|
--- + COMPOSERS + ---
Joe Cutler (b.1968) One of England’s
leading composers, Joe Cutler teaches composition at the
Birmingham Conservatoire
and is a founder member of the new music collect ive, Noszferatu.
His music is performed and broadcast all over the world
and has won many international prizes. Among his recent
works are a piece for the Schubert Ensemble, Jack the Diamond’s
Jamming Station (a BBC commission, in collaboration with
Dutch video artist Jaap Drupsteen) the incidental music
to the award-winning National Theatre production Humble
Boy (a play by Charlotte Jones) and La Hora Cero.
“
My music often explores a world of extremes, contrasting
pounding rhythmic energy with exquisite delicacy and draws
upon extra-musical influences such as the writings of Jack
Kerouac, or visual artists like Willem de Kooning and Mark
Rothko…. I have an attraction to unconventional performance
groups ...”
top David Horne (b. 1970) Widely regarded
as one of the most talented Scottish composers of his generation,
Horne established himself first as a pianist while still
in his teens, making his BBC Proms debut in 1990. His compositions
include ensemble scores such as Out of the Air and the
Concerto for Six Players, the Double Violin Concerto, the
music theatre work Beyond the Blue Horizon and the opera
Friend of the People. He is Composer in Association with
the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and his new
Concerto for Orchestra will receive its premiere by them,
conducted by Clark Rundell on May 25.
“
I’m interested in the natural qualities of instruments,
and how they can be combined, creating musical hybrids.
Harmonic language is also very important and frequently
I’ll use the nature of the instruments I’m
writing for to dictate this. In the case of Zip the resonance
of the open strings of the cello (the work begins on a
low C) is the genesis for most of the musical material
and in Shiver the work’s open G, and the aural punning
the different pizzicato harmonics create, similarly opens
up a new world of musical ideas for me. Both the works
contain a degree of virtuosic energy - another trait found
in all of my music.” www.davidhorne.co.uk
top Nick Shardlow (b.1987) The youngest of our featured composers, 17 year
old Nick Shardlow began composing at an early age after
beginning to study violin at age 5 and was BBC Proms/Guardian
Young Composer of the Year in 2003; he is currently in
his final year at Chetham’s. His first String Quartet
was performed at the recent Quartetfest and among his latest
works are a Wind and String Octet, a Piano Sonata, Walzer
for String Trio and Tribute for Large Orchestra. Nick hopes
to study music at Kings College, Cambridge.
“
What I write obtains much of its influence from early 20th
century composers, especially Stravinsky, Bartók,
Schoenberg, Ravel and Prokofiev. I am influenced to a degree
by American minimalism and a lot of my works are therefore
scored for small groups… but I take inspiration from
the texturing and vividness of the French Impressionists.
I am not a serialist and I attempt to reconcile these different
worlds in my music”
top Reinhard Fuchs (b.1974) The Austrian
composer Reinhard Fuchs is renowned for his complex ensemble
works and his work has been awarded numerous international
prizes. His works are characterised by a tightly woven
musical structure and many of them have strong literary
influences. His major compositions include Blue Poles for
Large Ensemble, Quake for Flute, Viola and Trombone and
Wo Angst auf Umhülle prallt for Large Orchestra. Fuchs
is currently working on commissions for the Arditti Quartet
and for Klangforum Wien.
“
My music is very influenced by painting and literature.
I am interested in very dense, energetic textures with
focus on timbre. In Und… the text is often disjointed …and
the music examines the words’ sound peculiarities.
This is also transferred to the piano where the palette
of sound is expanded by actions of the body”
top Gabriele
Proy (b.1965) The Austrian composer and leading electro-acoustic
sound-artist teaches Soundscape composition at the University
of Vienna, at the Danube University in Krems and the School
for Radiotechnology in Nurnberg. She is President of the
Soundscape Forum FKL and lectures internationally. Her
most important works include Schlachthof I (1993), Voices
(1994), Binary Voices I (1995), Radiohorizonte (1995),
Binary Voices II (1996), Wien West Bahnhof (1997), Water-Lily
(1997), Sasari (1997) Klingende Werkstatt (1998), Lagom
(1999), Damenspiel (2001), Habana (2002/2003).
“
In my works, I focus on the sensitisation of listening,
production and reproduction of any kind of sound. I regard
the acoustic environment not in terms of noise but as a
vibrant orchestra, an abundance of interesting tone colours
that have to be interpreted by means of music. I create
poetic images of this environment - compositional sound
portraitswhich evoke sound memories and develop sound.”
top Lukas
Haselboeck (b.1972) The Austrian composer Lukas Haselboeck
was born into a family of musicians and as well as being
a composer, he is an accomplished singer and musicologist,
lectures and writes on music and his works have won many
international awards. Among his major compositions are
Metamorphosen for Violin and Orchestra, a Violin Sonate,
mobile for Wind Quintet, a Klavierstück for Joseph
Horovitz’s 75th birthday and many songs. His treatise
Twelve-tone music and Tonality will be published later
this year.
“
This piece for organ is my only excursion into minimalism.
The minimalist fluctuations of the music is the essential
aspect and the steady movement highlights the harmonic
targets which form stations of the development….
In my music I always try to write on exact harmonic structures
and although complex, the music I write is related to musical
tradition”
top
--- ++ ARTISTS ++ ---
Isabel Ettenauer (Toy Piano) is an outstanding
young performer and frequently develops unusual projects.
She has performed in many European countries, in the UK
and the USA and is a regular guest at international festivals.
In January 2001 she received much critical attention for
her performances of John Cage’s Sonatas and Interludes
for Prepared Piano at the Festival Hall, London and in
St. Pölten, Austria. In February 2001 Isabel started
her newest project The Joy of Toy in which she plays new
music written for Toy Piano. On Isabel’s schedule
for Spring 2004 there are concerts in France (Evan Johnson’s
music theatre work Se Relire contre le Piano-Jouet for
Toy Piano and two actors under the direction of Richard
Brunel at the opera of Lille) and in the Netherlands (The
Joy of Toy at Het Muziekcentrums Hertogenbosch).
top
Richard
Harwood (Cello) Since his critically acclaimed concerto
debut at the age of ten, Richard Harwood has performed
concerti and recitals in most of the major British concert
halls. Concerto tours and recital performan-ces have taken
him abroad to New Zealand, Austria, and the Russian Federation.
He made his BBC Radio 3 debut at the age of thirteen with
the Elgar Concerto and he has since recorded Tchaikovsky’s
Variations on a Rococo Theme. Richard has a passion for
chamber music and collaborates with Christoph Berner, Connie
Shih, Gretel Dowdeswell, and the Gramophone Award-winning
artist Julius Drake. Contemporary music plays an important
role for Richard. In January 2002, he took part in the
PLG Young Artists’ Series on the South Bank and premiered
solo works written for him by Dominic Muldowney and Martin
Butler. He has also worked with Philip Grange and given
the London premiere of his Nocturnal Image. Richard has
won countless awards, most recently the prestigious 2004
Pierre Fournier Award for cellists. Richard plays a cello
by Francesco Rugeri, dated 1682. www.richardharwood.com top Lore
Lixenberg (Soprano) The mezzo soprano Lore Lixenberg is
a performer of spectacular intensity and expressiveness.
She has performed throughout Europe at numerous prestigious
festivals including the Salzburger Festspiele, Wien Modern,
Oslo’s Ultima and the festivals in Lucerne, Edinburgh,
Witten, Donaueschingen and Aldeburgh. Lore Lixenberg’s
rich experience in the area of music theatre includes a
performance of Weill’s The Firebrand of Florence
alongside Thomas Hampson at the Konzerthaus in Vienna.
At the Salzburg Festival she sang in Guy Vivier’s
Marco Polo with Klangforum Wien. She has also sung Miss
Donnithorne in Peter Maxwell Davies’ Miss Donnithorne’s
Maggot at the Almeida Theatre and Mrs Green in Birtwistle’s
Down by the Greenwood Side. Most recently Lore Lixenberg
has performed the role of Baby Jane in the highly acclaimed
Jerry Springer - The Opera at London’s National Theatre,
a production now in the West End. She also regularly performs
as part of a trio with Rolf Hind and David Alberman. Together
with Joanna MacGregor she featured in the BBC2 television
series Strings, Bows and Bellows, and with performance
artist Simon Munnery in the avant-garde comedy series Attention
Scum, also on BBC2.
top The Aurora Ensemble This prize-winning
ensemble is one of the busiest contemporary music chamber
groups in the UK and directs its own chamber music course
at Harkwood College. A leading member of Manahan’s
Live Music Now!, it takes music into the wider community
and undertakes many education projects for children. The
Auroras are commissioning a new work from Ronan Guilfoyle
this year. top
The New Ensemble of the Royal Northern
College of Music is the contemporary music group
of the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester, and
is directed by Clark Rundell. With the enviable resources
of “one of the finest music colleges in Europe” (Daily
Telegraph), the New Ensemble is able to programme concerts
of tremendous variety and musical integrity by drawing
on the exceptional talents of senior RNCM students. The
New Ensemble also provides unique laboratory sessions for
RNCM composers, allowing them to experiment musically with
performers on a regular basis. They have made several broadcasts
on BBC Radio Three and in 2000 they released their first
commercial recording of the music of Anthony Gilbert on
the prestigious NMC label. Recent highlights include sharing
the platform with the BBC Philharmonic for the MacMillan
in Manchester concerts in which the composer conducted
the second performances of his major works Raising Sparks
and Parthenogenesis, and participation in the RNCM’s
major composer festivals exploring the works of Henze,
Birtwistle, Gruber and others. www.rncm.ac.uk top
Clark Rundell is Director of
Contemporary Music at the Royal Northern College of Music,
Manchester
and Music Director for the Manchester University Symphony
Orchestra. He is deeply committed to the performance of
new music and regularly conducts the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic
Orchestra, Ensemble 10:10. Recent highlights include the
Philharmonia Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall, a recording
of new works by Stephen McNeff with the BBC Concert Orchestra,
the world première of a work by Australian composer
Gerard Brophy with the BBC Philharmonic, plus concerts
with the Hallé Orchestra and the Northern Sinfonia.
Future engagements include further concerts and broadcasts
with the BBC Philharmonic and BBC Concert Orchestra plus
concerts and recordings with the Philharmonia Orchestra
and the RLPO amongst others. |
