As from 2008 BBT is offering all musicians on its roster an introductory consultation and practical session with Patsy Rodenburg, Director of Voice at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and until recently at the Royal National Theatre.  Joshua Hopkins writes about his session with her on 28th June…

In recent years, I have developed a significant fear of singing in a recital setting. This fear grew out of a comment made to me in 2005 that described my physical posture as stiff. Since then, I have been battling with this affliction, stiffness, and have felt it hinder my performance in recitals. My breath ceases to be efficient, my legs tighten, and over the course of a recital program, my voice tires. In a constant effort to improve my ability as an artist, naturally I am driven to seek assistance from specialists who can help me face my challenges. In one afternoon session with Patsy Rodenburg, I not only learned the simple tools necessary to alter my bad habits, but also gained the confidence to overcome my fears.

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Isn`t this wonderful: four years have passed since I received a BBT Award in 2004. And right now, looking back over the last two months, the effect of this wonderful prize, of all the work and support connected to it, seems more alive then ever…

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Saturday, May 10th

The BBT tour group meet up at Detroit Airport. Susan Rivers, Llŷr Williams and Christian Poltéra fly in from London, Mitsuko Uchida and Soovin Kim arrive from New York.  I fly in from Stockholm via New York and find the others waiting for me in Detroit.  We are driven the 2 hour journey from the Airport to the town of Kalamazoo where the first concert of the tour is to take place as part of the Irving S. Gilmore International Keyboard Festival.

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May the 14th this year saw the premiere of Simon Holt’s “A Table of  Noises” and the final fruition to my use of my BBT funds. Jointly commissioned by the fund and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, this work will, I have no doubt, make a huge impact not only in the percussion world but for new music in general. It opens up a brilliantly original sound world and the rapt audience in Birmingham gave the work a duly robust ovation. I am extremely happy with the music and believe the trust can once again be hugely proud of its vital contribution to new music of the very highest order.

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Simon Crawford-Phillips and Philip Moore gave the world premiere of Detlev Glanert Double Piano Concerto with BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in Glasgow on 15th March 2008. It will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on 9th August.

I’m just on my way out of the door to return a hire car and as I leave the flat I pick up today’s post. In amongst the trash is a CD from the BBC of our premiere of Detlev’s Concerto. Listening to this is the first time I fully appreciate what the BBT project has really achieved. Not the performance especially, which went well, but the possibility of giving life to a new piece.

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A big part of my BBT Award budget will be used to realise two new CD’s. The first of those, named ‘Sackbutt’, will be released next week. It is a combination of baroque sonatas with a very prominent trombone part and three early classical trombone concertos, all played on a sackbutt, a replica of an old trombone.

In the beginning of 2007, I made a concert tour with this music with the early music group Combattimento Consort Amsterdam. We got along very well and the music was so great that we all thought we should record it. Miraculously we found a week in October last year in which the ensemble, the record label, myself and a beautiful church in Amsterdam were available, so with the help of the BBT we decided to make the recording then. I am extremely happy I had the opportunity to make this CD with this fantastic ensemble. They are not only great players, but also very positive and pleasant to work with, with a very fresh, musical approach to early music. A lot of the music on this CD is rather unknown, even though the baroque was a great period for the trombone. In that time the trombone was the only brass instrument that could play chromatically all the notes. Trumpets and horns could only play overtones in one key. That made the trombone the ideal brass instrument to combine with violins and others in these baroque sonatas. Hopefully more people will recognise the possibilities of the trombone and the great music written for it through this recording.

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