The first London performance for 3 years by the Michael Nyman Band will be celebrated with the UK premiere of ‘I sonetti lussuriosi’, a soprano and orchestra set to Aretino’s 16th-century erotic poems

I sonetti lussuriosi is a series of songs commissioned by the Venice Biennale and premiered at the Arsenale on 4th October 2007. Michael has set a selection of Pietro Aretino’s 16th-century erotic poems for soprano and orchestra, performed by Marie Angel and his own Band at the Barbican. Aretino’s poems accompanied Guilo Romano’s drawings in I modi - a volume that can be called a Renaissance equivalent of the Kama Sutra – and caused huge outrage at the time of publication, banned by the Papal authorities and nearly all copies destroyed. They are the most important erotic texts of the period and have gone on to inspire writers and artists alike for centuries. This is presented in connection with the Barbican Gallery’s Seduced exhibition which includes several of Romano’s images. The audience will have the chance to see Nyman in conversation with the curator of Seduced, Marina Wallace, before the performance at 6pm.

50,000 Pairs of Feet Can’t Be Wrong was commission by the Great North Run Cultural Programme and was premiered at Sage, Gateshead, on 20th September 2007. Michael worked closely with a team of sports scientists at Leeds Metropolitan University and the piece follows the emotional and physical journey of a runner along the 13 miles of the half-marathon. Alfred Hickling, reviewing the Sage performance for The Guardian, described how ‘The initial movements establish an exuberant, carnival atmosphere which gradually settles into a concentrated, dream-like reverie.’ The music is accompanied by a stunning film made by moShine, the award-winning digital design studio in Middlesbrough, who worked with images from last year’s Great North Run and integrated their own animation.

The Michael Nyman Band was formed from the on-stage band that performed Michael Nyman’s score for Goldoni’s Campiello in the Olivier Theatre of the National Theatre in October 1976. This imaginary Venetian street band uniquely used early music and folk instruments alongside modern instruments, so that rebecs and curtals were combined with saxophone and banjo to produce as loud a sound as possible without resorting to amplification. When, for various reasons, the early music instruments were replaced by modern equivalents, the Campiello Band became the amplified Michael Nyman Band and have worked with the composer on recordings, film scores and live performances ever since.

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COMPETITION: 1x Pair of tickets to attend Michael Nyman: ‘I sonetti lussuriosi / Eight Lust Songs’ at the Barbican at 7.30pm on Thurs, 6th Dec.

To claim your tickets, send an email with the correct answer in the ‘subject’ box. The winner will be randomly selected.

Q: The musicians who formed The Michael Nyman band previously worked with him under the name of The Campiello Band. The band was formed in 1976 for a theatrical production in which London venue?

A: 1) The National Theatre .2) The Roundhouse .3) The Bethnal Green Working Men's Club .4) The Royal Albert Hall

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