The Castle, Hay-on-Wye, HR3 5DG. Doors open 7.00pm. Bar.
A huge welcome back to our good friends in Ensemble Bash.
Tickets: tba
Chris Brannick Catherine Ring Richard Benjafield Stephen Hiscock
Programme
Steve Reich arr. Benjafield: Typing Music
Tom Johnson: Narayana’s Cows
Nick Hayes: Shining Through
Simon Limbrick: Tunnel
Carlos Lopez-Real: New piece - World premiere
Ensemble Bash: Ghanaian Drumming Music
Since the formation of Ensemble Bash in the UK in 1992, the quartet has made a reputation as one of the world’s most innovative and groundbreaking chamber ensembles. Using the music of West Africa as both core repertoire and a guiding spiritual influence, they mix contemporary classical, jazz and music theatre into unforgettable performances.
Since the beginning, Ensemble Bash has been dedicated to commissioning new repertoire for percussion ensemble, and has developed special relationships with composers including Graham Fitkin, Stephen Montague, Nick Hayes, Howard Skempton and Stewart Copeland. Ensemble Bash has also premiered work by Tan Dun, Keith Tippett, David Bedford, Nitin Sawhney, Orphy Robinson, Michael Daugherty, John Woolrich, Anne Dudley and Steve Reich.
The group has toured the UK and Europe extensively, including numerous appearances at the Southbank Centre and BBC Proms and further afield, Ensemble Bash has performed throughout Ghana, at the Melbourne and Sydney International Festivals and in Hong Kong to mark the handover of the colony to the Chinese in 1997.
The ensemble has spent several periods of study in Ghana, learning African drumming and percussion rhythms and techniques and has collaborated with many famous names including Joanna Macgregor, Chick Corea, Django Bates, Nana Vasconcelos, Evelyn Glennie, The Hilliard Ensemble, Kathryn Tickell, The National Dance Company of Ghana and The Pan African Orchestra. With many recordings to their name Ensemble Bash is also renowned for its workshops and family concerts, and pioneering education work has included extensive residencies for Dartington International Summer School, SPNM's Sound Inventors, Spitalfields Festival and the Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne, Australia. Recent masterclasses have included the Royal College of Music (2019), Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama (2020) plus their ongoing project as Artists-in-Residence at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.