The first of the Ulster Orchestra’s new annual festivals celebrates the 200th anniversary of Chopin’s birth with a series of events, mostly in the Ulster Hall, running over two weekends including concerts, recitals, a masterclass and a movie.

The festival pays tribute to the great Polish composer who in his short life composed some of the most evocative and romantic piano music ever written.

“Chopin’s contribution to music is often undervalued,” said David Byers, the Orchestra’s Chief Executive. “He’s much more than the weak, undernourished chap we know from the movies. There’s a real strength of character in the music and it was a really important influence on some of the music across the rest of the 19th century. This festival gives us a chance to experience the breadth of his output. Even better when the pianist is none other than Nikolai Demidenko who has such a special affinity with Chopin’s music.” 

The festival begins on Friday 29 January at the Ulster Hall with a 7pm pre-concert talk by Professor Jan Smaczny about Chopin’s life and music. The concert that follows will include Nikolai Demidenko and the Ulster Orchestra playing a brilliantly virtuosic set of variations by Chopin on a theme of Mozart along with Chopin’s Grande Polonaise.

On Saturday 30 January Nikolai Demidenko will conduct a 3pm masterclass on Chopin’s music with four young pianists where he will spend two hours listening to the musicians, advising them on technique, interpretation and presentation. For the public this is a chance to watch a master at work and to see how the young, talented musicians are mentored by one of the world’s great pianists.

On Sunday afternoon, 31 January, the Ulster Hall will be the venue for a solo piano recital by Demidenko featuring some of Chopin’s most memorable Nocturnes and Sonatas.

The festival continues for its second weekend on Friday, 5 February under conductor Kenneth Montgomery, who has just been awarded an OBE. Again Demidenko will take to the stage at the Ulster Hall to play Chopin’s Piano Concerto No.1. This concert also includes music by Cherubini , a friend of Chopin’s and one of the most influential composers living in Paris during the early 19th century. A symphony by Beethoven rounds the evening off (Beethoven regarded Cherubini as one of the greatest composers of the period).  

The festival moves to the Queen’s Film Theatre on Saturday afternoon at 3pm for a special screening of Impromptu starring Hugh Grant as Chopin. This 1991 comedy focuses on Chopin’s tempestuous relationship with the French novelist George Sand, played by Judy Davis.

Demidenko closes the festival on Sunday 7 February, returning to the Ulster Hall for a splendid mix of solo piano works, including the 24 Preludes, Op.28.   

The OUTLET Sounding the Planet with the Ulster Orchestra won the award for its work with the communities of Banbridge, Newry and Dungannon.

The OUTLET at Bridgewater Park supported this major educational project involving children in the South Eastern Education and Library Board area last May and June. The project was also part funded by Banbridge District Council.

Ulster Orchestra musicians conducted thirty workshops in local primary schools teaching youngsters about orchestral music and developing the children’s listening, composing and performing skills. The pupils made their own homemade percussion instruments using recycled items, which brought in an additional environmental element to the project.

The workshops were followed by three performances of the Ulster Orchestra in Banbridge, Newry and Dungannon, which involved not only the children from the participating schools but hundreds more from each local area.

This was the first year that The OUTLET had sponsored an Ulster Orchestra Project and they have now pledged their continued support in 2010. 

“We are absolutely delighted that our project won this prestigious award. Our sponsorship is all about giving something back to our local community and we felt that working with the Ulster Orchestra was a perfect way to do this. We are investing for the benefit of our local children, enhancing their education and letting them experience and be inspired by something completely different,” Christine Watson, Marketing Manager of The OUTLET at Bridgewater Park said.

“As Northern Ireland’s premier retail outlet village our operations touch all members of the local community as customers, neighbours, employees, suppliers, businesses and residents, our strategy is to add value to the Banbridge district and build on the district’s focus on the arts. Banbridge now features the newly built FE McWilliams art gallery as well as an annual busking event and by sponsoring this educational outreach programme we are serving our district to inspire and nurture future talent,” she added.

Lydia Gamble, Head of Marketing and Development at the Ulster Orchestra said: “I am delighted that our project with The OUTLET has been recognised by the Allianz Arts and Business awards for our creative partnership and commitment to developing young people in Northern Ireland.”

The Ulster Orchestra will defy gravity with its new one-hour show, Rain Falling Up, featuring hundreds of singing primary school children, a narrator, fantastic animation and a small chorus of singers aged 70 and over.

The show, at the Belfast Waterfront on Sat 20 March at 7pm, is for the whole family and has been written by Brian Irvine, the Ulster Orchestra’s Associate Composer, with words by John McIlduff.  

Combining music, song, narration and animation, it has been part-funded through the Arts Council of Northern Ireland’s National Lottery programme and is an Up the Tempo project supported by Ulster Bank.

Rain Falling Up tells the story of Jake, a young boy who has an insatiable curiosity for all things scientific, especially gravity. After he (and not gravity!) is blamed for breaking his mum’s favourite vase he begins to think that gravity isn’t his friend; the world would be a better place without it.  He makes a “gravity switch” which, to his astonishment, really works.

Jake is thrown into a world where everyone’s an astronaut and everything can fly; elephants and scout troops and trucks and small countries float by. But as he drifts further into space and becomes increasingly lonely, he begins to think that maybe it wasn’t such a great idea after all. Being connected to things is actually pretty important.

With live animation by Matthew Robins (Flyboy and the Planet of the Melting Snowmen), the show will bring together 240 children from eight rural schools, a choir of 180 children from Belfast and Broughshane and a group of older singers from Lockview Fold in Holywood.

“This is a piece that the whole family can enjoy – one little boy’s discovery of how all things, all people, are connected, by magical invisible forces,” Brian Irvine explained.

Rain Falling Up is supported by Ulster Bank through the Up the Tempo programme, a musical outreach programme that aims to nurture young talent in children from all areas and encourages them to compose, perform and listen to music.

“Music has an important role to play in education and young people’s lives,” said Sandra O’Dwyer, Ulster Bank’s Community Investment Manager. “Ulster Bank is a committed supporter of the arts and is delighted to join with the Ulster Orchestra on this programme.”

Children from seven regional schools will be participating in workshops in their schools prior to coming to the concert on 20 March. These schools are:  Castle Tower Primary, St John’s Primary, St Patrick’s Primary and St Brigid’s Primary – all in Ballymena;  Mount St Michael’s Primary in Randalstown; Ballytober Primary in Bushmills and St Brigid’s Primary in Ballymoney.

The 180 strong choir will include children from Broughshane Primary, Orangefield Primary and St Kieran’s Primary.

For more information or for tickets please contact the Ulster Orchestra Box Office on 028 9023 9955 or go to www.ulsterorchestra.com.

The Belfast-born musician has worked in the arts in Northern Ireland for two decades starting in the 80s with the Belfast Philharmonic, followed by his artistic directorship of Opera Northern Ireland, and more recently his work with the Ulster Orchestra. He has just returned from a very successful production of Don Giovanni with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in Geneva and was greeted by the fantastic news of his OBE.

“When I first spoke to Kenneth to congratulate him, he said he felt the award honoured the work of the Ulster Orchestra, but clearly it also honours Kenneth Montgomery’s international career, particularly in opera, including the initial championing of Opera Northern Ireland,” said David Byers, Chief Executive of the Ulster Orchestra.

Kenneth Montgomery’s next appearance with the Ulster Orchestra will be for one of its concerts in the Chopin Festival, which opens on 29 January and features the outstanding pianist Nikolai Demidenko.

“It was an enormous pleasure to hear that I had been given the OBE and I am very much looking forward to receiving the award at Buckingham Palace in due course. But it’s equally important to continue to provide the highest standard of classical music to the people of Northern Ireland,” he added.

“We are marking his long-term relationship with the Ulster Orchestra and the significant artistic achievements of this outstanding Northern Irish-born musician across his international career,” said Ulster Orchestra Chief Executive David Byers. “It is also a tribute to his work with young people and it’s in recognition of his status as an important role model for so many aspiring young musicians.”

“I believe our audiences will welcome this special recognition and feel that they too, through the Ulster Orchestra, have participated in something that pays due homage to a great artist,” David Byers added.

No time to waste as Orchestra performs ‘green’ song

As the song goes, “It’s not easy being green”, but the Ulster Orchestra and Patton Group took up the challenge of teaching children about recycling through a unique project involving business and education.

The ‘Greenhouse Project’, supported by Arts & Business, involved employees from the Patton Group joining children from Orangefield Primary School in a special performance of a brand new song about recycling, specially written to celebrate the opening year of the new school.

Patton Group built the new school, which is the first of the seven new schools, currently being built by the Belfast Education and Library Board (BELB), to open its doors under a major strategic partnership agreement with AmeyFMP.  The school incorporates a wonderful use of light and shapes, making it an inspiring place to learn.

 “We are delighted to once again be involved with the Ulster Orchestra and Arts & Business in yet another musical initiative,” said Alan Stewart, Patton Group Marketing Manager.

 “Patton Group is a long time supporter of the arts in Northern Ireland and in particular the Ulster Orchestra. Our organisation has a real focus on environmental awareness and waste reduction and the Greenhouse Project demonstrates this and ticks all the boxes with our current Corporate Social Responsibility strategy,” he added.

Both the school children and Patton Group staff were involved in workshops where they created their own musical instruments out of waste and scrap building materials.

But instead of recycling old tunes, Ulster Orchestra Associate Composer Brian Irvine penned a brand new ‘Waste Song’ to celebrate the opening of a new environmentally-aware school. The song was performed by the P4 class along with Patton Group’s builders and administration staff.

The two groups then came together to rehearse the piece and perform it, accompanied by a string quartet from the Ulster Orchestra, during a staged performance for the rest of the school, parents and invited guests from the surrounding community.

Brona Whittaker, Arts Manager, Arts & Business said: “Arts & Business Northern Ireland is delighted to have supported the relationship between the Patton Group and the Ulster Orchestra through the Reach Investment Programme.  Reach exists to encourage and inspire sustainable relationships and to maximise the benefits of business and the arts working together.  It is especially exciting that this Reach project enabled school children from Orangefield Primary School and staff from the Patton Group to work with the inspirational composer Brian Irvine and musicians from the Ulster Orchestra.”

Ulster Orchestra Chief Executive David Byers added: “Recycling has become an ever more important issue in schools. The Greenhouse project helps to promote good environmental practice to primary school children through the creative processes of music – and at the same time they’re learning and expressing themselves through the performance.”
 

The Ulster Orchestra picked up two awards last night at the Allianz Arts & Business NI Awards.  The Building Blocks project with the Patton Group won the category for Arts, Business and Employees and the Up the Tempo project with the Ulster Bank won the category for Arts, Business and Young People.
 
Funded by Arts and Business, the interactive concert called Building Blocks featured musicians from the Ulster Orchestra, 63 children from Camphill and St. Colmcille’s Primary Schools in Ballymena, along with 15 Patton staff drawn from throughout the company and all with no prior musical know-how.  Appropriately the project was based around musical building blocks and was staged in the Braid, Ballymena Town Hall, Museum and Arts Centre which the Patton Group built. The musical workshop used the analogy of building a house to help with composing a piece of music. Bricks and trowels were used as percussion instruments.  The project was a creative, fun and interactive way of involving Patton Group employees and local school children in an informative musical education project.
 
The Up the Tempo project enabled 3,000 primary school pupils in 52 schools throughout Ireland to attend a series of musical workshops, focusing on rhythm, pitch and harmony.  The children composed, performed, listened and of course, had fun on this musical journey. The culmination of this event resulted in a family music workshop taking place in Belfast and Dublin with over 100 Ulster Bank employees and their children taking part.  Teachers have acknowledged the rich musical experience these workshops gave to hundreds of primary school pupils.  Thanks to this project a new generation of children has gained an appreciation of music and what it can help to achieve.
The Allianz Arts & Business NI Awards celebrates the very best in creative and pioneering partnerships between the arts and business sectors in Northern Ireland.
 

The Ulster Orchestra has teamed up with L’Estrange & Brett solicitors for a new project for children with hearing and visual impairments from Jordanstown School for the Deaf and Blind.
 
Forty students aged 7-17 had the chance to explore music and have fun through listening, composing and performing in workshops led by Ulster Orchestra musician Ricky Matson. The workshops provided a welcome opportunity for the children to get together to learn in a fun and focussed environment.
 
There were all sorts of musical games and creative challenges in two workshop sessions in L’Estrange and Brett’s offices and Jordanstown School culminating in a final concert on 17 October for parents and guests.
 
Staff from L’Estrange & Brett took time off to participate in the workshops and concert. Partner in the firm, Richard Gray said: “We are delighted to be involved in this imaginative programme.  All our staff who have participated have found it rewarding and enjoyable.”
 
Workshops took place in L’Estrange & Brett’s offices, Belfast, between 10am and 12 noon on 10 October and the concert on 17 October started at 11am and lasted approximately two hours in Jordanstown School for the Deaf and Blind.