's chamber works as being like 'a mosh pit for the mind'. Fellow composer Julian Anderson and BBC Radio 3's Tom Service will serve as Ferneyhough guides for the day, introducing Total Immersion listeners to both concerts and their beguiling contents.

11.00AM TALK AND FILM
Mozart Room

Brian Ferneyhough
Time & Motion Study II

Tom Service introduces the music of Brian Ferneyhough, followed by a filmed performance of Ferneyhough’s piece for cello, Time and Motion Study II.

UK , 2007, Dir. Colin Still, 47mins

Admission by free ticket only. Limited availability but admission guaranteed with a Day Pass. Please note that the Mozart Room does not have raked seating and some viewing may be restricted.

1.00PM CONCERT
Barbican Hall

Brian Ferneyhough
Second String Quartet
Sonatas for String Quartet

Quatuor Diotima

“I find beautiful whatever stimulates, brings forth positive inner turmoil, makes me feel momentarily more intelligent, spiritual, etc., than I otherwise am,” Ferneyhough observes. His desire to step from the everyday into an extraordinary world of multifaceted thought is powerfully etched into the fabric of the works in this programme. Sonatas for String Quartet (1967) marked the ambitious departure point for Ferneyhough’s journey on the mind, its 20 movements rich in textural contrasts and expressive silences. The Second String Quartet (1980) magnifies the intensity of the composer’s thought and density of ideas in a score of beguiling complexity.

With introductions from Julian Anderson and Brian Ferneyhough.

Tickets £12

3.30PM TALK
Mozart Room

Brian Ferneyhough in conversation with Tom Service about his life and music. Plus a performance by Matthew Featherstone from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama of Cassandra's Dream for solo flute.

Admission by free ticket only. Limited availability but admission guaranteed with a Day Pass.

5.30PM FREE CONCERT
Music Hall, Guildhall School of Music & Drama

New works by composition students from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, performed by an ensemble of musicians from the BBC SO and the Guildhall School. Plus Ferneyhough's Lemma-Icon-Epigram for solo piano performed by Richard Uttley.

7.00PM CONCERT
Barbican Hall

Brian Ferneyhough
La Terre est un homme
Carceri d’invenzione III
Missa Brevis
Plötzlichkeit (UK premiere)

BBC Symphony Orchestra
Martyn Brabbins conductor
James Morgan conductor
BBC Singers

With introductions from Julian Anderson and Brian Ferneyhough

Tonight’s Total Immersion concert spans the broad gamut of Ferneyhough’s invention, from the Missa brevis for 12 solo singers of 1969 to the UK premiere of Plötzlichkeit , a 20-minute masterpiece for large orchestra. The programme also includes a rare chance to hear the third part of his Carceri d’Invenzione cycle, a seminal work of the 1980s inspired by Piranesi’s etchings of imagined dungeons and infernal places of imprisonment. Discover the multiform artistic influences and ideas behind the work of a composer who represents the antithesis of the predictable, the enemy of the routine.

Tickets £24 £20 £16 £12 £8

Save money and guarantee entry to all events with a Total Immersion: Brian Ferneyhough Day Pass. There is a choice of pass, reflecting the range of ticket prices for the evening concert. Available by telephone or in person only.

Day Pass £29 £26 £22 £19 £1 6

Click here for details of Ferneyhough: a symposium organised by: Kingston University London; Institute of Musical Research, School of Advanced Study, University of London; Goldsmiths, University of London; Royal Holloway, University of London

How to get there
- By tube
  - The nearest Underground station is Barbican, on the Circle, Metropolitan and Hammersmith & City lines.To reach the Barbican,exit the station and cross Aldersgate Street in front of you. Walk through the road tunnel (Beech Street) before taking the first turning right into Silk Street. The Barbican is straight ahead of you. Alternatively, exit the station using the stairs to the first floor, crossing the road using the footbridge before following the signs to the Barbican. Other Underground stations nearby are Moorgate, St Paul's, Bank, Liverpool Street and Mansion House.
- By bus
  - Bus Route 153 stops outside the Barbican in Silk Street. Starting from outside Liverpool Street Station, it runs daily to the Barbican, Angel and Finsbury Park. Other services running near the Barbican are as follows: 8, 11, 23, 26, 35, 42, 43, 47, 48, 55, 56, 76,78, 100, 133, 141, 149, 172, 214, 242, 243, 271, 344 (7 days a week); 4, (Mon-Sat); 21, 25, 521 (Mon-Fri).
- By train
  - The nearest rail stations are Liverpool Street, Farringdon and Blackfriars. City Thameslink services serve Barbican, Moorgate and Cannon Street.
- By car
  - The Barbican is clearly sign-posted and has four car parks. Two are off Beech Street (westbound access only) and two are off Silk Street near the main entrance. Please allow plenty of time for your journey. All car parks have a height restriction of 6'1". If the Barbican car parks are full, alternative parking is available in Aldersgate Street.
- Disabled access
  - The Main entrance at Silk Street is ramped and lifts give access to all levels. All our venues have seating for wheelchair users - please inform us of any access requirements on booking. There are three wheelchairs for visitors' use, subject to availability; these can be pre-booked by calling the Box Office on 020 7638 8891.
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