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Michael Nyman, whose music has reached its largest audience by way of film scores, has been commissioned by the Yorkshire Orchestral Consortium (YOC) to create a new orchestral piece, explains Victoria Hunt.
The work, ?a dance he little thinks of ? will première at this summer?s Harrogate International Festival during Nyman?s residency, performed by the BBC Philharmonic and conducted by Vassily Sinaisky.

YOC was formed in 1993 by a group of leading promoters of professional orchestral concerts in Yorkshire. The organisation, of which the Harrogate International Festival is a member, along with the concert series of Leeds, Bradford, Halifax, Kirklees and York University, and the Sheffield Philharmonic and Yorkshire Arts, helps to increase awareness of orchestral music in the region. The group has joined forces previously on projects that include an overseas orchestral tour, audience development projects and a group website.

In 1997 the members of YOC agreed to undertake and co-fund a commission supported by Yorkshire Arts that would be performed in each of the venues across Yorkshire. The first was in 1998 with Graham Fitkin?s ?North? which was premièred in Leeds, followed by six further performances by three separate northern orchestras. It was such a success that William Culver-Dodds, Director of Harrogate International Festival, decided to commission the piece by Michael Nyman.

The YOC co-funding ensures multiple performances. ?Rather than just one performance, which happens so frequently with new works, we aim for concerts in most of the major venues in Yorkshire,? says Culver-Dodds. ?The commissioning of an orchestral piece of this kind is also notoriously expensive and the possibility of sharing costs offers an opportunity beyond the funding capabilities of an individual member.?

The result ?a dance he little thinks of ? is a fifteen-minute composition, which takes its title from Book VII of Tristram Shandy by Yorkshire-born Laurence Sterne. The work with its obvious Yorkshire links combines three compositional preoccupations of the composer: dance, death and Tristram Shandy, a subject for an opera that Michael Nyman has been working on since 1981.

As artist in residence, Nyman?s participation at the Festival will be significant: the Michael Nyman Band will launch the event with an amplified concert performance of compositions from three of Nyman?s films; a series of Nyman?s films will be screened; and audiences will have a chance to meet the composer.

Nyman will also be inspiring local schoolchildren. The Festival is planning a three-day composition project in which children will work to complete a film score to Pudovkin?s ?Chess Fever?. This will culminate in a public performance of the score to live film.

Victoria Hunt is responsible for the PR and Press for Harrogate International Festival. t: 01423 569000, e:victoriah@adush.demon.co.uk