The Gavin Bryars Ensemble to Perform in Bedford Park

A concert of instrumental works at St. Michael and All Angels

The Gavin Bryars Ensemble

February 3, 2024

The Gavin Bryars Ensemble will perform what it describes as an intimate concert of instrumental works at St Michael and All Angels Church on Saturday 17 February.

Led by Gavin Bryars on Double Bass, the group will perform an acoustic programme, including some rarely performed pieces from their repertoire.

Gavin Bryars worked in composer/performer ensembles with friends such as John White, Dave Smith and Christopher Hobbs during the seventies. The first time that they gave a concert entirely of Gavin’s work was at the 1979 Festival d’Automne in Paris, in the Chapelle de la Sorbonne when he augmented the group with three of his students to perform pieces such as The Sinking of the Titanic.

The ensemble has changed over the years, with Gavin’s closest musical colleague Dave Smith with him the longest.

1986 was the first time that the name Gavin Bryars Ensemble was used, when it performed at the Flanders Festival in Ghent. The ensemble comprised violinist Alexander Balanescu, clarinettist Roger Heaton, Dave Smith and Gavin, along with two of his ex-students Jamie McCarthy and percussionist Andy Bilham.

The next stage in the ensemble’s evolution came when it became clear that Alex Balanescu’s performing schedule meant that he could not always join the ensemble. The crisis came with a large-scale public concert, featuring the first performance for many years of Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet, at the time of the release of the new version in 1993. At this point, having considered a number of fine solo violinists, Gavin decided that Alex was not replaceable by another violinist but rather by a superb player on another instrument. Viola player Bill Hawkes was then a member of Alex’s quartet and Gavin re-wrote some of the music for him. His presence, and in rapid succession the arrival of cellist Sophie Harris and guitarist James Woodrow – each following periods of work with them with other groups (The Smith Quartet, Icebreaker) – defined very quickly a new sonority in the group: that of low strings.

After the concerts in 2000 there was a break of two years in which the ensemble did not perform at all, although members of the ensemble took part in other projects together. In 2002 Gavin reformed the ensemble adding the soprano Anna Maria The addition of Anna also made it possible to include other vocal works.

Over the last few years, the basic ensemble, to which others are added according to repertoire, has become Morgan Goff, viola; Nick Cooper, cello; James Woodrow, electric and acoustic guitars; Gavin on double bass and sometimes piano.

The concert begins at 7pm with doors open at 6.30pm and continues until 8.30pm.

Tickets cost £20 or £12 for under 21s and can be bought online.