programme - Thursday 7 July 2011

FLOATING STAGE: 8.45pm

BLAKE with TASMIN LITTLE

TIMOTHY REDMOND (conductor) and the BBC CONCERT ORCHESTRA.

The hugely successful vocal quartet BLAKE headlines an evening of Henley Festival at its best. With virtuoso violinist TASMIN LITTLE and the brilliant Dutch musical comedian, HANS LIBERG - 'a touch of the Victor Borge' - and an extra hint of spice...

... and Gandini Jugglers

Gandini Juggling was set up to celebrate the art of juggling in all its facets, fuelled by a belief that juggling is an exciting, living art form. During the past 18 years, the Gandinis have performed over 4,000 shows in 40 countries and are in constant worldwide demand for their virtuoso juggling and their breathtaking, innovative choreography. The collaboration with the Orchestra is based on a work called Quartet' that was developed and partially funded by "Science & Art Award'' from the Welcome Trust from London in 2001.

THE GANDINIS researched the link between mathematics and juggling. The findings were the basis of the company's collaboration between various classical orchestras in Berlin, Munich and recently in La Brèche during the Spring Festival with the Classical Ensemble of Normandy. Instead of following the musical structure by associating every note to a movement, the six jugglers will create a dialogue with the music. The Gandinis have developed a series of precise glow routines, using the most advanced light technology. The colours of the clubs are pre-programmed. They pulsate, jump and fade in and out to create mesmerising patterns.

Dixie Ticklers

The development of jazz has to be one of the most organic and fascinating stories in music. Dom James and his Dixie Ticklers would like to provide the first chapter for you with an atomic Dixieland explosion. Combining some of the brightest young talent in the UK, with the oldest charts from New Orleans archives, their goal is to entertain with skill and charm.

Kid Ory, Sidney Bechet, Louis Armstrong and Jelly Roll Morton would hopefully have approved of their renditions of "Salty Dog", "I wish I could Shimmie like my sister Kate" and "Wild Man Blues". These guys are so hot, that even New Orleans enthusiast Woody Allen has a copy of their record.

Marek Kohn - Turned Out Nice: How The British Isles Will Change As The World Heats Up

MAREK KOHN is an author and journalist who writes about the implications of scientific thinking for our ideas about society and human nature. His latest book, Turned Out Nice: How the British Isles Will Change as the World Heats Up, imagines what Britain might be like in 2100 if the world carries on the way it's going - not just how climate change could alter the weather, but how it could change people's relationships with each other, and what Britain's landscapes mean to them. It poses questions about how we imagine the future, and whether we can really care about it.

Kohn's other books include A Reason For Everything: Natural Selection and the English Imagination, which described how English scientists were influenced by English nature, As We Know It: Coming to Terms with an Evolved Mind, which explored human evolution through an idea about ancient stone tools that he developed with Professor Steven Mithen, Dope Girls:The Birth of the British Drug Underground, which revealed a hidden history of drugtaking in London around the First World War. He lives in Brighton with his wife and son, and is a fellow in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Brighton.

The talk will last approximately 30 minutes followed by a question and answer session. Marek Kohn will be signing copies after the talk, with books provided by arrangement with the Bell Bookshop of Henley.

Fifth Quadrant - the Bach Session

The music of Johann Sebastian Bach can seem like a vast and complex array of works covering almost every imaginable genre. But according to the composer himself, every work serves two simple aims, to praise God and to "refresh the soul".

Simplicity and complexity combine in Bach's music in often surprising ways. He was undoubtedly one of the greatest contrapuntalists of all time, writing music based on multiple simultaneous melodic lines to weave together complex instrumental and vocal textures. He was also one of the first to underpin those complex textures with expressive harmonies, allowing the interplay of lines to take on a deeper emotional level. Bach spent his professional life as a church musician, but was equally at home writing music for secular contexts, his coffee house cantatas for example, and the instrumental works we will hear this evening. The intricate techniques he had learnt from the church composers of the Renaissance elevate his instrumental music to a higher spiritual plane.

He was also a scholarly musician, who had studied widely all the music available to him. For performers, the interplay of melodic lines in Bach's music offers excellent opportunities for sophisticated ensemble playing. In the Concerto for Two Violins, the music achieves its sublime effect, not only through the beauty of the individual solo parts, but also through the subtle and expressive relationship between them. At the keyboard, similar relationships take place between the hands, as in the Two and Three Part Inventions, originally written as teaching aids, to give Bach's pupils practice of playing multiple independent lines.

www.fifthquadrantmusic.com

Gandini Jugglers Gandini Juggling was set up to celebrate the art of juggling in all its facets, fuelled by a belief that juggling is an exciting, living art form. During the past 18 years, the Gandinis have performed over 4,000 shows in 40 countries and are in constant worldwide demand for their virtuoso juggling and their breathtaking, innovative choreography. The collaboration with the Orchestra is based on a work called Quartet' that was developed and partially funded by "Science & Art Award'' from the Welcome Trust from London in 2001.

THE GANDINIS researched the link between mathematics and juggling. The findings were the basis of the company's collaboration between various classical orchestras in Berlin, Munich and recently in La Brèche during the Spring Festival with the Classical Ensemble of Normandy. Instead of following the musical structure by associating every note to a movement, the six jugglers will create a dialogue with the music. The Gandinis have developed a series of precise glow routines, using the most advanced light technology. The colours of the clubs are pre-programmed. They pulsate, jump and fade in and out to create mesmerising patterns.

Hans Liberg

The Godfather of comedy and music, EMMY winning Hans Liberg brings his inimitable wit and musical virtuosity to the Henley Festival.

www.hansliberg.com

Jazz Dynamos

With over 100 shows a year, Jazz Dynamos are one of the most in demand bands to emerge from the London scene.

Their exciting mix of jazz, latino lounge, soul and funky dance music has gained them enormous popularity, and led to performances for both English and Hollywood royalty! Multi-talented front man Pat Reyford's unique voice combines the effortless swing of Sinatra with the full-on funk of James Brown.

Add the humour of his vocal trombone solos to the swingiest, funkiest, best dressed rhythm section in the country, and it's a show not to be missed!

www.jazzdynamos.co.uk

Firework Spectacular

Pains Fireworks deliver a thrilling and emotional show set to music and fired from within the back drop that is quintessential England - and that will leave you buzzing for the rest of your evening and beyond - Enjoy!

www.painsfireworks.com