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Total Immersion: Brett Dean

with the BBC Symphony Orchestra

Saturday 17 March 2012, 11am

Barbican, Silk Street, London EC2Y 8DS
part of the 2011-12 Season and Total Immersion series

A day of music, film and discussion celebrating the music of Brett Dean .

‘A voice of fertile imagination, originality and expressive subtlety’ Chicago Tribune

Reality television, politics, corporate mission statements, the natural world, contemporary fiction and the visual arts. Brett Dean’s expressive, lyrical and approachable music draws on a wide and varied range of influences to explore vital issues at the heart of life in the 21st century.

Join the BBC Symphony Orchestra and guests as they celebrate the work of the award-winning Australian composer in a day of music, film and discussion. Highlights include UK premieres of Dean’s violin concerto The Lost Art of Letter-Writing, UK premieres of Fire Music and his choral work Carlo, plus a screening of the opera Bliss, based on Peter Carey’s novel. Brett Dean himself will be there, conducting, playing and talking about his music.

You can see a short film about Total Immersion: Brett Dean here

11.00am Talk, Mozart Room
Brett Dean in conversation, plus a performance by the composer of Intimate Decisions, for solo viola.
Admission by free ticket only. Limited availability but admission guaranteed with a Day Pass.

1.00pm Concert, Barbican Hall
Brett Dean
Polysomnography
Wolf-Lieder*
Voices of Angels

Guildhall Chamber Ensemble
Jenavieve Moore soprano
Brett Dean conductor*

These three pieces show the huge range of Dean's expressive world. Polysomnography evoke the five stages of sleep, Voices of Angels summon a very different kind of angel to the sentimental image of popular imagination, and Wolf-Lieder mingles Hugo Wolf's music with Brett's own in a moving portrayal of Wolf's descent into madness.

Tickets £12

3.00pm Film, The Pit
Bliss
Brett Dean's recent opera, which portrays a hapless businessman whose life becomes hellish after a near-death experience, has been acclaimed as that rare thing: an opera on a contemporary topic that speaks in an authentically modern language, and yet is powerfully moving.
Aus. 150mins

Tickets £3 (unreserved seating)

6.00pm Talk, The Pit

Brett Dean in conversation, plus a screening from the 2010 BBC Proms of the Australian Youth Orchestra’s performance of Amphitheatre.
Admission by free ticket only. Limited availability but admission guaranteed with a Day Pass.

7.00pm Free Event, Music Hall, Guildhall School of Music & Drama
The culmination of a BBC SO learning project. New works by students from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama performed by musicians from the BBC SO and the Guildhall.

8.00pm Concert, Barbican Hall
Brett Dean
Testament
The Lost Art of Letter Writing UK premiere
Carlo UK premiere (live choir version)
Fire Music BBC co-commission: UK premiere

BBC Symphony Orchestra
David Robertson conductor
Renaud Capuçon violin
BBC Singers

Confiding intimacies to paper with a scratchy quill is a vanished way of human communication, but one that clearly fascinates Brett Dean. Testament evokes the stormy passions inscribed by Beethoven in his Heiligenstadt Testament, while each movement of The Lost Art of Letter Writing takes its inspiration from a 19th century letter. In Carlo the impetus is the tormented and bizarre music of Carlo Gesualdo.

Tickets £24 £20 £16 £12 £8

Brett Dean Day Pass
Save money and guarantee entry to all events with a Total Immersion Brett Dean Day Pass. Day Passes are available by telephone on 020 7638 8891 or in person only from 26 February.
£31 £28 £25 £22 £18

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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