The New Year 2024 began with a brilliant song recital given by Rachel Roper (mezzo-soprano) and Claire Habbershaw (pianist) entitled ‘My Heart Makes Songs On Lonely Roads’.

Based on my song cycle The Pine Boughs Past Music Op.39, pianist Claire Habbershaw curated and directed an innovative presentation of readings and musical settings of Gurney’s poetry that told the story of his tragic life. 

 

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In March, I attended a concert at The Conway Hall, London that featured my 1997 song cycle, Invite, to Eternity Op.31, inspired by the poetry of John Clare. The acclaimed American tenor Brian Thorsett and the Dante String Quartet, gave a memorable performance. Reviewing the concert for ‘Musical Opinion’ the editor, Robert Matthew Walker, wrote.  ‘a performance of considerable depth and insight by Brian Thorsett.’  He continued, ‘Ian Venables is without doubt a truly gifted communicator of genuine musical qualities, one who deserves the attention of all serious singers.’  One of the major highlights of 2024 was the premiere in April, of my song cycle Out of the Shadows Op.55 given by the baritone Gareth Brynmor John, and the Pheonix Piano Trio at St John the Evangelist church in Oxford.  Commissioned by Robert Venables KC in celebration of his thirtieth anniversary with his partner Gary Morris, the cycle consists of six settings of poems  ‘themed’ around the love of man for man. In my programme note I suggested that the universality of love transcends sexual categories, and is at the heart of a humane world where gay people no longer need to hide in ‘the shadows.’     

Gareth Brynmor John with marked eloquence captured  the spirit of every song, lending it charm, carefully differentiating the moods particular and special to all six, weaving gorgeous expression, phenomenally rich timbres and a wealth of intelligent insights from the subtle web of Venables’s writing       Roderic Dunnett, Classical Music

For Roderic Dunnett’s insightful review please click the following link: https://www.classicalmusicdaily.com/2024/06/venables.htm

In July, two critically acclaimed young American musicians, soprano Ellen Leslie and pianist Eric Choate gave a truly magical song recital at Elmslie House in Great Malvern, Worcestershire.  Drawing together a wide-ranging programme of English and American music that included song settings by Eric Choate and Ian Venables, the concert also featured the premiere of my song Beginning at the End; a setting of a poem by the contemporary British poet, Jonathan Davidson.  

The 2024 Worcester, Three Choirs Festival,

At the end of 2023, I was delighted to receive a commission from the Worcester, Three Choirs Festival, to compose a Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis for the combined Three Choirs Festival Evensong.The premiere to place on the 31^st July, conducted by Samuel Hudson; the Director of Music at Worcester Cathedral and Artistic Director of the Festival and the service was broadcast live by BBC Radio 3.

On the same day, Dr Paul Ellison from San Francisco State University gave a brilliant and illuminating talk entitled, ‘Pathways to the Divine’ in which he discussed my Requiem alongside Rossini’s ‘Petit messe solennelle’. Illustrated with well-chosen examples and audio extracts, Dr Ellison focused upon two important elements in my Requiem, ‘the influence of the ancient modes, and the technique of word painting’ in order to show, as he put it ‘how Venables’ Requiem establishes pathways to the Divine’.In the evening concert on the penultimate day of the festival my Requiem Op.48 was given an outstanding performance. The Festival’s Youth Choir sang with great vitality, commitment and  expressiveness and the London Philharmonia Orchestra were of top form under the consummate direction the conductor, Adrian Partington.The enthusiastic response from the audience, while taking my bow, was quite overwhelming.

a work of ravishing beauty. Every feature of it – the masterly way he employs just a handful of enchanting short phrases or motifs, beautifully related; the refined judgment he displays to elaborating every movement or section; the delicacy and intensity he brings to each evolving phrase; the wisdom with which he treats each line of the text, confirm the work as an undoubted masterpiece…’ Roderic Dunnett ,Church Times

 

The performance was a triumph in every respect. Masterfully conducted by Adrian Partington, the Festival Youth Choir gave an outstanding account of the music… the Requiem is his finest achievement to date. This memorable performance confirmed me in that view (John Quinn, Seen and Heard)

 

The US Premiere Screening of Anthony Cheng’s film documentary – ‘Hidden Music’ took place at ‘North American British Music Studies Association’ biennial conference at Oberlin, Ohio.

Anthony Cheng’s film was made with the generous support of the Limoges Trust

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In the Autumn of 2024, my husband and I visited San Francisco, and stayed with our artist friend, Margaret Atkinson in the small seaside town of Half Moon Bay. Here, I found time to work on the final song in my new cycle The Wreaths of Time, co-commissioned by the American tenor, Brian Thorsett and Dante String Quartet. I was also invited to speak to the composition students at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music on the subject of art-song.

A few days later I had the great pleasure of attending a concert given by the tenor Brian Thorsett, soprano Ellen Leslie, cellist Matthew Linaman and pianist Kevin Korth all of who presented a programme of American songs by three distinguished SFCM Alumni composers, David Conte, Byron Adams, and Eric Choate.

I was honoured to be represented on the programme, and particularly as Brian Thorsett and Kevin Korth gave the US premiere of my Walt Whitman cycle; The Last Invocation Op.50. Furthermore, Ellen Leslie, accompanied by Kevin Korth performed three of my songs; Love lives beyond the tomb, Flying Crooked, and The November Piano.

It was a marvellous occasion and a joy to discover some exquisitely beautiful new music. Art-song is certainly alive and well on the West coast!  To hear the SFCM premiere of The Last Invocation on Youtube, please click the following link: https://youtu.be/Mn4L-thASak

News in 2023

The start of a New Year is a good moment to take stock and reflect on the achievements of the past year and while all years have their ‘ups’ and ‘downs’, for me 2023 was a particularly eventful and creative time.  I would just like to share a few of the highlights from last year.

The most important new work of 2023, was the composition of my song cycle ‘Out of the Shadows.’ This major commission from Robert Venables KC was written in celebration of his thirtieth anniversary with his partner Gary Morris. The cycle consists of six songs to texts by Cavafy, Brown, Tennyson, Symonds and Warren that explores the general theme of ‘male love’. Although several of the poems were written by gay poets, I also wanted the cycle to show different aspects of the love of man for man and especially to acknowledge the deep love that is found in a long-lasting relationship. This is a love that transcends sexual categories and is at the heart of a humane world where gay people no longer need to hide in ‘the shadows.’ The cycle ends with such a poem by the late 19^th century American poet Edward Percy Warren.

Body and Soul
The calm of heaven is mine; and now I know
that what I dreamed is so:
that love can melt the body and soul in one;
but warmer yet and softer
than any dream, more still than heavenly calms
the cloudland of thine arms
wherein I love thee more daily and after.

Another highlight was the release of the premiere CD recording on Albion Records of Portraits of a Mind in May. Commissioned by the Ralph Vaughan Williams Society to celebrate the composer’s 150th Anniversary, the work was recorded in November 2022 by the acclaimed young tenor, Alessandro Fisher, with the Navarra Quartet and pianist William Vann.

 

For a short video made during the recording sessions please click the following link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCbzs9r3imY&t=12s

 

 

“an original and beautifully balanced cycle that, frankly, would grace any recital or recording” Guy Richards, The Gramophone

“Portraits of a Mind confirms Venables’s reputation as the finest writer of such songs today”  Simon Heffer, The Telegraph

“an exceptional recording. Virtually an hour of pure listening pleasure” Alan Cooper, British Music Society

The CD’s programme opens with RVW’s On Wenlock Edge, and concludes with his Four Hymns in a masterly new arrangement for piano quintet by Ian Farrington which was also commissioned by the RVW Society and John Francis.

To purchase the disc and for more information please CLICK the following link: https://rvwsociety.com/portraits-of-a-mind/

The recording can also be heard on Spotify by clicking the following link:
https://open.spotify.com/album/7FL38x45BN18GaH1MAydYf?si=1ffs8lvUS22OUU5oNHLY-A
and on Apple Music https://music.apple.com/us/album/portraits-of-a-mind-i-the-lark-ascending/1679394900?i=1679394902

One of the most memorable events of last year was the Elgar Festival’s concert performance of my Requiem  in June. The work was performed magnificently in its orchestra arrangement by the Worcester Cathedral Chamber Choir, the St Cecilia’s Singers from Gloucester, the English Symphony Orchestra, organist Jonathan Hope, conducted by Stephen Shellard. Listening to it in Great Malvern Priory was a deeply moving experience and I really could not have asked for a finer interpretation. In his excellent review of the concert for ‘Seen and Heard’ John Quinn commented, “What I now heard reinforced the view I have held since first hearing the piece: the Venables Requiem is one of the most significant recent English choral compositions and a work of great emotional depth which makes a very direct connection with performers and audiences.

To read the full review, please click the link: https://seenandheard-international.com/2023/06/ian-venables-masterly-and-moving-requiem-performed-with-conviction-at-the-elgar-festival/

In July, two ‘in depth’ articles were published about my music. The first, was Simon Heffer’s superb Hinterland column article in The Telegraph entitled, ‘Classical music has been irredeemably devalued – this British composer is fighting back.’

For the Full text please CLICK: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/classical-music/classical-music-vaughan-williams-ian-venables-merton/

The second, by Roderic Dunnett is the most comprehensive survey of my music to date. Entitled, ‘A Spiritual Journey’, Dunnett ‘takes an extended look at the career of English composer Ian Venables, and listens to a recent performance of the orchestral version of his Requiem.’ Please Click the link below for the full article published in Classical Music Daily:
https://www.classicalmusicdaily.com/2023/07/venables.htm

Archive News 2023

2023 turned out to be another busy year with new commissions and several important concerts already pencilled in the diary. Compositionally, I am currently composing a Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis for this year’s Three Choirs Festival Evensong to be held at Worcester in July. I have also accepted an important commission from the Dante String Quartet and the American tenor Brian Thorsett to compose a chamber song-cycle based on texts by American poets.

On the recording front, the young Taiwanese violinist, Chu-Yu Yang, and pianist, Eric McElroy will record my Violin Sonata and Three Short Pieces for a disc of British violin and piano music on the SOMM Records label.

Latest Publication From Novello

Premiered at the Elgar Festival in 2021 by the tenor, Mark Wilde, and pianist David Owen-Norris the song cycle was composed in the bicentenary year of the poet’s birth in 2019.

It comprises four settings of the poems, ‘Shine, shine, shine’, ‘Out of May’s Shows Selected’, ‘As at Thy Portals also Death’ and ‘The Last Invocation.’

The published score can now be ordered online from musicroom.com 

 

To purchase please CLICK the following link: https://www.musicroom.com/the-last-invocation-dam1346586?returnurl=%2fsearch%3fq%3dian%2bvenables%26count%3d50D

Concert dates for your diary

Saturday 10th February at 7 p.m

St Peter’s Church, Belsize Square London, NW3 4HJ

‘My Heart Makes Songs On Lonely Roads’ – Song Recital

Rachel Roper (mezzo-soprano) and Claire Habbershaw (pianist)

Taking inspiration from living composer Ian Venables’s cycle The Pine Boughs Past Music op.39, British pianist Claire Habbershaw curates and musically directs, a multimedia recital of Ivor Gurney’s music, settings of his poetry and his influences and inspirations.

To purchase advanced tickets please Click the following link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/my-heart-makes-songs-on-lonely-roads-tickets-787580192557?aff=oddtdtcreator&utm_experiment=test_share_listing

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Sunday 3rd March at 5.30 pm

The Conway Hall

25 Red Lion Square London WC1R 4RL

The Dante String Quartet Quartet and Brian Thorsett (tenor) plus Pre-Concert Talk with Ian Venables and Robert Hugill

The Dante’s programme opens with Beethoven’s Op.135, his last completed work,  premiered a year after the composer’s death. The rest of the evening in devoted to British music. Firstly Ian Venables’ Invite to Eternity, inspired by the works of the Northamptonshire-born poet John Clare (1793-1864). A selection of songs by Gloucester composer Ivor Gurney completes the first half, before the Dante conclude their recital with Elgar’s String Quartet, composed in 1918. 

 

For advanced tickets please CLICK the following link: https://www.conwayhall.org.uk/whats-on/event/dante-quartet-brian-thorsett-pre-concert-talk/

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Monday 11th March at 7.pm

Perrins Hall, The Royal Grammar School, Upper Tything, Worcester

The Dante String Quartet Quartet and Brian Thorsett (tenor)

N.B The programme for this event is the same as the above Conway Hall concert

Beethoven’s String Quartet in F Op.135, Venables’s song cycle, ‘Invite to Eternity’ Op.31
Four Songs by Ivor Gurney, By a Bierside, In Flanders, Severn Meadows, Lights Out (Arr. Ian Venables) and Elgar’s String Quartet Op.83

For advanced tickets please CLICK the following link: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/thewaverleyensemble/1104490

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Sunday 28th April at 6 pm

St John the Evangelist church, 109A Iffley Road

Oxford, OX4 1EH

Phoenix Piano Trio with Gareth Brynmor John – SJE Arts International Piano Series

 

Piano Trios by Ireland and Schubert and the premiere of Out of the Shadows, a song cycle by Ian Venables, scored for baritone, violin, cello and piano.

 

For advanced tickets and further details please CLICK the following link: https://sje-arts.org/event/phoenix-piano-trio-with-gareth-brynmor-john-sje-arts-international-piano-series/

The Three Choirs Festival, Worcester 27th July – 3rd August

Friday 2nd August at 7.30 pm

Ian Venables – Requiem Op.48

Three Choirs Festival Youth Choir and the Philharmonia Orchestra

 

For further details please CLICK the following link: https://3choirs.org/whats-on

 

Publications

ALBION’S GLORY

A Celebration of Twentieth Century English Composers

By Stephen H. Smith.

Albion’s Glory gives a complete overview of the history of English music and the composers who brought it to life. I was delighted to discover that I had been included in “The Best of the Rest” section of this book. To purchase please CLICK the following link:
https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/Albions-Glory-by-Stephen-H-Smith/9781800465435