ACOUSTIC TRIANGLE

ACOUSTIC TRIANGLE NOMINATED FOR LONDON JAZZ AWARD 2012

Acoustic Triangle has been nominated for the London Jazz Award 2012 at the London Awards for Art and Performance.

The London Awards for Art and Performance are the country's most expansive awards and recognise artists and performers across many art-forms. The nominees are artists who have made 'an outstanding contribution to their art'. The shortlist will be announced in late Spring 2012 and the awards ceremony will take place in a central London Hotel in the Summer.

Here is the nomination page.

About Acoustic Triangle

MALCOLM CREESE - double bass
TIM GARLAND - bass clarinet and saxophones
GWILYM SIMCOCK - piano and French horn

The three members of Acoustic Triangle are equally at home in classical music and jazz, and their work seeks to blur the perceived boundaries between these genres. Individually, their careers have taken them all over the globe - with musicians such as Mark Anthony Turnage, John Williams, James Galway, Chick Corea, Dave Holland, Art Farmer, Joe Lovano, Cleo Laine, Lee Konitz and Sting. Together they have become one of the most original and respected British ensembles, having recorded four albums and performed in major concert venues and festivals all over the world - always without amplification. The group is widely acknowledged for its ground-breaking site-specific work, particularly in sacred buildings, and has performed in most of Britain's ancient Cathedrals.

Acoustic Triangle's music contains a wide variety of influences - from ancient themes and folk styles through impressionism and the jazz era to the avant-garde. Emphasis is put on melody, extended structured composition, spontaneous improvisation and thrilling interaction between the players. Much of the group's repertoire is specially composed by Tim Garland and Gwilym Simcock, but it also includes music by Kenny Wheeler, John Taylor, Bill Evans, Chick Corea, G. F. Handel and Maurice Ravel.

Since its inception in 2000, Acoustic Triangle has undertaken a number of special collaborative projects involving Gerard Presencer, Kenny Wheeler, Asaf Sirkis, Liane Carroll, the Sacconi String Quartet, Carolyn Sampson, Northern Sinfonia, the BBC Concert Orchestra and the Choir of Westminster Abbey.

"Adventurous, eclectic, frequently breathtaking... three undisputed masters of the game." The Guardian

"A trio of world-class virtuosi...exquisitely passionate and inspired" BBC Music Magazine

Photo by Gerry Walden

ACOUSTIC TRIANGLE'S 10TH BIRTHDAY TOUR 2011

Malcolm Creese, Tim Garland and Gwilym Simcock - collectively known as Acoustic Triangle recently completed their anniversary tour. The trio, recognised as one of the most creative and distinctive groups in the world, has been touring and recording for ten years. Click here for all the details.

RECENT CONCERT: ACOUSTIC TRIANGLE WITH THE CHOIR OF ROYAL HOLLOWAY

On Friday 8th July 2011 Acoustic Triangle teamed up with one of the UK's finest choirs for a special one-off concert of sacred and secular music from seven centuries in Romsey's beautiful Norman Abbey.

Programme (from):
 
Allegri - Miserere Mei
Purcell - Hear My Prayer
Tim Garland - The Faerie Queene Canticles, Jubilate Deo, Black Elk,
Bourdion, Winding Wind, Rosa Ballerina
Gabrieli - Jubilate Deo
Eric Whitacre - Lux Aurumque
Gwilym Simcock - Plain Song, And Then She Was Gone
Kenny Wheeler - Everyone's Song But My Own
Gabriel Jackson - O Sacrum Convivium
John Rutter - Birthday Madrigals

The concert was presented by Audio-B Ltd, in association with Romsey Arts Festival and Music in Romsey.

Acoustic Triangle and the Choir of Royal Holloway are looking for venues for a tour in 2012/2013.
Please contact us if you have one to offer

The Faerie Queene Liturgy Project

Acoustic Triangle joined forces with the excellent Choir of Royal Holloway and eminent poets Ewan Fernie, Jo Shapcott (recent winner of the Costa Book Prize), Andrew Shanks and Michael Symmons Roberts in a special project to create a liturgy for the twenty-first century. The project aied to create completely new, poetically rich, solidarity-building rituals for contemporary society.

Taking Edmund Spenser's epic poem The Faerie Queene as a point of departure, the project tested and explored the relationship between a diverse and changing English society and the religious and poetic traditions it inherits, in an effort to forge new possibilities for the cultural present and future.

Tim Garland received a major commission to compose music for the project. The complete liturgy had two performances: The first took place in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle on 17th March 2010, as part of the Windsor Spring Festival. The second performance was on Sunday 8th May 2011 in Manchester Cathedral.

SPECIAL CONCERT

Tim Garland's new music (without the poetry and drama elements) was heard in a special concert in Romsey Abbey, Hampshire, on Friday 8th July 2011.

For more information on this fascinating project, please visit www.rhul.ac.uk/english/faeriequeene

A note from Tim Garland on his new composition 'The Faerie Queene Canticles':

Four poems from different contemporary writers, all personalising one of the four elements, are the settings for these songs. Each was written also with the story of St. George in mind, and his trials through the material world. The recurring theme of St. George is heard on the soprano sax. Although the songs can be sung with piano or organ, the choir is ideally accompanied by musicians with improvising skills. Some of the unpredictable, spontaneous and even vulnerable qualities of our central character, (who really is representing us all as we either battle or befriend the elements) can have animated life amidst the narrative of the choir. The over-arching message of the poems is one of unity, appreciated through our common frailty and fallibility. For me it is not a mono-religious work when out of its context in a service, but a chance for a second life for four beautiful and thought provoking poems which question, as much as they celebrate, our higher aspirations. I hope this is reflected in the music I felt moved to write.

TG

Two ways to buy Acoustic Triangle recordings from Audio-B

Many Audio-B recordings are now available from iTunes. Click on the links on each CD page to buy the CD or download from iTunes.

2009 Concerts

Al Bustan Festival, Beirut, Lebanon

8.30pm on Thursday 26th February Acoustic Triangle Malcolm Creese - double bass Tim Garland - saxophone, bass clarinet Gwilym Simcock - piano www.albustanfestival.com Read Jim Quilty's review in the Daily Star here

Kings Place, London

7.30pm on Friday 6 March Hall One, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London, N1 9AG Acoustic Triangle 3 Dimensions with The Sacconi Strings This was the final performance of the nine-piece incarnation of Acoustic Triangle, in which the group performed the music especially composed for its triumphant 2008 3 Dimensions Tour. At 6.30pm there was a pre-concert talk by Tim Garland on Composing for Acoustic Triangle www.kingsplace.co.uk

ACOUSTIC TRIANGLE IN REHEARSAL AT WESTMINSTER ABBEY

Acoustic Triangle rehearse Jubilate Deo by Tim Garland with the Choir of Westminster Abbey directed by James O'Donnell on Ascension Day 2006.

View on YouTube

ACOUSTIC TRIANGLE WEB BLOG

Visit the new Acoustic Triangle web blog for latest news on Acoustic Triangle and the Three Dimensions Tour.

NEW PHOTOS

Visit our photo page to view some stunning new photos of the Three Dimensions Tour taken by John Watson Jazzcamera.co.uk

ACOUSTIC TRIANGLE - THREE DIMENSIONS 2008

Acoustic Triangle took it's musical exploration of inspiring buildings to new heights in 2008. The acclaimed trio, joined by six world-class string players including the Sacconi String Quartet, toured the UK's Cathedrals and Abbeys in a celebration of sound and inspiring architecture. Award-winning composers Tim Garland and Gwilym Simcock wrote new music for the tour. In fifteen unique three-dimensional performances, musicians appeared from all around the building - their sounds echoing, developing and surprising.

The nine players are: Malcolm Creese (double bass), Tim Garland (bass clarinet, saxophones, flute), Gwilym Simcock (piano, French horn), Ben Hancox, Hannah Dawson, Charlotte Scott and Emma Parker (violin), Robin Ashwell (viola) and Cara Berridge (cello).

The tour dates were as follows:

• Fri May 16 BURY ST. EDMUNDS CATHEDRAL
• Mon Jun 16 CHRIST CHURCH, SPITALFIELDS, LONDON
• Sat Jun 21 BEVERLEY MINSTER
• Wed Jun 25 EXETER CATHEDRAL
• Thu Jul 10 LICHFIELD CATHEDRAL
• Sat Jul 19 ROMSEY ABBEY
• Thu Aug 7 WORCESTER CATHEDRAL
• Fri Sep 19 LIVERPOOL METROPOLITAN CATHEDRAL
• Thu Sep 25 HEXHAM ABBEY
• Wed Oct 15 MANCHESTER CATHEDRAL
• Fri Oct 17 CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL
• Sat Oct 18 DORCHESTER ABBEY
• Fri Oct 24 LINCOLN CATHEDRAL
• Sat Oct 25 SHEFFIELD CATHEDRAL

Please click here for more information.

This tour was generously supported by Arts Council England, Yamaha and PRS Foundation

ACOUSTIC TRIANGLE IS NOW ON MYSPACE

The members of Acoustic Triangle are hoping that people will post comments and sign up as 'friends' on their new myspace page, so please have a look at: www.myspace.com/acoustictriangle

Acoustic Triangle
Intro | 2005 Tour of Sacred Places Archive | Concert Schedule | Recordings | Bios | History | Pictures | Reviews | Feedback | Press Kit

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