Black Hair ensemble
Anna Myatt and I decided in 1995 that York needed a new contemporary music ensemble, and that the wealth of performing talent among current and former students of the music department should make this an easy ambition to realise. With me as principal conductor and Anna as principal vocalist we set up a large ensemble for our debut concert, aided by a start up grant from Yorkshire Arts. Indeed we had a lot of help from Yorkshire arts in the first few years and became a Yorkshire Arts Ensemble in Residence. After the first concerts which involved 20 musicians, we gradually downsized for obvious financial reasons, and eventually became a group of seven with occasional guests brought in for specific repertoire.
Season 1 1995
Debut concert Feb 25 at the Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, York. Marsh: Black Hair(song)/The Song of Abigail/Kagura; Aperghis: 3 Recitations. Programme repeated at The Barber Institute, Birmingham University Feb…
Season 2 1996