26 June saw the premiere of a new fanfare specially composed by Thomas Adès to mark the opening of The Tower – a new artistic hub building designed by Frank Gehry on the site of Luma Arles, Le Parc des Ateliers. The performance of Adès’ Tower was given outdoors by student and professional musicians local to Arles conducted by Ilan Volkov.
Tower was commissioned by André Hoffman for the opening of Parc des Ateliers, Luma Arles, Arles, France.
The brisk 2½-minute fanfare is scored for 14 trumpets, the same number as in Janáček's Sinfonietta – a work which the composer has great appreciation for. Tower will join the Janáček in October this year when Adès conducts the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France in Paris. The concert will also present the French premieres of his Concerto for Piano and Orchestra and The Exterminating Angel Symphony.
Other recent premieres include the first UK performance of the string orchestra work Shanty – Over the Sea by Britten Sinfonia at the Barbican, London, and the upcoming world premiere of The Exterminating Angel Symphony at the BBC Proms with City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla on 5 August.