| The Delius Society announce CLUBDELIUS; a free membership for under 30’s, to be launched at this year’s DELIUS PRIZE COMPETITION Sunday 27 November Royal Birmingham Conservatoire https://www.bcu.ac.uk/conservatoire/events-calendar/delius-prize-27-11-2022 |
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| The Delius Society has announced the launch of ClubDelius; a FREE membership scheme aimed at those under 30, with the purpose of introducing younger listeners to the music of composer, FREDERICK DELIUS. The scheme, which also provides access to a number of benefits including free gifts and special offers, will be launched at this year’s DELIUS PERFORMANCE PRIZE, hosted by the Delius Society and open to the public at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire on Sunday 27 November from 2.30pm. The adjudicator will be SIR MARK ELDER, internationally renowned conductor, and President of The Delius Society. |
| “Delius is unlike any other composer”, said Katharine Richman, Delius Society Journal Editor, “and he remains an unconventional, individualistic and anti-establishment figure. Joining ClubDelius is a great way for youngsters to develop their understanding and appreciation of Delius’s music, his colourful life and those of his contemporaries in a friendly and welcoming environment.” Conductor and Delius Society President, Sir Mark Elder, added: “I am very happy that the Delius Society is launching ClubDelius. Delius’ music ideally needs both time and opportunity before it can find its way into our hearts! But it is so romantic and poetic in ways that few other British composers are.” Commitment to younger listeners and performers Celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, The Delius Society has been a committed advocate in support of younger listeners and performers. One of the group’s most successful enterprises being The Delius Prize, which invites music students to present a 20-minute programme of music by Delius and his contemporaries. Delius Society membership benefits The Delius Society is one of the most active of composer groups, offering members online events as well as Journals and Newsletters containing specially commissioned features, concert listings, reviews of books and recordings, special offers, a comprehensive website and an online presence on social media. Incorporating the new scheme under its umbrella membership, ClubDelius will play an important role in the provision of information, education and interactive communications with younger members, encouraging participation at no financial cost. Reaching out to new members A marketing campaign has been devised to reach out to potential new members and will include an eye-catching digital poster to raise awareness of the scheme at music colleges. The Delius Society plans to work with a number of educational organisations in order to broaden the scope of the project and it is the intention that a young ambassador can also be recruited to reach out to fellow peers. Finally, a range of branded promotional items, including insulated bottles and propelling pencils with the eye-catching ClubDelius logo, will be available free on joining. Exciting future plans to include City of Culture Future plans for the scheme include collaborative events at music Colleges, to include a dedicated Delius Workshop or Masterclass hosted by an internationally renowned performer. In Bradford, the city of Delius’s birth, and now UK City of Culture in 2025, a number of ClubDelius initiatives are planned. Who is Frederick Delius? According to The Delius Society, Frederick Delius is “wonderfully maverick and impossible to categorise”. Although Delius was born in England, most of his life was spent in America, Germany, Norway and France where he soaked up stimuli from both the landscape and the influential personalities, such as artists, writers and fellow composers, that make his works so inimitable. He went on to compose music of great impressionistic beauty in orchestral, concerto, song, chamber and opera forms. Delius’s life has been well documented by, amongst others, Ken Russell in his film, ‘Song of Summer’, which shows Delius in later life as a wheelchair-bound invalid composing through his amanuensis, Eric Fenby, and more recently in ‘Delius: Composer, Lover, Enigma’, written, narrated and directed by John Bridcut for BBC Four, which was nominated for Best Documentary at FIPA, Biarritz. Delius has also inspired the doyen of pop music, Kate Bush, to write a song named after him. Delius’s works such as ‘On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring’ and ‘The Walk to the Paradise Garden’ remain two of the most popular written by any composer. How to join ClubDelius/The Delius Society: www.delius.org.uk membership@thedeliussociety.org.uk For teachers and educationalist, request promotional material here: Journal@TheDeliusSociety.org.uk The 2022 Delius Prize https://www.bcu.ac.uk/conservatoire/events-calendar/delius-prize-27-11-2022 |
A very good idea. Delius still is often stuck in a time warp and remains one of the lesser known giants of English music mainly because we so rarely hear it him in the concert hall nor that often on the airwaves with the exception of a couple of short pieces.