We’ll be retiring this blog very soon but in the meantime please go to SinfiniMusic.com.

Landmarks is a new concert series created and produced by the London Sinfonietta and Netia Jones/Lightmap, which explores how we can connect the key points in the landscape of modern music. Immersive concert experiences will seamlessly weave together live world-class performances by the London Sinfonietta and integrated film created by Netia Jones. This series will leave audiences inspired and informed about music that has had great influence on contemporary art and culture, yet is so little understood by a wider public.

In 1939 in Görlitz , Germany, Olivier Messiaen was marched into a Nazi concentration camp. In his jacket was a pocket score of Alban Berg’s Lyric Suite. While incarcerated in Stalag VIIIA prisoner-of-war camp he composed and gave the first performance of one of the most important and affecting chamber music compositions of the last 50 years, the Quartet for the End of Time.

Each concert will feature film showing the composer and which also explores their works. With the live music, the audiences will be engaged for up to 90 minutes, similar to a cinema experience. Post-concert discussions will add to a deeper understanding of some of the world’s most important composers and musical movements of the past 100 years.

Netia Jones / Lightmap, the co-curator and video artist of the series says:

‘Integrating film and visual media in live concert performances can both support and enhance the musical performance, offering up layers of meaning and reflection, and behaving as a navigational tool. By setting a work, or a composer, within a context, and mapping the links between extraordinary moments in composition, the landscape of modern music can be explored in an unexpected and exciting way, encouraging a new audience to feel more informed, and an experienced audience to have a fresh approach to these extraordinary works. It is exhilarating to be collaborating with a group as ambitious and expert as the London Sinfonietta on this series.’

The competition

London Sinfonietta are providing a pair of tickets for three winners to attend a night of visuals to music by Messiaen on Friday 23 November 2012 at Queen Elizabeth Hall, London. This concert is part of the orchestra’s new series, Landmarks.

In order to have a chance of winning, please answer the question and submit your details here.

Question: Who is London Sinfonietta working with on this series?

A) Bridget Jones
B) Netia Jones
C) Katherine Zeta Jones

Prize details

Prize: A pair of tickets for three winners to the London Sinfonietta’s Landmark Series at Queen Elizabeth Hall, London on Friday 23 November 2012.

You must be 18 or over to enter this competition. Under 18s must be accompanied by an adult.

This competition is open to residents of the United Kingdom only.

This competition is not open to employees and their immediate families of Sinfini Music, London Sinfonietta or its affiliated companies, their agents or anyone else professionally connected with the promotion.

Opening time for entries is 09:00 GMT on Tuesday 13 November 2012 and the competition closes at 09:00 GMT on Monday 19 November 2012.

The winners will be selected at random from all valid and correct entries.

The prize winners will be contacted by email on Monday 19 November 2012.

The winners will have until 09:00 GMT Tuesday 20 November 2012 to respond, should no response be received, we reserve the right to select another winner at random.

Full details of the event will be sent to the winner via email but can also be found at http://www.londonsinfonietta.org.uk/event/olivier-messiaen-quartet-end-time.

Tickets can be collected from the London Sinfonietta desk in the Queen Elizabeth Hall foyer at 19:00 GMT on the night of the event.

Entrants are limited to one entry only; multiple entries will be counted as one.

Entry into this competition is via this online web form. We will not accept entries via post, telephone or email.

All costs arising from the acceptance of prizes will be the responsibility of the recipient.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Prize Offered:

Universal Music Group International Limited will provide two tickets for three winners to the Landmark Series by London Sinfonietta concert held at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on Friday 23 November 2012 (“Event”). (Estimated total cash value of the prize is £30)

Prize Conditions:

Entrants must be able to travel to London, United Kingdom between 23 and 24 November 2012. The tickets are not transferable and have no cash value. This prize is non-negotiable, non-refundable and does not include transport, accommodation, insurance or ground transfers. The winner and person accompanying the winner are solely responsible for all insurance, applicable taxes and any expenses or costs not specified in the prize description.

How To Enter:

To be eligible to win a pair of tickets. The use of a bogus name or email address will disqualify an entrant.

Opening Time for entries is 09:00 GMT on Tuesday 13 November 2012.

Closing Time for all entries is 09:00 GMT on Monday 19 November 2012.

The promoter reserves the right to offer an alternative prize.

General:

1. The competition is open to all entrants resident in the United Kingdom. All entrants and the person accompanying the winner must be at least 18 years of age or over. Employees of Universal Music Group International Limited and their associated, affiliated or subsidiary companies, and their families, agents, or anyone connected with this competition are not eligible to enter this competition.

2. By submitting an entry, entrants warrant that they have read, understand and agree to be bound by these Terms and Conditions.

3. No purchase is necessary but entrants should be aware that they may be subject to local call charges depending on their own individual arrangements for Internet access.

4. There is a limit of one entry per person. Duplicate entries will be void.

5. Universal Music Group International Limited will not be liable for any failure of receipt of entries. Universal Music Group International Limited takes no responsibility for any entries that are lost, delayed, corrupted, damaged, incomplete or otherwise invalid. Further, Universal Music Group International Limited will not be liable for technical, hardware, or software failures of any kind or lost or unavailable network connections which may limit or prohibit an eligible entrant’s ability to participate in the competition.

6. By entering, participants, and the winner and person accompanying the winner agree to release and hold harmless Universal Music Group International Limited, its parent, subsidiary and affiliated entities, directors, officers, employees, attorneys, agents and representatives from any damage, injury, loss, claim, action, demand or other liability that may arise from their acceptance and/or use of prize or their participation in this competition, or from any misuse or malfunction of any prize awarded.

7. Universal Music Group International Limited reserves the right, with or without cause, to exclude entrants and withhold the prize for violating any of these Terms and Conditions.

8. The venue where the concert is being held (“Venue”) may impose its own conditions of entry to the Venue and may refuse entry in its own discretion. Universal Music Group International Limited is not responsible for any refusal of entry made by the Venue.

9. The winner and the person accompanying the winner must carry valid photo identification with them at all times during the Event.

10. Where all or part of the Event is cancelled, rescheduled or varied for any reason, Universal Music Group International Limited may, at its own discretion, offer the winner tickets to an alternative event.

11. There is no cash or other alternative to the prize stated and the prize is not transferable and no part or parts of the prize may be substituted for other benefits, items or additions.

12. The prize value set out above is the maximum value estimate only and Universal Music Group International Limited shall be under no obligation to provide a prize to the exact value stated or to reimburse the prize winner where the prize is less than the estimated value.

13. On Monday 19 November 2012 after the competition closes, the winning entry will be selected at random from all eligible entries received. The winner’s name will be published on the website and the winner will be notified by e-mail no later than Monday 19 November 2012. All reasonable endeavours will be made to contact the winner during this time. If a winner cannot be contacted within a reasonable period of time on the email address supplied to Universal Music Group International Limited with the entry, Universal Music Group International Limited reserves the right to select an alternative winning entry from all eligible entries received.

16. The judges’ decision is final and binding on the entrants. No correspondence will be entered into.

17. Uses of personal data received by Universal Music Group International Limited in the course of the competition are subject to the privacy policy found at http://www.umusic.co.uk/privacy.html. The winning entry and the winner’s name may be published on the website.

18. Universal Music Group International Limited reserves the right at any time to cancel, modify or supersede the competition (including altering the prize) if, in our sole discretion, a competition is not capable of being conducted as specified.

19. Nothing in these Terms and Conditions shall limit Universal Music Group International Limited’s liability for death or personal injury caused by their employees or agents’ negligence or for fraud.

20. If any of these clauses should be determined to be illegal, invalid or otherwise unenforceable then they shall be severed and deleted from these Terms and Conditions and the remaining clauses shall survive and remain in full force and effect.

21. These Terms and Conditions shall be governed by English law.

22. The promoter of this competition is Universal Music Group International Limited, a company registered in England with number 0950138 whose registered office is at 364-366 Kensington High Street, London, W14 8NS, United Kingdom.

When it comes to creating split-second comic mayhem, cellist-composer Philip Sheppard takes his inspiration from such masters of the silent screen as Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton. In the old movie houses a lone pianist improvised along to the on-screen antics; but once a month at King’s Place concert hall, it’s what Sheppard calls ‘Whose Line Is It Anyway? meets chamber music’, as he and a crack line-up of players spontaneously generate a soundtrack for silent comedy classics.

The audiences at Not So Silent Movies… regularly end up helpless with laughter, but Sheppard and his colleagues stick to some serious rules: no rehearsal, not even the most basic sheet music, and no-one can view the films ahead of the show.

‘We end up with as much slapstick on stage as on screen,’ says Sheppard. ‘There is such a buzz from playing with no safety net. It’s the biggest adrenalin rush I’ve had as a performer, and that’s what makes it work. I love throwing caution to the wind and creating a spontaneous composition with a team of musicians who are at the top of their game.’

The ensemble has no leader, and the players take suggestions from the audience as how to start. ‘I’ve played at Ronnie Scott’s before now, but Not So Silent Movies… is much freer than jazz,’ continues Sheppard. ‘We’ve had phrases that start off as Brahms and end up as hip-hop, or which morph from Purcell to Stevie Wonder. At the same time, there is a sense of respect for the genre we happen to be working in at any moment. Something happens – we make a connection.’

The third series of Not So Silent Movies… was launched in September by Jarvis Cocker, who made his name with Britpop band Pulp, film composer Dario Marianelli, who in 2008 won an Oscar for his score for Atonement and has composed the music for Anna Karenina, and John Etheridge, whose guitar playing has evoked awe in such luminaries as Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Pat Metheny, Soft Machine and Sting. There’s still time to catch the last in the series on 2 December, featuring returning guest artist, the renowned percussionist Evelyn Glennie.

Not So Silent Movies… featuring Evelyn Glennie, Talvin Singh & Hami

Sunday, 2 December 2012 – 2:30pm @ King’s Place, London / Hall One

1. Charles-Valentin Alkan (1813-88) It’s widely believed that the French composer and virtuoso pianist was crushed to death by a falling bookcase which he accidentally overturned when reaching up to the top shelf for a copy of the Talmud (he was deeply religious). However more recent sources report that his concierge found him in the kitchen, breathing his last, pinned beneath an umbrella rack.

2. Ernest Chausson (1855-99) Just as this French composer’s career was getting under way, he lost control of his bicycle one afternoon while pedalling downhill. He smashed into a brick wall and died instantly.

3.  Anton Webern (1883-1945) Tragically, this master of serialist technique was killed at the very end of the Second World War, when he stepped outside his apartment in Salzburg to light a cigar just before a curfew came into effect. The glow was spotted by an American soldier, who shot him.

4.  Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-87) While enthusiastically conducting a performance, the French Baroque composer accidentally stabbed himself in the foot with his staff. Gangrene set in and, after refusing to have his foot amputated in an attempt to save his life, he died of blood poisoning.

5.  Alban Berg (1885-1935)  This key exponent of the Second Viennese School was another victim of blood poisoning – due to an insect bite on his back that became infected. He had apparently attempted lance it with a pair of scissors. Berg died on Christmas Eve.

6.  Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915) The last in our trio of toxic deaths – always rather prone to ill health, the visionary Russian composer nicked himself shaving, developed raging septicaemia and died aged just 43.

7. Alessandro Stradella (1639-1682) This Italian Baroque musician had a racy love life. He enjoyed several affairs with married women and mistresses of his employers, until one cuckolded nobleman had had enough. He hired an assassin who pursued the composer through the streets of Genoa, cornered him and knifed him to death.

8. Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840-93) The Russian composer’s death has been subject to much debate and speculation. Some believe he committed suicide by deliberately drinking a glass of cholera-infested water. Others say he was murdered, because of his homosexuality.

9. Enrique Granados (1867-1916) The Spanish composer’s passenger ferry was torpedoed in the English Channel by a U-boat during the First World War. Granados made it to a lifeboat but jumped out to help his wife who was struggling in the water some distance away. They both drowned. Ironically if they’d stayed in their cabin, they would have survived – that section of the ship was towed safely back to port.

10. Henry Purcell (1659-95) The demise the great English Baroque composer at the age of just 36 has often been blamed on his wife. She allegedly locked him out of the house overnight when he came home late and rather the worse for wear. It’s more likely he succumbed to tuberculosis.

11. Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) The Frenchman was involved in a taxi crash in 1932, where he hit his head and suffered concussion. Initially it wasn’t regarded as serious, but he soon began to develop memory problems and aphasia (loss of speech). Five years later he underwent experimental brain surgery, which was not a success – he slipped into a coma and died.

12. Bedřich Smetana (1824-84) This Czech nationalist was one of several composers who died of syphilis. However, in a cruel twist of fate, one of the early symptoms was deafness and tinnitus – in his case a constant, screeching high E. He suffered a complete mental collapse and ended his days in an asylum. Interestingly, you can hear the ringing high E depicted in the last movement of his String Quartet No. 1 ‘From My Life’.

13. Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953) The Russian died of natural causes (a stroke), but unluckily for him, on the very day that Stalin’s death was announced, 5 March 1953. Prokofiev had lived near Red Square in Moscow and because of the crowds that had been herded in to mourn the dictator, it was three days before the composer’s body could physically be moved out of his apartment for a funeral. The death of one of the greatest composers of the 20th century went virtually unreported in the Soviet press.

As musical genres go, techno and classical seem like polar opposites. Techno springs from electronic circuits; classical, from wood, brass and catgut. Techno is defined by nightclubs and repetitive beats; classical by concert halls and resounding orchestras. And yet when the two meet, as occasionally they do, they can complement each other well.

This month, British composer Max Richter, who in a previous life was a floating member of legendary electronica group Future Sound of London, launches his ‘Recomposed’ version of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. Stores in London such as Selfridges and the Apple Store on Regent Street will have their sound systems taken over by Richter’s remixes of these Baroque violin concerto classics. Here’s his delicate, hypnotic treatment of the first, ‘Spring’.

But for those looking for a more purist techno experience – that is, music with beats – will find plenty more variety in other releases in Deutsche Grammophon’s ‘Recomposed’ series. The highlight so far for me here is Carl Craig and Moritz von Oswald’s ‘Recomposed’ version of Ravel’s Boléro. Using original recordings by the Berlin Philharmonic and Herbert von Karajan, Craig and von Oswald, two giants in the field of techno, have produced an understated, slow-building remix of Ravel’s classic. Being built on a looping, repetitive phrase in the first place, Boléro is ideal for this kind of treatment:

The 70s German electronic group Kraftwerk are credited with being the originators of techno, and their album Trans-Europe Express features a piece called ‘Franz Schubert’:

It’s obviously meant as a nod to their German musical heritage, but it doesn’t particularly recall the lyrical genius of Schubert. In fact, with its rising melodic lines swirling around one chord, it’s musically closer to Wagner’s Prelude for Das Rheingold (see what you think by comparing here, building from around 0’50″), though obviously on a matchbox-model scale to Wagner’s orchestral colossus.

In the 80s, American artists turned the beats up a notch and invented the genre of techno as we know it today – one of the musical phenomena of recent decades. An early work, ‘The Final Frontier’, by the Detroit collective Underground Resistance brings to mind the 19th-century symphonists:

After an opening that has all the familiar hallmarks of 80s techno – drum-machine beats, bubbling bass – an electronic string section kicks in, bathing the piece with melancholic gravitas. Avoid the cheesiness of William Orbit’s effort at a classical-techno hybrid; Underground Resistance here combine a string section and beats to powerful effect; an ideal that is also realised in Massive Attack’s ‘Unfinished Sympathy’.

Continuing further down this path, Germany’s Wolfgang Voigt, with his project GAS, explores dense electronic soundscapes, propelled through auditory forests by throbbing beats. Again here, in GAS’s Königsforst, there is a hint of Wagner in the lush, static harmony and horn and string sounds:

According to Voigt, much of GAS’s music is in fact built from samples from old classical recordings: of works by Wagner, Schoenberg, and other composers in the classical Austro-Germanic tradition. So if the last example sounds a bit like an orchestra, it’s because it is a sample of one (though the particular orchestra and recording that Voigt sampled are uncredited).

Things have come a long way, then, since Wendy Carlos’s classic Switched-On Bach, which back in the 60s saw Baroque works channelled through the knobs and buttons of the newly invented synthesiser. That said, few electronica-classical crossovers since have achieved the brilliance of Carlos’s reimagining of Henry Purcell, so memorably used here by Stanley Kubrick in A Clockwork Orange.

Want to explore further?

The website for DG’s ‘Recomposed’ series (in German):
http://www.klassikakzente.de/recomposed/home

An article on Wendy Carlos’s Switched-On Bach:
http://www.wendycarlos.com/+sob.html

An interview with Wolfgang Voigt of GAS:
http://globecat.blogspot.co.uk/2008/08/interview-wolfgang-voigt.html

An article by Jon Savage on the origins of techno:
http://music.hyperreal.org/library/machine_soul.html

Where to buy:

Recomposed: Vivaldi/Max Richter:

• Buy on Amazon
• Buy on iTunes

Recomposed: Carl Craig and Moritz von Oswald/Music by Maurice Ravel and Modest Mussorgsky:

• Buy on Amazon
• Buy on iTunes

Wendy Carlos, Switched-On Bach:

• Buy on Amazon

Gas, Königsforst:

• Buy on Amazon
• Buy on iTunes

Underground Resistance, Final Frontier:

• Buy on Amazon
• Buy on iTunes

Kraftwerk, Trans-Europe Express:

• Buy on Amazon
• Buy on iTunes

Do make sure you have a look at the first two in our Classical Connections series: Classical Connections #1: Minimalism meets Pop, and Classical Connections #2: the guitar that rocked classical music.

Liam Cagney is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in The Daily Telegraph, Village Magazine, The Journal of Music and elsewhere. He is a doctoral candidate in Music at City University of London, where he also lectures.

One of the most memorable episodes in director Josh Radnor’s feature Liberal Arts takes place when Jesse (played by Radnor), a thirtysomething university admissions director, listens to the classical compilation his romantic admirer, Zibby (Elizabeth Olsen), has sent him. Walking the streets of New York, listening on earphones, he smiles as the people around him seem transformed by the music he hears: Mozart’s ‘Soave sia il vento’ makes every passer-by seem like a ‘viable romantic partner’, Vivaldi turns one into ‘a double agent, knee-deep in some kind of sexy espionage’.

‘I found that if I replace the shouting with, say, Schubert or Telemann, the city becomes unbearably beautiful,’ he says.

These images of transformation – Radnor smiling as the world passes by in slow-motion – represent a turning point for Jesse, not just in terms of his musical tastes (as a fan of indie rock, he is embarrassed by his own enjoyment of opera), but in the development of his relationship with Zibby, a 19-year-old drama student with whom romance is blossoming as they exchange letters. Her compilation CD has opened his ears to classical music, introducing him to an entirely new soundworld, and it’s that moment of musical discovery that resonates. The process of self-discovery it entails, and the self-conscious romance between them – set to the surging strings of Massenet’s ‘Méditation’ from Thaïs – is less convincing.

But then, this quirky, coming-of-age comedy seems designed for sitcom-like viewing, gently exploring complex themes of self-discovery, the role of higher education and literature. The film begins with a series of scenes (ramped up by the slide guitar of Moby’s ‘The Poison Tree’) in which Jesse is struggling to cope with grownup life in New York: his clothes are stolen from the laundrette, he breaks up with a girlfriend, and wakes up in his apartment alone. When his favourite tutor, Peter, invites him to his retirement dinner, Jesse is drawn back to his alma mater, Kenyon College, Ohio, and before long he is reliving his memories on campus, where once there were ‘infinite choices’ ahead of him.

This mid-life crisis of sorts brings him into contact with a range of eccentric characters: the way-out space cadet (Zac Efron), the loner manic depressive (John Magaro) and the acerbic Romantic literature professor (Allison Janney). And of course, Zibby (Elizabeth Olsen), a self-assured student of improv theatre, in which the performer, she tells Jesse, must always answer ‘yes’. She has a yearning to learn more from Jesse, and in the romance that subsequently blossoms, both Radnor and Olsen naturally embrace the emotional journey of a relationship in which age is a barrier, experience is prized, and music, like literature, has the power to open up new and more meaningful horizons. Overall, it’s a gentle, affectionately drawn amble of a movie whose humour and life observations less grabbed me, than made for mildly engaging viewing.

Nick Shave is a writer and contributing editor to BBC Music magazine and the Guardian.

Here’s our Spotify playlist that includes music featured in the film

You can also purchase the official soundtrack

• Buy on Amazon
• Buy on iTunes

Liberal Arts is in cinemas now and full details can be found on the Liberal Arts Facebook page.

We have four CD bundles to give away. Each includes these albums -
Benjamin Grosvenor: Chopin, Liszt and Ravel
Joseph Calleja: Be My Love
Claudio Abbado: Mozart Piano Concertos 27 & 20
Murray Perahia: Chopin Etudes

For your chance to win one of these fantastic bundles please answer the question below and submit the form.

Question: What age is Benjamin Grosvenor?
A) 18
B) 19
C) 20

Fill out and submit the form here.

Prize Details

• 1x Gramophone CD Bundle
• You must be 18 or over to enter this competition. Entrants under 18 must have the permission of their parent / guardian to enter.
• This competition is open to residents of the United Kingdom only.
• This competition is not open to employees and their immediate families of Sinfini Music, Universal Music or its affiliated companies, their agents or anyone else professionally connected with the promotion.
• Opening Time for entries is 09:00 GMT on Monday 22nd October 2012 and the competition closes on Monday 5th November 2012, 09:00 GMT.
• One winner will be selected at random from all valid and correct entries.
• The prize winner will be contacted via email on Monday 5th November 2012.
• The winners will have until Wednesday 7th November 2012 at 09:00 GMT to respond, should no response be received, we reserve the right to select another winner at random.
• The prize will be dispatched to the winner via Royal Mail Special Delivery to a chosen address in the United Kingdom.
• Entry into this competition is via the online entry form only. We will not accept entries via post, telephone or email.
• All costs arising from the acceptance of prizes will be the responsibility of the recipient.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Prize Offered:

Universal Music Group International Limited will provide four Gramophone CD Bundles to four winners.

How To Enter:

To be eligible to win a Gramophone CD Bundle. The use of a bogus name or email address will disqualify an entrant.

Opening Time for entries is 09:00 GMT on Monday 22nd October 2012.

Closing Time for all entries is 09:00 GMT on Monday 5th November 2012.

The promoter reserves the right to offer an alternative prize.

General:

1. The competition is open to all entrants resident in the UK. All entrants must be at least 18 years of age or over. Employees of Universal Music Group International Limited and their associated, affiliated or subsidiary companies, and their families, agents, or anyone connected with this competition are not eligible to enter this competition.

2. By submitting an entry, entrants warrant that they have read, understand and agree to be bound by these Terms and Conditions.

3. No purchase is necessary but entrants should be aware that they may be subject to local call charges depending on their own individual arrangements for Internet access.

4. There is a limit of one entry per person. Duplicate entries will be void.

5. Universal Music Group International Limited will not be liable for any failure of receipt of entries. Universal Music Group International Limited takes no responsibility for any entries that are lost, delayed, corrupted, damaged, incomplete or otherwise invalid. Further, Universal Music Group International Limited will not be liable for technical, hardware, or software failures of any kind or lost or unavailable network connections which may limit or prohibit an eligible entrant’s ability to participate in the competition.

6. By entering, participants, and the winner and person accompanying the winner agree to release and hold harmless Universal Music Group International Limited, its parent, subsidiary and affiliated entities, directors, officers, employees, attorneys, agents and representatives from any damage, injury, loss, claim, action, demand or other liability that may arise from their acceptance and/or use of prize or their participation in this competition, or from any misuse or malfunction of any prize awarded.

7. Universal Music Group International Limited reserves the right, with or without cause, to exclude entrants and withhold the prize for violating any of these Terms and Conditions.

8. There is no cash or other alternative to the prize stated and the prize is not transferable and no part or parts of the prize may be substituted for other benefits, items or additions.

9. The prize value set out above is the maximum value estimate only and Universal Music Group International Limited shall be under no obligation to provide a prize to the exact value stated or to reimburse the prize winner where the prize is less than the estimated value.

10. On Monday 5th November 2012 after the competition closes, the winning entry will be selected at random from all eligible entries received. The winner’s name will be published on the website and the winner will be notified by e-mail no later than Wednesday 7th November 2012. All reasonable endeavours will be made to contact the winner during this time. If a winner cannot be contacted within a reasonable period of time on the email address supplied to Universal Music Group International Limited with the entry, Universal Music Group International Limited reserves the right to select an alternative winning entry from all eligible entries received.

11. The judges’ decision is final and binding on the entrants. No correspondence will be entered into.

12. Uses of personal data received by Universal Music Group International Limited in the course of the competition are subject to the privacy policy found at http://www.umusic.co.uk/privacy.html. The winning entry and the winner’s name may be published on the website.

13. Universal Music Group International Limited reserves the right at any time to cancel, modify or supersede the competition (including altering the prize) if, in our sole discretion, a competition is not capable of being conducted as specified.

14. Nothing in these Terms and Conditions shall limit Universal Music Group International Limited’s liability for death or personal injury caused by their employees or agents’ negligence or for fraud.

15. If any of these clauses should be determined to be illegal, invalid or otherwise unenforceable then they shall be severed and deleted from these Terms and Conditions and the remaining clauses shall survive and remain in full force and effect.

16. These Terms and Conditions shall be governed by English law.

17. The promoter of this competition is Universal Music Group International Limited, a company registered in England with number 0950138 whose registered office is at 364-366 Kensington High Street, London, W14 8NS, United Kingdom.

The OAE is offering a prize of two pairs of tickets for The Night Shift at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, on Thursday 22 November, 2012. The winners will also receive a box of Lindt chocolate and a free drink.

To enter, all you need to do is answer the question below, fill out and submit the form, and keep your fingers crossed!

Question: What year did The Night Shift first start?
A) 2006
B) 2008
C) 2010

Fill out and submit the form here.

Prize Details

• One pair of tickets to The Night Shift at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on Thursday 22 November 2012, to be collected from the welcome desk next to the box office.
• You will both receive one free box of Lindt chocolate each.
• You will both receive a ticket for one free bottle of beer/glass of house wine/soft drink each from the student bar. You will be shown to the student bar after collecting your tickets from the welcome desk. Serving alcoholic drinks is at the discretion of the venue. The winner and guest will need to show a valid driving  licence or passport as proof of age.
• You must be 18 or over to enter this competition. Under 18s must be accompanied by an adult, and will need to show confirmation of the competition when entering the venue, which will be supplied by Sinfini Music.
• This competition is open to residents of the United Kingdom only.
• This competition is not open to employees and their immediate families of Sinfini Music, Universal Music or its affiliated companies, their agents or anyone else professionally connected with the promotion.
• Opening time for entries is 09:00 GMT on Monday 22 October 2012 and the competition closes on Thursday 15 November 2012, 09:00 GMT.
• One winner will be selected at random from all valid and correct entries.
• The prize winner will be contacted via email on Thursday 15 November 2012.
• Full details of the event will be sent to the winner via email but can also be found here on the OAE’s website.
• The winners will have until Monday 19 November 2012 at 09:00 GMT to respond, should no response be received, we reserve the right to select another winner at random.
• Entry into this competition is via the online entry form only. We will not accept entries via post, telephone or email.
• All costs arising from the acceptance of prizes will be the responsibility of the recipient.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Prize Offered:

Universal Music Group International Limited will provide two pairs of tickets to The Night Shift concert held in Queen Elizabeth Hall on Thursday 22 November 2012 (“Event”).

Prize Conditions:

Entrants must be able to travel to London, United Kingdom between 22 and 23 November 2012. The tickets are not transferable and have no cash value. This prize is non-negotiable, non-refundable and does not include transport, accommodation, insurance or ground transfers. The winner and person accompanying the winner are solely responsible for all insurance, applicable taxes and any expenses or costs not specified in the prize description.]

How To Enter:

To be eligible to win a pair of tickets to The Night Shift. The use of a bogus name or email address will disqualify an entrant.

Opening Time for entries is 09:00 GMT on Monday 22 October 2012.

Closing Time for all entries is 09:00 GMT on Thursday 15 November 2012.

The promoter reserves the right to offer an alternative prize.

General:

1. The competition is open to all entrants resident in the UK. All entrants[and the person accompanying the winner must be at least 18 years of age or over. Employees of Universal Music Group International Limited and their associated, affiliated or subsidiary companies, and their families, agents, or anyone connected with this competition are not eligible to enter this competition.

2. By submitting an entry, entrants warrant that they have read, understand and agree to be bound by these Terms and Conditions.

3. No purchase is necessary but entrants should be aware that they may be subject to local call charges depending on their own individual arrangements for Internet access.

4. There is a limit of one entry per person. Duplicate entries will be void.

5. Universal Music Group International Limited will not be liable for any failure of receipt of entries. Universal Music Group International Limited takes no responsibility for any entries that are lost, delayed, corrupted, damaged, incomplete or otherwise invalid. Further, Universal Music Group International Limited will not be liable for technical, hardware, or software failures of any kind or lost or unavailable network connections which may limit or prohibit an eligible entrant's ability to participate in the competition.

6. By entering, participants, and the winner and person accompanying the winner agree to release and hold harmless Universal Music Group International Limited, its parent, subsidiary and affiliated entities, directors, officers, employees, attorneys, agents and representatives from any damage, injury, loss, claim, action, demand or other liability that may arise from their acceptance and/or use of prize or their participation in this competition, or from any misuse or malfunction of any prize awarded.

7. Universal Music Group International Limited reserves the right, with or without cause, to exclude entrants and withhold the prize for violating any of these Terms and Conditions.

8. The venue where the concert is being held (“Venue”) may impose its own conditions of entry to the Venue and may refuse entry in its own discretion. Universal Music Group International Limited is not responsible for any refusal of entry made by the Venue.

9. The winner and the person accompanying the winner must carry valid photo identification with them at all times during the Event.

10. Where all or part of the Event is cancelled, rescheduled or varied for any reason, Universal Music Group International Limited may, at its own discretion, offer the winner tickets to an alternative event.

11. There is no cash or other alternative to the prize stated and the prize is not transferable and no part or parts of the prize may be substituted for other benefits, items or additions.

12. The prize value set out above is the maximum value estimate only and Universal Music Group International Limited shall be under no obligation to provide a prize to the exact value stated or to reimburse the prize winner where the prize is less than the estimated value.

13. On Thursday 15th November 2012 after the competition closes, the winning entry will be selected at random from all eligible entries received. The winner’s name will be published on the website and the winner will be notified by e-mail no later than Monday 19 November 2012. All reasonable endeavours will be made to contact the winner during this time. If a winner cannot be contacted within a reasonable period of time on the email address supplied to Universal Music Group International Limited with the entry, Universal Music Group International Limited reserves the right to select an alternative winning entry from all eligible entries received.

16. The judges’ decision is final and binding on the entrants. No correspondence will be entered into.

17. Uses of personal data received by Universal Music Group International Limited in the course of the competition are subject to the privacy policy found at http://www.umusic.co.uk/privacy.html. The winning entry and the winner’s name may be published on the website.

18. Universal Music Group International Limited reserves the right at any time to cancel, modify or supersede the competition (including altering the prize) if, in our sole discretion, a competition is not capable of being conducted as specified.

19. Nothing in these Terms and Conditions shall limit Universal Music Group International Limited’s liability for death or personal injury caused by their employees or agents’ negligence or for fraud.

20. If any of these clauses should be determined to be illegal, invalid or otherwise unenforceable then they shall be severed and deleted from these Terms and Conditions and the remaining clauses shall survive and remain in full force and effect.

21. These Terms and Conditions shall be governed by English law.

22. The promoter of this competition is Universal Music Group International Limited, a company registered in England with number 0950138 whose registered office is at 364-366 Kensington High Street, London, W14 8NS, United Kingdom.