Sharp Stories
Sunday 22 June
7.30 pm
New Theatre Royal
The Ian McMillan Orchestra
'One of my all-time heroes - he’s such a talented bloke, I could
kill him’ Mike Harding
Yorkshire words and European music. Poet, broadcaster & comedian Ian McMillan dances with composer & accordionist Luke Carver Goss of Szapora - 'Truly refreshing' Danny Thompson - and Orchestra in this sizzling wok of words and music. Powerful, echoing tales of milkmen, mining, heatwaves, dads, voices found, death by shanty, industrial manoeuvres, 9/11 and the late great Ronnie Barker. Improvised and constructed - for audiences, 7 to 107. Featured on The South Bank Show, Loose Ends, Late Junction, The Mike Harding Show… CD Sharp Stories out now on Taith Records. http://www.theianmcmillanorchestra.com
‘Very fine’ Lester Simpson
‘He hits the nail on the head’ Rachel Unthank
‘Catch these guys live … exhilarating’ Taplas
‘a bunch of top-drawer world musicians … I can’t wait ‘til he takes it on the road’ John Medd, Nott Eve Post 4-star
‘a winning aura’ Clive Davis, The Sunday Times
‘tunes that range from the stirring to the unashamedly sentimental’ John L Walters The Guardian
'a definite success’ fROOTS
'like a couple dancing the tango' Julian May, Songlines 4-star
‘What a great CD! I was hooked from the first track’ Genevieve Tudor, Sunday Folk BBC MIdlands
‘Superb’ Frank Hennessy, Celtic Heartbeat BBC Radio Wales
‘It’s a lovely record, really lovely!’ Stuart Maconie
‘The John Peel of poetry’ Alec Finlay
‘Jovial Poetic Troll’ Mark Radcliffe
£10 (£8 conc, £1 U18) NTR
Further details below....
Ian McMillan voice
Luke Carver Goss accordion / guitar / vocals
Dylan Fowler guitar / mandocello / vocals
Clare Salaman nyckelharpa / hurdy-gurdy / violin
Nathan Thomson double bass / flutes / kalimba
Oliver Wilson Dickson violin / percussion / vocals
Poet, comedian & broadcaster Ian McMillan hosts weekly hit radio show The Verb. He’s Yorkshire Planetarium’s Poet in Space, Poet-in-Residence for The Academy of Urbanism and Barnsley FC, Humberside Police’s Beat Poet, Yorkshire TV’s Investigative Poet and a regular on Newsnight Review, The Mark Radcliffe Show, The Today Programme, You & Yours, The Culture Show, Never Mind The Full Stops… and Have I Got News For You? His rip-roaring poetry shows are legendary. Cats make him sneeze. www.ian-mcmillan.co.uk
Luke Carver Goss’s music includes commissions for symphony orchestras, rock bands, musicals, theatres and dance ensembles. He has arranged music for choirs, song-writers, bands and theatres. He works both on his own and in collaboration with composers, writers, dancers, artists and a dazzlingly good band called Szapora. 'You've got to go and hear them play .. fabulous' Fiona Talkington, Late Junction BBC R3 www.lukecarvergoss.co.uk
An innovative highlight of the 2008 Festivitie, the group will also run two days of workshops for schoolchildren from College Henri Brunet in Caen and St Luke's School Portsmouth and Portsmouth Grammar School, putting together a unique ‘musical in a day’ celebrating the links between the twin cities. The ‘musical’ will be incorporated into the evening show. With Fiddles, whistles and hurdy gurdy, the performance will have a European folk flavour as well as touches of humour to delight everyone.
