director and keyboard player
Kate Semmens (soprano) and Steven are doing a one-hour concert for a socially-distanced audience at Little Mill Oast in Marden on Sunday 20th September at 3pm.
Please come and help us celebrate a return to live music-making for an audience! Numbers are VERY limited and details and tickets are here:
An immensely important and emotional experience happened last Saturday (20th June) when the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenement reconvened for the first time since Lock-Down to perform “Bach, the Universe and Everything” – the monthly Bach Cantata-with-science presentation that has become so popular as a live event.
The event was recorded the day before transmission in order to make sure that all social-distancing and health and safety measures where strictly adhered to and the 2m marks are visible on the floor!
The event features Bach’s astonishing Cantata BWV 39, Brich dem Hungrigen dein Brot, directed by Steven and with an amazing team of musicians.
It was a fortuitous chance that Steven stumbled upon a young Spanish composer appealing on Facebook to have his piano composition – a Prelude and Fugue from his wittily-titled “Well-syncopated Clavier” – played on harpsichord. Steven heard it and really liked it, recorded it and sent to back to Pascual Gimeno, the composer. He’s been really enthusiastic and has since sent Steven another compostion dedicated to him.
His music is very Spanish-sounding with really jazzy-rhythms and an irresistable drive.
Silly season is upon us (lockdown lurgy?). Here is Steven and Kate’s self-penned contribution to the covid literature:
Steven gave a “Home Session” performance of Buxtehude’s Prelude in G on BBC Radio 3’s magazine programme In Tune yesterday.
The programme is available for 30 days here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000hnl9
It’s a very hard time for so many people as so much work has been cancelled or disrupted. Here are some very innovative projects featuring Steven Devine that have taken place since the lockdown began in March:
The OAE – Air on a G String (Bach)
The OAE – Digital Version of “Bach, the Universe and Everything”
Steven Devine & Colin Booth: Giles Farnaby on 2 Ottavini
Steven Devine & Colin Booth: Giles Farnaby on 2 harpsichords
The National Centre for Early Music are live-streaming Preludes 1-12 of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier on March 21st at 1300h. This was originally to have been a live concert, but with the current restrictions in place, this had to be cancelled. However Steven will be at the harpsichord in York performing live on the NCEM Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/yorkearlymusic/.
Sorry to report that the Performance Clinic and Concert with Anneke Scott that was to take place tomorrow (Mar 11) at the Bate Collection in Oxford has been cancelled.
Steven is delighted to join the distinguished roster of musicians at Caroline Phillips Management. Caroline will take care of world-wide representation of Stevenfor conducting and keyboard work from March 2020 onwards.
More news here. https://cpmnews.wordpress.com/2020/03/03/steven-devine-joins-cpm/