2024
14th July 3pm British Clarinet Ensemble Summer Serenade
St Mary’s Church, Hitchin
Directed by Richard Ingham : A relaxing programme including music by Gershwin, Tchaikovsky, Handel, Mozart, Wood, Rachmaninov, Lewin and more!
The British Clarinet Ensemble will be performing at the ICA ClarinetFest® in Dublin
31st July BCE Opening Gala Programme
Eric Hughes (1924-2000 British)
Celebration Overture
Celebration Overture was written in 1977 for the Queen’s Silver Jubilee and was commissioned by John Denman for the University of Idaho’s clarinet choir. In 1982 it came to the notice of John MacKenzie who performed it on several occasions with the Darlington Clarinet Ensemble. Charles Hine chose the piece to open the British Clarinet Ensemble’s first ever performance given on tour in Helsinki, Finland in July 1995. It was subsequently recorded on the BCE’s first album “Gordian Knots“.
Amilcare Ponchielli (1834-1886 Italian)
Il Covengno Op. 76
Soloists – Anne Harper and Berginald Rash
Gioachino Rossini (1791-1868 Italian)
Introduction, Theme and Variations
Soloist – William Curran
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921 French)
Cello Concerto No. 1 in A minor Op. 33 arr. Lara Diaz (World Premiere)
Soloist – Lara Diaz
Interval
James T Sale (1967- American)
Dublin Concerto, I. Ritmico, II. Circo, III. Arpeggiando (World Premiere)
Soloist – Mark O’Brien
Michele Mangani (1966- Italian)
Verdiana
Soloist – Anna Hashimoto
Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826 German)
Clarinet Concerto No. 1 in F minor Op. 73, I. Allegro, II. Adagio ma non troppo, III. Rondo. Allegretto
Soloist – Nicolas Baldeyrou
Bill Whelan (1950- Irish)
River Dance
2nd August British Clarinet Ensemble performance at Clarinetfest featuring music by Stephen McNeff, Lynne Plowman and Nigel Wood
PAST PERFORMANCES
| 1996 | |
| September | BASBWE Conference at Warwick University |
| November | London debut. Concert in aid of the Voices Foundation with saxophone soloist Kyle Horch |
| 1997 | |
| July | European Clarinet & Saxophone Society Conference, EUROCASS Budapest, Hungary |
| October | British Clarinet Congress, Royal College of Music, London. |
| 1998 | |
| July | EUROCASS Conference, Krakow, Poland. |
| 1999 | |
| April | British Clarinet Choir Convention, Conwy, North |
| July | International Clarinet Association “Clarinetfest”, Ostend, Belgium |
| August | Recording of CD “Gordian Knots”. |
| November | British Clarinet Congress, Royal College of Music, London. The programmed featured the distinguished international clarinet soloist Gervase de Peyer. |
| 2000 | CD “Gordian Knots” launched. |
| 2001 | |
| March | NERV Convention Utrecht, The Netherlands |
| May | British Clarinet Choir Convention held in Llandudno, North Wales. |
| August | ICA Clarfest, New Orleans, USA. Trinity Episcopal Church, New Orleans. |
| November | British Clarinet Congress, RNCM Manchester. |
| 2002 | |
| February | Clarfest of the Colchester Institute, Colchester, Essex |
| 2003 | |
| November | British Clarinet Congress, Birmingham Conservatoire |
| 2004 | |
| March | NERV Convention Utrecht, The Netherlands |
| July | ICA Clarfest – University of Maryland Washington DC USA |
| July | Church of the Epiphany, Washington DC |
| 2005 | |
| February | St Peter ad Vincula Church, Coggeshall, Essex Concert by East Anglian Single Reed Choir -Conductor Angela Fussell & British Clarinet Ensemble – Conductor – Charles Hine |
| Swinburne Hall, Colchester Institute. Lunch time Concert at the Colchester Single Reed Festival |
|
| April | Darlington Arts Centre |
| July | ICA Clarfest, Tama Tokyo, Japan |
| 2009 | |
| Gordon Lewin Memorial Concert – St John’s Wood , London | |
| 2010 | |
| European Clarinet Festival – Kortrijk, Belgium |
2013
January European Clarinet Festival – Ghent, Belgium
July ICA Clarfest Assisi, Italy
2014
March Swinburne Hall, Colchester, Essex
October Secombe Theatre, Sutton, Surrey
2015
July ICA Clarfest, Madrid, Spain
September European Clarinet Festival – Ghent, Belgium
2016
October our 21st anniversary concert at the Stapleford Granary Arts Centre, Cambridge with guest soloist Anna Hashimoto and on Sunday 30th October at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, as part of the Clarinet & Saxophone Society’s 40th Anniversary celebration with soloists David Campbell, clarinet and Rob Buckland, saxophone.
2017
In August the ensemble gave two performances in Groningen. the Netherlands as guests of the Capriccio Clarinet Ensemble. In September we gave a performance in Caldaro, Italy as guests of the South Tirol Clarinet Ensemble. In October a concert was given in Oakham School Chapel, Oakham, Rutland with soloists soprano Caroline Trutz and clarinettist Antonia Mott.
2018
Our Play Day was held in April at Kingshott School, Hitchin with guests the Capriccio Clarinet Ensemble. In July we performed at the ICA ClarinetFest in Ostend, Belgium. In September we performed at the Clarinet & Saxophone Society’s Single Reed Day held at the University of Nottingham
2019
Our Play Day was held in Sheffield. In June we collaborated with the Colchester Composers Collective to record music composed for clarinet ensemble and also presented a concert at the Headgate Arts Centre.
2020
Following the retirement of Charles Hine, we appointed Elizabeth Worth as musical director. The Lockdown led us to postpone our planned programme for the year, but we did launch a performance of the “Grand Old Duke of York” by Gordon Lewin on YouTube.
2021
Rehearsals started in July in Oakham, Rutland. In October we gave a concert in Empingham, Rutland featuring soprano soloist Caroline Trutz and soloists Andrew Smith, Alison Eales, Carol Taylor and Juliet Colville.
2022
On October 29th we celebrated our 25th Anniversary with a Gala Concert at St Paul’s Church, Covent Garden, London. The programme included the world premiere of our latest commission from Lynne Plowman “Helter Skelter” and solos by Anna Hashimoto.
On 30th October we performed at the Autumn Clarinet & Saxophone Society Single Reed event at the Royal College of Music, London. The concert featured solos with clarinettists Marie Lloyd and Anna Hashimoto and saxophonists Richard Ingham and the Laefer Quartet.
2023
Our Play Day in April was held in Putnoe, and was directed by Nigel Wood.
Guest conductor Nigel Wood joined the BCE again for a performance on 1st October as part of the Clarinet and Saxophone Society Single Reed Day held at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. Peter Cigleris was the guest soloist for a performance of the Weber Clarinet Concertino. Other pieces in the programme were the Three Dances by Woolfenden and the BCE’s first performance of Nigel Wood’s Bullring.
The BCE performed a charity concert at St Andrews Parish Church, Lyddington, with new Musical Director Anthony Bailey. Soloists on this occasion were Alison Eales, Carol Taylor and Juliet Colville, playing music by Krommer and Mendelssohn.
2024
Our annual Play Day in April was again held in Putnoe, and was directed by Richard Ingham. Over 40 players assembled for a day of high quality music making playing through a selection of the BCE’s repertoire.
To date the following composers have written works for the BCE:
- Anthony Bailey
- Alan Bullard
- Paul Hart
- Gordon Lewin
- Guy Woolfenden
- Andy Jackson
- Martin Ellerby
- Adam Gorb
- Andy Scott
- Jeffery Wilson
- Stephen McNeff
- Elizabeth Sharma
- Christopher Cave
- Lynne Plowman
Click here to see a list of the ensemble’s repertoire.