It’s a joy to announce performances for some projects that have been stuck in the pipeline for a while! I’m so grateful to both the London Symphony Orchestra and the CRASH Ensemble for their planning (and replanning… and replanning…) in getting my pieces recorded and out there. So, some dates for your diary – on Saturday 10th April at 7pm BST the LSO will broadcast their Soundhub concert for free. You can see the programme and a link to watch it here. The concert features my new work for quartet and electronics, The Union is our God, with lighting design by Kurt Laurenz Theinert. If you’re interested in some background to the piece, I wrote a blog post for the LSO which can be read here. A little sneak preview below…
My new piece for the CRASH Ensemble was written as part of their REACTIONS project, nine responses written by composers from a variety of genres, commissioned during the middle of Ireland’s 2020 lockdown. My contribution (Cross-Purposes, for clarinet, cello, and electronics) was recorded by Leonie Bluett and Kate Ellis, and will be broadcast at two festivals in April. Firstly, at the MusicTown 2021 festival, which runs April 15th-25th (date of my broadcast tba) and then at New Music Dublin on Saturday 24th April at 3:30pm, programme here.
I’m also looking forward to sharing Music for Chairs, some short pieces for marimba and electronics, commissioned by Dance Associate NI and choreographer Suzannah McCreight, and recorded by Alex Petcu. This music was for a dance project with young people run over Zoom by Suzannah, which began back in February and will be recorded sometime this month.
In the busyness of February and March I didn’t get round to making a website post! I’ve been working on a cello suite for Martin Johnson, section leader in the RTE National Symphony Orchestra. I was delighted to get funding from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland to support this recording, and also to record pieces with NY-based pianist Isabelle O’Connell and Welsh guitarist Chris Roberts. These pieces will all feature on my upcoming album, and I’ve been busy planning for its release (Autumn 2021). Thank you so much to ACNI, and also to Moving On Music, who have both provided me with the support and mentoring to bring this album to life.
Some other updates: it was a delightful surprise to hear from pianist Adam Marks that he had performed Building the Tower in New York as part of a series of storefront concerts run by the Kaufman Music Centre. Adam chatted about the piece (and his many cool projects) on the podcast Relevant Tones, and that episode is available here. My choral piece I Thirst was featured in the online exhibition IN/BREAK run by the ITIA department of St. Andrews University, and I was invited to write a short article about the process of writing the piece, which can be read here. Martin Della Vechia and I had an enjoyable time in March taking part in the 21c Guitar Conference, and we presented a lecture-recital on our new collaborative project, which can be seen at 01:31:00 below.
Canadian guitarist Brianna Lemon also gave a fantastic performance of the third movement from my guitar suite Eyewitnesses of His Majesty as part of the conference, and her video can be seen at 01:25:50.