Berkeley Ensemble
{{short description|British chamber music ensemble}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Berkeley Ensemble
| image =
| image_size =
| image_upright =
| landscape =
| alt =
| caption =
| alias =
| origin = UK
| genre = Chamber music ensemble
| years_active = {{Start date|2008}} – present
| label =
| associated_acts =
| website = {{URL|www.berkeleyensemble.co.uk}}
| current_members =
| past_members =
| module =
| module2 =
| module3 =
}}
The Berkeley Ensemble is a British chamber music ensemble that explores little-known twentieth- and twenty first-century British chamber music alongside a more established repertoire.
Founded in 2008 by members of Southbank Sinfonia, the ensemble reached the finals of the 2009 Royal Over-Seas League music competition and has since performed regularly in the UK and abroad.{{Cite web|title=Berkeley Ensemble {{!}} Artist Page {{!}} Resonus Classics|url=https://www.resonusclassics.com/berkeley-ensemble|access-date=2020-09-20|website=www.resonusclassics.com}}
Their recordings and performances are regularly featured in the national press. Their album Lennox Berkeley: Chamber Works was selected by BBC Music Magazine as Chamber Choice in 2015, and Lennox Berkeley: Stabat Mater was nominated for a Gramophone Magazine Classical Music Award in 2017.
The ensemble revived the Cobbett Competition for chamber music composition (as The New Cobbett Competition) in 2014, with Sequenza for string quartet by Samuel Lewis as the first winner.Andrew Clements. 'Cobbett's Legacy: The New Cobbett Prize for Chamber Music', in The Guardian, 1 August 2019
Since 2016 the Berkeley Ensemble has curated the annual Little Venice Music Festival in London.{{Cite web|title=About|url=http://littlevenice-mf.com/about|access-date=2020-09-20|website=Little Venice Music Festival|language=en-US}} It celebrated its 10th anniversary with a performance at the Purcell Room in September 2018.{{Cite web|title=125419 Berkeley Ensemble at 10 2018|url=https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/125419-berkeley-ensemble-10-2018|access-date=2020-09-20|website=Southbank Centre|language=en}}
The ensemble is named after the British composers Lennox Berkeley and Michael Berkeley. Its patrons are Michael Berkeley and Petroc Trelawny.
Albums
The ensemble has released a number of albums, most notably:
- Cobbett’s Legacy: The New Cobbett Prize for Chamber Music (2019, Resonus Classics) received a 4-star review in The Guardian{{Cite news|last=Clements|first=Andrew|date=2019-08-01|title=Cobbett's Legacy: The New Cobbett Prize review {{!}} Andrew Clements's classical album of the week|language=en-GB|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/aug/01/cobbetts-legacy-new-cobbett-prize-chamber-music-review|access-date=2020-09-20|issn=0261-3077}}
- Winter Fragments (2018, Resonus Classics) was praised for the ensemble’s “endlessly responsive playing” by Fiona Maddocks in The Observer{{Cite web|date=2018-11-18|title=Home listening: Charlotte Bray, Michael Berkeley and BBC Sounds|url=http://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/nov/18/charlotte-bray-chamber-and-solo-works-review-winter-fragments-michael-berkeley-bbc-sounds|access-date=2020-09-20|website=the Guardian|language=en}}
- Stabat Mater: Sacred Choral Music by Lennox & Michael Berkeley (2016, Delphian Records) was nominated for a Gramophone Award{{Cite web|title=Gramophone Classical Music Awards 2017: the Shortlist|url=https://www.gramophone.co.uk/classical-music-news/article/gramophone-classical-music-awards-2017-the-shortlist|access-date=2020-09-20|website=Gramophone|language=en}}
- Lennox Berkeley: Chamber Works (2015, Resonus Classics) received a 5-star review in BBC Music Magazine{{Cite web|date=September 11, 2015|title=L Berkeley|url=https://www.classical-music.com/reviews/l-berkeley-3/|website=Classical Music}} and positive reviews in the Telegraph{{Cite web|title=Lennox Berkeley: Chamber Works, review: 'well worth a listen'|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/classicalcdreviews/11573085/Lennox-Berkeley-Chamber-Works-review-well-worth-a-listen.html|access-date=2020-09-20|website=The Telegraph|language=en-GB}} and Sunday Times{{Cite news|last=Pettitt|first=Hugh Canning, David Cairns, Paul Driver and Stephen|title=Classical, May 3|language=en|work=The Sunday Times|url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/classical-opera/article/classical-may-3-wbqxn9k3777|access-date=2020-09-20|issn=0140-0460}}
- Clarion Call: Music for Septet and Octet (2014, Resonus Classics) received positive reviews in The Observer,{{Cite web|date=2014-03-23|title=Clarion Call: Works for Septet and Octet review – verve, imagination and jellyfish…|url=http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/mar/23/clarion-call-septet-octet-berkeley-ensemble-review|access-date=2020-09-20|website=the Guardian|language=en}} Gramophone Magazine,{{Cite web|title=Review|url=https://www.gramophone.co.uk/reviews/review|access-date=2020-09-20|website=Gramophone|language=en}} The Strad,{{Cite web|date=2014-07-17|title=Clarion Call. M. Berkeley Clarion Call and Gallop. Casken: Blue Medusa. Ferguson: Octet op.4, C. Wood: Septet {{!}} Reviews {{!}} The Strad|url=http://thestrad.com/reviews/clarion-call-m-berkeley-clarion-call-and-gallop-casken-blue-medusa-ferguson-octet-op-4-c-wood-septet|access-date=2020-09-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140717032249/http://thestrad.com/reviews/clarion-call-m-berkeley-clarion-call-and-gallop-casken-blue-medusa-ferguson-octet-op-4-c-wood-septet|archive-date=2014-07-17}} and Classical Ear.{{Cite web|date=2014-10-23|title=Recent reviews round-up 12 March 2014 {{!}} Classical Ear|url=http://classicalear.co.uk/2014/03/12/recent-reviews-round-up-12-march-2014/|access-date=2020-09-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141023184849/http://classicalear.co.uk/2014/03/12/recent-reviews-round-up-12-march-2014/|archive-date=2014-10-23}}