Harvey appointed to BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra

The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra has announced the appointment of Jonathan Harvey as Composer in Association.

Harvey’s first large scale commission for the BBC SSO will be premiered in September 2005 to celebrate the orchestra’s move to City Hall, Glasgow for the new season. Glasgow's Tramway Theatre will host a Portrait Concerto on 21 January 2005, to include his Calling Across Time, Scena and Wheel of Emptiness. In addition, the orchestra will perform his ravishing orchestral work Tranquil Abiding, in Aberdeen in April 2005.

Harvey has written two Buddhist Songs, to be premiered as part of this year’s City of London Festival at the new LSO St Luke’s venue. Soprano Ailish Tynan will be accompanied by pianist Simon Lepper.

The composer writes:

‘These songs with piano are in a sense 'functional'; that is to say they are intended to embellish buddhist celebratory occasions, as and when needed. More will be written in due course, each one drawing on a translation of the classic ten-chapter poem, Bodhisattvacharyavatara - 'Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life' by Shantideva, who lived in India from 687 to 763. The English translation was made under the guidance of Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, a Tibetan scholar and qualified Spiritual Guide. The first song explains the benefits of having a mind focused on bodhicitta, the aspiration to become a buddha with power to help all beings. The second song, through the act of making offerings, real and imagined, aims to purify negativity.’

02/09/2004

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