Sound Bites
In with the new
A new organisation has been founded in London with the aim of promoting and performing new and recently composed works. With conductor Zvonimir Hacko as its artistic director, the International Centre for Contemporary Music (ICCM) has announced its 2022 season which, unsurprisingly, features several world premieres. Ensembles taking part include the Royal Philharmonic and Philharmonia orchestras and the London Sinfonietta.
A glimpse of history
Also in London, the Royal College of Music has officially opened its new museum, created with the assistance of £3.6m of Heritage Lottery funding. Exhibits include the world’s oldest guitar and several early keyboard instruments, plus artworks such as a famous portrait of the castrato Farinelli. Originally planned for spring 2021, the opening was delayed for obvious reasons.
Boom and bust
Talking of art, Exeter Cathedral has honoured one of its longest-serving choristers by commissioning a stone sculpture of his head to look down from the building’s 14th-century ceiling. Gordon Pike sang with the cathedral choir as a treble from 1963-67, then returned in 1974, this time adding his tenor voice to the back-row forces before finally retiring last year.
Rocking Don
And from stone to rock… a new adaptation of Mozart’s Don Giovanni is set to be recorded by the The Adam Levowitz Rock Orchestra for release in early 2022. Described as ‘a reimagined version for the 21st century’, the recording will be about a third of the length of the original opera. It will feature a translation by Levowitz himself and focus on Leporello’s relationship with Giovanni.