Circle of Sound & Thatcham Nature Discovery Centre's Partnership Event for 2001
Year of the Artist
supported
by... 
Stop
Press:
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Due to the temporary closure of the Discovery Centre Due to the current foot and mouth epidemic the Summer Birds event has now been put back to:
SUNDAY 27th of MAY
Music starts at 3.00pm
The Year of the Artist is a unique national project running from June 2000 to May 2001
It is one of the largest and most ambitious arts projects ever mounted in the UK.
The aim is to reach a target of 1000 artists in residence across the country.
In the Thatcham & Newbury District two musicians from opposite ends of the spectrum - John Kane and Mark T. - will be in residence at:
Thatcham Nature Discovery Centre.
Summer Birds Event 1996
Scroll on down to find out more about Mark and John, what they do, and how Year of the Artist intends to bring these two very different artists together in a series of workshops and public performances.
John Kane
Violin
John is an established, freelance, violinist with experience in
a
wide variety of styles of music from Opera with Glyndebourne
and the
Welsh National Opera to Symphony Orchestra with CBSO, BSO AND
RPO.
He has recently been invited to lead: Concertante of London,
The English Symphony Orchestra,
Sarum Chamber Orchestra,
The Southern Festival Orchestra and Southern Sinfonia.
Chamber music involvement has taken John to many international
festivals throughout the world including Moscow, St. Petersberg,
Sofia, Edinburgh, Washington D.C.,New York and The Proms.
John plays a magnificent nineteenth century Italian Violin by
Trucco.
He currently director of Education and Community Music for the
Newbury Spring Festival.
Sedge Warbler
Swift
Mark T
Electric Guitar, Bouzouki, Bodhran,
Sampling / Remixing, Soundbeams
Mark is director of Circle of Sound and since
1992 has run over 45 projects serving all areas of the community.
As a professional musician he has recorded 5 CD's / LP's and played
festivals, clubs and arts' centres all over the UK and parts
of Europe. He has also worked as a broadcaster for the BBC and as a
music journalist.
He is currently signed, non-exclusively, to North Star Music and
is currently writing a cycle of interrelated songs about his home town
of Hereford.
Cetti's Warbler |
Year of the Artist - The Project
One hundred artists have been placed in one hundred residencies
across the Southern Arts region.
The ethos of the project is to
raise the status and promote the value of artists. It will be
an
opportunity for artists to make an impact on people's lives and
will focus on the relationship between the arts and science,
exploiting the potential of new technologies.
Thatcham Nature Discovery Centre has been selected as one of the
hundred residencies within the region and will be working with
local musicians Mark T. and John Kane on a project starting in
January and culminating with a performance at the Discovery Centre
on Sunday 29th April 2001 at the annual Spring Birds Celebration.
John Kane and Mark T
come from different ends of the musical spectrum and it is
anticipated that they will rise to the challenge of working together!
A nature poet, Kim Taplin, will also be working on the project.
She is a writer and poet with a deep love of nature, especially birds. Her published work include "The English Path" and "Tongues in Trees". A major new collection of her poetry "From Parched Creek" is due out from Redbeck Press in March 2001.
The project's inspiration and audience will be firmly based around the
Nature Discovery Centre but part of the project will take the form of outreach workshops with
pupils from Trinity School and The Castle Special School.
It is anticipated that this work will be incorporated into the
final performance next year.
In January John and Mark will be choosing up to four support musicians
to accompany them in performances and workshops.
Revisit this site in February 2001 for all the latest information!
Events confirmed so far include:
Friday 19th January 2001 - Year of
the Artist opening performance.
Thatcham Nature Discovery Centre. 7.00
p.m. - 9.00 p.m.
John, Kim and Mark will each do a performance
and talk breifly about their work.
Sunday 21st January - John and Mark
will provide
an afternoon of interactive music to accompany
the Floor Gazing
large scale photography exhibition.
Thatcham Nature Discovery Centre 1.00 p.m.
- 4.00 p.m.
Sunday 27th May - Summer Birds Day
- Thatcham Nature Discovery Centre
A day of crafts, entertainment, food and
more...
Performance of finished work: 3.00 p.m.
Scarlet Tiger Moth
Kim Taplin
Summer Birds 1996
The Main Room
The Gallery - Thatcham Nature Discovery Centre
The Venue
The Thatcham Nature Discovery Centre, formally a boathouse, was converted into the Discovery Centre during 1994 and opened in January 1995.
The location of the building was ideally suited as a visitor centre, situated alongside Thatcham Lake and close to the important reedbeds nature reveserve which lies between Thatcham and Newbury.
Thatcham Reedbed Nature Reserve is one of Southern England's most important inland reedbeds. The area is home to a variety of rare birds and insects, including large breeding populations of Warblers, moths and endangered snails.
Thatcham Nature Discovery Centre
markt@circleofsound.co.uk
johnkane@newburyweb.net