Britten Sinfonia and Tim Garland’s Lighthouse Trio with featured soloists Thomas Gould and Yazz Ahmed

Britten Sinfonia - Thomas Gould director/violin

The Lighthouse Trio - Tim Garland, Gwilym Simcock, Asaf Sirkis

Yazz Ahmed - Flugelhorn

Esra Kizir Gokcen – On stage artwork projections

Twenty years ago, Tim Garland launched his Lighthouse Trio, a truly unique and formidable acoustic band where interplay is paramount. This is the most ambitious project of Tim Garland's stellar career, with a celebration of the trio's 20th anniversary (Gwilym Simcock and Asaf Sirkis), along with a stunning display of Tim's prowess as a composer and arranger with the Britten Sinfonia, featuring violinist Thomas Gould performing as special guest.

This special 20th anniversary concert features works from the unique and longstanding relationship between Britten Sinfonia violinist Thomas Gould and Gwilym Simcock and Tim Garland entitled ‘The Forever Seed’, a new and evolving orchestral piece for strings with Thomas Gould, Simcock and Sirkis as soloists, with Garland conducting. Also featured is a brand-new work from Simcock for himself, Britten Sinfonia, and Tim Garland, in addition to Jonathan Brigg's superb tribute to Thelonius Monk, which was written for Britten Sinfonia strings in 2022.

The trio’s anniversary concerts in 2024 will feature works from a project entitled ’Moment of Departure’ created by Turkish painter and printmaker Esra Kizir Gokcen to complement new music, which will also be released on a new album in May recorded with the Britten Sinfonia and Thomas Gould. 

Tim describes the new album as "That Moment of Departure, from the known, the notated, towards something new, is a shout of fearless freedom. The compositions on this album all have crucial and varied relationships with improvised music, from string orchestra to intimate trio to completely free-form music. Classical influences and visual art have informed me as much as my jazz heart. The series of paintings called 'Sail to Hope', by Esra Kizir Gokcen, provide a backbone of inspiration for the first disc's music. The subject of journeying into the unknown, as well as the influence of Turkish rhythms, create the background atmosphere whilst maintaining the spaciousness and freedom for the jazz soloists."

The trio’s three albums (If the Sea Replied, Libra, and Lighthouse) capture their stunning agility and lyrical sensibility, with both Garland, whose seventeen-year association with Chick Corea made his name widespread, and the now-world-renowned Simcock (Pat Metheny Band) sharing compositional input.

Britten Sinfonia - Thomas Gould director/violin

The Lighthouse Trio - Tim Garland, Gwilym Simcock, Asaf Sirkis

Yazz Ahmed - Flugelhorn

Esra Kizir Gokcen – On stage artwork projections

Programme

Tim Garland - The Forever Seed (London premiere)

Jonathan Brigg - Monkish

Gwilym Simcock - new work (London premiere)

Solo set from The Lighthouse Trio with special guest Yazz Ahmed

Approaching Winter – Final