We usually keep the blog reserved for the fun stuff but we can see from the geeky stats we get on this blog that some of you have been searching for information on the OAE’s funding situation. We’re pleased to say that after today’s announcement we remain funded by the Arts Council, with only a small 4.5% cut from the 2011-2012 financial year. You can read our full statement here. Now – on with the fun stuff and the music!
Here are a few more staff choices from our Baroque. Contrasted. festival next week at Kings Place:
I’m really looking forward to next week’s events because there’s SO much variety. It’s hard to pick a favourite but starting my Sunday with cup of coffee and some beautiful baroque music sounds pretty appealing to me; I also like the idea of being one of the first to hear the future OAE players.
Isabelle Tawil, Development Manager
Anything with the words coffee and Handel is definitely up my ally. I like the idea of a Sunday morning coffee with the OAE at the Coffee Concert. I’m also excited to get my Purcell groove on in the Sing Baroque event, what a great excuse to sing in public without an out of tune rendition of Whitney Houston.
Georgina Cooksley, Intern
Baroque Strings because it has the theorbo in it and I want to see what all the fuss is about, or maybe Reflections on the Grand Tour to see and hear what sackbuts are like.
Dipu Yonjan, Finance Officer
During the next week we’ll be posting up some playlists so you can get acquainted with the music ahead of the concerts, as well as telling you a little more about some of the more unusual composers featured. You can find out more about the festival with our virtual brochure here.
This lunch-hour three of us from the office decided to do something a little different and take in some contemporary art. We headed down to the Gagosian gallery in Kings Cross to take a look at K.364, the latest exhibition by artist Douglas Gordon. The centrepiece of the exhibition is a film, shown on two huge screens in a pitch black and slightly unnervingly disorientating space. The film follows two Israeli musicians of Polish descent as they travel from Berlin to Poland and culminates with their performance (with the Amadeus Chamber Orchestra) of Mozart’s K.364 Sinfonia Concertante, which we have recently performed on tour and which comes to the Queen Elizabeth Hall on Saturday. While we were there the performance part of the film was playing and it was a fascinating experience, feeling as if you’re really inside the performance, with the sound surrounding and enveloping you and the film being shown both on the huge screens as well as being reflected in full length mirrors. Definitely worth a visit, though the exhibition closes this Saturday.
You can view a trailer and find out more at the gallery’s website.
Yesterday saw the Orchestra travel from Boston to New York for that evening’s concert at Lincoln Center – and it was also Sir Roger Norrington’s Birthday. At the Boston concert he was presented with this very appropriate T Shirt (we were playing the music of CPE Bach) which he proudly wore on the coach down to New York. A full report on the tour to follow soon, and if you’re in New York you can still catch the OAE when we combine with the London Sinfonietta tomorrow for a performance of Heiner Goebbel’s Songs of Wars I Have Seen tomorrow evening (18 March).
On 6 April our next mini-festival at Kings Place, Baroque. Contrasted. kicks off with 5 days of concerts, talks, demonstrations and even singing-along showcasing the depth and variety of Baroque Music. We asked around the office to see what people here are most looking forward to:
I’m really looking forward to Steven Devine’s Sing Baroque event on 9 April. It’s been a while since I’ve been able to stretch my vocal chords and being able to sing choruses from the beautiful Dido & Aeneas is a pretty decent way to spend a Saturday lunchtime 
Natasha Stehr, Marketing and Press Officer
It’s hard to chose, because there’s lots of fab music. I’m going to chose two events. First, Baroque Strings on 7 April, because it includes Vivaldi’s La Folia variations. It’s what the German’s call an ‘earworm’ – i.e. a tune you can’t get out of your head which just goes round and round on repeat…My second pick would be Sunday’s coffee concert. Not only is it just really lovely to start your Sunday with a coffee and great music, but it’s always fantastic seeing the students on our Apprenticeship scheme play. Plus the concert includes Purcell’s Abdelazar, which reminds me of playing it in my school orchestra – though I suspect this performance will be considerably better…
William Norris, Communications Director
The Sing Baroque event, because the OAE hasn’t done anything quite like this before and it will be a great opportunity to learn to sing some Purcell in an authentically OAE way from Steven Devine. I’d also like to prove to my colleagues in the office that the regular singing (or more like wailing) that I do on a regular basis in the office is merely scratching the surface of my raw talent…
Ceri Jones, Projects Officer
Having had a sneak preview of the concert on Friday 8 April at 6.45pm (The Sprightly Hautboy and the Soft Complaining Flute) when it was performed at the Garrick Club in February, I can speak from experience when I say that this event will be entertaining and illuminating. I was captivated by this repertoire, both familiar and less-familiar, and look forward to hearing these fabulous instruments being brought to life again (by the equally fabulous players) in this spring concert at Kings Place.
Stephen Carpenter, Chief Executive
You can view our online brochure for the festival here, or if you feel motivated to book you can do that here
Through the history of recorded music the cover artwork on a CD or LP has always been an important part of the finished product, and in the pop world in particular, there are have been some truly legendary and iconic designs – just think of Abbey Road, The Dark Side of the Moon, Sgt. Pepper and Nirvana’s Nevermind. The fact I don’t feel a need to post pictures of these to remind readers is a testament to the way their cover art has entered the popular conciousness.
It has to be said though that classical music hasn’t done so well with its cover art (though do feel free to tell us about any of your favourite covers) and it’s probably easier to find some really bad cover art than anything really distinctive. There are some exceptions of course (two of my favourites being the Virgin Ultraviolet range and Decca’s Argo line, both now out of print, and some more in this blog article) but they are the exception and not the rule.
So when we came to produce the first CD on our OAE Released label we wanted to think long and hard about the artwork. We tasked the designers, Harrison and Co, with coming up with something that would be very ‘OAE’ – distinctive, different, something that would stand out from other CDs and tie in with the Orchestra’s values. Importantly the artwork would need to be a distinctive series – so that while each CD would look different they should also be recognisably from the same stable.
The designers came back with a range of options and there were two frontrunners for us, but we ultimately went with an alphabet theme…in the video below designer Chris talks through the different options he came up with, including the one we eventually picked.
The first CD on OAE Released, Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers is out now and can be bought through our website.
William Norris, Communications Director
As it’s Friday afternoon, and the office are making the final preparations to next week’s US tour, we thought you might want to know what music was keeping us going!
You can listen to the whole playlist on Spotify here: OAE office playlist March 2011
For the last four weeks I’ve been in the OAE office working as the Communications 
Intern – and those four weeks have flown by! I’ve had a great time, mainly working in the Communications department, but I’ve tried to get an experience of how the orchestra works by going to as many events and meetings as possible.
The highlight of the four weeks for me was definitely the CPE Bach concert last Thursday, but everything about my time here has been enjoyable – especially meeting the players and members of the audience at events, but also the gossips over lunch, or a cheeky Nando’s, or the “PFA” (Projects Food Area – where all the biscuits and cake end up!)
I’ll be going back to Cardiff next week, as on Tuesday I go back to lectures for my Masters in Arts Management. However, I will be coming back up in May and June for the next Night Shifts – from what I’ve heard, they seem to be amazing events and I can’t wait to go to one, especially as I’m looking forward to having a boogie with some of the guys from the office – apparently, their dance moves are legendary.
I’ve learnt a lot about the orchestra, and about marketing in general, in my time here – but more importantly, I’ve had a fantastic time, made some wonderful friends, and gone to some amazing concerts for free!
David Hopkins, Communications Intern
As you know we’re currently very keen on being green here at the OAE. It’s even extended to our recent photoshoot, where we indulged in a bit of recycling.
One of the ideas for next season’s photoshoot was to use white cut outs of instruments as we thought the projections would work better on them than real instruments. Rob, from designers Harrison & Co, had spent a long time making some fantastic cut outs of all the possible instruments we would need. However, after a few test shots this idea was ditched and we decided to go with the real thing. The cut outs lay discarded and unloved in the corner…
However during a break between photographing players the designers Chris and Rob and photographer Eric had a bit of a play with the cut outs and with the aid of some nifty lighting and what looks like some fishing line they made some really interesting shots.
The pictures didn’t really fit into the theme of the brochure though, so for a while we thought they might just remain interesting curiosities, destined to live in some far flung corner of the OAE’s server. But then – we came to design a brochure for our week of events at Kings Place, Baroque. Contrasted. and realised the pictures would be perfect. The designers added some colour to the pictures and they look fantastic. Below is a selection of them, and if you’d like to see a virtual brochure with them in you’ll find it here.
William Norris, Communications Director
Our Projects Manager, Megan, just wanted to share her inbox with you. This is what happens when you’re organising 3 overseas tours simultaneously. Each email here represents an individual itinerary for one of the tours. Megan is in remarkably good spirits considering…
