I have been awarded a residency with the BBC Symphony Orchestra as part of the Embedded scheme run by Sound and Music. I will spend a year working with the orchestra through workshops and mentoring, and write a piece to be premiered by the BBCSO conducted by Garry Walker. Also on the scheme are Ben Oliver and Aaron Holloway-Nahum, and the...
I've been developing a piece as part of the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme 'New Music New Media' course at Aldeburgh this week, using motion capture technology and electronics. The course is run by Rolf Wallin, Tansy Davies and Alexander Refsum Jensenius, with Juice vocal ensemble and Zoë Martlew providing source material. My piece, entitled 'Music Box', is for performer, cello...
I'm delighted to have been awarded the Royal Philharmonic Society Composition Prize. I'll be spending some time on the Philharmonia Orchestra's Young Composers Academy, working with members of the orchestra and with Unsuk Chin, who is the director of the Philharmonia's 'Music of Today' series. The prize also involves a commission for an ensemble piece for the Philharmonia to be...
For the last week or so I've been resident at the St Magnus Composers Course in Orkney, where I've been receiving tuition from Alasdair Nicolson and Sally Beamish. As well as preparing a quintet for the Gemini Ensemble, I've had workshops on two short pieces – 'Wavescape' for mezzo-soprano & wineglass, workshopped on Thursday by Alison Wells, and 'Pretty Polly' for...
Next week will see premieres of two short pieces of mine. On Monday 21st, Helen Tonge of the Rivoli String Quartet and pianist Richard Whalley will premiere 'Limp' at a lunchtime recital at St. Werburgh's Church in Manchester. The concert is part of the annual Chorlton Arts Festival, and the concert also features John Casken's 'Shadowed Pieces' and music by...
Thursday sees the premiere of my new piece for the Lancashire Sinfonietta at the Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts' Great Hall. The orchestra is conducted by the Endellion Quartet's Andrew Watkinson who as well as conducting my piece and Mozart's 40th Symphony, will also welcome guitarist Xuefei Yang to play concertos by Bach and Rodrigo. My piece is entitled 'Solvitrambulando',...