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Sir Peter Maxwell Davies - 70th Birthday Year Celebrations
by Betty Power (from BKA Summer 2004 Newsletter)
Master of the Queen’s Music and BKA Patron, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, is one of five British composers being celebrated in this year’s BBC Proms as part of the theme "England at the Crossroads: 1934". This was the year in which three great composers died (Edward Elgar, Gustav Holst and Frederick Delius) and the year in which two of our internationally celebrated living composers (Sir Harrison Birtwistle and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies) were born.
As part of the celebration of his 70th birthday year, six of Sir Peter’s orchestral compositions and a concert of his chamber music have been programmed, including a performance under his direction of his Eighth Symphony, inspired by his sea voyage to the Antarctic.
A leading figure in British contemporary music today, Sir Peter Maxwell
Davies will be featured on the BBC Radio 3 Programme "Composer of the
Week" beginning September 6th.
To celebrate his 70th birthday on 8 September 2004, a group of 47 choirs
commissioned a new choral work by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies which will be
performed by each of the choirs in their 2004-5 concert seasons. The First
Performance of The Kestrel Road will be on 7 September, 2004 at the
City of London School by the Oxford Pro Musica Singers, conducted by Michael
Smedley. The Kestrel Road is a 15 minute choral work of seven songs
with an English text by George Mackay Brown.
His Ojai Festival Overture will be performed at the Last Night of the
Proms, Saturday 11 September and performances of his music are scheduled
throughout Europe this autumn. For more details on Sir Peter Maxwell Davies,
his music and other performances, visit
www.maxopus.com
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