Ahead of this year’s Vale of Glamorgan Festival, we’re taking a closer look at the musicians set to perform at the Festival. As we continue with our preview series, David Roche tells us more about what to expect from Cello Octet Amsterdam.
With the music of 36 living composers being performed at the Vale of Glamorgan Festival this year, it should come as no surprise that supporting new music and the music of living composers is at the heart of our mission. This is why we love working with Cello Octet Amsterdam – their program of music this year reflects a wonderful and increasingly eclectic classical international music scene, it’s a pleasure to be part of it and to bring that to Wales.
Fearless performances of internationally significant composers abound! From the transcendental, wildly yearning Sofia Gubaidulina to the insistent and intense Philip Glass – you can be sure that Cello Octet Amsterdam’s performances will be gripping. An impressive, broad stylistic and aesthetic gamut.
The Vale of Glamorgan Festival is particularly excited to hear the music of Joep Beving, a Dutch composer who has a strong affiliation with the ensemble. You can hear their Deustsch Grammaphon of his Hanging D below – a beautifully performed and recorded release reflecting their ability to bring forward the most intimate details of a work (and their pride in their Dutch colleagues excellent music).
And this isn’t even the half of it. Cello Octet Amsterdam’s festival program this year reaches further and further with Kate Moore, Kinan Azmeh, John Metcalf, and The Beatles. An enormous range of exceptional, moving music from an extremely broad background. This sensitive programming is uncompromising – it is visionary, fresh, and beautiful.
Cello Octet Amsterdam are a wonderful ensemble – make sure you attend their concert and, if you’d like to learn more about them in advance, then you can check out their music here.
Tickets to see Cello Octet Amsterdam at this year’s Vale of Glamorgan Festival are available here.
