Name: MENCON | Mendelssohn Reimagined | ARCO feat. CoMA
Start: 2025-03-22T16:00:00+00:00
End: 2025-03-22T17:30:00+00:00
Location: Pianodrome

Join us for the wildly different rendition of a Mendelssohn violin concerto performed by the synergy of the ARCO and CoMA collectives.
About this Event

MenCon

MenCon is a radical reinterpretation of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto Op.64, wherein the solo part remains completely intact (realised by violinist Chihiro Ono), and the orchestral parts are reinterpreted and recomposed by a chamber orchestra of creative musicians from a variety of disciplines and backgrounds, led by composer Neil Luck. The work is chameleonic, unrepeatable, inclusive, unpredictable, creative, brilliantly risky, and probably (possibly) exactly how Mendelssohn himself would have wanted it to be played in the 21st century!

Different every time, MenCon was originally realised by Neil’s ensemble ARCO, following a similar experiment with the Beethoven Violin concerto some years earlier. It has also however, been realised by Chihiro and Neil with conservatoire students, improvising orchestras, and other new music ensembles. The piece has also been released as an album by Birmingham Record Company.

For this event, Neil and Chihiro will be joined by CoMA Glasgow, an experimental collective open to players of all abilities who focus on exploring and interpreting unusual and avantgarde contemporary music scores. With monthly gatherings at Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA), the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS) and also online, the group welcomes musicians and sound-makers of all abilities. This includes professionals, students, amateurs, composers, instrumentalists and sound-artists so if you like what you hear, you can get involved as everybody has something to contribute!