Piers Hellawell

Composer Piers Hellawell's new double concerto for trumpet and trombone is entitled Cors de Chasse. The piece received its world premiere on May 2, 2004 in the Concert Hall at the Brighton Dome as part of the 38th annual Brighton Festival.

Soloists Håkan Hardenberger (trumpet) and Jonas Bylund (trombone) joined the Philharmonia Orchestra, under the direction of conductor Thierry Fischer. Bylund is a professor at the Academy of Music in Hannover, Germany.

A source inside the Philharmonia remarked: "the concert went really well - Håkan is such a wonderful player. It seemed to go down quite well with the audience too. Only 15 minutes long, it features a huge array of percussion, including steel pans. Håkan stood to the left of the conductor, with Jonas to the right. Some rather virtuosic playing was required from both of them - with big leaps, though Håkan made it all look rather easy. Håkan also had a lovely flowing passage with the cup mute. This new concerto is certainly worth hearing, and we are doing it again in June in Bedford and Leicester!"

Hellawell's own comment on writing this piece was: "Long-term collaboration with Håkan on this project has been one of the most exciting aspects for me. He gave me a lot of advice on technical matters, for example the difficulty of changing instrument frequently within a piece, the possibilities of different mutes or, even, the benefit of trying out passages in different registers. I actually transposed some passages down once the score was complete, and I intend to do the same for the very difficult trombone part – learning from live experience."

The program will be repeated at two more English venues: the Bedford Corn Exchange on June 5th and the De Montfort Hall, Leicester, on June 6th. There are brass workshops during the day (see below) and a talk from Hellawell before each concert.

To celebrate the double brass concerto being performed in Bedford and Leicester, the Philharmonia is holding Brass Workshops from 10am - 1pm at the Bedford Corn Exchange and De Montfort Hall. Run by Philharmonia brass players, they are open to players of any brass instrument aged between 14-19 and will focus on all aspects of brass playing.

Tickets are £15 for the workshop and evening concert, and additional tickets for parents/friends are £5 for the concert. To book and for further information call Mary Stevens on 020 7242 5001 (international: +44 20 7242 5001) or email mary@philharmonia.co.uk .

Websites:
Piers Hellawell (staff page at Queen's University, Belfast)
Philharmonia home page
June 5th concert, Bedford
June 6th concert, Leicester
(both of the June concerts above with composer talk and brass workshop)