On October 9, Michael Collins premieres Sally Beamish’s IZAKHI, a concerto for basset clarinet and chamber orchestra, with Tapiola Sinfonietta directed by Collins.
This piece was written following an inspirational trip to South Africa in 2024. The original idea, conceived with dedicatee Michael Collins, was to write a ‘four elements’ work; but Beamish's entire concept of the elements was altered by the experience of visiting this extraordinary, beautiful and troubled country.
The title, IZAKHI, is the Zulu word for ‘elements’, in the sense of building blocks – or the materials used to create our habitats. It also refers to those who build – who create those habitats from assembled resources.
Beamish thought about the construction of a clarinet: made of wood, metal (brazed in a furnace), reed, and activated by air.
She then chose percussion to characterise the movements, each of which references an element: Air (bamboo windchimes, swanee whistle, a block of polystyrene), Earth (Xylophone), Water (Waterphone, rainstick) and Fire (metal instruments - cymbal, thunder sheet, glockenspiel, side drum with steel brushes).
