The Lost and Found Orchestra

STOMP presents

The Lost and Found Orchestra

Thursday 20 – Saturday 29 December 2012 (excluding 24, 25 & 26 December)

Brighton Dome Concert Hall

7.30pm and 2.30pm (Saturdays and Sunday 23 December only), £27.50, £22.50, £18.50, £15 (under 16s – half price)

Eschewing the traditional partridge in a pear tree in favour of pipers piping and drummers drumming, The Lost and Found Orchestra return to the city in December for a special run of Christmas shows at Brighton Dome Concert Hall.

“Exhilarating… infectious and great fun” – The Guardian

Born from the creative minds that gave us the internationally successful STOMP, The Lost and Found Orchestra is a truly spectacular symphonic experience that sees everyday objects turned into a plethora of invented instruments. Using everything from musical saws and bottles to whirly toys, traffic cones and rope ladders to create a dazzling array of homemade instruments, every section of a symphony orchestra is captured in all its aural glory.

Add a little dash of STOMP’s radical rhythm, some astonishing physical theatre and more than a healthy dose of tongue in cheek comic behaviour and the world’s most anarchic orchestra is born – perfect festive fun for families, music aficionados and those that like their theatrics lively and loud.

“A sheer delight” – The Stage

Six years on from its stunning world premiere performance at Brighton Festival 2006 and specially reworked for 2012, The Lost and Found Orchestra features a mix of veteran STOMP performers, classical musicians and physical comedians. Backed by a choir, it also incorporates the human voice to the mix – transforming the plucked, blown and thumped melodies into complex symphonic and choral structures.

“Brighton’s brightest offspring” – Financial Times

Originally commissioned by Brighton Festival to celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2006, The Lost and Found Orchestra was created by STOMP co-founders Luke Cresswell (composer/director/conductor) and Steve McNicholas (composer/co-director) and their production company Yes/No Productions based in Brighton. Across a six month period, instruments like Squonkaphones, Plumpets and Kitchen Tymps were invented from scratch, and an entire score composed.

With the help of a crew made up of experienced STOMP personnel alongside classical musicians who were prepared to abandon their instruments and learn how to play saws and hosepipes, the orchestra opened Brighton Festival 2006 to massive acclaim. Since then, the show has broken box office records at Sydney Opera House and played extended runs at London’s Royal Festival Hall and Amsterdam’s Carre theatre.

Biographies:

Luke Cresswell is a self-taught percussionist from Brighton. His session work as a drummer and rhythm programmer includes Beats International, Bette Midler, Elvis Costello and Bryan Ferry. After working for several years as a street musician and performer, he first created STOMP in 1991. He has directed, with Steve McNicholas, several award-winning commercials and short films. He received an Oscar nomination for the film BROOMS, an Emmy nomination for STOMP OUT LOUD and co-directed the award winning Imax movies, PULSE, Wild Ocean and The Last Reef. His passion for diving and in particular for great white sharks is finding expression in a 3rd underwater 3D Imax movie to be completed early 2013. He has also received a special achievement award from the Chicago Human Rhythm Project. Luke performs and conducts with The Lost and Found Orchestra.

Steve McNicholas, from Yorkshire, has worked as an actor/singer/musician/writer with various theatrical and musical groups, starting out with the Bradford Theatre Group in 1973. Through the eighties he worked with Cliff Hanger, Covent Garden Community Theatre and Pookiesnackenburger. Despite also being an original member of the accapella group, the Flying Pickets and a final appearance in Mr Bean, Steve no longer performs. He shares directorial credits with Luke Cresswell on STOMP-based films and commercials and The Lost and Found Orchestra. With Luke, he composed the soundtrack to the Showtime movie, RIOT, and shares the Oscar and Emmy nominations for his work on BROOMS and STOMP OUT LOUD. He also co directed the award winning IMAX movies, PULSE, Wild Ocean and The Last Reef, with a 3rd underwater 3D movie currently in post production: Great White Shark 3D.

Ticket Office 01273 709709 | brightondome.org