The Juilliard School's 29th annual Focus! Festival, “The British Renaissance: British Music Since World War II,†will run from Jan. 25 to Feb. 1, and will include six free concerts and one pre-concert discussion. The festival, directed by Joel Sachs, includes 33 works by as many composers, in a huge range of styles. Comparatively conservative scores like Britten's “Sinfonia da Requiem†are included, as are a genre-crossing piece by Erollyn Wallen, a vivid evocation of an asteroid bound for earth, by Mark-Anthony Turnage, and Alexander Goehr's 300th anniversary tribute to J.S. Bach, “…a musical offering (J.S.B. 1985).â€
The centerpiece of the festival's opening concert, a performance by the New Juilliard Ensemble, led by Mr. Sachs, at Alice Tully Hall on Jan. 25, is Colin Matthews's “No Man's Land†(2011), with Kyle Bielfield, tenor and John Brancy, baritone, as the soloists. The rest of the concerts are chamber programs at the school's Paul Hall, except for the closing concert by the Juilliard Orchestra, conducted by Mark Wigglesworth, at Alice Tully Hall on Feb. 1. The Jan. 29 program will include a panel discussion, moderated by Mr. Sachs, with the composers Michael Zev Gordon, Deirdre Gribbin, Ms. Wallen and the conductor David Wordsworth.
