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ROUND TEN GRANT APPLICATIONS
OLD STREET BAND
ENSEMBLE INFO
Ensemble Contact:
Jonathan Peter Kenny
Email:
Ensemble Connect URL
UK Registered Charity No:
1209712
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
In 2021, when distanced music making was once again permitted, we recorded ‘Il pianto di Maria’ a cantata previously attributed to Handel, but now accepted as the work of little known Venetian, Giovanni Battista Ferrandini. It is a paraphrase of the ‘Stabat Mater’, describing Mary at the foot of the cross, and depicting earthquakes to come at the end of the world. The heart of the piece is the wonderful ‘Sventurati i miei sospiri’ when the violins split into four to pour out an unending series of suspensions over a throbbing bass line.
Our Artistic Associate, digital artist and designer Rebecca van Beeck, mixed footage of the performers with a remarkable series of created and found images to make an astonishing film about loss, mothers and sons, and the layered experience of creating and listening to music. This was also streamed by English Touring Opera. We shall be presenting a live performance of the music, with two singers and string orchestra (including 12 violins), alongside a specially edited version of the film.
This will be paired with Handel’s spectacular early Italian cantata ‘Donna che in ciel di tante luce splende’ written in 1707 to celebrate the deliverance of Roman from the earthquake of 1702, when the surrounding area of Lazio was devastated. It features both an earthquake and a rainbow, and concludes with a short chorus, offering the opportunity of participation with a local choir.
SUPPORTING INFORMATION
Founded in 2005 by Music Director Jonathan Peter Kenny, OLD STREET BAND enjoyed an 18 year partnership with English Touring Opera, performing music from Machaut to Rossini, including 3 Monteverdi operas, and 11 by Handel. The band prepares and performs in a collaborative, generous, non hierarchical fashion.
Since 2022, OSB has given multiple performances of Handel ‘Tamerlano’, ‘Ottone’, and ‘Agrippina’; Donizetti ‘Lucrezia Borgia’, Bach ‘St. John Passion’, and the first performance on period instruments in modern times of Rossini’s extraordinary coronation opera ‘Il viaggio a Reims’.
Players and singers in OSB combine experience with youth. The rotating leadership has included Naomi Burrell, Jean Paterson, George Clifford, Guy Button, and Eleanor Corr. Continuo players have included Joseph McHardy, Satoko Doi-Luck, Gavin Kibble, Toby Carr, Jørgen Skogmo, Jadran Duncumb, Carina Cosgrave, Judith Evans, plus wind players, Leo Duarte, James Eastaway, Katy Bircher, Philip Turbett. Musicians at earlier stages of their careers include sopranos Hilary Cronin and April Koyejo-Audiger, gender non-conforming performer Ella Taylor, mezzo-soprano Esme Bronwen Smith, countertenors Rodrigo del Pozo and Kieron Connor Valentine, tenor Julian Henao Gonzales, baritones Jerome Knox, Peter Brathwaite and Edward Jowle, string players Will Harvey, Will McGahon, George White, Joanne Patrick, Rosie Moon, wind players Elliot Gresty, Catrina McDermid, Yu Wei.
OSB’s innovative programming has included staged performances of music by Machaut, Josquin, Gesualdo and Carissimi, as well as the first performances on period instruments in modern times of Rossini’s ‘Il viaggio a Reims’, and Donizetti’s ‘Lucrezia Borgia’.
Old Street Band collaborated with director James Conway and more than 30 local choirs of all ages, diverse ability and background, including Gospel and community choirs, in a remarkable series of dramatic presentations of Bach St. John Passion, St Matthew Passion, and Mass in B minor, in churches, concert halls and theatres throughout the UK. St. John Passion was available as a free stream during the pandemic.
Digital work includes Machaut ‘Comment oubliray?’, Josquin ‘Mille Regretz’, Gesualdo ‘Io tacerò’, Handel ‘Amadigi sessions’, Ferrandini ‘Il pianto di Maria’.
Twenty years on, Old Street Band strikes out on its own, preparing projects live and filmed, (and sometimes both), introducing people to unfamiliar masterpieces, presented in direct, unpretentious, and imaginative ways.
PROJECT COSTS
Number of performers:
Instrumentalists:
Vocalists:
Other:
21
2
4
Project Income (£):
Ticketing/Fees:
Public Funding:
Other trusts/foundations - confirmed
Other trusts/foundations - pending
Other
Income - Total sources
6000
10000
16000
Project Expenses (£):
Artists' fees
Artists' travel/accommodation
Venue - Rehearsal/Concert:
Recording/Filming:
Marketing/Publicity:
Management/Contingency:
23300
2351
2400
1600
2400
Total Project Costs:
32231
Amount (£) of Grant Requested:
20000
Detailed Budget (Download):
IMPACT OF GRANT
Having separated amiably from English Touring Opera, which no longer performs regularly with period musicians, Old Street Band wants to strike out on its own, developing a programme of theatrical performance of period music with a strong design component. The Continuo Foundation grant would be kernel funding for a first independent project, and an independent structure.
ADDITIONAL MATERIAL
Video from recently formed ensemble (if provided. If not, the CF 'Happy Holidays' video will appear by default)
PDF of detailed programme notes (if provided):
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