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Composers’ Digest Autumn 2011
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CONTENTS
WELCOME
Welcome
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Scottish Music Centre Composition Marathon
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Members’ Reception
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YMI Training and CPD Fund
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Edward McGuire and sound 2011
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Fidelio Trio and Paragon Ensemble’s Song of Seals
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Hebrides Ensemble’s American Pioneers
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Andrew Cruickshank’s Miss Smith and Cryptic’s Little Match Girl Passion 11 Autumn Podcast
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Performance Details
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Opportunities
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Scottish Music Centre Mobile
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Next Issue
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It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to the Autumn 2011 edition of our Composers’ Digest, as this issue signals a year since the launch of our first publication. I am pleased to announce that over this time we have noticed an increase in the number of performances featuring Scottish composers, many more exciting opportunities, several new members and, most importantly, we have established a closer dialogue with all involved with the centre. Running in conjunction with our digests is of course our bimonthly podcasts and thanks to recent developments, all of these enthralling interviews can now be located on the Scottish Music Centre website. Our latest recording features composer member Julian Wagstaff. In addition to all of the above, the Scottish Music Centre is busier than ever… we are involved in a wealth of exciting projects and events, our education and outreach is rapidly expanding, we now administer the YMI Training and Continuing Professional Development Fund, several of our colleagues have just returned from representing the centre at the IAMIC conference in Warsaw, Poland and the IMC/EMC conference in Tallinn, Estonia and, to top it all off, we have enjoyed the company and expertise of Margrethe (Norway) and Estelle (France) who have been visitng the centre over the past two weeks as part of the IAMIC Cultural Exchange programme. As always, we would like to wish you the very best of luck with any approaching opportunities and please endeavour to keep us informed with the results! Christopher Glasgow Communications Officer
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SCOTTISH MUSIC CENTRE COMPOSITION MARATHON
For more information on this project, please contact Christopher Glasgow, Communications Officer:
In March 2012 Bang on a Can are coming to Scotland for Glasgow Concert Halls’ Minimal: Extreme and to mark this occasion, the Scottish Music Centre are launching a unique project, a Composition Marathon inspired by the organisation’s iconic performance festivals. The aim of this project is to challenge composers to create a brand new work in the Scottish Music Centre over the course of 8-12 hours on Saturday 24th March 2012, with guidance provided by members of Bang on a Can and other influential figures such as friends of and those frequently involved with the Centre. Following this, on Sunday 25th March, performers will be invited to workshop and rehearse scores with the composers, culminating in a final performance in the Old Fruitmarket. Additionally, the centre will be open throughout both days for invited guests to observe and network. The official call for applications will be released on Tuesday 1st November 2011 with a deadline of Wednesday 1st February 2012. Following this, a maximum of 10 composers will be selected for entry in the marathon. Applicants will be notified of their selection (or not) by Wednesday 22nd February and those who are successful will be invited to attend a welcome reception in the centre. Please note that the minimum age requirement is 18, however, there is no upper limit.
chris.glasgow@scottishmusccentre.com
Featured Ensemble: Bang on a Can
SCOTTISH MUSIC CENTRE MEMBERS’ RECEPTION The Scottish Music Centre hosted their second Members’ Reception on Friday 23rd September. Proving even more successful than the first, numerous composer and group/small business members networked alongside chamber ensembles, soloists, music students, friends of the centre and the team from Music News Scotland. The event was held in conjunction with Glasgow Concert Halls’ Labyrinth of Light: Craig Armstrong with special guests AGF, Icebreaker and Alex Smoke. This mesmerising event presented the musicians in the Old Fruitmarket, set against the unique backdrop of land artist, Jim Buchanan’s labyrinth – an ankle-deep water maze which members of the audience could explore freely whilst images of their travels were projected above the stage. Icebreaker performed Terry Riley’s minimalist classic In C, Alex Smoke presented his electronica version of the same
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piece and headliners Craig Armstrong and AGF premièred their latest work, Eilean.
EDWARD MCGUIRE Together with Alba Brass and Sax Ecosse, the Whistlebinkies premièred Edward McGuire’s Work-In at UCS: A Celebration Suite at a sold-out gala concert in the Mitchell Theatre on the 1st October. The other performers in the concert included singers such as Jimmie MacGregor, Arthur Johnstone and Alastair McDonald who had taken part in fund raising concerts during the 1971 work-in at the Upper Clydeside Shipyards.
Featured Work: Jim Buchanan’s Labyrinth
YMI TRAINING AND CPD FUND The Youth Music Initiative Training and Continuing Professional Development Fund opened for applications in July 2011. It is provided by the Youth Music Initiative and is now administered on their behalf by the Scottish Music Centre. This fund is specifically aimed at supporting the Training and Continuing Professional Development of individuals and organisations working with children and young people in the informal sector. Awards to individuals will generally be within the range of £100 to £750, while the range for organisations will normally fall between £500 and £5,000. For application forms and full details of the eligibility criteria, please visit: http://www.scottishmusiccentre.com/ymitraining
Featured Ensemble: The Whistlebinkies
SOUND 2011 Running over three weeks from 21st October – 13th November, the 2011 sound Festival offers more than 70 performances and events in around 30 venues across North East Scotland. The programme showcases the broad mix of new music for which sound has become recognised from instrumental to choral, jazz and electro-acoustic, and over 40 World, UK and Scottish premières. sound “regulars” including Red Note Ensemble, Scottish Flute Trio, Hoot, Ross Whyte, Pete Stollery and Bill Thompson, are joined in 2011 by an array of “newcomers” including the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra with Bobby Wellins, Curious Chamber Players, Stavanger Vocalensemble, EXAUDI Vocal Ensemble and Endymion, Auriga Wind Quintet
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of the Lapland Chamber Orchestra and more. This year’s sound Festival also includes the biennial University of Aberdeen Music Prize competition, and to celebrate the beginning of the 3-way partnership with Bergen and St Petersburg will feature Nordic composers with a Scandinavian thread running throughout the Festival.
Fidelio Trio
The 2011 sound Festival will open with a showcase for the newly created New Music Scotland network. The network, which brings together Scottish composers, ensembles, soloists, venues and festivals was created to give a platform to Scotland’s remarkable musical innovation. The showcase features no fewer than 17 live performances over 3 days (21st - 23rd October 2011) and a keynote lecture by one of the UK’s most highly respected musicologists, Dr Jonathan Cross. Amongst the ensembles performers and composers to be featured are Red Note Ensemble with soprano Judith Howarth, Jonathan Morton and the Scottish Ensemble with pianist Alasdair Beatson, Scottish Flute Trio, Scottish Clarinet Quartet, NYOS Futures, The Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra and James Clapperton with music ranging from contemporary classical to electro-acoustic and jazz.
Afterwards Beamish will join the performers on stage to talk about her work and offer insights for the audience. The concert ends with Ravel's sumptuous Piano Trio in A minor. A work inspired by his native Basque country, it combines the composer's mastery of composition with his palate of intoxicating colour.
Following the opening New Music Scotland Showcase and Conference, the second weekend of the Festival will see the first performances in the Three Cities Project, a partnership between sound, the Music Factory in Bergen and Sounds Ways in St Petersburg. The next weekend features the biennial University of Aberdeen Music Prize, which brings young composers from across the globe to Scotland, and for the final weekend this year’s festival will focus on vocal music with a day of workshops for local choirs and performances by the acclaimed EXAUDI Vocal Ensemble with Endymion, the Stavanger Vocalensemble, Juice Vocal Ensemble and more. http://www.sound-scotland.co.uk
The Fidelio Trio present an exclusive performance of Sally Beamish's mesmerising setting of the Anglo-Saxon poem The Seafarer with narration by Scottish actor Crawford Logan and projections by Jila Peacock.
Saturday 15th October, 1pm, Tolbooth, Stirling
Paragon Ensemble’s Song of Seals Do seals actually sing? The Canadian composer, Emily Doolittle, thinks so and has produced a vibrant piece of music for Paragon Ensemble and children's choir to prove it. Of all the mammals, the seal has a larynx most like that of its human cousin. In her Songs of Seals she has set a series of Gaelic poems by Rody Gorman evoking the sea and our human connection with its wondrous inhabitants. The amazing singers of Voice Factory join with Paragon Ensemble as the chorus of seals! Songs of Seals is conducted by Mark Evans and narrated by Wilma Kennedy. The show also includes traditional music by acclaimed Scottish composer and Whistlebinkie, Eddie McGuire, performed by Paragon Ensemble themselves. Wednesday 26th October, 7:30pm, CCA Glasgow http://paragon-music.org/
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HEBRIDES ENSEMBLE’S AMERICAN PIONEERS
ANDREW CRUICKSHANK’S MISS SMITH
Some of the most pioneering, visionary leaders in the world of composition emerged from the USA during the 20th century. The Hebrides Ensemble present a few of those composers displaying their diversity as well as their unique craftsmanship. The witty Piano Trio by Charles Ives contrasts with the darker world of George Crumb in his atmospheric and enigmatic Voice of the Whale in which the masked performers are bathed in blue light. The concert also features popular Minimalist works New York Counterpoint by Steve Reich and Road Movies by John Adams - music for our time full of drive, vigour and joy. th
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Sunday 6 – Wednesday 9 November, 1pm / 7:30pm, various venues http://www.hebridesensemble.org.uk/
Weary of bringing her children up in deprivation, single mum, Miss Smith sets out on a journey of discovery in search of her future, navigating her way around the voluntary sector, the Scottish Parliament and falling in love along the way. Can she find her happy ending? Developed in consultation with community activists who include AnneMarie Smith, Cathy McCormack and Rosie Kane, Miss Smith is a dramatised music and vocal composition that explores issues of social and economic justice in Glasgow today. Accompanied by a live four piece band with a mix of professional and community performers. Wednesday 9th – Thursday 10th November, 2pm / 7:30pm, The Pearce Institute, Glasgow http://www.confab.org.uk/ http://www.dancehq.co.uk/
CRYPTIC’S THE LITTLLE MATCH GIRL PASSION WITH WORLD TO COME Faith, hope and mortality are explored in Cryptic’s David Lang double bill, directed by Josh Armstrong.
Featured Composer: John Adams
Lang’s Pulitzer Prize winning The Little Match Girl Passion combines Hans Christian Anderson’s breathtaking tale with J.S. Bach’s St Matthew Passion. In a unique presentation of this previously un-staged masterpiece, vocal ensemble, percussion and dancer bring the story of the little match girl to life. World to Come is Lang’s breathtaking interpretation of man’s journey from the physical to the spiritual world of the
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afterlife. Performed by Southbank Centre Artist in Residence, the world class cellist, Oliver Coates, this atmospheric piece will be accompanied by commissioned visuals from Irish video artist Jack Phelan. Thursday 10th – Saturday 12th November, 7:45pm, Tron Theatre, Glasgow Tuesday 22nd – Wednesday 23rd November, 7:30pm, Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh http://www.cryptic.org.uk
Featured Performance: Little Match Girl Passion
AUTUMN PODCAST In acknowledgement of his close, pro-active relationship with the centre and following his outstanding contribution to CMFS’s Sound Chamber with the design of unique listening posts featuring in excess of 200 recordings, we invited Julian Wagstaff to feature as our next guest. Tune into this fascinating interview on the newest page of Scottish Music Centre website which features all of our recordings to date: http://www.scottishmusiccentre.com/exposed_melodies/
Profile: Julian was born in Edinburgh in 1970. Originally a student of German and Politics, in which he graduated with distinction from the University of Reading in 1993, Julian worked as a translator and interpreter in the German language before turning to music as a profession in the late 1990s. His interest in language and political history continues to be reflected in much of his music and in his theatre writing. His first major work was the musical John Paul Jones (2001), based on the life of the Scots-born sailor and hero of the American Revolution. Premièred in Edinburgh in 2001, this was the first of the composer's works to reach a significant audience. In it, Julian's eclectic compositional style (which frequently involves the integration of several very different styles within one work) began to emerge. This style was to reach greater maturity in later works such as the Symphony for Chamber Orchestra (2005). John Paul Jones was revived professionally as a concert version in 2010, in association with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. On the basis of the score for John Paul Jones, the composer was accepted to study composition at the University of Edinburgh with Professor Nigel Osborne. He was awarded a Masters degree in music from that institution in 2002, and a PhD in musical composition in 2008, the principal component of which was a chamber opera entitled The Turing Test, written for the 2007 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Julian Wagstaff's specific interest in German history, and in particular the history of the former German Democratic Republic, is reflected in Treptow for string orchestra (2005), his most-performed work. This atmospheric and haunting piece was inspired by the Soviet War Memorial in
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Treptower Park in east Berlin, and represents the composer's attempt to grapple with the power of this awesome monument in music. Treptow was the winner of the 2005 Emre Araci Prize.
PERFORMANCE DETAILS
Julian lives in his native city, where he is active as a composer, arranger, guitarist and teacher. The composer enjoys close connections with some of Scotland's leading musicians, and his compositions and arrangements have been performed by Scotland's top ensembles, including the Edinburgh Quartet, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. He is published by Europa Edition, and is a member of both the Scottish Music Centre and the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters. Julian is co-author of the Guitarmaster music transcription software application and, outwith the world of music, the translator of a number of published books and the principal developer and designer of the NISAT database of Small Arms Transfers for the Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO), the largest public database on the arms trade in the world. http://www.julianwagstaff.com/
Friday 14th October - Saturday 19th November; The Cluny, Newcastle; The Piper Club, Hull; Stereo, York; Voodoo Lounge @ Mama Liz's, Stamford; The Latest, Brighton; The Thunderbolt, Bristol; Gartmore Village Hall Buzz Records present: Devil's Left Hand Tour Featured Composer: Dave Arcari Saturday 15th October; University of Glasgow Concert Hall Red Note Ensemble Featured Composer: William Sweeney Work: Life Studies Thursday 20th - Saturday 22nd October; Holy Trinity Church, St Andrews; St Cuthbert's Church, Edinburgh; St Machar's Cathedral, Aberdeen JAM: sound theatricals Featured Composer: Rory Boyle Work: Tallis's Light * Saturday 22nd October; RDS Simmonscourt, Dublin Festival of Lights Featured Composer: Derek Ball Work: Éanlaith Strae / Stray Birds Saturday 22nd October; Aberdeen Art Gallery
Featured Composer: Julian Wagstaff
sound Festival presents: New Music Showcase and Conference Featured Composer: Edward McGuire Work: Western Light
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Saturday 22nd October; The Lemon Tree, Aberdeen sound Festival presents: New Music Showcase and Conference Featured Composers: Anna Meredith and Oliver Searle Saturday 22nd October; Woodend Barn, Banchory sound Festival presents: New Music Showcase and Conference Featured Composer: James Clapperton Work: Passing Place Sunday 23rd October; Music Hall, Aberdeen sound Festival presents: New Music Showcase and Conference Featured Composer: Martin Suckling Work: Three Venus Haiku Tuesday 25th October; Cadogan Hall, London Royal Philharmonic Orchestra present: Polish Contemporary Music across Europe with Friends Featured Composer: Sir Peter Maxwell Davies Work: Overture, ‘St Francis of Assisi’ Wednesday 26th, Friday 28th October and Saturday 12th November; Kings Place, London; Goethe-Institut, Glasgow; GDA-Wohnstift, Trippstadt Stefan Grasse Trio Featured Composer: John Maxwell Geddes Work: Three Bavarian Dances
Featured Ensemble: Stefan Grasse Trio
Wednesday 26th October; Johnston Hall, University of Aberdeen sound Festival presents: Aberdeen Student Sinfonia Featured Composer: Joan Cumming Work: Sinfonietta Thursday 27th and Saturday 29th October; The Museum of Scottish Lighthouses, Fraserburgh; Aberdeen Maritime Museum sound Festival presents: Sea of Souls Featured Composer: William Sweeney Work: Nine Days Piobaireachd Thursday 3rd November; King's College Chapel, University of Aberdeen sound Festival Featured Composer: Joan Cumming Work: On a Fine Morning *
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Friday 4th and Saturday 5th November; City Halls, Glasgow
Wednesday 23rd November; Liverpool University
Inspiration Festival presents: Symposia Featured Composer: Oliver Searle Work: The Farmer's Cheese
Manchester Reed Trio Featured Composer: Oliver Searle Work: Dalriada
Sunday 6th November; Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Glasgow
*Premières
Big Guitar Competition Featured Composer: Rory Boyle Work: Partita A Quattro Sunday 6th November; Kelvin Gallery, University of Glasgow Harmony Ensemble Featured Composer: Edward McGuire Thursday 10th November; University of Glasgow Concert Hall Music in the University of Glasgow Featured Composer: Edward McGuire Work: Western Light Thursday 10th and Friday 11th November; Cowdray Hall, Aberdeen; Haddo House, Methlick sound Festival presents: Juice Vocal Ensemble Featured Composer: Anna Meredith Work: Heal You
Featured Ensemble: Juice Vocal Ensemble
OPPORTUNITIES The competitions section of our website has been redeveloped to encompass all relevant musical opportunities which we find would be beneficial to our members. As well as listing all calls for scores and submissions, it also features workshops, industry events and, more importantly, signposts valuable paths towards potential funding. Here’s a few suggestions:
Friday 11 November; St Mary's Cathedral, Aberdeen
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sound Festival presents: Stavanger Vocalensemble Featured Composer: Sally Beamish Work: Highland Haiku *
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Make Your Music Work – Paragon Ensemble Three Cities Project – sound 2011 IX Annual Symphony Composition Contest for Bands - City of Torrevieja Collide@CERN Artists’ Residency Prize - Ars Electronica
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International Competition of Sacred Music Accademia Musicale Europea Pianist/Composer Commissioning Project - Yvar Mikhashoff Call for Scores - Noisy Nights this Christmas Dutch Harp Composition Contest 2012 - Dutch Harp Festival
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NEXT ISSUE
December 2011
SCOTTISH MUSIC CENTRE MOBILE
Composer Members: David Dorward, Robert Crawford, William Wordsworth, Shaun Dillon, Thomas Wilson and John Maxwell Geddes
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