Work of the Week - Huw Watkins: Violin Concerto

Commissioned by the BBC, the Proms provides the setting for a major new work from Huw Watkins. His Violin Concerto will be premiered on Tuesday 17 August by Alina Ibragimova and the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Edward Gardner. The concerto emerged as a result of his growing collaboration with Ibragimova: having met at the Royal College of Music in London, Watkins was her natural choice of composer when, as a BBC New Generation Artist, she was invited to commission a composer to write for her. Immediately after the premiere of Partita for solo violin, plans were underway for a concerto.

Cast in three movements, the fast outer movements centre on motivic and rhythmic ideas with syncopation throwing the listener off the beat. The middle movement is a slow lullaby with a predominantly string accompaniment. The work offers the soloist passages of high lyricism alongside passages of bravura covering the full range of the instrument.

The concert will be broadcast live from London's Royal Albert Hall on BBC Radio 3 and on BBC4 TV. A Proms Composer Portrait concert featuring Waktins' chamber music with Watkins himself playing with RCM students takes place at the Royal College of Music before the main event.

• Huw Watkins - Profile
  
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