Recent updates

Short Film

An update for Britten Saint Nicolas: A film celebrating live and virtual music making

Dec 16 2020

Hello everyone! I hope you have all had a chance to watch the short film we released a couple of weeks ago. Thank you so much to those of you who have already sent feedback – and if you haven't, I would love to hear what you think. 

You can access the film here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqgeRcmW_ro&t=7s or on the Chiltern Arts website, until the end of December.

Enjoy, and thank you again for your support: we wouldn't have got here without you! 

Very best wishes

Naomi

You have raised a Massive £30,582!!

An update for Sleep Pod Fundraising Campaign

Dec 2 2020

The Sleep Pod Team are blown away by all your support and generous donations. We now have 696 backers and together you have raised a MASSIVE £30,582. 

Every penny counts and will all go towards helping to protect rough sleepers during these winter months. All this money goes directly into the Charity to build more Sleep Pods for those people living rough on the streets.

Through your generous donations and the kindness of volunteers just over 3,000 Sleep Pods have been built since the start of the project. This is a huge achievement, you have helped protect 3,000 vulnerable people, living day to day on the cold wet streets.  We are now distributing Sleep Pods across the UK from Bolton, Birmingham, Bristol, Glasgow, Kent, London, Northampton, North Herts, Sheffield, Southampton, Wales, Walsall, and Wolverhampton. Each week we have new homeless organisations and charities contacting us enquiring about Sleep Pods. The need is even greater this year during these uncertain times. We want to help protect as many rough sleepers as we can this winter.

Sleep Pod relies heavily on the generosity of others who share the same vision to help protect rough sleepers by keeping them warm, dry and safe. Please share the fundsurfer so we can build more Sleep Pods to help protect the most vulnerable people during these cold, wet, winter months.

A huge thank you to all those who have been involved with the Sleep Pod Build at Home Project.

To find out more about the Sleep Pod Build at Home Project please subscribe to our YouTube Channel: Sleep Pod UK 

This coming weekend the Bristol Sleep Pod Distribution Team are running Sleep Pod Build at Home builds, so Sleep Pods can be built safely and securely in the comfort of your own homes. Videos are available to follow on our YouTube Channel. We also plan to run home builds in London and in Kent so please follow us so you can sign up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmx6WAN44wM Please watch our recent video with updates about the Sleep Pod Charity.

Together we can make a difference!! 

Love the Sleep Pod Team 

Registered Charity Number 1187295

Short Film Release THIS SUNDAY!

An update for Britten Saint Nicolas: A film celebrating live and virtual music making

Dec 1 2020

Hello everyone

I'm writing to let you know that we will be releasing the short film that we recorded for back in September on Sunday 6th December (Saint Nicolas' Day) at 3pm. The film will then be available to view until the end of December. 

Check out a little sneak peak of how the Virtual Choir sound with this video here: https://youtu.be/xIqAgQKh0zE 

We'll be emailing our Silver, Gold and Platinum Donors with a private link to the film on Saturday afternoon – your chance to see it before the rest of the world! 

Very best wishes

Naomi

First Phase Recording: Done!

An update for Britten Saint Nicolas: A film celebrating live and virtual music making

Sep 29 2020

Dear All Supporters

I am delighted to let you know that on Monday 21st September we were able to go ahead with our first phase recording session.

Some of you may have heard that Nicky Spence, who is our Nicolas for this project, unfortunately underwent emergency surgery a couple of weeks ago, and due to this he was unable to sing for a number of weeks. We did all we reasonably could to try to find an alternative recording date that suited both Nicky and the rest of the team, but unfortunately rescheduling became horrendously complex – along with the nagging feeling that we don't know what may come along next in terms of government regulations that may put a halt to our plans. 

When we come to record the full-length film, with the entire work, Nicky Spence will be singing Nicolas. However, for this first phase – the initial short film that will be released this Christmas – the excellent Nick Pritchard will be singing. We all wish Nicky a very speedy recovery, and look forward to working with him in 2021. 

So a week and a half ago, at St Giles' Cripplegate in London, we recorded movements 1, 2 and 9 of Britten's Saint Nicolas with Nick Pritchard, Ken Burton, I Fagiolini, the City of London Sinfonia, pianists Iain Farrington and John Reid and organist Stephen Farr. It was a brilliant day, everyone involved worked incredibly hard to squeeze everything into the four hours we had available to us – and above all, it was wonderful to be in the room hearing and experiencing real live music-making between this excellent group of musicians. 

From this recording we are creating the guide tracks for the virtual choir – whose contributions we will be receiving over the next four weeks.

Bill Barclay (director) and Alex Barnes and his team (sound and vision) worked tirelessly throughout the session last week to get exactly the right shots that we needed to make this short film an unforgettable experience for you this Christmas, documenting this time we are living through with music and poignant images. We will shortly be posting a few photos on social media, and also making a full photo gallery with photos from the day available to our Gold and Platinum donors (there are a couple of tasters here – both from Matthew Johnson)... and we'll keep you updated as we move forward! 

Very best wishes

Naomi Taylor

What's Next?

An update for Britten Saint Nicolas: A film celebrating live and virtual music making

Sep 4 2020

Dear supporters and donors

Huge thanks from all of us here at Chiltern Arts and on the Saint Nicolas Team for your generous contributions to the crowdfunding campaign.

As you may be aware, we have unfortunately not reached our ideal target in the original timeframes. However, I am delighted to let you know that with the donations from the crowdfunding campaign and the Arts Council grant, we have raised enough to move this project to a phased approach with an initial short film being made and released in time for Christmas. We will be in touch in the next few days with donors regarding donation rewards, and below is a brief description of our next steps:

- Later this month all the artists for the project – Nicky Spence, Ken Burton, I Fagiolini, the City of London Sinfonia, Alex Barnes and Bill Barclay – will meet in London to record a small selection of movements from Britten's Saint Nicolas, therefore still providing essential work for freelancers at this difficult time. This will be recorded 'as live', as originally intended. 

- We are very pleased to announce the addition of Iain Farrington and Stephen Farr to our team as pianist and organist respectively – with one further pianist to be announced soon.

- The movements being recorded will include movements 1 and 9, which feature virtual choir, therefore giving our amateur musicians the opportunity to be involved with the project in this first phase.

- We will also be recording movement 2 which will include virtual children's choir.

- The resulting short film will be released in time for Christmas this year.

- We will be converting our crowdfunding campaign into an open-ended project in order to continue raising money towards the final product, which we will aim to complete in 2021. 

- We will keep all donors and supporters updated at all stages of the project.

Thank you again for your generous support. We are delighted to be taking the first steps to making this project a reality and bringing Saint Nicolas to life.

Very best wishes,

Naomi Taylor

Chiltern Arts Creative Director

Just four days left!

An update for Britten Saint Nicolas: A film celebrating live and virtual music making

Sep 1 2020

With just four days left to get closer to our target on this project, we really need your help to spread the word and raise as much as we can, to help us bring Saint Nicolas to you and to choirs and orchestras across the country in time for Christmas.

Thank you so much for all your support – please spread the word, and help us raise as much as possible in the remaining time! 

ACE Grant Awarded

An update for Britten Saint Nicolas: A film celebrating live and virtual music making

Aug 29 2020

We are delighted to announce that we have been successful in our application to the Arts Council for this project. However, this grant alone will not allow us to go ahead with the project so we still need your help to make this happen. 

Thank you so much for all your support so far. With just 6 days to go, we ask that you please share the project with your like-minded friends to help us raise us much as possible in the next week to be able to bring Saint Nicolas into people's lives this Christmas. 

Introducing the City of London Sinfonia

An update for Britten Saint Nicolas: A film celebrating live and virtual music making

Aug 27 2020

Matthew Swann, Chief Executive of City of London Sinfonia, talks about the project and CLS's role in this video here: https://youtu.be/5F15QH-pfmU

The City of London Sinfonia will play the orchestral parts for the on-site recording in Snape and Aldeburgh and will also play for the guide tracks for the virtual orchestra.

City of London Sinfonia (CLS) is the orchestral home to over 40 outstanding professional musicians who come together in the shared belief that music has the power to transform the lives of people across all areas of society. They bring a distinctive, seriously informal style to everything they do, breaking down the barriers between their musicians and audiences – whether performing on a world-famous music stage or sharing musical, creative experiences with residents in care homes and hospital schools.

Led by Creative Director and Leader Alexandra Wood, CLS conceives and delivers innovative artistic programmes with associate partners and artists, including project leaders with specialist skills, musicians in classical, jazz, folk and contemporary music, and artists in film, dance or visual art. The imaginative concepts and themes – often relating to science, nature, history or philosophy – influence and inform their wellbeing and education projects just as much as their concert series, bringing the adventure, intrigue and enjoyment of these programmes to all their audiences.

A trip to Snape and Aldeburgh

An update for Britten Saint Nicolas: A film celebrating live and virtual music making

Aug 23 2020

Earlier this month, director Bill Barclay, photographer Matthew Johnson and I (executive producer Naomi Taylor) ventured to the Suffolk Coast to explore Snape Maltings and Aldeburgh and to look at how each of the potential venues might feature in the film. 

We visited the iconic concert hall at Snape first – a vast space with enormous potential. The bare brick walls and unvarnished wooden stage have a refreshing and inspiring simplicity about them – a blank canvas for whatever one's imagination may offer.

[Above: Concert hall from back (top left), Bill and Naomi discussing possibilities with Geoff (top right and bottom left), Concert hall from stage (bottom right)]

Geoff Spain, head of production at Snape Maltings, gave us a tour of the many spaces available at Snape, and after the concert hall we saw both Britten-Pears Building housing the Peter Pears Recital Room, and the Hoffman Building, home to the Britten Studio and the Jerwood-Kiln Studio – and also featuring some lovely relics of the Maltings themselves in their previous life. Again, some lovely spaces – my personal favourite being the Britten Studio, with its mix of concrete, stone and wood interior. 

[Above: Geoff and Naomi in the Peter Pears recital room (top left), the Britten Studio (top right), exterior of Britten Pears Building (bottom left), detail from the walls in the Britten Studio (bottom right)]

The final stop on our tour with Geoff was the Dovecote Studio – a tiny gem of a room, decked out entirely in wood with a high pointed ceiling, apparently often used by composers in residence… a comment that immediately made us all pine for a composer residency at Snape, such was the peaceful atmosphere in that small, bright room all on its own by the stunning expanse of marshland that the campus is perched on the edge of.

[Above: Dovecote interior details (top left, bottom left and bottom right), upper half of exterior of Dovecote (top right)]

We paused for a coffee break and to talk through some of the score at this point – enjoying the beautiful views, the sculptures in the grounds and the glorious weather we were fortunate to have during the morning (not so much in the afternoon!). 

[Above: Bill and Naomi walking towards the concert hall entrance (top left); view from Snape Maltings (top right); 'The Family of Man' by Barbara Hepworth (bottom left); Bill and Naomi discussing Saint Nicolas with Snape Maltings in the background (bottom right)]

Next it was on to Aldeburgh Church, to meet the vicar – who gave us a potted history of this beautiful building that featured so prominently in the lives of Britten and Pears and of course the Aldeburgh Festival. Saint Nicolas itself received its (unofficial) premiere here, opening the very first Aldeburgh Festival in 1948. While we were at the church we didn't miss the opportunity to admire John Piper's Britten Memorial Window and also to visit Britten and Pears' graves – side by side, and a row in front of Imogen Holst's grave (joint artistic director of the Aldeburgh Festival for 20 years and daughter of Gustav Holst).

[Above: interior of Aldeburgh Parish Church (top left); the Britten memorial window (top right); Britten and Pears' graves, with Imogen Holst's grave in between in the row behind (bottom left); vicar Mark with Bill and Naomi in the churchyard (bottom right)]

Our final appointment of the day was with Lucy Walker, head of public engagement at The Red House – where Britten and Pears spent much of their lives together. Although the interior spaces here are small and don't offer huge amounts of potential for filming, we didn't pass up the opportunity for a quick tour, stepping back in time and imagining the two great men living their lives in this charming house. We learnt during this tour that the house didn't originally have a porch when Britten and Pears moved in – but the one we see today was built in anticipation of the Queen's visit (for tea!) following the opening of Snape Maltings Concert Hall in 1967. 

[Above: selected shots from the interior of The Red House, featuring some of Pears' extensive art collection]

The potential locations for filming here are the beautiful exterior and the gardens, and the library – which is still home to Britten's piano. 

[Above: the main entrance to The Red House, including the porch built in honour of a royal visit (top left); Bill at Britten's piano in the library (top right); one of the many flowerbeds in the gardens of the Red House (bottom left); Bill, Lucy and Naomi in the back garden of the Red House (bottom right)]

By now it was around 3pm – high time for a bite to eat! – so we headed down to the seafront, where we sheltered from the sudden unexpected squall with a late lunch and then made our way down the beach to Maggi Hamblings' memorial to Britten. This takes the form of an enormous scallop shell, into which a quote from Peter Grimes is cut, reading "I hear those voices which will not be drowned", which we all felt – given our mission with this project to connect voices in song after an achingly long silence – was rather apt. 

[Above: Bill and Naomi on the seafront in Aldeburgh (top left); the monument to Britten (right); Bill and Naomi on the beach at Aldeburgh (bottom left)]

We headed home, full of ideas, excitement and inspiration... ready, with your help, to make this project a reality. 

Photos: Matthew Johnson Photographer

Introducing Nicky Spence

An update for Britten Saint Nicolas: A film celebrating live and virtual music making

Aug 19 2020

In this video we hear Nicky Spence talk a bit about Saint Nicolas and what makes the work so special – and you'll also hear him singing excerpts from Britten's beautiful arrangement of 'O can ye sew cushions?' https://youtu.be/Pvk448cdY9Q

Nicky will sing the role of Nicolas in the film, expertly telling the story of the patron saint of children, seamen and travellers.

Opera Singer Nicky Spence is one of Scotland’s proudest sons and his unique skills as a singing actor and the rare honesty of his musicianship are steadfastly earning him a place at the top of the classical music profession.

Nicky was schooled locally in Dumfries and Galloway before receiving a scholarship to the Guildhall School as their youngest singer at 17 years old. During his training, he won a record contract with Decca Records before taking a place at the National Opera Studio and latterly a position at the English National Opera as one of their inaugural Harewood Artists. Nicky recently made his role debut as Parsifal with the Hallé orchestra under Sir Mark Elder. Described in The Times this year as ‘a tenor who combines heroic tone and a poetic sensibility that takes the breath away’, Nicky has recorded prolifically and is a regular featured recitalist at the Wigmore Hall, London though he can mostly be found on the International stages of Opera de Paris, Covent Garden and the Metropolitan Opera, New York.