Thursday 29 November 2012

In Memory of Objects VIDEO. (2 Willow Rd. Project)

Following my collaboration with artist Zachary Eastwood-Bloom (which you can read about here), Sapphire Goss made a video about the whole project, with Zac explaining! Very well made. Watch now!



Monday 26 November 2012

Winner of the 2013 Grawemeyer Award...

Michel Van Der Aa, one of my favourite ALIVE contemporary composers, has been awarded the University of Louisville's 2013 Grawemeyer Award, in recognition of his multimedia cello work Up-close for cello, string ensemble, electronic soundtrack and film. I got to attend the UK premiere of Up-close at the Barbican and am not surprised at all that this work was chosen. The work is defined by the way the live string ensemble interacts with the old woman in the film, whose actions appear to reflect the solo cellist. The combination of stage drama, music and visual is what Van Der Aa does best.

The award is one of the world's most lucrative prizes amounting to $100,000. 

Saturday 24 November 2012

Tuesday 20 November 2012

My first Thanksgiving...anything.

I'm British, which means Thanksgiving isn't really a 'thing' here, but I attended a Thanksgiving Concert given by some exchange students from Boston University and had a great time!

It was refreshing to be in a more casual setting, especially when every concert I go to seems to be really serious and reserved. The programme was a mixture of more serious pieces such as Bach or Ibert's Flute Concerto (which was mega-impressive), to crazy-good arrangements of Carol of the Bells and Sleigh Ride for the following instruments:

2 flutes
1 trumpet
1 french horn
2 tubas
1 saxophone
1 piano
1 violin
Oh, not forgetting the use of wooden spoons, and the good ol' hands for percussion during Sleigh Ride.

If you think that's an insane combination of instruments to arrange for, damn straight it is, but they made it work and I was blown away.

Of course, the promise of cupcakes, snacks and wine never fails to please.

Hopefully, I can persuade my Boston friends to let me put a recording up on here. Stay tuned!

Friday 9 November 2012

Sibelius is saved!!

After a huge scare when the London office for Sibelius was shut down and the future of the software was hanging by a thread, Hamburg-based company Steinberg has signed on Sibelius. A new London office will open next week.

This is good news to Sibelius users, and though I'm sure we all benefited greatly from the 25% discount on Sib 7 upgrades from Avid, we're also very pleased it won't be the last version of Sibelius we will see again.

Monday 5 November 2012

RIP Elliott Carter

Another great composer has passed away. Elliott Carter died today at the age of 103. I always got the impression this great man could live forever. It is very sad indeed.

Carter was one of the most productive composers, especially in his later years (publishing more than 40 works just between the ages of 90-100) and won the Pulitzer Prize twice.

I will leave you to listen to his 2nd String Quartet.


Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...