Joyce Lam

Tag: Jerwood Composer+

  • Euchar Gravina: ħsejjes iduru, iduru

    Daniele Ghisi I. Blumen from ‘Weltliche’ (UK premiere)
    David FennessyThe room is the resonator
    Daniele Ghisi III. August from ‘Weltliche’ (UK premiere)
    Liza Lim One and the Other (UK premiere)
    Julia Wolfe East Broadway
    Cassandra Miller Daylonging, Slacktide

    Interval

    Clarence Barlow 1981
    Euchar Gravina Dwawar (“ħsejjes iduru, iduru”) (world premiere)

    Memories and fragments of the past take on new forms in this concert curated by Euchar Gravina, with works that reimagine old music, weathered recordings and emotive sounds.

    Daniele Ghisi’s Weltliche transforms Bach’s secular cantatas into something transcendent, while Clarence Barlow refracts music by Clementi, Schumann and Ravel through mathematical structures to create a new work from historical fragments.

    Cassandra Miller and Liza Lim draw on Georgian and Swedish folk traditions, and nostalgia shapes pieces by Julia Wolfe and David Fennessy. 

    The concert finishes with Euchar Gravina’s new work which draws on recently rediscovered 1930s recordings of music and variety sketches, some of the earliest made in Malta. These weathered artefacts – with all their imperfections, quirks and incidental details – become material in transformation, their spinning, whirling human intricacies shaping sound in the present.

    David Alberman violin
    Chihiro Ono viola
    Colin Alexander cello
    Mark Knoop piano

  • Lisa Robertson: Ceòl na Mara

    Tine Surel Lange Flaskepost (London premiere)
    Katherine Balch Responding to the Waves
    Emily Doolittle Social Sounds of Whales at Night
    Lisa Robertson the inimitable brightness of the air

    Interval

    David Fennessy Changeless and the changed
    Kaija Saariaho Vent Nocturne
    Hans Abrahamsen Storm og Stille
    Lisa Robertson Sluaisreadh (world premiere)

    A contemporary chamber concert from LSO Jerwood Composer+ Lisa Robertson, crafted to transport you to the wild Scottish coasts and explore our connection to the sea and changing climate.

    Lange’s Flaskepost connects the Scottish and Norwegian seaway via a message in a bottle, while the Fennessy carries you to the isolation of the remote Hebridean archipelago of St Kilda. Saariaho’s Vent Nocturne and Lisa’s own the inimitable brightness of the air breathe the salt wind of the coast itself and evoke the waves’ connection to the human breath.

    Doolittle’s Social Sounds of Whales at Night immerses us in the hidden life of the oceans, while Abrahamsen floods the hall with the sea’s thrashing danger and its moments of glassy calm.  Lisa’s new work, Sluaisreadh — from the Gaelic for ‘the sound of waves swirling against the shore’ — traces the ocean’s shifting voice, reflecting all of its sonic qualities, from tranquil to damaged and dangerous. 

    Daniel Shao flute
    David Alberman violin
    Chihiro Ono viola
    Valerie Welbanks cello
    Rachael Gibson electronics

  • Rufus Isabel Elliot: Waves Crash on Old Street

    David Fennessy ‘The Blue Eyed Lassie’ from Piano Trio No. 2 – In Memoriam Spencer Boney
    Christian Mason Efflorescence
    Barbara Monk Feldman Clear Edge
    Martin Arnold Lutra

    Interval

    Britta Byström Baum in der Stadt
    Ryoko Akama 10 days’ etude
    Stuart MacRae Haroldswick
    Rufus Isabel Elliot A way out (world premiere)

    Composer Rufus Isabel Elliot and artists Miek Zwamborn and Rutger Emmelkamp bring the Isle of Mull’s wild Atlantic rainforest of Tireragan to LSO St Luke’s.

    Archival tape hiss becomes harmonic material in David Fennessy’s transcription of The Blue Eyed Lassie. We hear the unfurling of flowers in Mason’s Efflorescence, and we meet the otter who crosses our path in Arnold’s Lutra. Monk Feldman and Akama present chordal piano sequences, exploring open and closed spaces. 

    Elliot’s A way out for piano trio closes the concert, imagining the wavering songs that belong intrinsically to a bivvy place amongst the cliffs of Tireragan – songs that transform a place in the wild into a sleeping place. Featuring visuals by KNOCKvologan Studies, it hopes to bring that place alive in the hall of LSO St Luke’s.

    David Alberman violin
    Louise McMonagle cello
    Mark Knoop piano

  • Anselm McDonnell: The Expanded Violin

    Anselm McDonnell Rusted Sugar
    Kaija Saariaho Nocturne
    Judith Ring Swept Through the Floods
    Kalevi Aho Lamento
    Leo Chadburn De La Salle (Violins)

    Interval

    Ian Wilson Primavera from ‘Quattro Stagioni’
    Chiyoko Szlavnics Quick Figure (for Marc Sabat)
    Chiyoko Szlavnics This is Only Here. This is Only Now.
    Judith Ring Swept Through the Floods
    Anselm McDonnell Genesis Cradle (world premiere)

    A deep dive into the potential of the violin, expanding and enhancing the instrument through microtonality, electronics, and the sound of multiple violins.

    Rusted Sugar enters the world of intervals smaller than a semitone, taking traditional tonal chord progressions and setting them into a landscape of quartertones, sweet synthesisers and funk rhythms. Swept Through the Floods and Lamento present powerful emotional journeys. Leo Chadburn’s De La Salle (Violins) occupies a calmer environment: a drifting soundscape, merging four violins into one voice.

    Ian Wilson’s Primavera takes creates a texture of agile echoes in a violin quartet and Saariaho’s Nocturne is an intimate tribute to Lutosławski. McDonnell’s new work Genesis Cradle closes the concert, exploring alternative tunings through Just Intonation – intervals that are tuned to fit with the naturally occurring relationships in the harmonic series.

    Mira Benjamin violin
    Larissa O’Grady violin
    Chihiro Ono violin
    Amalia Young violin

  • Anselm McDonnell: Politics of the Imagination

    Anselm McDonnell Cross-Purposes
    Joel the Custodian Holy Bones
    Ana Sokolović Vez
    Kosyne Whip
    Gráinne Mulvey Arachnid

    Technical reset – 10 minutes

    Barrowclough The Horologist
    Sungji Hong Black Arrow
    Kosyne Church
    Joel the Custodian Ex-Golf Pro
    Barrowclough Boudicca Bap
    Donnacha Dennehy Paddy

    Interval – 30 minutes

    Anselm McDonnell Politics of the Imagination (world premiere)

    With influences from dubstep to Balkan rhythms, and featuring rappers from Birmingham’s hip-hop scene – composer Anselm McDonnell brings together a concert of playfulness, imagination and politics.

    Set 1: Cross-Purposes takes snippets from public figures apologising for breaking their own pandemic regulations and turns them into rhythmic grooves, accompanied by a sarcastic commentary from clarinet and cello. Vez draws us into a world of fast-paced Balkan rhythms and Arachnid unveils an unstable, skittering groove from long, undulating gestures.

    Set 2: Black Arrow uses electronics to manipulate music from the bass clarinet into new shapes, and PADDY builds layers of ostinatos into complex patterns.

    Set 3: McDonnell’s new piece for clarinet, cello, percussion, sampler and rap artists questions: How can imagination and playfulness inform our politics? What if our solutions to problems were more creative, bizarre or ridiculous?

    Louise McMonagle cello
    Heather Roche clarinet
    Matthew Farthing percussion
    Barrowclough rap artist
    Joel the Custodian rap artist
    Kosyne rap artist

  • Rufus Isabel Elliot: holding, breathing, beating

    Playing on Arrival Marja Ahti Coastal Inversion

    Liza Lim Amulet
    Tansy Davies Dark Ground
    Brian Ferneyhough Cassandra’s Dream Song
    Cassandra Miller for mira

    Interval

    James Weeks winterærc (world premiere)
    Rufus Isabel Elliot I knapped the stone til it was gone / I laid it on the forest floor (world premiere)

    An evening of contemporary chamber music around the themes of protection, entrapment, physicality and autonomy, curated by Rufus Isabel Elliot.

    The abstraction of chamber music opens up difficult and co-existent points of view and emotional states. Entering the room, Coastal Inversions by Swedish-Finnish sound artist Marja Ahti immediately takes us to another place, a sonic scene vibrating all around us, widening our sense of what’s inside and what’s out.

    Liza Lim’s Amulet provides music for protection, keeping us safe for the journey into our imagination that is about to follow. Old stories are retold – ancient rituals are beaten out with modern rhythms in Tansy Davies’ Dark Ground, Ferneyhough makes Cassandra stammer again through her story. Kurt Cobain sings us a dark folk story, torn apart and reformed by Cassandra Miller – performed by violinist Mira Benjamin, the piece’s dedicatee.

    Quiet and reflective, James Weeks’ winterærc is a gentle duet between violin and viola, holding together the instruments’ co-operation and freedom. The evening finishes with a new work by Rufus Isabel Elliot; returning to Greek mythology, it explores the image of Daphne running through the forest.

    Mira Benjamin violin
    Chihiro Ono viola
    Daniel Shao flute
    Sam Walton percussion

  • Des Oliver: UN / CONSCIOUS INFLUENCE

    Des Oliver My Secret Garden
    Dominique le Gendre Songs and Dances of the Islands – Suite No 2 for piano and clarinet in three movements
    Des Oliver “Iconoclast”
    Julius Eastman (trans Des Oliver) Piano Piece I-IV
    Julius Eastman Joy Boy
    Des Oliver American Phoenix (world premiere)

    Des Oliver explores the influences and provocateurs that have shaped his music, from the radical artistry of Julius Eastman to the mentorship of composers Steve Martland and Dominique Le Gendre.

    Julius Eastman, a pioneer of the Fluxus movement, seamlessly fused uptown and downtown contemporary music to create sonic landscapes reminiscent of free-form jazz. Eastman’s unapologetic and radical approach to the concert hall, coupled with his vibrant persona, exuded a sense of urgency that was reflected in his compositions. While many of Eastman’s scores have been lost over time, Des Oliver’s transcription of some of Eastman’s rarest works will allow you to experience the music of an influential artist. 

    Plus hear Des Oliver’s original compositions, including the world premiere of his latest piece, a playful and rhythmic composition for piano, bass clarinet, marimba, and accordion.

    Oliver also transports us to the Caribbean Islands with his mentor, Dominique Le Gendre’s piece that spans centuries of culture through music, art, and dance.

    Scott Lygate clarinet
    Matthew Farthing percussion
    Eliza McCarthy piano
    Miloš Milivojević accordion
    Kennedy Junior Mutanga dancer

  • Hollie Harding: Theories of Forgetting

    Playing on Arrival Pauline Oliveros Mnemonic III

    Christophe Bertrand Dikha (UK premiere)
    Laurence Crane Riis
    Joanna Bailie Trains

    Playing in Interval James Saunders Overlay (with Transience)

    Johan Svensson Double Dubbing (Firefly Suite)
    Bent Sørensen Looking on Darkness
    Hollie Harding Theories of Forgetting (world premiere)

    Memories of places are transcribed into music in Pauline Oliveros’ Mnemonic III and Bent Sørensen’s Looking on Darkness. A performer tests his memory across a three-month process of recording and re-recording in James Saunders’ overlay (with transience). And Joanna Bailie’s Trains makes use of field recording as a preserved memory, capturing a moment in time. Plus there are UK and London premieres by Christophe Bertrand and Johan Svensson alongside Laurence Crane’s mesmeric Riis.

    Hollie Harding shares her new work Theories of Forgetting, a multi-movement piece exploring personal memories involving sound. She revisits moments and musical objects from her past, using found materials unearthed from forgotten Dictaphone cassette tapes, past pieces, captured places in field recordings, and faded and transformed childhood memories.

    Heather Roche clarinet
    Colin Alexander cello
    Eva Zöllner accordion

  • Hollie Harding: FERAL

    Playing on Arrival Hildegard Westerkamp Cricket Voice

    Carola Bauckholt Doppelbelichtung (UK premiere)
    Leo Chadburn Five Loops for the Bathyscaphe
    Matthew Burtner Fragments from the Cold

    Playing in Interval Alwynne Pritchard   Oslo-Emmaus

    John Luther Adams Three High Places
    Joanna Bailie Artificial Environment No. 8
    Hollie Harding (composer)/ Joshua Ben-tovim (director) FERAL (world premiere)

    Descend through the deep sea to the Mariana Trench in Leo Chadburn’s Five Loops for the Bathyscaphe. Explore the interplay between piano and environmental sound in Joanna Bailie’s Artificial Environments. Experience the twin worlds of violins and birds, brought together in the UK premiere of Carola Bauckholt’s Doppelbelichtung (Double Exposure), and be transported to Alaskan landscapes evoked by the works of eco-political composers Matthew Burtner and John Luther Adams.

    Composer and curator Hollie Harding will also present the world premiere of FERAL, an audio-visual piece based on the book Feral: Rewilding the Land, Sea, and Human Life by George Monbiot, and created in collaboration with choreographer and director Josh Ben-Tovim. The piece explores themes of rewilding, ecological crisis and human connection with the natural world.

    David Alberman violin
    Laure Le Dantec cello
    Eliza McCarthy piano

  • Des Oliver: The Diasporic Quartets

    Film excerpts from ‘Identity and the Anxiety of Influence   What Does It Mean To Be A Black Composer?’ (re-edited)
    Des Oliver Movements 2 & 1 from ‘The Diasporic Quartets (portraits in four movements)’ (world premiere)

    Interval  

    Philip Herbert In Contemplation (world premiere)
    Daniel Kidane Foreign Tongues
    Dominique Le Gendre Le Génie Humain
    Tunde Jegede Quartet No 2 – Reflecting on Beethoven Opus 18 No 2

    Beginning with excerpts from the documentary that inspired this concert, then follows Des Oliver’s musical response,The Diasporic Quartets. Consisting of four portrait movements, of which two will be performed today, the piece takes inspiration from the music of each composer and their interactions during filming.

    More works for string quartet express each composer’s relationship with heritage and tradition. Tunde Jegede’s second quartet is an authentic synthesis of West African and classical musical traditions. French Caribbean music combined with French classical music and pop suffuse Dominique Le Gendre’s soundworld. Drawing on his Russian and Eritrean heritage, Daniel Kidane brings elements of grime and urban music to his work, while Philip Herbert finds inspiration in African-American spirituals and English pastoral music.

    Darragh Morgan violin
    Sarah Quinn violin
    Anna Bastow viola
    Ève-Marie Caravassilis cello