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Andy Sheppard headlines Brunel 200 launch celebration
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Press Release
The Blowout Sax School of Bath and Bristol have been specially asked to participate in the plans for the Brunel 200 launch weekend in April 2006.There is excitement building in the idea of collaborating our current and still world record saxophonists with the greatest British and world-reknowned saxophonist Andy Sheppard. Bristol-based Andy is creating a new piece of music for the launch party on Saturday 8th April, to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s birth.
It will provide the highlight of an evening of music, dance, drama and procession to be performed at Clifton Suspension Bridge to mark the switching on of the new lighting system.
Andy needs 200 saxophonists to join him in the party! He said:~
"
Think BIG - Isambard did! – 200 saxophones for a 200th birthday
seemed like an obvious idea to me. A celebration of the most beautiful
bridge in the world - why not make the bridge create its own music as
well.
He continued:
“Partly inspired by my time in Paris working with the performance art group "Urban Sax"(50 saxophones) I aim to set the 200 strong celebratory sax choir against an ambient electronic musical sound-scape scored for harp, glockenspiel, electronica and sounds created by the bridge itself (with the use of "contact" microphones, field recordings and manipulated data of the stress and strain on the structure). Of course I'll be soloing on tenor sax on top of the whole thing.”
The project is open to all saxophonists, aged 11 and over, and if you
would like to participate in this experience please contact Ruth Sidgwick
on brunel200@businesswest.co.uk register via email but hurry there are
only 200 places.
Andy will be holding rehearsals in Bristol on Jan 30th and with the Bath's
Blowout Sax students and other Bath based saxophonists in Bath in February
as well as providing a practice CD for all performers.
So if you want to become involved in Bristol’s biggest party in 2006, contact Ruth on brunel200@businesswest.co.uk .HURRY
Brunel 200 is an initiative of Bristol Cultural Development Partnership:
Arts Council England South West
Bristol City Council
Business West
Supported by
The National Lottery through Arts Council England and the Millennium
Commission
Heritage Lottery Fun
NOTES TO EDITORS
Brunel 200
Brunel 200 is responsible for the overall 2006 celebrations. It is
an initiative of Bristol Cultural Development Partnership (BCDP). BCDP
is a partnership of Arts Council England South West, Bristol City Council
and Business West. It promotes long-term cultural development in Bristol.
Projects include: At-Bristol, Brief Encounters Short Film Festival,
Animated Encounters, Bristol Legible City, the Bristol Festival of
Ideas, and the annual Great Reading Adventure, when everyone is encouraged
to read the same book at the same time. Brunel 200 takes place in Bristol
and the South West throughout the whole of 2006.
Brunel 200 is funded by Arts Council England South West, Bristol City
Council and Business West. It is supported by funding from the National
Lottery, including over £500,000 from the Urban Cultural Programme
(Arts Council England and the Millennium Commission) and a grant of £980,000
from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
The Brunel 200 website at www.brunel200.com includes extensive background
information about Brunel as well as news of activities planned for
the celebrations.
Highlights of the Brunel 200 activities include:
•
On Brunel’s birthday weekend, 8-9 April 2006, there will be a
procession and street party culminating in the switching on of the
new lighting scheme at the Clifton Suspension Bridge.
•
Major exhibitions at ss Great Britain, At-Bristol and the Bristol’s
City Museum and Art Gallery covering the story of Brunel’s life
and work, the science and engineering of Brunel, and the art of the
industrial age.
•
Free distribution through schools and libraries of 100,000 copies of
a 96pp graphic biography of Brunel’s life and work for readers
aged 11 and upwards. Other publications include Brunel: ‘in love
with the impossible’ with 16 newly commissioned essays and 400
illustrations.
•
Massive education programme ensuring that every school child in Bristol
will have the opportunity to learn about Brunel, visit the exhibitions
and Brunel attractions. Other educational projects include reopening
the competition to design the Clifton Suspension Bridge; working to
encourage more people – and especially women – to go into
engineering; and the placing of artists, scientists and engineers in
residence in schools.
•
A re-creation of the Royal Dinner of 1843, which launched the ss Great
Britain.
•
Bristol’s annual Great Reading Adventure in which everyone will
be encouraged to read Around the World in Eighty Days, chosen because
of its theme of opening up the world through transport and technology
as well as because Jules Verne, its author, travelled on Brunel’s
ship, the ss Great Eastern. This will become a South West regional
project for 2006 as part of the Brunel 200 celebrations. It is anticipated
that 100,000 people at least will participate.
•
Widespread promotion of engineering, architecture, design and the arts
and, a Brunel Festival in Swindon and closing celebrations in Bristol.
