The Ruskin Ensemble

a younger incarnation - I still have that guitar though

I was reminded of all the tours we used to do when a fellow member of The Ruskin Ensemble, its leader, in fact, the violinist Jane Gomm, came to my concert at the Chequer Mead Theatre in East Grinstead last night.
For a  few years we went up and down the UK and did two or three tours in Scotland as well. I have a sudden nostalgia for the fun of performing those pieces!...
It was a time of collaboration, rehearsal, fitting cellos into small cars and playing composers I can't play as a soloist like Guastavino (I miss him), Vivaldi and Paganini. It was a time when I had only just begun going to the Edinburgh Fringe to perform, when I worried more about where I was in the Hampshire squash league than where my next gig was coming from and when I had more hair.
In April The Ruskin Ensemble is planning a concert in Kent - I will post more details when the arrangements have firmed up - and I am really looking forward to it.

Lothian Life Review for Classical Guitar - Jonathan Prag

I'm delighted to have got another really nice review for my show - this time from Lothian Life
http://www.lothianlife.co.uk/2012/08/classical-guitar-jonathan-prag/#more-11990

Jonathan Prag has been a regular at the Festival Fringe since 1992. After twenty years, the quality of his performances mark him out as one the Fringe’s finest musicians.
Classical Guitar – Jonathan Prag (1.30 pm, until 27 August, at C too, St Columba’s by the Castle, Johnstone Terrace) is a reminder, if we need it, of the emotional power of the solo guitar. It is also performed in a wonderful setting. St Columba’s is a small Victorian architectural gem, with a plain, lightsome interior, a totally fitting venue (marginally spoiled by the modernist mural behind the altar) for this scale of musical event.
Prag started with Villa Lobos, “the single most significant creative figure in 20th-century Brazilian art music,” whose two great influences were Brazilian folk music and JS Bach. Neatly and aptly, his next piece was the First Suite for Solo Lute by JS Bach.
Prag continued to exemplify the guitar’s versatility and its capacity to move and challenge the listener. He ranged expertly through Irish traditional folk tunes, a wonderful version of Cole Porter’s ‘Begin the Beguine’ and work by Flamenco master Paco Peña. A reverberating Tango by Ástor Piazolla was accompanied by Prag’s explanation of the dangers of musical innovation: Piazolla was reviled, threatened and spat upon by many Tango traditionalists in Argentina prior to his genius becoming more commonly accepted.
This was a gripping performance from which it was hard to select high-spots because of the quality of the concert as a whole. Certainly his rendition of the Staten Island Hornpipe had toes tapping throughout the hall and his version of Bela Bartok’s Rumanian Folk Dances held the rapt attention of the entire audience.
This was technical excellence and quiet restraint brought to bear on a programme with wide appeal. No other instrument quite achieves the same impact as the solo guitar, that sense for the listener of being entirely alone as the music strips away every inessential emotion. It was therefore entirely fitting that Prag’s well-deserved encore was a moving version of Mal Waldron’s song for Billie Holiday, ‘I’m Left Alone’.
We can only trust that after these first twenty years, the appearances at the Fringe will remain high on Jonathan Prag’s priority list

Great Review from Three Weeks

I'm very pleased to get this on Day 8 of the Edinburgh Fringe (I hope my pupils will agree that I actually AM an affable music teacher...)

"Not everyone would think to pair Bach and Bartok, Cole Porter and Celtic Hornpipe, least of all in a solo performance for acoustic guitar. When it comes to music, though, Prag is an unapologetic anthropologist, taking in a bewildering medley of cultures and influences. Deftly handling the complex arrangements, he renders Irish folk songs richly emotional, explores crisp classical movements and closes this intimate set with a fiery and frankly brilliant flamenco. If at times he comes across as an affable music teacher, he nevertheless plays with passionate precision, intensely expressive even during the most effusive flurries of notes. Like the composers he admires, Prag draws on deep traditions and diverse styles to make exquisite, intricate music."
- Dave Fargnoli, Three Weeks (Aug 07, 2012)

King's Lynn Festival Fringe

I wished, in my last post, that it might be as sunny, for my visit, as it was in that picture of the Quay at King's Lynn - well it was. It was a glorious day and All Saints' church, tucked away inside a rampart of quaint 60s flats a short distance from the historic Quay, was a real gem. The first thing to say is that the acoustic was wonderful and suited the sound of the guitar down to the ground. I played the Carlavero so even I got some impression of this quality. I hope I did it justice. The audience were great and it was a relief to turn up and find that so many had come.

The organisers had done a grand job and there was a feast of homemade cakes and scones for the interval. As well as juice and tea and coffee a very good red wine was served, much to my delight - I saved mine until after I'd finished playing. All the hassle was taken out of the equation regarding the box office because the King's Lynn Festival Box Office came down from the Corn Exchange to run that side of it. So all in all it was a pleasure and well worth it. But why is it always so nerve-wracking to go to perform somewhere you've never performed before? You'd think performing would be evenly nerve-wracking wherever you were but somehow a new place is especially anxiety inducing. The answer, I suppose, is, go again.

Return to Norfolk

I'm giving a concert in King's Lynn on Sunday. It's been a few years now since I toured venues in Norfolk with the Ruskin Ensemble but I have happy memories of those performances. It was part of a Village Hall Touring scheme. Are those still running? I hope so - it was great fun to do and the audiences at the various halls were amazing. I was looking at the map just now and trying to remember our route. I remember Wells-Next-the -Sea. We had a lovely time there. We did the Vivaldi Guitar Concerto in D, with Fandango, which I used to love playing. I wonder if any of the people who came to hear us remember it... come and hear me again, people from Wells-Next-the-Sea, and say hello! Then there was Whissonsett, I remember that and Wisbech, which is in Cambridgeshire I know, but nearby all the same. Did we play at Thurgarton? There is also a Thurgarton in Nottinghamshire so my mind might be playing tricks on me. Maybe it was the one in Notts we played at. I know I stayed at a lovely B&B - which might have been somewhere near Dereham and I remember our horn player accidentally locking the janitor out of the school we had gone to do a workshop in.
And now I am pleased to be returning and very glad of the opportunity provided by the King's Lynn Arts Festival. It would be nice if it was as sunny as in that picture but even if it's pouring with rain music is fun so if you can't go on your long walk, come and listen to classical guitar. My concert is this coming Sunday - July 22nd - in All Saints' Church, King's Lynn and tickets are £5.00, available from the Festival Box Office (at the Corn Exchange, King's Lynn (01553 764864) or on the door. There will be a glass of wine, tea/coffee and juices during the interval and everyone is welcome. The concert will help to raise funds for the Church and I am looking forward very much to playing there.

Birmingham's BE Festival

It was a privilege to be part of this fantastic Festival even in a very minor way. Follow them on Twitter @BEFestival There's still chance to catch another day of amazing performances so if you're within a million miles of Birmingham go and join the fun.

We did two sessions as the duo - look! NO RAIN! - in the courtyard -  and quite a few of the people milling amiably around were dancers and every so often they broke into spontaneous dancing to our music - which was really good fun to be part of.
And then there was the food... in its own spectacular fairy-lit industrial refectory... where the entire audience sits down together and eats delicious food before going back into the theatre space to watch the next performance.

Getting ready for the gig at Birmingham's BE Festival

We're very busy rehearsing a set for Thursday. Here we are, hard at work in a small studio in Brighton (The admirable Brighton Electric). It's a duo gig and that's Dominic. We've got about ten numbers ready and I think we might be doing two sets at different times. The event is a really good one if you enjoy amazing theatre from some of the best companies in Europe. There is the most extraordinary food and it's held in an old warehouse in Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter called @ A. E. Harris.
The atmosphere is like being at a really great party. The festival lasts from 2-8 July. We're doing our bit on July 5th as part of the musical entertainment for the crowds as they relax between plays or make their way into the big dining hall for the delicious feasts. As a bonus we get to see some of the incredible performances.

Busy Performance Schedule Coming Up

There's already info here (see previous post) about July 22nd at the King's Lynn Festival Fringe - and yes, it has a Fringe! But here are some other updates:

• Are you anywhere near Lymington on Saturday June 23rd?  Lymington Music and Performance Day 2012, will be in full swing - part of Lymington Music Festival. I'm taking part on the Library Stage that evening - which is outside apparently. I'm in the celebrated company of some wonderful musicians - Dr Finlay's Bass Cooks, Vicky Kimm & Jamie Courtier,  Jon Ellis & Jim Insole, The Rezzonators  and Hannah Robinson are on the bill with me. I hope there is cover if it rains...for more information and timings Follow this link then Click on the first link on the left of the page where it says Saturday 23rd June .

• The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is on the horizon now and tickets to my show have already gone on sale and are selling well.

   

The King's Lynn Festival Fringe

I'm looking forward to visiting King's Lynn in July to play in All Saints Church as part of the King's Lynn Festival Fringe.
I am assured the acoustic in the church is the best in the town and it certainly looks very pleasant - not too big.

The concert will be at 3.00 pm on Sunday July 22nd

The programme will preview what I am going to be playing at this year's Edinburgh Fringe (2nd to 27th August)
and is still in preperation although I have decided I will definitely include a Villa Lobos Prelude this year after many requests. It will probably be No. 5...