| Biography | Lontano was founded in 1976 by conductor/composer Odaline de la Martinez and flautist Ingrid Culliford, Lontano has established an international reputation as one of the most exciting and versatile exponents of 20th and 21st century music.
Lontano commissions, produces, performs and records with the primary aim of bringing to the fore the work of contemporary Living composers, Women and Latin American composers. The ensemble's sphere of activity includes contemporary opera, music theatre, concerts, workshops, education projects, tours, broadcasts and recordings. Performances feature some of the most noted, inventive and radical names in contemporary composition including Judith Weir, Martin Butler, Roberto Sierra, Errollyn Wallen, Nicola Le Fanu, Peter Sculthorpe, Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Chen Yi, Lindsay Cooper and Steve Reich. Lontano, in collaboration with the BBC Singers, recently recorded for the BBC a programme featuring the music of Brian Ferneyhough, which will be followed by a CD for the Metier Label.
Lontano's global allure has resulted in performances as far a field as Istanbul (residency, Turkish-British Women Composers Week), Zagreb (performance of Jenni Riditi's opera Inanna, at the Zagreb Biennale Festival), USA, Canada, South and Central America.
Recent activities include performances at the Huddersfield and Cheltenham International Festivals, Chard Festival of Women in Music, the BBC Proms, the premiere of Paul Barker's opera Stone Angels at the Bloomsbury Theatre, the enormously successful Émigrés Series on London's South Bank. |