Like so many arts organisations around the globe, New Paths was forced by the spread of Covid-19 to cancel its 2020 Spring Festival. As a distraction from the frustrations of self-isolation, we publish here the intended programme notes for a few of our concerts, along with (where available) YouTube clips and Spotify playlists of the concert repertoire. It may not be the same as live music, but we hope you enjoy this sample of what might have been!
Since time immemorial, and whatever their geographical starting point, people have looked to their East as a source of inspiration, with the daily refreshment of sunrise. The east-meets-west dialogue in the modern world is perhaps not as new as we think, and here we explore a wide range of Eastern influences on mostly Western music.
Two of the most extraordinary musicians of their time meet when they are young; they fall deeply in love, they battle tirelessly for permission to marry, and go on to stimulate remarkable creativity in their respective music-making. Whilst in reality their lives were far from rosy, the love story of Robert and Clara Schumann has long captivated imaginations, and Myrthen was written as a wedding present from the young groom to his bride.
Musical time, measuring time, moments in time… This tour of music inspired in various ways by our relationship with time draws the time of the festival itself to a close. From Beethoven, the first composer to measure musical time with a metronome, to Britten, inspired by proverbs philosophising about time; from Walton, student at a place with its own time, to Strauss and Vaughan Williams, exploring the end of our time on earth.
A live mix-tape of evocative Celtic music – a musical language which has been an inspiration – and will be ‘til the seas gang dry’ – to both native composers and those from around the world. From haunting folk favourites to new discoveries, this short informally-presented performance will have something for everyone.