BackFeature
Sacconi Residency Weekend 2024
04 – 06 Oct 2024
Director: Matt Shipton
The 2024 Sacconi Residency Weekend started with an open experimental workshop at Studio 69 on Tontine Street, with artist Terry Smith and sound designer Ian Dearden. This was the first stage of a collaborative project between the Sacconi Quartet and Terry. The idea was to make an open workshop where together they played with ideas from Bach’s ‘Art of Fugue’ for a new performance project called ‘Decomposing Bach’. We hope this will be the starting point for future concerts and live dance performances.
This is a special backstage pass for the audience who will be able to witness the very first stages of a project like this and see, from the very first moment, how it begins and develops… like seeing the first lines applied to a blank canvas.”
Saturday was our Pro/Am Day where the Sacconi Quartet coached and collaborated with 6 wonderful amateur musicians for this year’s Pro/Am event!:
Val Cheesman | violin
Fin Hancox | violin
Iona Ashwell | violin
Markus Sadler | piano
Andrew Gwyther | piano
Krish Parthiban | clarinet
Open rehearsals were held throughout the day with everyone welcome to pop in and out to watch and listen. The day culminated in a free concert with all the participants performing a movement from a favourite chamber work:
Bach Double Violin Concerto 1st mvt (Val)
Tchaikovsky String Qtet No 1 in D Major 3rd Mvt (Fin)
Brahms Piano Quintet 1st mvt (Markus)
Weber Clarinet Quintet 1st mvt (Krish)
Schumann Piano Quintet 1st mvt (Andrew)
Nardini Quartet in B flat 1st mvt (Iona)
The final event was a unique collaboration with Moving Memory Dance Theatre, an innovative, collaborative & inclusive physical performance company which has been performing in town centres, public spaces, festivals and theatres for over 10 years. MMDT run dance workshops which are led by and for people age 50+. One such group is ‘Groovin’ Well’ based in Dover. The Sacconi Quartet and Dover Groovin’ Well group came together to explore what happens when Movers meet Musicians… and Shostakovich’s String Quartet no. 8 in C minor, opus 110.
Written in Dresden, 1960, “in memory of the victims of fascism and war”, this exquisite, 20 minute piece of music has an enduring resonance. With this sharing of work in progress, musicians and dancers moved through a sense of loss, towards resistance, resolution and restoration found within a community of care. The workshop culminated in a free public performance at The Grand, Folkestone.
