Author archive: Nick Breckenfield
by Debra Boraston
Bas les masques is a French expression from the 17th century with origins in theatre where a mask was an accessory of deception. The idiomatic English translation is ‘no more pretending’. Well, there’s certainly no more pretending about Covid-19 and the fact that coming out of lockdowns around the world will be slow and gradual. […]
by Debra Boraston and Nick Breckenfield
A SPECIAL TRIBUTE TO FRANCO BUITONI MARKING 15 YEARS OF BORLETTI-BUITONI TRUST The setting was a rain-swept, autumnal Sunday afternoon in the historic Umbrian hilltop town of Perugia in Italy. The frequent downpours did not deter the hordes of people crowding into the centre for the annual Euro Chocolate Festival – and nor did it […]
by Anna Meredith
For me it’s normally the impulse of the commission itself which gets the ideas starting, considering any elements the piece might involve (duration, instrumentation, occasional etc) and then a collaborative process of looking for a good creative starting point. I like to have a very clear idea of what I’m aiming for with each piece […]
by Bent Sørensen
When I moved some years ago to the countryside – an area with beautiful nature and lots of silence – a lot of the people visiting me said: “This must be very inspiring for you!”. They didn’t know what they were talking about, because that is not the way inspiration works. Inspiration is inside yourself; […]
by Nick Breckenfield
In ten years the Borletti-Buitoni Trust has honoured a veritable orchestra of musicians. By my calculation, it could have mounted a tenth birthday performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, conducted by Robin Ticciati (Fellowship 2005), if the 19 pianists, three guitarists and two harpists helped flesh out the chorus and some of the solo cellists transferred […]
by Simon Holt
I had to search for the piece to find out how long ago it was that I wrote it! 15 years! I was very surprised. The writing process is mostly a mystery to me now, but the performances that I’ve seen (all with Colin Currie playing; nobody else has taken it up, which isn’t a […]
