Berkeley Ensemble
OriginUK
GenresChamber music ensemble
Years active2008 (2008) – present
Websitewww.berkeleyensemble.co.uk

The Berkeley Ensemble is a British chamber music ensemble that explores little-known twentieth- and twenty first-century British chamber music alongside a more established repertoire.

Founded in 2008 by members of Southbank Sinfonia, the ensemble reached the finals of the 2009 Royal Over-Seas League music competition and has since performed regularly in the UK and abroad.[1]

Their recordings and performances are regularly featured in the national press. Their album Lennox Berkeley: Chamber Works was selected by BBC Music Magazine as Chamber Choice in 2015,[2] and Lennox Berkeley: Stabat Mater was nominated for a Gramophone Magazine Classical Music Award in 2017.[3]

The ensemble revived the Cobbett Competition for chamber music composition (as The New Cobbett Competition) in 2014, with Sequenza for string quartet by Samuel Lewis as the first winner.[4]

Since 2016 the Berkeley Ensemble has curated the annual Little Venice Music Festival in London.[5] It celebrated its 10th anniversary with a performance at the Purcell Room in September 2018.[6]

The ensemble is named after the British composers Lennox Berkeley and Michael Berkeley.[1] Its patrons are Michael Berkeley and Petroc Trelawny.

Albums

The ensemble has released a number of albums, most notably:

  • Cobbett’s Legacy: The New Cobbett Prize for Chamber Music (2019, Resonus Classics) received a 4-star review in The Guardian[7]
  • Winter Fragments (2018, Resonus Classics) was praised for the ensemble’s “endlessly responsive playing” by Fiona Maddocks in The Observer[8]
  • Stabat Mater: Sacred Choral Music by Lennox & Michael Berkeley (2016, Delphian Records) was nominated for a Gramophone Award[3]
  • Lennox Berkeley: Chamber Works (2015, Resonus Classics) received a 5-star review in BBC Music Magazine[9] and positive reviews in the Telegraph[2] and Sunday Times[10]
  • Clarion Call: Music for Septet and Octet (2014, Resonus Classics) received positive reviews in The Observer,[11] Gramophone Magazine,[12] The Strad,[13] and Classical Ear.[14]

References

  1. 1 2 "Berekeley Ensemble | Artist Page | Resonus Classics". www.resonusclassics.com. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  2. 1 2 "Lennox Berkeley: Chamber Works, review: 'well worth a listen'". The Telegraph. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  3. 1 2 "Gramophone Classical Music Awards 2017: the Shortlist". Gramophone. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  4. ↑ Andrew Clements. 'Cobbett's Legacy: The New Cobbett Prize for Chamber Music', in The Guardian, 1 August 2019
  5. ↑ "About". Little Venice Music Festival. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  6. ↑ "125419 Berkeley Ensemble at 10 2018". Southbank Centre. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  7. ↑ Clements, Andrew (1 August 2019). "Cobbett's Legacy: The New Cobbett Prize review | Andrew Clements's classical album of the week". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  8. ↑ "Home listening: Charlotte Bray, Michael Berkeley and BBC Sounds". the Guardian. 18 November 2018. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  9. ↑ "L Berkeley". Classical Music. 11 September 2015.
  10. ↑ Pettitt, Hugh Canning, David Cairns, Paul Driver and Stephen. "Classical, May 3". The Sunday Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 20 September 2020.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  11. ↑ "Clarion Call: Works for Septet and Octet review – verve, imagination and jellyfish…". the Guardian. 23 March 2014. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  12. ↑ "Review". Gramophone. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  13. ↑ "Clarion Call. M. Berkeley Clarion Call and Gallop. Casken: Blue Medusa. Ferguson: Octet op.4, C. Wood: Septet | Reviews | The Strad". 17 July 2014. Archived from the original on 17 July 2014. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  14. ↑ "Recent reviews round-up 12 March 2014 | Classical Ear". 23 October 2014. Archived from the original on 23 October 2014. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
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