Had such a blast conducting the UK premiere of ‘Pythagoras’ Toolkit’ last week. Very grateful to Turner Sims, especially Jessica Santer, for all their support. Great to work with regular musical collaborators (Nici Heinrich, Anna Durance, Amy Green, Ali Hughes) but also happy to wave at Rowland Sutherland, Cat Lawlor, Aaron Townsend and Bob Allan. Amazing puppetry work from Edie Edmundson and Bori Mezo. Awesome lights from David Duffy. Rachel Warr was brilliant as always directing. Thanks to Tom Crame for the photos. Hope we can do it again soon.
Really excited about upcoming UK premiere of Pythagoras’ Toolkit at Turner Sims on 30 March (and two schools shows on 31 March). Great musicians and puppeteers lined up to learn and perform the piece this side of the Atlantic for the first time!
Super happy The Driver Kickstarter is now fully funded! Very excited to get production rolling on the vinyl and the books/scores printed too. Thanks to everyone that has got on board with this awesome project.
Had an amazing time playing with Declare Sextet at Turner Sims a few weeks. My Uncle, Markus Kinch, captured some brilliant pictures. Was awesome to work with these amazing musicians: Nick Willsher, Tamar Osborn, Francesca Ter-Berg, George Balmont and Jake Long, with a very special guest slot from Liz Gre. Looking forward to editing together the recordings to share with the world and to hearing how the Yangon crew play the same music at their gig in November! Thanks again to British Council for funding.
Luke Wright and I have just launched a Kickstarter to fund the production of vinyl and books of ‘The Driver’. The first couple of days have been awesome, sold lots of rewards. Go grab yourself a bargain!
Had a fantastic time returning to Montreal this week for performances of Pythagoras’ Toolkit promoted by Le Vivier and Bach Before Bedtime. Was really fun working with the musicians from Ensemble Paramirabo again and of course the Dotted Line crew director/co-creator Rachel Warr and puppeteers Gilbert Taylor and Edie Edmundson.
Had an amazing few days putting together The Driver for the premiere featuring Luke Wright and the Hartley Loop Orchestra. We got some nice coverage from the University.
Big plans on way to record the piece at end of April to produce a vinyl!
I’ve been on research leave from University over the last few months. I’ve written a sax and percussion duo Shuffle (more on that soon I hope) and nearly finished the editing of a new 45-minute poetry-music piece with the wonderful poet Luke Wright called The Driver. We will premiere this piece in February with an orchestra of students at Turner Sims in Southampton. The gig is free (details in Events)!
The piece narrates the life of a driver from behind the wheel, taking in the ring roads, flyovers, service stations, leisure parks, motels and lay-bys of England. It’s both a travelogue of England’s least glamorous places and the story of a break-up, a love poem to being away and our ability to keep on going. It’s sad, celebratory and caustic with all the squalor and romance the road has to offer.
The music I’ve written sometimes underscores Luke’s poetry, and sometimes comes to the fore. It draws on a range of music from England including some medieval polyphony shared with me by my ace colleague Amy Williamson as well as music by Purcell (linked up to me by Andrew Pinnock) and Parry. There’s also recordings from inside a car, including recordings I took driving up to Fleet Services with a posh microphone in the passenger seat back in 2019!!
It’s been great working on this project with Luke and been a long time coming as we started it before the pandemic. I’m grateful to the Department of Music for helping make this happen and super excited to share The Driver with the world!
Really excited to be going back to Montreal with the Pythagoras’ Toolkit crew Rachel Warr (director), Gilbert Taylor and Edie Edmundson (puppeteers) in February 2024. Playing the piece with the amazing Ensemble Paramirabo again. Five performances will be co-presented by Le Vivier, Bach Before Bedtime and Une école montréalaise pour tous.
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