Edward Gregson’s new work for Recorder and Piano, Aztec Dances, will be premiered at a Manchester Midday Concert at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall on Wednesday 24th March at 1.05pm. The work will be premiered by Christopher Orton, who commissioned it with funds he was awarded by the BBC Performing Arts Fund. Christopher Orton is a young British recorder player who is already carving out a successful career for himself, having won international competitions and giving recitals both in the UK and abroad. The pianist will be Magdalena Nasidlak.

Aztec Dances is a 15 minute work, inspired by a visit the composer …

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The BBC Concert Orchestra under the baton of Bramwell Tovey is due to record Volume 3 of Edward Gregson’s concertos for the Chandos label at the beginning of March. Works to be recorded include his cello concerto, A Song for Chris, written in 2007 for the RNCM Manchester International Cello Festival, with Guy Johnston as soloist for the recording. The other concerto is the Trombone Concerto of 1979, with Peter Moore as soloist.

Both Guy Johnston and Peter Moore are previous winners of BBC Television’s Young Musician of the Year competition, in 2000 and 2008 respectively; furthermore, Gregson’s Trombone Concerto …

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Three premiere recordings of Edward Gregson’s new work for brass band
Rococo Variations have recently been released – one from a live performance, the other two studio recordings.

Co-commissioned as the test piece for the British Open (September 2008) and Norwegian National (February 2009) championships, the work made a huge impact at its premiere performances. It is highly unusual to have three recordings of a new work released within a few weeks of each other, but it is a significant measure of the work’s appeal that this is the case.

The recordings of Rococo Variations are by three of the …

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Edward Gregson is to be made an Honorary Doctor of Music at Chester University in a special ceremony on 6 November. The citation for the day is as follows:

Professor Edward Gregson, musician, composer and former Principal of the Royal Northern College of Music, is being presented today for admission to the degree of Doctor of Music, honoris causa, of the University of Chester.

Gregson already holds degrees from the universities of Birmingham City, Lancaster, Manchester, Manchester Metropolitan, and Sunderland (the city of his birth). He also is an honorary Fellow of many of the leading UK conservatoires.…

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