Concert in which Greilsammer conducts and plays Schumann's Davidsbündlertänze, Baroque dances by Purcell, preludes by Debussy and three new commissions.
David Greilsammer brings Dance or Die to Firth Hall on Sunday 8 November, a piano recital that puts the 'dance' in its title and carries it through the whole set. He's known as both a conductor and a pianist, and this one sits right in the middle of those two worlds.
The programme works its way from the 19th century back to the Baroque and then forward to the present. At the centre is Schumann's Davidsbündlertänze, a collection of dances that hide a passionate secret letter the composer wrote to his loved one. Around that, he'll play two Baroque dances by Purcell and two preludes by Debussy, so you've got the Romantic, the Baroque and the Impressionist all in one go.
Then there's the new material. Greilsammer has commissioned three contemporary composers for this: Carolina Noguera, with La Noche de los Cuerpos; Georgie Ward, with Techno Confessional; and Nkeiru Okoye, with Dance Til' you Drop and Drums Calling. That's three new pieces alongside the older ones, so the night spans a few centuries of music.
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There's a bit of a story behind the whole thing. The concert grew out of a journey Greilsammer took to the Amazon jungle, where an ancestral ceremony left him wanting to approach the piano in a more corporal, immediate and choreographic way. He's billed as one of today's most audacious conductors and pianists, and you can hear that in how he pairs the Schumann with the Purcell, the Debussy and the new commissions.
It starts at 6:00 pm and runs for 65 minutes with no intermission, so it's a single stretch of music. Tickets are £19 full and £11 for concessions, and the venue is Firth Hall, Firth Court, Sheffield S10 2TN.
