In other news, my ‘Étude in Glissandi‘ will receive two performances in Romania next week, courtesy of the Vox Novus Composers Voice concert series. It was performed in that series in New York by Conway Kuo in May, and will now be performed by Daniel Mihai at the National College of Art ‘Regina Maria’, Constanta on the 1st November and the George Enescu University of Music, Bucharest on the 3rd.

The following Friday, October 7, sees a collaboration between two ensembles that have played my work before, Trio Atem and Raise Your Voice Collective, in an evening that also features music by the 265 Quartet. Trio Atem will be giving their second performance of my Seven Face Pictures alongside music by Morton Feldman, Ian Vine, Martin Iddon, Georges Aperghis and Mi­chael Mayhew. We’ll also hear Raise Your Voice performing some Reich, Feldman, Pesson and a recent piece by co-founder Chris Swith­in­bank. It will be held at Manchester’s In­ter­na­tional An­thony Bur­gess Found­a­tion, and you can find details and tickets here.

I am the youngest of the seventeen candidates, who hail from all around the globe. You can see a list of their names here. Berlin-based Naomi Pinnock is the other British composer participating.

The concert featuring my piece will be held at the Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts on the 22nd March 2012, directed by Andrew Watkinson (leader of the marvellous Endellion Quartet). The concert will also see guitarist Xuefei Yang trailing her new disc on EMI with performances of Bach and Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez, and a performance of Mozart’s 40th Symphony. Tickets can be booked here.

I take over from fellow University of Manchester graduate Duncan Ward, whose piece for the ensemble, Greenhurst Way, can be seen as a video on Vimeo.

‘A modern opera – so some sharp edges and notes but totally listenable to and watchable. The sustained applause at the end said it all…the verdict was one of universal approval for a thoroughly well written and professional production’ – West Ealing Neighbours blog

See some of my previous posts for details of the show and some beautiful photos of the Ealing premiere.

There should be audio and possibly video of the show coming soon, but until that you can see some pictures of the rehearsal process and the premiere below.

The 35-40-minute opera employs six singers (featuring mezzo Janna Sutherland as Narcissus and soprano Sophie Levi as Echo), and is scored for flute, clarinet and string quartet. As music director, I have composed the first and last scenes (around 15 minutes of music in total), and have overseen the composition of three other scenes by fellow University of Manchester graduates Rachel Jackson, Jasmin Rodgman and Hannah Taylor. The music’s all completed now – while there are differing styles between the four composers there are unifying devices and dramatic structures that make the piece feel coherent. I can’t wait to start rehearsing…

In addition to the opera itself, Opera Viscera are putting on a number of events during our rehearsal period at the Ealing gallery. The process itself will be public, so people can come and see the set being built by our design team (that drawing at the top is a production sketch by the wonderful Miranda Keyes), and see some of the rehearsals. There will also be a children’s workshop on the 17th July run by our ensemble leader Sarah Hill, as well as opera screenings on Friday afternoons. The performance on the 20th will feature new music performances by members of the cast and the ensemble (possibly featuring music by one or two of the composers), as well as an exhibition of some of the production materials that have gone into making this unique project. All events will take place at the gallery in Ealing, and all the information can be found (or will be found) on Opera Viscera’s website. More information can of course be sought by using my Contact page, or by emailing our Director Lia Alba.