Keith Burstein born 1957 as Keith Burston (the anglicised
form adopted by his father of the surname, which Burstein later dropped) is an
English composer,
conductor
Conductor or conduction may refer to:
Music
* Conductor (music), a person who leads a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra.
* ''Conductor'' (album), an album by indie rock band The Comas
* Conduction, a type of structured free improvisation ...
and
music theorist
Music theory is the study of the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory". The first is the " rudiments", that are needed to understand music notation (k ...
with Russian family origins. He is noted for his fervent championing of
tonal music as a valid contemporary composing style.
Musical approach and philosophy (including theory of "Super Tonality")
Keith Burstein's early musical approach was informed by the culture of
atonalism in which he was educated at the
Royal College of Music
The Royal College of Music is a music school, conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the Undergraduate education, undergraduate to the Doctorate, doctoral level in a ...
, and his early compositions were written in the atonal style. Burstein made a dramatic shift towards composing tonally during the late 1980s. In a 2002 interview with ''
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publishe ...
'' newspaper, he reflected "What had happened to me was a sort of Damascene conversion, I suppose. I suddenly saw that atonalism was a dead end. Once you accept that melody is everywhere, and always has been, in folk music and pop and rock, you see that it's not reactionary to write a tune.". He began pursuing
tonal composition and reinvestigating more traditional forms such as
requiem
A Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead ( la, Missa pro defunctis) or Mass of the dead ( la, Missa defunctorum), is a Mass of the Catholic Church offered for the repose of the soul or souls of one or more deceased persons, ...
s, church
chorale
Chorale is the name of several related musical forms originating in the music genre of the Lutheran chorale:
* Hymn tune of a Lutheran hymn (e.g. the melody of " Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme"), or a tune in a similar format (e.g. one of the ...
s and
brass band music. Although both Burstein (and various critics) have sometimes dubbed his style as "neo-romantic", he has stated that his education in atonalism has informed his musical approach. He has been described by the ''
Hampstead & Highgate Express'' (in a review of his Symphony No. 1) as "a contemporary master of tonality" and by ''
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was f ...
'' as "an ardent new romantic post-modernist."
Burstein has developed his approach into a theory he initially dubbed "Romantic Futurism", realigned as "New Tonalism" and now calls "Super Tonality". He views this approach as a fusion (or reintegration) of atonal and tonal composition – in which tonality is used to release the expressive power of dissonance – and considers it to represent "(a) wider horizon… that carries atonalism and all the other -isms with it, and creates a forward-looking fusion."
Super Tonality acknowledges the philosophy and reasoning behind the original atonal experiments of
Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (, ; ; 13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian-American composer, music theorist, teacher, writer, and painter. He is widely considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He was as ...
,
Anton Webern
Anton Friedrich Wilhelm von Webern (3 December 188315 September 1945), better known as Anton Webern (), was an Austrian composer and conductor whose music was among the most radical of its milieu in its sheer concision, even aphorism, and ste ...
and others, but strongly questions the dominance of these and related forms in contemporary classical music and in modern music critical theory. Burstein has also suggested that this style of music can be composed by musicians (such as himself) "who were fired in the white heat of the atonal avant-garde and who dedicated themselves to that depth of knowledge and practise within the most highly-charged furnaces of experiment".
He has cited
Arvo Pärt
Arvo Pärt (; born 11 September 1935) is an Estonian composer of contemporary classical music. Since the late 1970s, Pärt has worked in a minimalist style that employs tintinnabuli, a compositional technique he invented. Pärt's music is in par ...
as one of the other composers whom he believes is working in this area.
Burstein's outspoken stance has sometimes led to friction between himself and others in the contemporary classical music establishment. He has accused "moribund atonalist dogma" of having stifled musical debate in the world of contemporary classical music. He has also challenged the idea that "the intrinsic worth of a musical piece is defined solely by its 'intellectual' content; and that the degree of intellectuality is signified entirely by the degree of atonalism involved in its construction."
Burstein is also known for a strong commitment to humanism and to issues of social concern. This is expressed in the subject matter of several of his works, including ''The Year's Midnight – A Meditation on the Holocaust'' (2000) and the opera ''
Manifest Destiny
Manifest destiny was a cultural belief in the 19th-century United States that American settlers were destined to expand across North America.
There were three basic tenets to the concept:
* The special virtues of the American people and th ...
'' (2004, revised as ''Manifest Destiny 2011'' in 2011), in which would-be suicide bombers reject violence in favour of a desire for peace.
[''Manifest Destiny 2011'' event page at OperaUpClose website]
(accessed 8 September 2011)["The power of love" – article by Jonathan Lennie, published in ‘’]Time Out
Time-out, Time Out, or timeout may refer to:
Time
* Time-out (sport), in various sports, a break in play, called by a team
* Television timeout, a break in sporting action so that a commercial break may be taken
* Timeout (computing), an enginee ...
’’ #2142, 8 September 2011[''Manifest Destiny 2011'' Critics's Choice page at ''Time Out'' homepage]
(accessed 8 September 2011) He is associated with the
Stop The War Coalition
The Stop the War Coalition (StWC), informally known simply as Stop the War, is a British group established on 21 September 2001, shortly after the September 11 attacks, to campaign against what it believes are unjust wars.
The Coalition has c ...
, giving press conferences with
Bianca Jagger and
Walter Wolfgang and performing benefits alongside
Julie Christie
Julie Frances Christie (born 14 April 1940) is a British actress. An icon of the Swinging Sixties, Christie is the recipient of numerous accolades including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. Sh ...
and
Michael Nyman
Michael Laurence Nyman, CBE (born 23 March 1944) is an English composer, pianist, librettist, musicologist, and filmmaker. He is known for numerous film scores (many written during his lengthy collaboration with the filmmaker Peter Green ...
.
Biography and career
Family background
Keith Burstein was born in the English coastal town of
Brighton: his birth name was "Keith Burston", and he was one of the two sons of Samuel and Barbara Burston. The family surname was an Anglicised version of Burstein, the original Russian-Jewish family name of Samuel Burston's ancestors (who emigrated to the UK in the late nineteenth century). The family was musical – Keith's parents, uncles and aunts were all orchestral musicians, and one of his cousins is the composer Paul Lewis. Both Samuel and Barbara Burston were orchestral violinists and had played in the orchestras for the
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal ...
and
Sadler's Wells Theatre
Sadler's Wells Theatre is a performing arts venue in Clerkenwell, London, England located on Rosebery Avenue next to New River Head. The present-day theatre is the sixth on the site since 1683. It consists of two performance spaces: a 1,500-se ...
as well as the
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London, that performs and produces primarily classic works.
The RPO was established by Thomas Beecham in 1946. In its early days, the orchestra secured profitable ...
and the
BBC Ulster Orchestra. They also played in the
Hallé Orchestra, Manchester (during which time Samuel Burston had enjoyed a close rapport with the conductor
Sir John Barbirolli.)
Keith Burstein reassumed his original family name in the late 1980s, at the same time that he was discovering his own voice as a composer. He has commented that this was part of a process of self-discovery at the time, and not related to religious beliefs. However, he has also noted that his
Jew
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...
ish ancestry perhaps formed a "subliminal linkage" to his decision to compose the
Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...
-themed choral work ''The Year’s Midnight'' in 2000.
Musical education
Originally tutored in piano by
Hove
Hove is a seaside resort and one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove, along with Brighton in East Sussex, England. Originally a "small but ancient fishing village" surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th ce ...
-based music teacher Christine Pembridge, Keith Burstein attended the
Royal College of Music
The Royal College of Music is a music school, conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the Undergraduate education, undergraduate to the Doctorate, doctoral level in a ...
from 1977 (where he held two scholarships). While attending the college, he studied composition with
Bernard Stevens and
John Lambert. During this time he was exposed for the first time to the
contemporary classical music
Contemporary classical music is classical music composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the 21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945 modern forms of post-tonal music after the death of Anton Webern, and included se ...
of
Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen (; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He is known for his groundb ...
and
Pierre Boulez
Pierre Louis Joseph Boulez (; 26 March 1925 – 5 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor and writer, and the founder of several musical institutions. He was one of the dominant figures of post-war Western classical music.
Born in Mon ...
, and became a committed enthusiast for atonal and experimental music. After graduation, he studied with
Jonathan Harvey on a Ralph Vaughan Williams Trust bursary. Burstein has commented that at the time of his studies there was widespread talk of a "malaise", or "vacuum" in contemporary classical music, but that there were no simultaneous ideas regarding how this problem might be solved.
Early musical career and the Grosvenor Group
Keith Burstein initially made his name as a conductor and commissioner of contemporary music – primarily as founder of chamber ensemble The Grosvenor Group (not to be confused with
the property company of the same name). This ensemble existed between 1983 and 1993 and performed works by Schoenberg, Webern, Stockhausen,
Harrison Birtwistle
Sir Harrison Birtwistle (15 July 1934 – 18 April 2022) was an English composer of contemporary classical music best known for his operas, often based on mythological subjects. Among his many compositions, his better known works include '' T ...
,
Edward Elgar
Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...
,
Brian Ferneyhough
Brian John Peter Ferneyhough (; born 16 January 1943) is an English composer. Ferneyhough is typically considered the central figure of the New Complexity movement. Ferneyhough has taught composition at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg and ...
,
Oliver Knussen,
Mark-Anthony Turnage
Mark-Anthony Turnage CBE (born 10 June 1960) is a British composer of classical music.
Biography
Turnage was born in Corringham, Essex. He began composing at age nine and at fourteen began studying at the junior section of the Royal College of M ...
and
Luciano Berio
Luciano Berio (24 October 1925 – 27 May 2003) was an Italian composer noted for his experimental work (in particular his 1968 composition ''Sinfonia'' and his series of virtuosic solo pieces titled '' Sequenza''), and for his pioneering wo ...
among others. Burstein has subsequently described the ensemble as "an attempt to explore the landscape and to find a pathway forward". The group received considerable critical acclaim during its existence. In a 1986 review of one of their concerts, ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ...
'' newspaper commented that "they played as though their very lives depended upon it."
However, Burstein's priorities were beginning to alter due to his growing interest as a composer in reassessing and reincorporating tonality into contemporary music. Although the Grosvenor Group performed three of Burstein's compositions during its lifetime, these were atonal works inspired by his education at the Royal College of Music. Burstein would eventually sideline his conducting work (and end his commissioning work) in favour of full-time composing.
After the dissolution of the Grosvenor Group, several members went on to join the
Chamber Orchestra of Europe. Burstein continued to compose for varied groups of musicians, covering ensemble pieces, choral and solo vocal music and large-scale orchestral works. Some members of the Grosvenor Group would continue to collaborate with him as part of an occasional musical group called the Keith Burstein Ensemble.
Work premiered during the early 1990s
Keith Burstein's first substantial tonal work was the ''Marchioness Requiem'' (composed between 1991 and 1993), an eighty-minute work commissioned as a memorial for the victims of the
Marchioness disaster
The ''Marchioness'' disaster was a collision between two vessels on the River Thames in London in the early hours of 20 August 1989, which resulted in the deaths of 51 people. The pleasure steamer ''Marchioness'' sank after being hit twice by ...
and scored for large chorus, soloists and orchestra. A chamber version of this work has been performed many times, although the full score remains unperformed.
During this period, Burstein premiered his work at a variety of unusual London venues. These included
St Bride's Church
St Bride's Church is a church in the City of London, England. The building's most recent incarnation was designed by Sir Christopher Wren in 1672 in Fleet Street in the City of London, though Wren's original building was largely gutted by fire d ...
,
Westminster Cathedral Hall, the
Design Museum
The Design Museum in Kensington, London exhibits product, industrial, graphic, fashion, and architectural design. In 2018, the museum won the European Museum of the Year Award. The museum operates as a registered charity, and all funds generate ...
,
Conway Hall
The Conway Hall Ethical Society, formerly the South Place Ethical Society, based in London at Conway Hall, is thought to be the oldest surviving freethought organisation in the world and is the only remaining ethical society in the United Kin ...
, and
St James Garlickhythe
St James Garlickhythe is a Church of England parish church in Vintry ward of the City of London, nicknamed "Wren's lantern" owing to its profusion of windows.
Recorded since the 12th century, the church was destroyed in the Great Fire of London ...
Church. Other compositions written and performed during this decade included the sixteen-song cycle ''Songs of Love'' for vocal soloists and ensemble (1990), the choral/organ piece ''Hymns Of Benediction'' (1991), and 1994's ''Prayer For Peace'' (another vocal-soloists-and-ensemble piece).
Burstein also wrote two pieces for the 26-piece BT Brass Band – 1991's ''Eternal City'' and 1994's ''Leavetaking''. The former was described by ''The Independent Magazine'' as "messianic, mystical, visionary... a spectacularly doomy piece for massed brass, all heart – bursting chords and cascading scales", while What's On Magazine drew attention to the "axis of largely consonant harmonies, lifting stray phrases high above the main architecture."
''The Guardian'', by contrast, found that ''Eternal City'' made "all the intellectual demands of Mills and Boon pulp fiction; it deals in emotional commonplaces. It's music by the yard. The conspiracy among BBC and critics claimed by Burstein and his allies is wrongly identified: it isn't a conspiracy against conservative neo-romanticism, it's against bad music like this". Many years later (in late 2009) Burstein would retrospectively challenge these accusations in the composer's notes on his homepage; pointing out that the sophisticated use of polyphony and dissonance in ''Eternal City'' was belied by the review, stating that the BBC and critics had generally represented him fairly, and querying the logic that states that neo-romanticism is inherently conservative.
Work premiered during the late 1990s
In 1995, Burstein composed ''A Live Flame (In memoriam
John Smith MP)'' for orchestra and tenor. A memorial piece for the late leader of the British Labour Party, it was premiered in 1997 by
London Musici at
St John's, Smith Square, London, with tenor soloist Richard Coxon. The composition was described by ''
The Sunday Times
''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, wh ...
'' as being "nothing short of alchemy" and by the London ''
Evening Standard
The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format.
In October 2009, after be ...
'' as being "dignified and beautiful."
In 1996, Burstein met and talked with the Estonian composer
Arvo Pärt
Arvo Pärt (; born 11 September 1935) is an Estonian composer of contemporary classical music. Since the late 1970s, Pärt has worked in a minimalist style that employs tintinnabuli, a compositional technique he invented. Pärt's music is in par ...
, who was subsequently to become a mentor. Pärt was instrumental in gaining Burstein a commission to write music for the nine-hundredth anniversary celebrations of Norwich Cathedral. Pärt had already secured the commission for his own composition ''I Am The True Vine'' but opted to split the commission fee and opportunity with Burstein, who contributed his own ''Missa Brevis'' to the concerts.
In a 3 June 1997 article announcing the premiere of ''A Live Flame'', ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ...
'' described Burstein as a "composer who used to organise bands of hecklers to go about wrecking performances of modern atonal music, particularly anything by Sir Harrison Birtwhistle." Burstein successfully sued Times Newspapers Ltd. for libel in 2000, pointing out that he had "never interrupted any concert or performance of any sort. It would have been inconceivable to interrupt anybody's performance." In court, it was demonstrated that The Hecklers' demonstration had taken place during the audience applause following the
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal ...
performance of
Birtwistle's ''
Gawain
Gawain (), also known in many other forms and spellings, is a character in Arthurian legend, in which he is King Arthur's nephew and a Knight of the Round Table. The prototype of Gawain is mentioned under the name Gwalchmei in the earlies ...
''. The booing was deemed by the court to have constituted legitimate comment/response rather than an interruption or "wrecking". Burstein was awarded £8000 in damages.
The last Burstein piece premiered during the 1990s was ''The Gates Of Time'' (written for chamber orchestra, choir and soprano soloist). This was commissioned by The Thomas Tallis Society of Greenwich to mark the Millennium. It was premiered at
St Alfege Church, Greenwich, London, during October 1999.
Work premiered during the early 2000s (2000–2003)
The success of ''The Gates Of Time'' led to a second Millennium commission from The Thomas Tallis Society to mark The Millennium. As with ''The Gates Of Time'', this work was to be premiered at
St Alfege Church, Greenwich, London. In consequence, Burstein composed a work covering the story of the martyrdom of the church's patron saint – ''Alfege'' (for orchestra and choir plus soprano/tenor/bass soloists) was first performed in 2000.
Two works commissioned for Jewish music ensembles followed. The first of these was ''The Year’s Midnight – A Meditation on The Holocaust'' written for chamber orchestra, choir, and tenor/soprano/mezzo-soprano soloists. Commissioned and performed by the Zemel Choir, this work was premiered at
St John's, Smith Square, London in 2000 (and broadcast the following year on BBC Radio 4 as part of their Holocaust Memorial Day). Burstein's ''String Quartet no. 1: Dance Of Death/Dream Of Love'' was premiered and commissioned by the Bochmann String Quartet (funded by the Jewish Musical Institute) at the Bridewell Theatre in London, March 2002.
During 2001 and 2002, Burstein worked on a science-fiction opera called ''The Furthering''. The first half of the opera was completed and premiered as a run-through at
Battersea Arts Centre
The Battersea Arts Centre ("BAC") is a performance space specialising in theatre productions. Located near Clapham Junction railway station in Battersea, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, it was formerly Battersea Town Hall. It is a Grade I ...
, London in May 2002, directed by
Stewart Lee. The opera remains uncompleted, but Burstein now plans to incorporate it into an opera trilogy.
Burstein was profoundly affected by the Al-Queda attacks of 11 September 2001 and the subsequent invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. His subsequent work as a composer began to reflect this. ''Songs Against War'' (settings of poems by
Keith Douglas,
Wilfred Owen
Wilfred Edward Salter Owen MC (18 March 1893 – 4 November 1918) was an English poet and soldier. He was one of the leading poets of the First World War. His war poetry on the horrors of trenches and gas warfare was much influenced ...
,
Lemn Sissay
Lemn Sissay FRSL (born 21 May 1967) is a British author and broadcaster. Sissay was the official poet of the 2012 London Olympics, has been chancellor of the University of Manchester since 2015, and joined the Foundling Museum's board of trus ...
and
Ben Okri
Ben Okri (born 15 March 1959) is a Nigerian-British poet and novelist.[Ben Okri"]
British Council, ...
, performed by mezzo-soprano soloist and piano) was premiered at the
Cockpit Theatre
The Cockpit was a theatre in London, operating from 1616 to around 1665. It was the first theatre to be located near Drury Lane. After damage in 1617, it was named The Phoenix.
History
The original building was an actual cockpit; that is, a s ...
in London in October 2001. The pace of world events would inform his next major project – the opera ''
Manifest Destiny
Manifest destiny was a cultural belief in the 19th-century United States that American settlers were destined to expand across North America.
There were three basic tenets to the concept:
* The special virtues of the American people and th ...
''. The first commercial recorded release of a Burstein piece would also happen in late 2001, with the release of ''Three Preludes'' (for solo piano) as part of the 'Four Seasons Singles Club: Autumn' release on Day Release Records.
''Manifest Destiny'' (2004, revived 2011)
In 2003, seeking collaborators for an opera taking the "War on Terror" as its subject, Burstein advertised for a librettist. The post was filled by controversial Welsh playwright
Dic Edwards
Dic Edwards (born 1948) is a British playwright, poet and teacher of creative writing. His writing often touches upon political and social issues, nationalism and democracy.
Early life
Edwards was born in Cardiff. He was educated at Whitchurch Hi ...
, and the two subsequently wrote the opera ''
Manifest Destiny
Manifest destiny was a cultural belief in the 19th-century United States that American settlers were destined to expand across North America.
There were three basic tenets to the concept:
* The special virtues of the American people and th ...
''.
''Manifest Destiny'' was set in London,
Palestine
__NOTOC__
Palestine may refer to:
* State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia
* Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia
* Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East J ...
,
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bord ...
, Washington, D.C. and
Guantanamo Bay and featured a thematic backdrop of the contemporary unrest in the Middle East (including the Second Intifada) and the aftermath of the Al-Qaeda attacks (including the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, and the establishment of Guantanamo Bay.) Its central plot element dealt with the plight, motivations and fate of several Palestinians drawn into the world of suicide bombing tactics, which they ultimately rejected in favour of a wounded yet hopeful peace with their neighbours. The opera also heavily satirised the geopolitical landscape.
The first act was premiered at the
Cockpit Theatre
The Cockpit was a theatre in London, operating from 1616 to around 1665. It was the first theatre to be located near Drury Lane. After damage in 1617, it was named The Phoenix.
History
The original building was an actual cockpit; that is, a s ...
, London, 2003. A subsequent full-length performance (with minimal staging) was put on at the
Tricycle Theatre
The Kiln Theatre (formerly the Tricycle Theatre) is a theatre located in Kilburn, in the London Borough of Brent, England. Since 1980, the theatre has presented a wide range of plays reflecting the cultural diversity of the area, as well as n ...
, London in 2004 (produced by
Corin Redgrave
Corin William Redgrave (16 July 19396 April 2010) was an English actor and left-wing socialist activist.
Early life
Redgrave was born on 16 July 1939 in Marylebone, London, the only son and middle child of actors Michael Redgrave and Rachel ...
). A fully staged production followed, staged at the
2005 Edinburgh Festival Fringe
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...
. For each of these productions, Burstein provided the sole musical accompaniment (on piano). The actors Corin and Vanessa Redgrave helped with the first London production, with Corin as producer. The artist
Ralph Steadman designed the artwork and when the production went up to the Edinburgh Festival in 2005 Steadman donated some sixty of his drawings to use as backdrops.
''Manifest Destiny'' gained a great deal of press attention due to its topical and controversial subject matter, including scenes showing the preparations for a suicide bomb raid and the incarceration and maltreatment of one protagonist in
Camp X-Ray (a scene written prior to public knowledge of the events at
Abu Ghraib
Abu Ghraib (; ar, أبو غريب, ''Abū Ghurayb'') is a city in the Baghdad Governorate of Iraq, located just west of Baghdad's city center, or northwest of Baghdad International Airport. It has a population of 189,000 (2003). The old road ...
. Both Burstein and Edwards were quick to stress that the opera did not endorse the actions of suicide bombers, and in fact displayed them ultimately rejecting their violent course of action. In an interview with a Canadian radio station, Burstein describes the core of the opera as being "one in which despair miraculously turns into hope, violence into compassion, hatred into respect."
Critical response to ''Manifest Destiny'' was varied, with some publications praising the opera and others attacking it. ''
Scotland on Sunday
''Scotland on Sunday'' is a Scottish Sunday newspaper, published in Edinburgh by JPIMedia and consequently assuming the role of Sunday sister to its daily stablemate ''The Scotsman''. It was originally printed in broadsheet format but in 2013 ...
'' described ''Manifest Destiny'' as " a dazzling, dark opera... affecting, bold, potent and packed with melodic invention" and praised it for marrying "the personal with the political, the particular and the universal.". ''
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was f ...
'', while describing the libretto as "stilted", and the political message as "banal and fatally one-sided", also noted its "rigorous and high-minded" nature with a story "in the environs of Greek tragedy". The ''British Theatre Guide described it as "a powerful piece, powerfully performed… one to be cherished," and backed up the creators' view that "it is right that opera should take on such subjects".
More negative reviews came from Anna Picard in ''
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publishe ...
'' who criticised the "narrowness of its harmonic language and the robotic word-setting" and likened it to "
sixth-form satire", and Veronica Lee in the ''
London Evening Standard
The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format.
In October 2009, after be ...
'' who described the libretto as "horribly leaden and unmusical" and the music as "uninspiring", adding, "the idea that there is anything heroic about suicide bombers is, frankly, a grievous insult." The ''Evening Standard'' review led Burstein to bring a libel action against
Associated Newspapers
DMG Media (stylised in lowercase) is an intermediate holding company for Associated Newspapers, Northcliffe Media, Harmsworth Printing, Harmsworth Media and other subsidiaries of Daily Mail and General Trust. It is based at Northcliffe House in ...
, on the grounds that terms used in the review left him open to the risk of state prosecution under both the recently passed
Prevention of Terrorism Act of 2005 (which explicitly names "promotion of terrorism" as a criminal act) and the incoming Terrorism Act of 2006 (at the time, a Terrorism Bill) which featured a retrospective "glorification of terrorism" clause. Burstein's action was unsuccessful and he was subsequently ordered to pay £67,000 in legal fees to the newspaper. Although Burstein subsequently took the case to the
European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that a ...
his application was rejected.
The ''Evening Standard'' case inspired a subsequent play – ''
The Trainer
''The Trainer'' is a play by David Wilson and Anne Aylor (with writing contributions from composer Keith Burstein).
Description
''The Trainer'' is a multi-media play set in a posh gym in the basement of a gentlemen’s club, punctuated with e ...
'', written by David Wilson and Anne Aylor (with co-writes by Burstein). Premiered at Oxford House, London, in March 2009, and subsequently at the Hackney Empire, the play is a fictionalised version of the events of the trial, in parallel with a separate plot strand echoing that of ''
Manifest Destiny
Manifest destiny was a cultural belief in the 19th-century United States that American settlers were destined to expand across North America.
There were three basic tenets to the concept:
* The special virtues of the American people and th ...
''. Actors involved in the production included
Corin Redgrave
Corin William Redgrave (16 July 19396 April 2010) was an English actor and left-wing socialist activist.
Early life
Redgrave was born on 16 July 1939 in Marylebone, London, the only son and middle child of actors Michael Redgrave and Rachel ...
and
Tim Pigott-Smith
Timothy Peter Pigott-Smith, (13 May 1946 – 7 April 2017) was an English film and television actor and author. He was best known for his leading role as Ronald Merrick in the television drama series '' The Jewel in the Crown'', for which he wo ...
who played Burstein, Janie Dee and Roger Lloyd-Pack.
Recent work (2006–present)
In 2009 Burstein completed his Piano Sonata No 2 ''Perpetually Descending Veils Through Blazes of Light'', written for Evelyne Berezovsky, daughter of the concert pianist
Boris Berezovsky.
Also in 2009, Burstein completed ''Symphony (Elixir)'', written for and performed by the
Southbank Sinfonia. A review of the concert performance (from the ''
Hampstead & Highgate Express''), described the composer as "a contemporary master of tonality", remarking upon a "sound palette that sparkled with energy" and Burstein's "clear and lucid writing (which) captivated the ear", also noting that there was "no aural gulf" between the piece and
Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...
's ''Linz Symphony'' (which was being performed on the same bill). During the course of his work on the Symphony Burstein received encouragement from the pianist and conductor
Vladimir Ashkenazy
Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazy (russian: Влади́мир Дави́дович Ашкена́зи, ''Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazi''; born 6 July 1937) is an internationally recognized solo pianist, chamber music performer, and conductor. He i ...
. The three movements of ''Symphony (Elixir)'' were performed separately by Southbank Sinfonia over the next few years. The completed work was first performed in its entirety by Kauno Miesto Simfonis Orkestras (conducted by Burstein) in late 2012 in a concert which also featured Burstein's song cycle ''Songs of Love & Solitude'', sung by Lithuanian mezzo-soprano Rita Novikaite. The performance was recorded and subsequently released on Naxos in December 2013.
In September 2011, Burstein rewrote ''Manifest Destiny'' for a new production by the London-based opera company
OperaUpClose
OperaUpClose is a national touring opera company, led by Artistic Director Flora McIntosh, The company was founded in 2009 to produce its début production, Robin Norton-Hale's Olivier Award-winning adaptation of Puccini's '' La bohème'' at ...
, resulting in a new opera called ''
Manifest Destiny 2011
''Manifest Destiny 2011'' is a British opera composed by Keith Burstein with a libretto by Burstein and Dic Edwards. It is a revision of Burstein and Edwards' previous 2003 opera ''Manifest Destiny'' and maintains its predecessor's subject matter ...
''.
The production ran for nine performances (including four previews and a press night). Changes from the original opera including the removal of the notorious suicide bomb-robing scene (and of the character of the suicide bomber Omah), the conflation of three other characters into one (the Director of CIA character) and a much increased emphasis on metaphysical content (including references to
Gaia
In Greek mythology, Gaia (; from Ancient Greek , a poetical form of , 'land' or 'earth'),, , . also spelled Gaea , is the personification of the Earth and one of the Greek primordial deities. Gaia is the ancestral mother—sometimes parthe ...
and classical mythology). Burstein also provided a quintet orchestration for the revised work and conducted the ensemble himself. As had been the case with the earlier versions of the opera, ''Manifest Destiny 2011'' received mixed reviews. The Opera Up Close performances were generally praised, but there were varied reactions to the music, libretto and plot.
Burstein is currently working on a new opera and his Second Symphony 'Herald'.
Burstein's opera ''The Prometheus Revolution'' was premiered in August 2018 at The Arcola Theatre as part of their annual Grimeborn opera Festival. The production was directed by Sophie Gilpin, who gave three performances. A number of reviews appeared, including in Opera Magazine, Planet Hugill, TheatreCat and the event was also covered by Sky News, Russia Today TV, London Live TV and Monocle Radio, all of whom gave extended interviews to the composer. One of the performances was attended by John McDonnell MP, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, who published a tweet about the work.
List of works
Performed works
*''Songs For Olivier'' (settings of
Baudelaire poems for piano and voice) – premiered by Olivier Ferrer at the
Institute of Contemporary Arts
The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) is an artistic and cultural centre on The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. Located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps and Admiralty Arch, the ICA ...
, London, 1988.
*''Kirsty’s Dream'' (for two violins and piano) – premiered by The Grosvenor Group at the
Institute of Contemporary Arts
The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) is an artistic and cultural centre on The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. Located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps and Admiralty Arch, the ICA ...
, London, 1988.
*''Clarinet Sonata'' (for clarinet and piano) – premiered by Andrew Sparling at the
University of Essex
The University of Essex is a public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, Essex is one of the original plate glass universities. Essex's shield consists of the ancient arms attributed to the Kingdom of Es ...
, 1990.
*''Violin & Piano Sonata'' – premiered by The Grosvenor Group (funding by Westminster Arts Council) at Westminster Cathedral Hall, 1990.
*''Piano Quartet No. 1'' – premiered by The Grosvenor Group (funding by Westminster Arts Council) at Westminster Cathedral Hall, 1990.
*''Songs of Love & Remembrance'' (sixteen songs for soprano/alto/tenor/bass soloists with ensemble of string quintet, two flutes, clarinet and harp) – premiered by the Grosvenor Group at the
Burrell Collection
The Burrell Collection is a museum in Glasgow, Scotland, managed by Glasgow Museums. It houses the art collection of Sir William Burrell and Constance, Lady Burrell. The museum reopened on 29 March 2022 with free entry, having been closed for ...
, Glasgow, 1990 (also performed by the Burstein Ensemble at the
Purcell Room
The Purcell Room is a concert and performance venue which forms part of the Southbank Centre, one of central London's leading cultural complexes. It is named after the 17th century English composer Henry Purcell and has 370 seats. The Purcell Roo ...
, London, 1993).
*''Piano Preludes'' – premiered and performed by composer (venue unspecified), 1990.
*''String Quartet Study'' – premiered by the Grosvenor Group at
Westminster Cathedral Hall, London, 1990.
*''Heaven’s Embroidered Cloth'' (for soprano/alto/tenor/bass soloists, string quintet, two flutes, clarinet and harp) – commissioned by Maria Vasconcellos and premiered by the Grosvenor Group at
St Bride's Church
St Bride's Church is a church in the City of London, England. The building's most recent incarnation was designed by Sir Christopher Wren in 1672 in Fleet Street in the City of London, though Wren's original building was largely gutted by fire d ...
, London, 1991. This is an excerpt from ''Marchioness Requiem'' (see Unperformed works).
*''Hymns Of Benediction'' (for choir and organ) – premiered at
St Bride's Church
St Bride's Church is a church in the City of London, England. The building's most recent incarnation was designed by Sir Christopher Wren in 1672 in Fleet Street in the City of London, though Wren's original building was largely gutted by fire d ...
, London, 1991.
*''Piano Quartet No. 2'' – premiered by Marc Choi (commissioned by
Durston House School), 1991.
*''Eternal City'' (for 26-piece brass ensemble) – premiered by the BT Brass Band at the
Design Museum
The Design Museum in Kensington, London exhibits product, industrial, graphic, fashion, and architectural design. In 2018, the museum won the European Museum of the Year Award. The museum operates as a registered charity, and all funds generate ...
, London, 1991.
*''Lullaby For Stephen'' (for cor anglais, harp and piano) – premiered by Danielle Perrett
Danielle Perrett official biography
and others live on Classic FM radio, 1993.
*''Glittering Horizon'' (piano sonata) – premiered and performed by composer at the Conway Hall, London, 1994.
*''Prayer For Peace'' (for soprano/alto/tenor/bass soloists, string quintet, two flutes, clarinet and harp) – premiered by the Burstein Ensemble at St James Garlickhythe
St James Garlickhythe is a Church of England parish church in Vintry ward of the City of London, nicknamed "Wren's lantern" owing to its profusion of windows.
Recorded since the 12th century, the church was destroyed in the Great Fire of London ...
Church, London, 1994.
*''Leavetaking'' (for 26-piece brass ensemble) – premiered by the BT Brass Band at Southwark Cathedral
Southwark Cathedral ( ) or The Cathedral and Collegiate Church of St Saviour and St Mary Overie, Southwark, London, lies on the south bank of the River Thames close to London Bridge. It is the mother church of the Anglican Diocese of Southwar ...
, 1994.
*''A Live Flame (In memoriam John Smith MP)'' (for orchestra and tenor) – premiered by London Musici (conducted by Richard Coxon) at St John's, Smith Square, London, 1995.
*''Missa Brevis'' (for unaccompanied choir) – commissioned by Norwich Cathedral
Norwich Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Norwich, Norfolk, dedicated to the Holy and Undivided Trinity. It is the cathedral church for the Church of England Diocese of Norwich and is one of the Norwich 12 heritage sites.
The cathedr ...
(commission split with Arvo Pärt
Arvo Pärt (; born 11 September 1935) is an Estonian composer of contemporary classical music. Since the late 1970s, Pärt has worked in a minimalist style that employs tintinnabuli, a compositional technique he invented. Pärt's music is in par ...
) and premiered at Norwich Cathedral (alongside the Pärt composition ''I Am The True Vine''), 1996.
*''The Gates Of Time'' (for chamber orchestra, choir and soprano soloist) – commissioned by The Thomas Tallis Society of Greenwich to mark the Millennium and premiered at St Alfege Church, Greenwich, London, October 1999.
*''Alfege'' (for orchestra and choir plus soprano/tenor/bass soloists) – commissioned by The Thomas Tallis Society to mark The Millennium, and premiered at St Alfege Church, Greenwich, London, 2000.
*''The Year's Midnight – A Meditation on The Holocaust'' (for chamber orchestra, choir, and tenor/soprano/mezzo-soprano soloists) – commissioned and performed by the Zemel Choir plus orchestra at St John's, Smith Square, London, 2000 (broadcast premiere on BBC Radio 4 Holocaust Memorial Day 2001).
*''Songs Against War'' (for mezzo-soprano soloist and piano; settings of poems by Keith Douglas, Wilfred Owen
Wilfred Edward Salter Owen MC (18 March 1893 – 4 November 1918) was an English poet and soldier. He was one of the leading poets of the First World War. His war poetry on the horrors of trenches and gas warfare was much influenced ...
, Lemn Sissay
Lemn Sissay FRSL (born 21 May 1967) is a British author and broadcaster. Sissay was the official poet of the 2012 London Olympics, has been chancellor of the University of Manchester since 2015, and joined the Foundling Museum's board of trus ...
and Ben Okri
Ben Okri (born 15 March 1959) is a Nigerian-British poet and novelist.[Ben Okri"]
British Council, ...
) – premiered at Cockpit Theatre
The Cockpit was a theatre in London, operating from 1616 to around 1665. It was the first theatre to be located near Drury Lane. After damage in 1617, it was named The Phoenix.
History
The original building was an actual cockpit; that is, a s ...
, London, October 2001.
*''String Quartet no. 1: Dance Of Death/Dream Of Love'' – premiered and commissioned by the (funded by the Jewish Music Institute) at the Bridewell Theatre, London, March 2002.
*''Manifest Destiny
Manifest destiny was a cultural belief in the 19th-century United States that American settlers were destined to expand across North America.
There were three basic tenets to the concept:
* The special virtues of the American people and th ...
'' (opera, libretto by Dic Edwards
Dic Edwards (born 1948) is a British playwright, poet and teacher of creative writing. His writing often touches upon political and social issues, nationalism and democracy.
Early life
Edwards was born in Cardiff. He was educated at Whitchurch Hi ...
) – first act premiered at Cockpit Theatre
The Cockpit was a theatre in London, operating from 1616 to around 1665. It was the first theatre to be located near Drury Lane. After damage in 1617, it was named The Phoenix.
History
The original building was an actual cockpit; that is, a s ...
, London, 2003: subsequent full productions at Tricycle Theatre
The Kiln Theatre (formerly the Tricycle Theatre) is a theatre located in Kilburn, in the London Borough of Brent, England. Since 1980, the theatre has presented a wide range of plays reflecting the cultural diversity of the area, as well as n ...
, London, 2004 and 2005 Edinburgh Festival Fringe
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...
.
*''Symphony (Elixir)'' (for orchestra) – performed by the Southbank Sinfonia in 2009 and by Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra in 2012
*''Manifest Destiny 2011
''Manifest Destiny 2011'' is a British opera composed by Keith Burstein with a libretto by Burstein and Dic Edwards. It is a revision of Burstein and Edwards' previous 2003 opera ''Manifest Destiny'' and maintains its predecessor's subject matter ...
'' (opera, libretto by Burstein and Dic Edwards
Dic Edwards (born 1948) is a British playwright, poet and teacher of creative writing. His writing often touches upon political and social issues, nationalism and democracy.
Early life
Edwards was born in Cardiff. He was educated at Whitchurch Hi ...
) – extensively rewritten version of ''Manifest Destiny'' premiered at the King's Head Theatre, London, September 2011.
*''Songs of Love & Solitude'' (for mezzo-soprana and orchestra) – performed by Rita Novikaite and Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra in 2012
Recorded works
*''Three Preludes'' (for solo piano), part of 'Four Seasons Singles Club: Autumn' release on Day Release Records (2001)
*''Symphony 'Elixir' – Songs of Love & Solitude'', Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra/Keith Burstein/Rita Novikaite, Naxos, 9.70167 (2013)
Unperformed works
*''Chamber Symphony'', 1989
*''Piano Study'', 1991
*''Marchioness Requiem'' (for symphony orchestra, large chorus and soprano/alto/tenor/bass soloists), 1990–1993 – commissioned by Maria Vasconcellos in memory of her sons Antonio and Domingos who died in the Marchioness disaster
The ''Marchioness'' disaster was a collision between two vessels on the River Thames in London in the early hours of 20 August 1989, which resulted in the deaths of 51 people. The pleasure steamer ''Marchioness'' sank after being hit twice by ...
. Part of this work, ''Heaven’s Embroidered Cloth'', was performed in 1991 (see Performed works).
*''Diasanon Arrives'' (for symphony orchestra), 1997
*''The Same Love'' (for mezzo-soprano soloist), 2000
*''The Ship Of Death'' (for male vocal quartet – originally written for the Hilliard Ensemble), 2003
*''Piano Sonata No. 2 (Perpetually Descending Veils Through Blazes Of Light)'', 2009 (currently awaiting performance)
Uncompleted works
*''The Furthering'' (opera)
References
External links
Official Keith Burstein website
(with news, comment and audioclips)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burstein, Keith
1957 births
Living people
British classical composers
English classical composers
20th-century classical composers
21st-century classical composers
British opera composers
Male opera composers
English opera composers
British male conductors (music)
English conductors (music)
Alumni of the Royal College of Music
People from Brighton
English male classical composers
20th-century English composers
20th-century British conductors (music)
21st-century British conductors (music)
20th-century British male mu