The Hebrides Ensemble has just announced the Expanding Horizons Season 2011-12 moving from Edinburgh and Glasgow to Perth, Inverness and Argyll.
The Hebrides Ensemble has built up a fine reputation as one of Scotland's leading Chamber groups, with regular concert tours, appearing at international music festivals, recording CDs, and broadcasting on BBC Radio 3.
A diverse and flexible performance programme features chamber pieces, musical theatre and small scale opera – with works by Brahms and Mahler to Cage and Cresswell - specialising in contemporary music from the 20th and 21st century.
The collective of musicians led by Artistic Director, cellist, and conductor William Conway, is occasionally joined by guest instrumentalists and soloists from Scotland and across the UK and Europe, according to the concert programme.
The Ensemble has commissioned new works by exciting young composers as well as from established names, including James MacMillan, Sally Beamish and Nigel Osborne.
The first week of concerts from November 6th to 9th is dedicated to a celebration of American Pioneers, the visionary master composers of the 20th century, John Adams, Charles Ives, Steve Reich and George Crumb.
Works include the Piano Trio by Ives, and Road Movies by Adams. Edinburgh Festival goers may recall the UK premiere of Adams' stunning theatrical opera, Nixon in China in 1988, followed by The Death of Klinghoffer (2005), and his oratorio, El Nio, relating the story of the Nativity, was the opening concert in 2010.
Road Movies, written for violin and piano (1995), is described by Adams as "travel music" featuring a swinging, rocking rhythm to illustrate the beat of motoring on the open road. In the second movement, the mood is more in the style of the blues. The title of the final movement, 40% Swing, depicts a wild ride in a four-wheel drive car.
The Season continues in January and February with a Rush Hour series of mini concerts at lunchtime and early evening, with music by Beethoven and new works by Peter Nelson and Alasdair Spratt.
Touring Scotland in late March is the masterpiece by Olivier Messiaen, Quartet for the End of Time, composed while he was a Prisoner of War and based on the book of Revelation.
And finally, on 31st May, the tour concludes with a concert in Glasgow of Pierrot Lunaire by Arnold Schoenberg, to commemorate its premiere performance a century ago in 1912. This expressionist melodrama, in the form of a sequence of poems narrated against an instrumental background, is regarded as one of the most important musical theatre works ever written.
The Friends of Hebrides Ensemble support scheme is based on small annual donations or being part of the Commissioning Circle for an investment in the commission of new music. Benefits include special events, discounted CDs, concert tickets, and private 'meet the composer' receptions.
Expanding Horizons Season 2011-12, see www.hebridesensemble.com