Joint Commissioning Scheme

In 2005 the PRS Foundation in partnership with the Scottish Arts Council and the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation launched a new joint-commissioning initiative. The aim of this scheme is to encourage ground breaking contemporary music commissions, ensure that new works receive more than one performance and encourage partnerships between organisations that are committed to the commissioning of new music.

The partnerships have to involve a music festival as one of the organisations and also have to have a Scottish involvement. PRSF are now pleased to announce details of the successful projects, all described below. 

Cambridge Folk Festival/Celtic Connections

Artists/composers: John McCusker

Collaborators – a mix of Scottish and English folk writers along with several pop writers including Graham Coxon and Roddy Woomble

The new work, Under One Sky, will be the result of the first collaboration between the BBC Radio 2 Cambridge Folk Festival and Celtic Connections.  These two internationally renowned festivals have long sought an opportunity to work together and this joint commission is the ideal way to do so. Together they have commissioned John McCusker to create an inspiring and significant new body of work entitled "Under One Sky". 

The first performance will be at Celtic Connections in January 2007.

London Jazz Festival/Birmingham Jazz /SAMPAD/Celtic Connections

Artists/composers: Andy Sheppard, Simon Thoumire, Sheema Mukherjee, Aiden O’Rourke, Kuljit Bhamra

This is a new, creative collective made up of musicians from all over the UK, each of whom has an international reputation for cross genre and improvisatory work. The collective will produce new work (for a two set performance) which defies boundaries and stretches the ears.

This work will premiere at the London Jazz Festival in November 2006.

Aldeburgh (Snape Prom)/East Neuk Festival/ Mr McFall’s Chamber

Composer: Gavin Bryars

Gavin Bryars will write a 15 minute work for the classical-cabaret band Mr McFall’s Chamber, whose intriguingly hybrid line-up features electric string quartet, double bass, electric bass, piano, accordion, drums, percussion and a guest vocalist. “There are other groups that perform in a mixture of styles and genres of course”, Bryars writes, “But I know of none with the authority and sense of being completely at ease in all aspects of its musical output”.

This will premiere at the East Neuk Festival in June 2007.

Towersey Village Festival/Stoneyport Agency/Folk in the Fall

Artists/composers: Aidan O’Rourke, Pete Wareham

Collaborators – Martin Green, Seb Rochford, Brian Finnegan, Kris Drever, Neil Harland

With instrumentation including fiddle, flutes, keyboards, whistles, saxophone, guitar, double bass, computers, wurlitzer, accordion and drums, the work, Parallelogram, will play a significant role in making traditional music more accessible to jazz audiences and vice versa, continuing to strengthen the relationship between the two genres. It will also bring together composers and players from two exciting musical scenes, Edinburgh and London.

This will premiere at Folk in the Fall at the South Bank, November 2006.