London Sinfonietta: Fireworks

A night of virtuosic fireworks from different musical and cultural traditions. The sounds of the far East in Dai Fujikura’s Shamisen Concerto are tempered by “a cadenza-like solo of dizzying rapidity that evokes prog-rock guitar as much as Paganini” (New York Times), while Tania León’s Rítmicas is based on “a rainbow of polyrhythmic inventions emerging from the Son and Guaguancó clave” of Cuba. The micropolyphonic textures of the oldest piece in tonight’s programme, György Ligeti’s Chamber Concerto, still sound as new as at its premiere in 1970.

Augusta Read Thomas  new work (UK Premiere)
Dai Fujikura  Shamisen Concerto (UK Premiere)
Tania León  Rítmicas
György Ligeti  Chamber Concerto

Hidejiro Honjoh  shamisen
Vimbayi Kaziboni  conductor
London Sinfonietta