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Berkeley Ensemble

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British chamber music ensemble

Berkeley Ensemble
OriginUK
GenresChamber music ensemble
Years active2008 (2008) – present
Websitewww.berkeleyensemble.co.uk
Musical artist

The Berkeley Ensemble is a British chamber music ensemble that explores little-known twentieth- and twenty first-century British chamber music alongside a more established repertoire.

Founded in 2008 by members of Southbank Sinfonia, the ensemble reached the finals of the 2009 Royal Over-Seas League music competition and has since performed regularly in the UK and abroad.

Their recordings and performances are regularly featured in the national press. Their album Lennox Berkeley: Chamber Works was selected by BBC Music Magazine as Chamber Choice in 2015, and Lennox Berkeley: Stabat Mater was nominated for a Gramophone Magazine Classical Music Award in 2017.

The ensemble revived the Cobbett Competition for chamber music composition (as The New Cobbett Competition) in 2014, with Sequenza for string quartet by Samuel Lewis as the first winner.

Since 2016 the Berkeley Ensemble has curated the annual Little Venice Music Festival in London. It celebrated its 10th anniversary with a performance at the Purcell Room in September 2018.

The ensemble is named after the British composers Lennox Berkeley and Michael Berkeley. Its patrons are Michael Berkeley and Petroc Trelawny.

Albums

The ensemble has released a number of albums, most notably:

  • Cobbett’s Legacy: The New Cobbett Prize for Chamber Music (2019, Resonus Classics) received a 4-star review in The Guardian
  • Winter Fragments (2018, Resonus Classics) was praised for the ensemble’s “endlessly responsive playing” by Fiona Maddocks in The Observer
  • Stabat Mater: Sacred Choral Music by Lennox & Michael Berkeley (2016, Delphian Records) was nominated for a Gramophone Award
  • Lennox Berkeley: Chamber Works (2015, Resonus Classics) received a 5-star review in BBC Music Magazine and positive reviews in the Telegraph and Sunday Times
  • Clarion Call: Music for Septet and Octet (2014, Resonus Classics) received positive reviews in The Observer, Gramophone Magazine, The Strad, and Classical Ear.

References

  1. ^ "Berkeley Ensemble | Artist Page | Resonus Classics". www.resonusclassics.com. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  2. ^ "Lennox Berkeley: Chamber Works, review: 'well worth a listen'". The Telegraph. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  3. ^ "Gramophone Classical Music Awards 2017: the Shortlist". Gramophone. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  4. Andrew Clements. 'Cobbett's Legacy: The New Cobbett Prize for Chamber Music', in The Guardian, 1 August 2019
  5. "About". Little Venice Music Festival. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  6. "125419 Berkeley Ensemble at 10 2018". Southbank Centre. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  7. Clements, Andrew (1 August 2019). "Cobbett's Legacy: The New Cobbett Prize review | Andrew Clements's classical album of the week". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  8. "Home listening: Charlotte Bray, Michael Berkeley and BBC Sounds". the Guardian. 18 November 2018. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  9. "L Berkeley". Classical Music. 11 September 2015.
  10. Pettitt, Hugh Canning, David Cairns, Paul Driver and Stephen. "Classical, May 3". The Sunday Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 20 September 2020.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  11. "Clarion Call: Works for Septet and Octet review – verve, imagination and jellyfish…". the Guardian. 23 March 2014. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  12. "Review". Gramophone. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  13. "Clarion Call. M. Berkeley Clarion Call and Gallop. Casken: Blue Medusa. Ferguson: Octet op.4, C. Wood: Septet | Reviews | The Strad". 17 July 2014. Archived from the original on 17 July 2014. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  14. "Recent reviews round-up 12 March 2014 | Classical Ear". 23 October 2014. Archived from the original on 23 October 2014. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
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