Saturday, May 10, 2025
Teesdale Mercury
  • News
  • Features
  • Test Drive
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Art & Leisure
  • Buy your paper
  • Buy our photos
  • Digital edition
  • Contact
No Result
View All Result
  • News
  • Features
  • Test Drive
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Art & Leisure
  • Buy your paper
  • Buy our photos
  • Digital edition
  • Contact
No Result
View All Result
Teesdale Mercury
No Result
View All Result
ADVERTISEMENT

Museum to host new music inspired by BFG exhibition

by Stuart Laundy
July 3, 2018
in Art & Leisure
Museum to host new music inspired by BFG exhibition

SOMETHING SPECIAL: Brass festival artistic director Paul Gudgin said the chance to commission a piece of music inspired by the BFG exhibition was too good to pass up

THE Bowes Museum is renewing its acquaintance with the sounds of brass bands after a gap of two years.

As part of the Durham Brass 2018 festival, the museum will be the setting for the first performance of a specially commissioned piece of music inspired by the major summer exhibition The BFG in Pictures.

The exhibition will feature 40 original Quentin Blake illustrations from the Roald Dahl children’s classic.

ADVERTISEMENT

Composer Nigel Hess has been asked to come up with a piece of music which will be played by The Fine Arts Brass Ensemble at The Bowes Museum on Tuesday, July 17.

Durham Brass artistic director Paul Gudgin explained: “When I heard that The Bowes Museum had got this fantastic exhibition, it felt like a good moment to see if we could commission a special piece of music.

“The illustrations are fantastic, but also one of my thoughts was they have such widespread appeal.

ADVERTISEMENT

“We thought we had a chance to create something that would appeal across the age ranges.”

Mr Gudgin said Mr Hess was an obvious choice to come up with a suitable piece of music.

“He is someone who has done work in the theatre, film and has a strong classical background – and he understands what it is like to write under a bit of pressure,” he said.

Mr Hess’s credits are extensive. He has written music for TV shows such as Maigret, Last of the Summer Wine, Hetty Wainthropp Investigates and Dangerfield.

Film credits include a An Ideal Husband, starring James Wilby, Sadie Frost and Robert Hardy, and 2004’s Ladies in Lavender with Dames Judi Dench and Maggie Smith and directed by Charles Dance.

Mr Gudgin said the idea was to invite local school children into the museum to listen to the rehearsal of the piece before its premiere.

In addition to the new piece of music, The Fine Arts Brass Ensemble will perform Mussorgskty’s Pictures at an Exhibition.

It is not the first time officials at The Bowes Museum have teamed up with organisers of the annual brass festival, which is in its 12th year.

In 2016, the museum stepped in to host a Party in the Park concert in its grounds after Barnard Castle town council members declined to support the festival.

The concert featured brass musicians from all over the world and was well received despite limited publicity.

Free concerts continue to form part of the festival in the form of the Big Brass Bash, however, none will be staged the dale this year.

The closest venues are Glenholme Park, Crook (Tuesday, July 17, 6pm-9pm) and Timothy Hackworth Park, Shildon (Wednesday, July 18, 6pm-9pm).

Others take place in Peterlee, Spennymoor, Aycliffe and Wharton Park, Durham, and will feature international street bands from France, Spain, the US and Serbia.

Tickets to The Fine Arts Brass Ensemble concert at The Bowes Museum are £18 and £16 concs. The show starts at 7.30pm.

Full details of this and all other Durham Brass festival events are available online at www.brassfestival.co.uk

ADVERTISEMENT
Previous Post

Murder-mystery group in line for top rural award

Next Post

This week’s Teesdale Mercury includes a 12-page rural life supplement

ADVERTISEMENT
No Result
View All Result

Stay connected

Facebook Twitter
ADVERTISEMENT

Most popular

SHARING ANTHEMS: The choir at St Mary’s Parish Church, Barnard Castle

Singing from the same song sheet

May 7, 2025
APPEAL: Cieran and Claire Chidzey are determined to make memories for their son Ryan who suffers from Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Their most recent memory making event included a trip to London for the avid football fan to see Arsenal play Chelsea

Family must raise thousands for special wheelchair to keep poorly Ryan mobile

May 3, 2025
SMART: Well thought out and well designed, the Skoda Fabia Monte Carlo is fun to drive and easy to live with

Plenty of pep in Skoda’s sporty offering

May 5, 2025
Majestic views: Looking eastbound from Stainmore cafe car park, top, the A66 has features of note including God’s Bridge, left, and the summit marker of the old Stainmore railway line

In the footsteps of the Romans

May 4, 2025
Solemn Procession: Astley Fenwick carries the cross on the Walk of Witness followed by Revd Dr Ana Moskvina-Baldwin, Jan Thompson, Revd Canon Alec Harding and Fr Thomas Mason

Good Friday’s Walk of witness

May 10, 2025
Barnard Castle and Bridge, from upstream, painted c1825 (Tate). Turner sketched the chapel in the centre of the bridge in 1797 and retained it in the finished watercolour over 20 years later, even though it had disappeared by his second visit in 1816

Turner in Teesdale, a birthday tribute

May 6, 2025
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

15C Harmire Enterprise Park
Barnard Castle
Co Durham
DL12 8BN

Email: [email protected]

Registered in England as Barrnon Media Limited. No: 12475190

VAT registration number: 343486488

Explore

  • Art & Leisure
  • Business
  • Country Life
  • Features
  • News
  • Sport
  • Test Drive
  • Digital edition

Useful links

  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Buy your paper
  • Photosales
  • Digital edition
  • About us

Follow us on

© Barrnon Media Limited 2025

Terms & Conditions / Privacy Policy / Cookie Policy

This website and its associated newspaper are members of the Independent Press Standards Organisation
No Result
View All Result
  • News
  • Features
  • Test Drive
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Art & Leisure
  • Buy your paper
  • Buy our photos
  • Digital edition
  • Contact

© 2024