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SOUTHBANK CENTRE ANNOUNCES AURORA ORCHESTRA AS NEW ASSOCIATE ORCHESTRA ●
Aurora joins Southbank Centre’s distinguished roster of Resident and Associate Artists from 2015/16, coinciding with the orchestra’s tenth anniversary ●
Launch of new series from 2016: ​
The Orchestral Theatre,​
where audience joins the orchestra on stage of the Royal Festival Hall ●
The Musical Memory Palace​
(Sun 7 Feb) invites audiences to take a journey through musical memory and ​
Playing with Fire (​
Sun 29 May) explores the pursuit of power ●
Aurora to form part of new Southbank Centre festival in February 2016: ​
Altered Minds Southbank Centre today announces ​
Aurora Orchestra​
as a new ​
Associate Orchestra​
, consolidating a relationship that has become an increasingly important part of Southbank Centre’s festival programme over recent years. Since its creation in 2005, Aurora has built a reputation as one of the UK’s most creative chamber orchestras,​
under the artistic direction of Principal Conductor ​
Nicholas Collon​
.​
Aurora’s performances range from the UK premiere of Michael Gordon’s ​
Decasia​
​
(part of Southbank Centre’s ​
Ether​
festival) and its pioneering New Moves series at LSO St Luke’s (with eclectic collaborations ​
pairing Brazilian capoeira with French baroque music, tango with Bernstein, klezmer with Mahler, and breakdance with Shostakovich​
) to King’s Place’s ​
‘Unwrapped’ series devoted to Mozart (2011), Brahms (2012), Bach (2013)​
, Chamber Classics (2014) and Minimalism (2015), and the BBC Proms. Also renowned for its distinctive education and outreach work, ​
Aurora’s activities extend to myriad settings beyond the concert hall, with a varied programme of work in schools, hospitals and other community settings. Aurora Orchestra joins Southbank Centre’s diverse and distinguished roster of Associate Artists, including Marin Alsop, Colin Currie and Oliver Coates; Associate Orchestra, the BBC Concert Orchestra; and Resident Orchestras the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Throughout 2013, Aurora was an Artistic Partner Orchestra for Southbank Centre’s award­winning ​
The Rest Is Noise​
festival, and featured in Artist­in­Residence Colin Currie’s 2014 festival ​
Wood, Metal, Skin. T
​he orchestra builds upon this legacy in its new role of Associate Orchestra with a key role in Southbank Centre’s new festival for February 2016, ​
Altered Minds​
​
(exploring the effect of the arts on the workings of the mind)​
​
and with the launch of The Orchestral Theatre​
. ​
This distinctive new series sees the Royal Festival Hall auditorium transformed into an intimate performance space, with a limited audience of 350 rubbing shoulders with performers on and around the stage. Combining the musical quality, creative programming and imaginative presentation that has become Aurora’s hallmark, the series ranges across a rich variety of repertoire and artistic partnerships, bringing orchestral music to life for first­time concert­goers and lifelong devotees alike. The first two concerts in the series continue to explore the unique memorised performance strand which the orchestra has showcased in recent BBC Proms seasons. ​
The Musical Memory Palace ​
(7 February 2016) invites audiences to take a journey in musical memory in the company of ​
Ed Cooke​
, Grand Memory Master and founder of memrise.com, who will apply the playful, imaginative and often hilarious ‘memory palace’ techniques which he uses to improve memory retention to Mozart’s Symphony No. 40. The programme includes musical illustration from the orchestra, and culminates in a memorised performances of the complete symphony. ​
Playing with Fire ​
(29 May 2016) explores the pursuit of power — and its consequences — in a programme inspired by the figure of Prometheus. Baritone Marcus Farnsworth joins Aurora for a theatrical concert which pairs HK Grü
​​
ber’s Frankenstein!!​
with excerpts from Beethoven’s ​
The Creatures of Prometheus a
​nd a memorised performance of his Symphony No.5. Gillian Moore, Director of Music, Southbank Centre​
, said: ‘​
Aurora Orchestra has formed an increasingly prominent part of Southbank Centre’s programming, in particular our festivals, and we’re delighted to announce them as an Associate Orchestra. Aurora Orchestra’s outstanding musicianship, spirit of adventure, innovative presentation, versatility and dynamism perfectly complements the centre’s diverse output. We welcome this continued partnership as a vehicle to present ever­more varied and adventurous collaborations throughout forthcoming seasons.​
’ John Harte, Chief Executive, Aurora Orchestra​
, said: ‘​
We couldn't be more thrilled at Southbank Centre's invitation to become Associate Orchestra from 2016. Over recent seasons we've developed an increasingly close relationship with Southbank Centre, the fruits of which have been some of the orchestra's outstanding artistic highlights to date, including the ​
Zeitgeist​
series as part of ​
The Rest is Noise​
project in 2013. The prospect of working more closely with a venue with such rich creative vision and breadth of artistic partnerships is very exciting, and with the launch of ​
The Orchestral Theatre​
series we look forward to offering a new kind of orchestral performance to Southbank Centre audiences – one which we hope will inspire both first­time concert goers and lifelong classical music devotees alike.​
’ For further information please contact: Naomi Burgoyne, Southbank Centre: 020 7921 0824 ​
/​
​
[email protected] Claire Willis, ElevenTenths PR: 07951 600 362 ​
/ ​
[email protected] NOTES TO EDITORS Listings information: Feb 7 2016 / 5:30pm / Royal Festival Hall / £20 £15 Part of ​
Altered Minds Aurora Orchestra Nicholas Collon, ​
conductor Ed Cooke, ​
Grand Memory Master W. Mozart: Symphony No.40 Aurora Orchestra invites audiences to take a journey in musical memory. Ed Cooke, a Grand Memory Master, applies the playful and imaginative ‘memory palace’ techniques which he uses to improve memory retention to Mozart’s fortieth symphony. Illuminating the genius and drama of Mozart’s writing, he also invites audience members to astonish themselves with the power of their own memories. Nicholas Collon and Aurora Orchestra provide scintillating musical illustration, culminating in a memorised performance of the complete symphony. May 29 2016 / 5:30pm / Royal Festival Hall / £20 £15 Aurora Orchestra Nicholas Collon, ​
conductor Marcus Farnsworth, ​
baritone L. Beethoven: Excerpts from ​
The Creatures of Prometheus​
ballet music H. Grüber: ​
Frankenstein!! ​
a pandemonium L. Beethoven: Symphony No.5 Aurora Orchestra returns to The Orchestral Theatre to explore the pursuit of power and its consequences in a diverse selection of music. This theatrical concert is inspired by the figure of Prometheus, who dared to steal fire from the gods. The evening charts a course from the Greek myth which inspired Beethoven to the ‘modern Prometheus’ of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein​
whose shadow looms large over HK Gr​
ü​
ber’s surreal masterpiece. At once ravishing, fearsome, funny and sharply satirical, ​
Frankenstein!!​
offers an unusual partner to Beethoven’s monumental fifth symphony. About Southbank Centre Southbank Centre is the UK’s largest arts centre, occupying a 21­acre site that sits in the midst of London’s most vibrant cultural quarter on the South Bank of the Thames. The site has an extraordinary creative and architectural history stretching back to the 1951 ​
Festival of Britain​
. Southbank Centre is home to the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and the Hayward Gallery as well as The Saison Poetry Library and the Arts Council Collection. ​
www.southbankcentre.co.uk​
. About Aurora Orchestra Since its creation in 2005, Aurora Orchestra has rapidly established itself as the most significant new British chamber orchestra in a generation. Under the artistic direction of Principal Conductor Nicholas Collon, Aurora has developed flourishing London series at LSO St Luke’s and Kings Place, and also enjoys an increasingly busy touring calendar both in the UK and internationally. It has worked with a roster of world­class artists including Ian Bostridge, Gerald Finley, Rosemary Joshua, Angelika Kirchschlager, Anthony Marwood, Kate Royal, Maxim Rysanov and Robin Ticciati. Based at Kings Place since 2009, Aurora has played a central role in the venue’s year­long ‘Unwrapped’ series devoted to Mozart (2011), Brahms (2012), Bach (2013), Chamber Classics (2014) and Minimalism (2015), and was formally installed as the Kings Place Resident Orchestra in 2013. Aurora has also developed a particular reputation for collaboration across art forms, focused around its New Moves series at LSO St Luke’s. Since its launch in 2010, New Moves has pioneered a new kind of orchestral theatre, infused with eclectic programming, innovative presentation, and inspiring artistic partnerships ranging across dance, film, visual arts and theatre. Recent highlights include pairing Brazilian capoeira with French baroque music, tango with Bernstein, klezmer with Mahler, and breakdance with Shostakovich. The success of the series was recognised by the Royal Philharmonic Society, which made Aurora the youngest­ever recipient of its Ensemble Award – the UK’s most prestigious accolade for live classical music. Guided by the conviction that orchestral music should be accessible, alive and relevant to the broadest possible audience, Aurora’s activities extend to myriad settings beyond the concert hall, with a varied programme of work in schools, hospitals and other community settings. Recent highlights of its programming for family audiences have included major televised family performances for the BBC Proms in collaboration with Aardman Animation (creators of Wallace and Gromit), and CBBC’s award­winning Horrible Histories series. http://www.auroraorchestra.com/