Britten Pears Arts hosts BBC Radio 3’s New Generation Artists later this week in a series of weekend concerts spotlighting the current cohort of musicians.
The NGA scheme established in 1999 sees the BBC provide performance and broadcast opportunities for musicians from across the world on the brink of international success. The full list of members in its 25 year history reads like a who’s who in classical music.
Early participants included pianists Steven Osborne and Paul Lewis, cellist Alban Gerhardt, clarinet Martin Fröst, soprano Ailish Tynan, and violinist Alina Ibragimova. In the past 15 years baritone Benjamin Appl, mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson, guitarist Sean Shibe, pianist Pavel Kolesnikov, and soprano Fatma Said have also been part of the scheme too.
The NGA artists also get the chance to perform at British festivals and venues across the two year stint, including Cheltenham, East Neuk, Wigmore Hall, and the Aldeburgh Festival.
The performances at Snape Maltings this coming weekend feature the entire cohort including jazz pianist Fergus McCreadie, New Zealand violinist Geneva Lewis, Royal Overseas League winner accordionist Ryan Corbett, the Leonkoro Quartet from Germany, British countertenor Hugh Cutting, and South African soprano Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha.
The final member of the group – cellist Santiago Cañón-Valencia – joins Fergus McCreadie, his trio and the Chaos String Quartet in a concert featuring music written especially for the concert combining multiple soundscapes that draw on each performer’s inspiration.
Later in the weekend, Santiago Cañón-Valencia, performs two Bach Cello Suites (G major BWV 1007 and D minor BWV 1008) alongside music from South America, written by Argentinian composer Osvaldo Golijov, and penned by Santiago himself.
I spoke to Santiago Cañón-Valencia earlier in the summer about the concerts, his love of art, and his experience on the Radio 3 NGA scheme, as he was preparing to make the journey to Snape Maltings in East Suffolk for the first time.