Uncategorized

We are excited to work with Finalist Eric on his piece To the Bone. We asked Eric to tell us a little more about himself and his composing.

I am a multidisciplinary composer and performer originally hailing from Austin, Texas. Now based in London, I am completing Master of Music degree at the Royal Academy of Music under the direction of Helen Grime and David Sawer. I initially began my studies as a mechanical engineer and French Horn player, before finding my way into composition while at the University of Oklahoma. I enjoy working in small motivic spaces, generating intricate and interconnected pieces from limited source material or strict programmatic guidelines. Much of my recent and upcoming concert work explores the relationship between music and memory, across both acoustic and electronic mediums. Recent collaborations include work with the Riot Ensemble, PHACE ensemble, Trio Immersio, and the Sydney Contemporary Orchestra. 

We are excited to work with Finalist Pierre on his piece Bransle. We asked Pierre to tell us a little more about himself and his composing.

“After receiving a general music education in the conservatory, I decided to pursue a career focusing on classical composition. One of Nadia Boulanger’s last student, Dr. David Conte, happen to be a teacher at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and introduced me to the music of Maurice Ravel, Debussy, Chabrier … and I realized that they all wrote dances. Being very deeply attached to my roots in French Massif Central, Italy, Martinique and Ireland, I decided to write my own dances, in homage to the past, and the culture of these regions. As a result of this, I recently finished my Dance Suite (six European dances), while honoring three commissions due in early 2025, orchestrating for the cinema, as well as teaching. As I am writing the libretto, a secret dream would be to write a full scale ballet based on a modernized ancient myth … .”

We are excited to work with Finalist Nicholas on his piece Vienna c. 1825, colourised. We asked Nicholas to tell us a little more about himself and his composing.

My initial path into composing was through pop music songwriting and arranging in my
teens, where my first experiments with notated music were located. At some point I fell
down the rabbit hole of classical music, first falling in love with Mahler and the
Impressionists, then finding the music of Stravinsky and the Second Viennese School. Since
then, I’ve explored the whole range of post-1900 music, trying to combine the best
innovations of that music with a lyricism derived from my activity as a choral singer. I was
able to indulge both of these interests when I wrote (and staged!) a chamber opera last year,
which I hope will be a stepping stone to future operatic projects.
I am currently a master’s student in composition at RAM, taught by Helen Grime and David
Sawer. Before this I studied Music at the University of Cambridge.

We’re excited to be able to announce our programme for the 2024/5 season – it’s going to be amazing!!

We would love to hear from experienced string players who might want to join us for a concert or more permanently. The dates for the season can be found at Rehearsal schedule.

We’re a friendly group (with a lot of good cake) playing to a very high standard with Principal Conductor Christopher Stark, our professional leader and the young professional players leading the strings.  We perform three main concerts each season and two side-by-side workshops with Camden children.  We also take great pride in providing opportunities for young professional musicians at the start of their careers.

We perform and rehearse on Sundays.  Rehearsals are at Camden School for Girls and the 3 main concerts are at St John’s Waterloo.

Players taking part in events are eligible to enter our Soloist of the Year competition and win the chance to be our June 2025 soloist. 

Interested? Get in touch on ersoinfo@gmail.com

An amazing evening of wonderful opera with our 5 favourite singers Guy Beynon; Phoebe Rayner; Jack Dolan; Michael Temporal Darrell and Dominic Felts under the baton of conductor Chris Stark. Our cast brought the characters life with expert direction by Jasmine Ricketts and it was clear that our appreciative audience had a great time! (Photographs by Gabriella Meade)

Ravel’s comedic opera L’Heure Espagnol tells the tale of a clockmaker whose unfaithful wife attempts to see other men while he is away, leading to them hiding in, and eventually getting stuck in, her husband’s clocks. It’s hugely funny! Join us for a very affordable evening with tickets only at £12 in advance and £5 for students/children. https://www.wegottickets.com/event/607742#

• Torquemada, the clockmaker played by Guy Beynon
• Concepción, Torquemada’s wife played by Phoebe Rayner
• Ramiro, the muleteer or delivery-man played by Michael Temporal Darrell
• Don Iñigo Gomez, the banker played by Dominic Felts
• Gonzalve, the poet played bv Jack Dolan

We are thrilled to be working with Jasmine Ricketts as our Director in our production of Ravel’s L’Heure Espagnol. Jasmine will be helping us to bring this comedic story to life for our audience.

Jasmine is a Movement and Stage Director, Choreographer and Facilitator, working across opera, theatre, film and community spaces. After graduating from the University of Exeter with a BA in Drama, Jasmine went on to study an MA in Choreography at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. She has also received training from New Adventures Dance Company, Gecko Theatre, and Central School of Speech and Drama. Highlighted credits include: Captain Blood’s Revenge (Into Opera); Rain and Zoe Save the World (Jermyn Street Theatre); Venus and Adonis (Blackheath Halls Opera); Eugene Onegin (Buxton International Festival); Paul Bunyan (ENO); The Day After (ENO).

We’re thrilled to announce that talented violinist Laura Kim is the winner of the 2024 ERSO Soloist of the Year competition. Laura is a 4th year undergraduate student at the Royal Academy of Music and will be performing Saint Saens Introduction Rondo and Capriccioso in our concert on 23 June 2024.

We’re also excited that runner-up Jenny Sturt will be performing a solo with ERSO next season.

Talented young singer Dominic Felts is playing our Don Iñigo, a buffoonish banker who uses his power to get Torquemada the job of attending to the town clocks so he can try his luck with Concepción, Torquemada’s wife!

Check out this video of Dominic’s wonderful singing.

Ravel’s father was a successful engineer who invented a machine for making paper bags, patented a design for a steam-driven automobile and worked as a technical advisor on Gustave Eiffel’s railway projects. As a child, Ravel was fascinated by his father’s mechanical inventions and we see this immediately in L’heure espagnole as it opens with a series of chords set against three metronomes, timed at 40, 100 and 232 beats per minute so that they coincide every 15 seconds. You’ll see a lot of clocks in our presentation of the opera!

https://www.wegottickets.com/event/607742#