Welcome to the 2019/2020 Musicon Season
This year is a very special year for MUSICON: it is 50 years since we held our first concert, in October 1969. Since its humble but ambitious beginnings, MUSICON has risen to become an institution in the musical life of the city. This year we welcome the Ives Ensemble to open our season with a series of three concerts. As 2019 draws to a close, we will be treated to a performance from Korean percussionist Kim Junghee and his son Jo Jonghun. In the new year we have a wealth of musical offerings, starting with a welcome return of one of the world’s most acclaimed vocal groups, EXAUDI. As we approach Holi - the Indian festival of colours - we will be celebrating the arrival of spring in three concerts with some of the most exciting figures in the Hindustani classical music scene. When summer is just around the corner, we will be welcoming back our dear friends the Brodsky Quartet, for a programme rarely heard but truly wonderful masterpieces from the romantic era.
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Download Musicon 2019-20 brochure
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New Music Focus | DURHAM
Ives Ensemble
26th and 27th October 2019
Durham
Over three concerts, internationally renowned and distinguished group Ives Ensemble will perform works by no less than six composers who form part of the recent musical fabric of Durham..
Flexibility and Freedom
John Snijders piano
Tuesday 19th November 2019
Department of Music
Durham-based pianist John Snijders will perform works by Hensel-Mendelssohn, Hummel, and Schubert much like they might have been heard at the time they were written.
Freeing the Spirit
Kim Dongeon voice
Kim Dongyeol, Kim Jinhwan, Kim Junghee, Jo Jonghun percussion
Tuesday 3rd December 2019
Department of Music
This concert features the three most celebrated hereditary shaman ritualists from Busan: Kim Dongeon, Kim Dongyeol, and their son Kim Jinhwan. They are joined by the tradition's preeminent drummer Kim Junghee and his son Jo Jonghun, who have both performed in MUSICON before, exactly 10 years ago.
Gesualdo | Cruel Ecstasy
EXAUDI
Tuesday 4th February 2020
Durham Cathedral
This year EXAUDI brings to MUSICON a programme focused on the extraordinary madrigals of Carlo Gesualdo alongside two new works: Christopher Fox’s settings of Gramsci’s powerful Prison Notebooks, and a piece selected from MUSICON’s anniversary call-for-scores.
New Sounds | Nordic Spaces
Alpaca Ensemble
Wednesday 19th February 2020
Department of Music
The Norwegian Alpaca Ensemble will be performing a series of works that in some way or other reimagine the space of the concert hall. Each of the pieces was written for the group, with whom the composers worked closely throughout the creative process.
Indian Spring Colours
29th February – 2nd March 2020
Durham
As we approach Holi, the Indian spring festival of colours, join us to mark the season with a series of concerts bring you the best of Hindustani classical music.
The Brodsky Quartet
Monday 4th May 2020
Department of Music
Works by Schubert, Webern, and Zemlinsky.