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Resilient London once again displays vibrant creativity

Bill, Director of Culture, Ceremonies, Education and Live Sites

Resilient London once again displays vibrant creativity

Bill, Director of Culture, Ceremonies, Education and Live Sites,
18 Nov 2008
So London is in the very teeth of an economic storm. This was a week when the human face of this financial tsunami was vividly there for all to see, with thousands learning that their jobs are part of the price of the global downturn.
And yet this was also a week in which this most resilient of cities showed its creative heart beating as healthily as ever.

For three days the nation's village hall - The Royal Albert Hall - hosted thousands of school children from all around the UK in Music for Youth's Schools Proms. The calibre and diversity of the young performers was breath-taking. From rap to Vivaldi, jazz to samba, just about every musical form was on show with exhuberance and joy. One of the Schools Proms sponsors, Youth Music, is putting huge resources and commitment into a nationwide singing project for London 2012.

At least two festivals launched on Friday night. The London Jazz Festival kicked off nine days of the world's best and most imaginative jazz fushion. Serious, who produce the Festival and Radio Three, who broadcast it, have turned this into one of the most compelling and relevant of the contemporary festivals. And watch out for the plan's they're brewing for 2012 too. The opening night gig at The Barbican (another venue with important 2012 ambitions) featured another astonishing performance by the resurgent Nigel Kennedy.

Just a mile or so away on the same night Nitin Sawney performed his new London soundtrack with visuals projected on the UK's biggest big screen. The BFI's Imax was the venue for the first night of OneDotZero - a buzzy weekend-long digital media festival. Sawney's latest piece is a timely musical study of the capital post 7/7. Provocative, mesmeric and captivating, Sawney's music captures the zeitgeist of the city in a way that few can achieve. In the most organic and elegant of ways he blends musical cultures in the way that the city melds different communities. His musicianship is world class, and his musical vision is London at its articulate and challenging best.

Last night it was the London Symphony Orchestra’s chance to inspire. Their ‘On Track’ project links the orchestra over the period up to 2012 to young musicians from schools throughout 10 East London boroughs, including some of the poorest and toughest in the UK. “Take a Bow” was the first evening when the London Symphony Orchestra played alongside 100 school musicians of all ages and abilities in their St Lukes performance space. There was real passion and delight on the faces of the hard bitten professional players, but it was as nothing compared with the saucer eyes of the children – some only recently taken up their instruments and others so small that they were dwafted by their cellos or violas.

It was a night that most of those children will never forget and as the scheme grows over the next four years thousands more will benefit. The London Symphony Orchestra has just applied for and been granted London 2012’s ‘Inspire’ mark for this project to join the Cultural Olympiad. I’m extremely proud that the London Symphony Orchestra has drawn inspiration from London 2012 to drive this scheme forward. Based on last night, the feeling is mutual!

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4 Comments on this post
21 November 2008, telegram/germany said:

This reminds me of my music lessons in school. On the timetable there had been Benjamin Britten´s ´A Young Person´s guide to the orchestra` - a contemporary showpiece especially about rhythm and percussion that leads through all instruments of the orchestra - certainly worth to listen.

04 December 2008, onedotzero said:

Hello Bill,So pleased you enjoyed the Nitin Sawhney + Es Devlin collaboration commission at the onedotzero_adventures in motion festival.We wanted to take this opportunity to mention alongside Nitin and his guest performers, the incredibly talented Es Devlin, who designed the visual concept and set. She worked closely with onedotzero_industries who produced the show and created the visuals to illustrate the citystates theme of the festival, and portray Es and Nitin's joint vision of London.We would love to hear what other audience members thought of the show, and invite feedback, pictures and comment at our blog http://www.onedotzero.com/blogBest wishes,Donna, onedotzero

05 December 2008, L Mitchell said:

I agree that the live collaborative Onedotzero show really did show off ‘London at its articulate and challenging best’ but what I was most impressed with was how it was so much more than a music gig.I loved how dance, theatre and digital film came together and made it such an alternative memorable experience, this show blew me away.I think what made it so special and what makes Britian’s creative and cultural scene so special is that space for collaboration and cross-over. Whether it’s between cultures, between modern and heritage [such as the traditional musicians merging with new sounds and the super high tech visuals] or the different worlds coming together – in this case music, dance, film and theatre [the set was designed by Es Devlin who is I learnt is very respected stage designer for big productions like RSC and Carmen]. I noticed there was a really mixed audience too.This is the type of marriage of acoustic with digital spectacle and creativity I would be proud to have representing country at the Olympics events, definitely over the 'kids-from-fame-on-a-bus' we saw anytime! Oh and great venue too, only been once before, but it looked amazing with these huge abstract visuals and landscapes.

05 December 2008, Rustymail said:

Great to see Bill bigging up what was a memorable night at with Nitin Sawhney and onedotzero. A Sawhney fan for many years, I've been slightly disappointed to find his music and performance become increasingly classical and less urgent in recent years, so it was a profound pleasure to feel his music lifted once again by the haunting, fiercely creative visuals made for the one-off multi-media performance by event curator onedotzero. Despite a very straight, stripped back musical set-up, Sawhney's themes took flight thanks to the lyrical, luminous expressions of alienation, anxiety and the possibility of transcendence which rolled across the massive screen, expertly drawing in the other impressive contributions from set designer Es Devlin and dancer Dam Van Hunyh. New horizons for performance opened up that night.

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