Newsletter no 22: Scottish composer Erik Chisholm: Performance of Art Sung- Jane Bathori at the University of Leeds
Dear Friends,
Although 2025 has been a relatively quiet year for Art Sung outwardly some exciting plans have been unfolding behind the scenes! At the start of the year, we were delighted to receive funding from the Chisholm Trust to create an Art Sung about the life and work of Scottish composer, conductor, performer, and impresario Erik Chisholm (1904-1965).
Musicologist John Purser opens his biography of Chisholm with this sentence, “To have been born in Glasgow in the early 20th century is not seen as a recommendation for a budding musician”. In fact, Chisholm’s was a remarkable story which encompassed setting up a concert series in the 1930s which successfully brought international composers such as Bartok, Hindemith, Sorabji, and Walton to Glasgow as well as introducing the works of many more composers to Scottish audiences. After WWII, he laid the seeds for what has now become the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and then went on to revolutionise the music department at the University of Cape Town. However, despite being flung to all four corners of the earth and rejected several times by the musical establishment in Scotland, “Chisholm’s heart was undoubtedly firmly lodged in Scotland”.This is reflected in his many songs, piano works, orchestral music and ballets in which he actively incorporated Celtic idioms and melodies from the Patrick MacDonald book of Highland melodies which served as his musical Bible.
I am thrilled to share that we already have a couple of performance dates scheduled in Scotland for next year. Notably, one of these will take place at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where Chisholm began his musical studies in 1917 at the age of 13, when it was known as the Athenaeum School of Music.
My most recent visit in November to Scotland to rummage through archival material followed on from a fantastic performance of Art Sung – Jane Bathori: A Dove at the Vieux Colombier which was part of the International Concert series at the University of Leeds. We were delighted to welcome two new faces on stage: actress Julie Teal who has 35 years of experience in theatre, tv, radio, and is also an award-winning audio book narrator and mezzo-soprano Lotte Betts Dean, a leading interpreter of contemporary repertoire, art song and chamber music.
The performance was fantastic, not just because of the incredibly talented group of people I had the privilege to work with, but because the setting was perfect for an Art Sung performance. Organised by Prof. Barbara Kelly with whom I had initially collaborated to create Art Sung – Jane Bathori in 2021, it was part of an imaginative, wide-ranging conference, Music and the Arts in France-1925: Anniversaries and Confluences which brought together musicologists from all over the world.
Some of the feedback we received included:
“This was really incredible and an inspiring instance of research and performance hand in hand. A model of creative and scholarly work in tandem. A real inspiration! Bravo to all for a stellar show!”
“I like having the words in English on the screen, but in a way that moved with the music rather than simply being motionless”
“I really enjoyed the combination of performance elements”
If you would like to view the performance, it can be found here:
Finally, but not least, i would like to extend a huge thanks to Polly Smith. For many years she supported me with admin, publicity, and on many occasions, with scriptwriting. Earlier this year, she decided that it was time to move on and all of us at Art Sung wish her all the very best for all her future endeavours.