Category Archives: Gigs

‘Pythagoras’ Toolkit’

I’m really delighted that Pythagoras’ Toolkit, led by Ensemble Paramirabo (Montreal) and involving me as co-creator, composer and conductor, has been awarded funding from the Canadian Council for the Arts.

In Pythagoras’ Toolkit Rachel Warr (co-creator/director, Dotted Line Theatre) and I will bring to life, through puppetry and live music, a modern-day Pythagoras who will explore sound, space (conceptual/sound/realworld), rhythm, harmony and dissonance (order and chaos), instrument making/design, dance, musical textures and ways of constructing music.

The production, currently planning for a tour in 2021, will feature musicians from Ensemble Paramirabo (Canada), Workers Union Ensemble (UK) and two musically literate puppeteers working with a specially created Pythagoras puppet.

Rachel and I are concocting ideas already… more soon!

Elizabeth Kenny CD and tour

Superstar theorbo player Liz Kenny has recorded my Extending from the inside (2014) for her new solo CD coming out on Linn Records this summer. She is doing a prestige tour to promote the disc taking in Cleveland Institute of Music, Aldeburgh Festival, Oxford Festival of the Arts and the Wigmore Hall.

‘The Virus Within: Hearing HIV’ at Turner Sims

It was great to perform The Virus Within: Hearing HIV with Workers Union Ensemble and Chad Swanson at Turner Sims as part of the University of Southampton Science and Engineering Day 2019.

Some lovely feedback from the audience including:

” A fascinating window in composition”
” Amazing innovation. Meaningful. Science in musical language”
“Intellectual synethesia ending with hope”

My colleague Jeanice Brooks got some fantastic photos too…


\\\’The Virus Within: Hearing HIV\\\’ @ Science & Engineering Day – Turner Sims Concert Hall – Southampton – 16/03/19

What
'The Virus Within: Hearing HIV' @ Science & Engineering Day
When
Saturday, March 16, 2019
TBC
-
12+
Buy Tickets
Where
Turner Sims Concert Hall
(map)
University of Southampton
Southampton
Other Info
Performances of 'The Virus Within: Hearing HIV' at the University of Southampton Science and Engineering Day. Workers Union Ensemble will play with Chad Swanson providing scientific input!

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SHIFTS

Had a fantastic time last week doing SHIFTS with students and colleagues from University of Southampton Music Department and brilliant percussionist Joley Cragg. Videos to come soon but here are a few pics, thanks to Amy Williamson.

Performing Drew Crawford‘s Waves Of…

SHIFTS – Turner Sims Concert Hall – Southampton – 27/01/19

What
SHIFTS
When
Sunday, January 27, 2019
7:00pm
-
All Ages
Where
Turner Sims Concert Hall
(map)
University of Southampton
Southampton
Other Info
A concert by the Music Department's HARTLEY Loop Orchestra, directed by Ben Oliver

The minimalist movement was one of the key shifts in contemporary music of the last fifty years, with the focus on repetition, limitation and employing clear processes exerting influence on a wide range of artists and musical genres.

In this concert leading visiting musicians will play alongside students and staff in performances of Steve Reich’s superb 'Music for a Large Ensemble' (1979), Lois V. Vierk’s post-minimal masterpiece 'Red Shift' (1989) and three new works by Southampton faculty composers Drew Crawford, Brona Martin and Benjamin Oliver.

Each work will subvert and shift expectations in compelling ways.

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SHIFTS

Super excited about a project I’m directing next month, SHIFTS, which will feature students from the University of Southampton Music Department performing as part of the Hartley Loop Orchestra at Turner Sims. We’ll be performing music by Steve Reich and Lois V. Vierk as well as new pieces by my super cool colleagues Drew Crawford and Brona Martin. I’ve written a new version of a solo percussion piece I wrote for the London Sinfonietta a few years ago – this time featuring large ensemble and called Changing Up + (rather than Changing Up!). Fellow Workers Union family member Joley Cragg is coming to play the solo part. More details on the poster below!