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Next week, Soprano Akane Kudo shall be including my piece 'Trohmos' for Soprano, percussion and Fixed Electronics in her very exciting soprano and electronics concert, 'Socrates and Electronics' with Arima Sumihisa at Suginami Koukaido concert hall! As it will be the first time for me to have a piece performed in Japan, I am understandably highly anticipating it! The concert will feature work by distinguished composers, Kaija Saariaho, Toshi Ichiyanagi, John Cage and Eric Satie.
Akane Kudo presents 'Socrates and Electronics' Thursday 18th August, 7pm, Suginami Koukaido, Tokyo.
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I'm incredibly pleased to announce that after about 8 months of living in Japan, I am now starting to create a musical life here! By that I mean, I have managed to make some space in my brain to compose once again (learning Japanese has been taking up a lot of the space!) and I have concerts on the horizon:
Commission for Shakuhachi and Biwa Duo: I have been commissioned by Kumiko Shuto (Biwa) and Kifu Mitsuhashi (shakuhachi) to collaborate on a new piece for them to perform in a lecture concert in the Czech Republic whilst they tour Toru Takemitsu's "November Steps" in June, 2016. A fantastic opportunity and a huge learning curve, for which I am incredibly grateful. The piece is currently in progress; it is in 3 movements and shall be titled "Blood, Bile and Breath". More information to come soon! "Trohmos" to be performed by soprano Akane Matsudaira: My piece "Trohmos" for soprano, percussion and fixed electronics shall be performed by Akane Matsudaira in August, 2016. Akane-san has curated a concert of soprano and electronics works along with Sumihisa Arima (electronics). She is a fascinating performer and I am very excited to see her take on my piece! Concert with Kumiko Shuto: I shall also have the opportunity to perform with Kumiko-san in concert in November, 2016. Kumiko-san is also an accomplished pianist and has curated a concert of biwa works and piano works. In the first half of the concert, we shall perform a new piece for flute and biwa and in the second half we shall perform my piece 'Kagi' for flute/piccolo and biwa. This will be "Kagi"'s premier; perhaps quite fitting as the piece is inspired by the work of the Japanese author, Junichiro Tanizaki. Participation in Senju Dajare Community Music Group: In February, I had the good fortune to meet Makoto Nomura and be invited to take part in his Senju Dajare Community Music band - a group of professional and non-professional musicians based in Tokyo who regularly give concerts that engage with local and international communities. I took part in their concert in February which presented the work they had recently done in Thailand, creating an opera with children, and hope to be involved in future projects. I am delighted to announce that I have been selected by the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation for their 2015 Daiwa Scholar programme, enabling me to study and work in Tokyo for the next 19 months! I, along with 5 other young professionals in diverse fields, will be studying Japanese at Naganuma school, an international school for the study of Japanese for 1 year, followed by a month homestay and a 6 month work placement in our chosen fields. The aim of the scholarship is to "offer young and talented UK citizens with strong leadership potential, the opportunity to acquire Japanese language skills, and to access expertise and knowledge relevant to their career goals."
Since I have had a strong interest in (particularly traditional) Japanese culture for many years and have been influenced by certain aspects of Japanese literature, music and aesthetics in my own compositions, I felt it was about time I spent a significant amount of time in the country, learning the language and engaging with the culture. I am determined to learn at least one traditional Japanese instrument (shakuhachi and biwa are high up my list!) and will spend my work placement in the fields of composition and music in a community and theraputic setting. Excited doesn't even cover it! I shall document my experiences in a separate blog: FRANJAPAN - the link can be found above. In other news, Gavin Osborn shall be performing my piece 'Far From Arcadia' for flute and fixed media at the RMA Conference, University of Birmingham, Eldar Concert Hall, Wednesday 9th September as part of the Trio Atem concert. Looking forward to it! Sounds of the Engine House shall be giving an exciting concert on Friday 5th June at the International Anthony Burgess Foundation which shall feature my piece 'Adaptations' which won the 2014 Composition Competition. There will also be new pieces by SOTEH members Ben Gaunt and David Curington, music by emerging composers from New Zealand's SMP Ensemble and _scape and they will joined in some fantastic playing by my good friend, Leanne Cody. Come on down!
The electronics in the piece were produced during my residency at EMS in Stockholm in 2014 and also during a short residency at NOVARS, University of Manchester in June 2015. Many thanks go to Ricardo Climent for making this possible! I am delighted to announce that after a very engaging and successful workshop with Sounds of the Engine House last month, I have been selected as the winner of the Composition Award 2014! This means that I shall develop a piece for the ensemble to be performed in their 2015 season, very exciting! To see more about the ensemble, award and the fantastic pieces the other two composers (Andrew Crossley and Yfat Soul Zisso), visit the SOTEH website. A recording of my work-in-progress can be found on my 'composition' page, titled 'Adaptations'. It includes some electronics that I developed during my residency at EMS in August 2014.
So October is shaping up to be a busy month for me:
Sunday 12th October - workshop with Manchester based group, Sounds of the Engine House, as part of there 2014 Composition Award. The piece-in-progress is for oboe, clarinet, mezzo soprano, cello and percussion and I have included some electronics that I created throughout my residency at EMS in Stockholm back in August. Looking forward to meeting the players and members of the group next weekend! Tuesday 14th October - Trio Atem give an exciting evening concert at St Ann's Church, Manchester. The flautist of the trio, Gavin Osborn, kindly asked me to write him a short piece which shall feature in the concert. The piece, 'Far From Arcadia', is for solo flute and electronics (which I also created in my residency in EMS - productive eh?), It is inspired by the Greek God Pan, like another famous flute piece(!) and explores how an ancient god might make his way through an modern, alien environment. Music by Kurtag, Fabrice Fitch, Saariaho, Camden Reeves and Tom Coult shall feature among others - a great chance to hear some exciting music by a fantastic contemporary trio! Tuesday 21st-Wednesday 22nd October - TENSO Days in Latvia! Although the young composers workshop shall not be happening until later in the year, we have still been invited to come to the festival and enjoy the concerts, talks and workshops the festival has to offer. Will be lovely to see the friendly TENSO faces again :) After working hard in Stockholm for the past 2 weeks, I have certainly learnt a lot from working in the brilliant studios and have produced some bits and pieces which will hopefully become parts of future pieces...got lots of ideas! Next project: I am incredibly pleased to be selected for the second round of TENSO Young Composer Workshops, working with the Latvian Radio Choir in September! Need to get cracking on more choral ideas and excited to see Nuno da Rocha and Georgi Sztojanov, fellow composers, again!
I am currently in the beautiful city of Stockholm, undertaking a residency at the Elektronmusikstudion for 2 weeks. I decided I wanted to further explore what I can do in the field of electroacoustic music, so why not do it somewhere exciting! I highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in working in studios within any genre of music.
Excited to try out the underwater microphones! George Barton (percussion) and Siwan Rhys (piano) shall be premiering my new piece 'Saida Portraits' written for New Dots in The Forge, Camden, London on 10th June. Excited already! You can read about my piece in a blog post I did for the New Dots website and check out my inspiration for the piece. You can also buy tickets for the concert on the website, hint hint!
I have been selected to take part in the Tenso Young Composers Workshop in Mechelen, Belgium 16th-18th May! The workshop is part of the Tenso Days International Festival for Contemporary Choral Music and I shall be taking fragments of a choral piece to be workshopped by DR VokalEnsemblet with composer/conductor James Wood and composer Leo Samama.
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Sound & Word Network News from the network co-founded by Francesca Tree Bark Recipes Curated by Ana Gnjatovic Archives
May 2021
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