English Chamber Orchestra Will Premiere SHAKESPEARE SONGS By Nimrod Borenstein

The first performance of Nimrod Borenstein's new work, Shakespeare Songs - a setting of five sonnets by William Shakespeare - will form the centrepiece of the English Chamber Orchestra's 9th March concert at London's Cadogan Hall. The concert is part of the storied orchestra's season-long celebrations of their 65th anniversary. Sarah Fox is the featured soprano, and Borenstein himself will conduct.

 

The English-themed programme will also include another Borenstein premiere; his arrangement of Elgar's Chanson de Matin. And there will be performances of Elgar's Serenade For Strings, Vaughan Williams's The Lark Ascending featuring ECO Associate Leader John Mills, the little-heard Four Novelletten for String Orchestra by Coleridge-Taylor, and perhaps one or two surprises...

Other vocal works by Nimrod Borenstein include the vocal ensemble piece And There Was Light, premiered by Ex Cathedra (to mark another 40th anniversary, of the Codsall Community Arts Festival) and I Look, You Look for baritone and harp, first performed at the Barbican Centre's Milton Hall in 2019. This is his ECO debut (though his music has previously been played by other London orchestras such as the Philharmonia and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra - which he also conducted).

 

James Rutherford, General Manager of the ECO, comments, "We are delighted to be working with Nimrod Borenstein for the first time as an ensemble, for our concert on the 9th March, which also is the first of our concerts celebrating the English Chamber Orchestra's 65th Anniversary year. It promises to be a really exciting occasion. We first began discussing the world premiere of Shakespeare Songs nearly two years ago, and as the piece is inspired by works of one of the great English writers, we wanted it to form part of a programme that highlights our renewed focus on the ECO's tradition of promoting British music both old and new."

 

Borenstein has recently embraced conducting again (both his own music and others') and has recently stood on the podiums of, among others, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre La Concorde-Paris, and Oulunsalo Orchestra (Finland). As a composer, he is much in demand, with a catalogue that now numbers more than 100 works. His most recent world premieres include his Mandolin Concerto (Thüringen Philharmonic), Water Etude (Carnegie Hall), Danses d'eau et de feu for violin and string orchestra (Orchestre de Chambre d'Ariege), Légende Oboe Concerto (Belgrade Philharmonic) and Prayer To The Moon Overture (Vratsa Symphony Orchestra).

 

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