JULIAN LLOYD WEBBER PRESENTS THE 7 O’CLOCK NEWS
Last night, those assembled in Birmingham Town Hall were witness to musical history being made . To launch the enterprising New Generation Arts Festival (organised by Birmingham City Univeristy), Julian Lloyd Webber and composers Michael Wolter, Marcus Dross and students from the Birmingham Conservatoire performed to a live broadcast of the BBC4 7 O’Clock News.
The music perfectly matched the structure of the news – from the main headline news events right through to the weather. At one point in the performance, BBC4 actually ran a news piece about the performance, creating the curious spectacle of the musicians performing to live footage of themselves performing.
The event kicked off the New Generation Arts Festival, organised by Birmingham City University, which this year celebrates youth, diversity and the rise of digital culture. The New Generation Arts Festival is already renowned as the vanguard of creative content, championing the independent cause of showcasing the brightest talent, from graduates to emerging international stars. Previous celebrity supporters include model Erin O’Connor, social commentator Germaine Greer, comedian Frank Skinner, artist Anthony Gormley and author Philip Pullman.
One of the most creative musicians of his generation, Julian Lloyd Webber has collaborated with an extraordinary array of musicians from Lorin Maazel, Neville Marriner, Georg Solti to Elton John and Cleo Laine. He has made many outstanding recordings and received a Brit Award for his Elgar Concerto conducted by Yehudi Menuhin. Performing alongside students from Birmingham Conservatoire, Julian Lloyd Webber said of the festival;
“It is a great privilege to be launching this year’s NGA festival, working alongside emerging classical stars from Birmingham Conservatoire. I fully support the festival’s aim of providing a professional platform for new emerging talent, and channelling the vibrant and diverse artistic energy of Birmingham as a city”.
