BBC Ten Pieces marks its tenth anniversary with a new collection of works by women, including music by three Wise Music Group composers - Sally Beamish, Errollyn Wallen and Judith Weir.
BBC Ten Pieces
Sally Beamish
Haven from Seavaigers
Hildegard of Bingen
O Euchari in leta via
Margaret Bonds
March and Dawn in Dixie from Montgomery Variations
Lili Boulanger
D’un matin de printemps
Reena Esmail
Sun Sundar Sargam (BBC Commission)
Cassie Kinoshi
Title TBC (co-commission BBC/ABRSM/Music for Youth)
Marianna Martines
Allegro con spirito from Symphony in C
Laura Shigihara
Grasswalk from Plants vs. Zombies
Errollyn Wallen
Mighty River (extract)
Judith Weir
Magic from Storm
Sally Beamish
Sally is a composer and viola player whose music features regularly at the BBC Proms. She has written a mind-boggling number of concertos for international soloists, from percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie to trumpeter Håkan Hardenberger. Sally’s piece, Haven from Seavaigers, will join Ten Pieces in 2024.
"Seavaigers is a Scots word for Seafarers," Beamish explains. "This piece was written for Catriona McKay (harp) and Chris Stout (fiddle), about the North Sea voyage between Dundee and Shetland, their respective birthplaces. The soloists created their own solo lines around my score. This is the last movement called Haven – a safe landing after a treacherous journey."
Errollyn Wallen
Errollyn Wallen is one of the world’s most-performed living composers – she was the first black woman to have her music performed at the BBC Proms, and has featured in major public celebrations for the late Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the opening of the Paralympic Games. Her work Mighty River joins BBC Ten Pieces in 2024.
"It is an innate human instinct to be free", says Wallen. "Just as it is a law of nature that the river should rush headlong to the sea. The perpetual motion of the music, like water, like time, through its sheer momentum, carries with it the cries and echoes of human hearts and voices that are singing out of suffering, repentance, humility and hope."
Judith Weir
Dame Judith Weir is the first female Master of the King’s Music, a former Associate Composer of the BBC Singers and a major voice in the UK and international music scene, her works being performed all over the world. Her Ten Pieces work – Magic from Storm – was originally written for a choir of Primary and Secondary school students in Birmingham. "The words are by William Shakespeare from The Tempest – a magician called Prospero is talking to all the mysterious creatures who have helped him cast his spells in the past," she explains. "Hopefully the music will also sound as if it is light-footed and surprising, and as if it happened by magic."
BBC Ten Pieces aims to open up the world of classical music to 7-14 year olds and inspire them to develop their own creative responses to the music.
Recordings of the new repertoire and accompanying resources for 7-11 year olds will be released in the Autumn school term.
The aim of this latest phase of the project is to increase the quantity of music by women composers studied and performed by children and young people, and to continue supporting teachers in delivering high quality music education.
Content hosted on the BBC Teach website will include:
Filmed performances of BBC Orchestras and BBC Singers performing the music
Short classroom films introducing the music and its composer
Orchestral and vocal arrangements for varied levels of ability
Curriculum-linked classroom activities and inclusive resources
In addition to the resources on the BBC Teach website, the BBC Orchestras and Singers will provide a programme of live educational workshops and performances for children around the UK.
BBC Ten Pieces has reached over 5 million people and continues to be used by schools across the UK.