Last Friday I performed the first concert with a new group I have
formed called e2K in Blackheath in London.  It was the initial concert
in a series entitled 'music-links' in which I aim to explore music almost
exclusively from this century in ways which highlight the common threads
of composition.  In particular, I am interested in work by living British
composers.

In order to raise funds for the group, it is essential that we raise our
public profile.  I know that all of you are fascinated by every development
in music so I hope you will excuse me writing about myself!

Below is an article which appears in the current issue of 'Classical Music'
and beneath that I have outlined our proposed programmes for the series.
I would love to hear what you all think, and if you have any suggestions,
or can help e2K in any way then do let me know.

- from Classical Music Magazine, 24th July 1999.  by Clare Stevens

   If prizes were awarded for youthful enthusiasm and chutzpah, Robin
   Newton would be sure to win one.  Just a year out of Cambridge, he
   has ambitious plans for his career as a conductor, composer and
   musical entrepreneur and is wasting no time in putting them into
   action.  On a personal level, he has been developing his skills in
   consultation with some of the most respected names in the business,
   including Mark Wigglesworth, Christopher Adey and Mark-Anthony Tumage.
   This month he will make a more public statement of intent with the
   London debut of his new contemporary music orchestra, ensemble2000,
   or e2K, as he hopes it will become known.

   The core of the ensemble is around 30 or 40 students and recent
   graduates who have yet to establish fully-professional careers;
   numbers will vary for each concert and can be expanded up to around
   60 players.  They will be paid little more than expenses - e2K is a
   non-profit organisation and Newton does not intend to take a salary,
   at least in the early stages.

   His aim is to perform challenging 20th-century music that will give
   his players something to get their teeth into, presented in an exciting
   and illuminating way which will help to build new audiences for
   contemporary music and give living composers an opportunity to have
   their work performed.

   Comparisons with ensembles such as the London Sinfonietta, the
   Birmingham Contemporary Music Group and Lontano are inevitable, but
   Newton feels that there is room for another contemporary music ensemble
   in the marketplace and that e2K will have its own character.

   "There are a lot of younger groups around which perform new music but
   most of them are very small, under ten players.  Tom Ades is doing a
   wonderful job with the BCMG and the players are fantastic but they don't
   do that many concerts and certainly don't come to London very often.
   The Sinfonietta is now almost mainstream, with a loyal and established
   audience.  I'd like to pull in a different crowd by performing this
   music in a way that is exciting and young.  I think youth is really the
   thing.  We need something wild and a bit dangerous, because that's what
   new stuff should always be about, breaking new boundaries and doing
   interesting things in wacky ways.

   "I see e2K as a sort of Ensemble Moderne, with more crossover-type
   music and works by composers whose music isn't published or performed
   regularly by the Sinfonietta.  Companies like Faber Music are brilliant,
   their composers get performances all the time, but it's hard for other
   people trying to break in who don't have that opportunity.  Also it's
   more practical for us to get some unpublished pieces direct from the
   composers, because it avoids expensive hire fees."

   Newton would like to be in a position to commission new works,
   but this, he says, will depend on getting sponsorship.  "We have
   the world premiere of Lewiston Sharpe's A Salvador Dali Suite in
   our first concert and we're also giving some London premieres but
   I don't know if we will be able to attract the funds for any more.
   I will probably find someone I want to commission and then work in
   collaboration with them to find sponsorship.  But I also think it's
   important for us to give second perfommances of pieces, something
   composers often find it cliffficult to achieve."

   Blackheath Concert Halls will be the venue for e2K's inaugural
   series of six concerts, beginning on 30 July and entitled Music-links.
   Each programme includes a selection of 20th-century works which are
   wide-ranging in style but linked by a common thread.  The theme of
   the first concert is depiction and description, with Lewiston Sharpe's
   musical evocation of Dali's paintings flanked by a selection of other
   works which paint something in music.

   "In Wagner's Siegfried Idyll it is love, Jonathan Powell's Necronomic
   Fragments describe the beauty of death, Milhaud presents a version
   of Genesis in his La Creation du monde and Robin Holloway's Winter
   Music is the second in a projected series of four chamber concertos
   reinterpredng the Four Seasons in a modern idiom," explains Newton.

   "Future concerts will include pairings such as Takemitsu's Requiem
   with music by Britten and Lutoslawski and Michael Daugherty's Dead
   Elvis, which combines the Dies Irae with 'O Sole Mio' in a really
   weird way, with Martyn Harry's minimalist yet large-scale Fantasy
   Unbuttoned.

   "The concerts will be backed up by events such as talks, discussions
   and public rehearsals which we hope will allow our audience to engage
   in the creative process.

   "The staff at Blackheath have been brilliant and we are really hoping
   that this series will lead to a closer association with the venue,
   something more like a residency, so that we can cultivate a regular
   audience and perhaps develop relationships with local businesses
   which might be prepared to support us."

   Newton is sanguine about his own composttional talent, admitting that
   he has not yet produced anything worth performing in this context.
   His teacher, Robin Holloway, confirms this modest judgment but applauds
   his initiative in setting up e2K and feels he has the practical and
   musical skills necessary to make it work.

   "In the wake of the London Sinfonietta many ensembles have risen,
   died and in some cases been reborn.  One could say that all are
   foolhardy enterprises, yet it is a process that has to be gone through,
   again and again.  Perhaps the best parallel for e2K is the Brunel
   Ensemble, which Christopher Austin has managed extremely successfully
   for five or six years now, proving that it can be done."

   Newton is certainly determined to succeed.  "Dealing with all the
   fund-raising and admin can be frustrating, but it's important for me
   as a conductor to understand all the backwork that goes into putting
   on a concert.  I love getting things done and presenting all these
   new ideas."

   [The second concert in the series will be on 20th November Blackheath
   Concert Halls, London.  Tickets:  0181 463 0100 -- Robin]

   e2K PROGRAMMES

   no.1 - Wagner 'Siegfried Idyll'
          Lewiston Sharpe 'A Salvador Dali Suite' [world premiere]
          Holloway 'Winter Music'
          Maxwell Davies Seven 'In nomine'
          Milhaud 'La creation du monde'

   no.2 - Michael Zev Gordon 'Gravity and Grace IV'
          Phil Cashian Chamber Concerto
          Dallapiccola 'Piccola musica notturna'
          Stravinsky 'Dumbarton Oaks'

   no.3 - Adams Chamber Concerto
          David Lang [undecided]
          Martyn Harry 'Fantasy Unbuttoned'

   no.4 - Britten 'Frank Bridge' Variations
          Takemitsu 'Requiem'
          Crawford Seeger 'Andante' for strings
          Lutoslawski 'Musique funebre'

   no.5 - Schonberg 'Serenade'
          [and undecided]

   no.6 - Turnage 'Kai'
          Huw Watkins Sonata for Cello and 8 Insts
          Shostakovich Symphony no.10

Let me know what you think and look out for us in the future!  Thank you.

Robin Newton
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