News and Reviews

News: New Composition Celebrates Bess of Hardwick
May 2008

An Oratorio composed to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the death of Bess of Hardwick will make its world premiere at Derby's Assembly rooms on Wednesday June 11 with further performances in the grounds of Hardwick Hall and at St John's Church, Buxton.

The piece, created by world-class composer James Redwood and Derbyshire's former poet laureate Cathy Grindrod, includes songs for children, two vocal soloists and will be accompanied by East Midlands' orchestra sinfonia ViVA as well as young instrumentalists. Cathy's words have been inspired by work created by pupils from Springwood and Asterdale Junior Schools and West Park Community School – all in Spondon, Derby, as well as those from Creswell Junior School, Hodthorpe Primary School and Heritage School in Bolsover.

The young people aged nine upwards, who have been involved from the start of the project, will perform the songs as part of the Oratorio alongside ViVA at three concerts - two in the Assembly Rooms, Derby, on Wednesday June 11 and then at a spectacular evening outdoor concert in the grounds of Hardwick Hall on Thursday June 12. Pupils from schools in Buxton will perform the same pieces at St John's Church, Buxton on Tuesday July 15 as part of the popular annual Buxton Festival.

The project, entitled 'More Glass Than Wall' is inspired by the pioneering use of glass in the construction by Bess of the 16th century Hardwick Hall and is a joint initiative by sinfonia ViVA, Children's Music Workshop in harmony with Music Platform, Derbyshire County Council, Derby City Council, Bolsover District Council and The National Trust.

Bess of Hardwick led a long and colourful life and became particularly famous for her building projects, especially Chatsworth, now the seat of her descendants the Duke of Devonshire, and Hardwick Hall. She is interred in a vault in Derby Cathedral where there is a memorial to her.

Composer James Redwood, who has worked with ViVA on several previous education projects, explained: "Once Cathy Grindrod had written the text for the piece I started to compose the music. I took much of my inspiration for the music from a table in Hardwick Hall which was given to Elizabeth as a wedding present. ngraved on the top is a piece of music, which was composed by the English musician Thomas Tallis and conjures up the 16th century perfectly. I have also used some rounds which were collected by Thomas Ravenscroft which Elizabeth herself might have performed for entertainment. The Orchestra adds an extra level to the commentary onto the story with the music sometimes making fun of the characters and changing the atmosphere and mood of the story. This has been a fascinating project which has largely been inspired by the young people’s imagination and interest in such a colourful character from local history. We are looking forward to the world premiere of the Oratorio and hope the audiences gain as much enjoyment from the performance as we have all had in creating it."

Cathy Grindrod added: "From the outset of this project, I found Bess a fascinating character – very much ahead of her time – and an impressive woman, so it has been really interesting piecing the facts together and trying to work out an idea of who she really was. I decided that the thing I most wanted to do was to tell Bess's whole life story – and to show the audience the different facets of her character so that they could make up their own minds about the real Bess. I felt a big responsibility to Bess to be fair and balanced about her story and what I have written is an attempt to do that through songs and the interplay between the soloist and narrator."

Tickets for the performances are available from: Derby Assembly Rooms (for Wednesday June 11, 7pm: 01332 255800), Hardwick Hall (for Thursday 12 June, 7pm: 01909 511061) and St John’s Church, Buxton (for Tuesday 15 July, 5pm: Buxton Festival Box Office 0845 127 21901).

The project has been generously supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, Rolls-Royce plc, Derbyshire Community Foundation, Local Network Fund, Bridging the Gap, The Foyle Foundation, PRS Foundation for New Music, Orchestras Live and many other generous funders.

Media enquiries: Sarah Jenkin-Jones, JJPR, Tel: 01332 515102/07951 945 665 or email sarah@jjpublicrelations.co.uk