Music of Today
Begun in 1991, Music of Today is the name of the FREE series of pre-concert performances at Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall that features contemporary music, usually profiling a single composer. Taking place before the main evening concert at 6.00pm and lasting less than an hour, the informal concerts are a way of giving new and existing audiences the confidence to try a new listening experience.
Julian Anderson, Artistic Director, Music of Today
As an integral part of the series, whenever possible, the profiled composer is interviewed on stage by the Artistic Director Julian Anderson and introduces his or her music to the audience. This gives listeners a chance to gain a direct insight into the works programmed and helps to demystify contemporary music, as shown by the feedback from one audience member:
"I am grateful to the [presenter's] words, which open my ears to the unfamiliar"
The first Artistic Director was James Macmillan, and his enthusiasm, vision and commitment over the first ten years of Music of Today created a strong identity to the series. He introduced the works of lesser-known composers, such as Sofia Gubaidulina, Michael Torke and Deirdre Gribbin to UK audiences, many for the first time. The current Artistic Director is Julian Anderson and he introduces each concert in the 2007/08 series.
"The new Music of Today season offers you a huge range of new experiences and discoveries. At the start, music by the bright young Dutch composer Michel van der Aa, quirkily mixing technology with live instruments. At the end, the nocturnal brilliance of the Italian Salvatore Sciarrino. In between, we profile the great British composer Oliver Knussen, who is a Southbank Centre Associate Artist, and Hans Abrahamsen, the compelling subtle Danish composer. We also mark the 10th anniversary of the death of spectral French composer Gérard Grisey with his final work, a hauntingly clairvoyant meditation on death. The season finishes with our young composers’ concert, The Wild Hunt of the Summer Wind: three compositions based on sections of text from Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder.
Join us for another season of the very best music: the music of today."
Julian Anderson
