Press Releases

Awake is the title of a new chamber work, co-commissioned* by BBT, for the Castalian String Quartet from Mark Anthony Turnage to be world premiered at the Edinburgh International Festival this summer.

Beethoven’s Kreutzer Sonata has been inspirationally represented in many works of music, art, drama and literature over the centuries and Turnage has also picked up the threads of passion and emotional turmoil connecting it to Tolstoy’s novella of the same name and Janáček’s first string quartet to inspire his own work for the Castalians.

For its EIF debut, the Castalian Quartet presents a contextual programme for the premiere of Awake, alongside Janáček’s String Quartet No 1 ‘Kreutzer Sonata” and Beethoven’s Quartet No 13 in B Flat Op 130 with Grosse Fugue Op 133 – both masterpieces of musical athleticism and moods of love and melancholy.

* with Cosman Keller Art and Music Trust

Watch our BBT Profile film about Awake here

Read the Press Release here

Castalian String Quartet at Edinburgh International Festival

Watch our BBT Commissioning film here

Villa Necchi Campiglio, the elegant 1930s villa and gardens hidden in the heart of Milan was the setting for a special recital by Italian pianist Filippo Gorini for the presentation of this year’s Franco Buitoni Award. This special award was initiated by BBT founder Ilaria Borletti Buitoni as a tribute to her late husband Franco Buitoni (1934-2016), co-founder of the Trust. The Award of £25,000 is given every other year with the addition of a specially commissioned objet d’art which was crafted this year by Franchi Argentieri, silversmiths to the Pope.

Gorini was selected for the award in recognition of his Sonata for 7 Cities project which begins in the 2025/26 season.

Read the 2023 Franco Buitoni Award press release here

Sonata for 7 Cities website

LUCIE HORSCH BBT Fellowship 2022

The focus then transferred to Wigmore Hall, which also proved an enlightening backstage experience for one of our young award winners in the audience. As well as the concerts at Wigmore Hall Lucie enjoyed the privilege of witnessing Mitsuko in rehearsal with some of her fellow BBT artists – and she can still hear the echoes in her mind of Ilaria Borletti Buitoni’s words of wisdom: “We need music now more than ever, to remind us of our humanity in a time where technology seems to dominate many aspects of our lives.”

Read Nick Breckenfield’s BBT20 blog here

Read Lucie Horsch’s BBT20 blog here

View an online version of the eNewsletter here