www.scottishmusiccentre.com
Composers’ Digest Autumn 2010
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WELCOME
CONTENTS Welcome
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I feel honoured to be taking on the role of chairperson for the Scottish Music Centre.
Our services
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Useful Contacts
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I have been a composer member at the Centre for a number of years now and am passionate about composition, through performance and education; I am also interested in creating opportunities for new music to be heard.
Performance Details
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Calls for Scores
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Current Projects
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Celebrations
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In the News
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Watch this Space
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Feedback
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Scotland has a wonderful resource, in the form of the Centre's archives, staff and services, from which we can further raise the profile of the Centre and its work in Scotland, the UK and beyond. I hope that you find the first of the Composers' Digests informative and useful and I very much look forward to being involved in the future development of the Scottish Music Centre. Many thanks, Dr. Oliver Searle Chair of the Scottish Music Centre
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OUR SERVICES
USEFUL CONTACTS
With the launch of our first issue we would like to open with a reminder of the vast range of services on offer to our composer members; many of which have been employed in the compilation of this bulletin. The Scottish Music Centre and our website in particular, is a truly invaluable resource, one which is readily utilised by a rich variety of music industry professionals; publishing important information on all our composer members including press cuttings, planned projects, up and coming performances and anniversaries. However, in order to maximise this potential, we are reliant on the submission of such information, so please endeavour to keep us regularly informed. Additionally, there will be a new look to our homepage shortly, which will enable us to feature MP3 snippets and video footage to further publicise your work.
Christopher Glasgow, Digest Administrator: chris.glasgow@scottishmusiccentre.com
Other services that play a vital role in the centre’s output include the sending out of scores and digitisation. With regards to the former, please remember that your discounts apply to copying and binding and we only recharge for postage. In relation to the latter, all staff and volunteers have been trained in the digital preservation of scores and the conversion of audio files to MP3. This is great for sending future commissioners samples of your work, and you may even be surprised to find that some of your recordings have already been digitised and uploaded to our online catalogue.
Keith Beattie, Education Officer: keith@scottishmusiccentre.com
Finally, the centre is both a member of IAMIC and The European Music Council (EMC) and as such, we can also submit the aforementioned information for publication on their websites.
Jamie Gilmour, Membership Administrator: jamie@scottishmusiccentre.com
Alasdair Pettinger, Information Manager: info@scottishmusiccentre.com Kristin Johnson, Hire Librarian: kristin@scottishmusiccentre.com David Simpson, IT Officer: dave@scottishmusiccentre.com
Gill Maxwell, Managing Director: gill.maxwell@scottishmusiccentre.com
Scottish Music Centre, City Halls, Candleriggs, Glasgow 0141 552 5222 info@scottishmusiccentre.com www.scottishmusiccentre.com
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PERFORMANCE DETAILS Whilst our main site details the vast majority of up and coming concerts within Scotland across all musical genres, we would particularly like to highlight those featuring Scottish Composers over the next two months. Please note that if any performances of your work have been excluded it has been due to a lack of information provided. To utilise this service fully we not only require the details of date, venue and performer, but also the programme of works.
Thursday 16th September; The Forge, London:
Thursday 2nd September; CCA, Glasgow
The Lammermuir Festival 2010 presents: RSAMD Brass Ensemble with Chris Day Featured Composer: Peter Nelson Work: New Work for Concorde (première)
Theatre Cryptic presents: Cryptic Nights, Stay Curious… Featured Composer: Anna Meredith (première) Saturday 4th September; CCA, Glasgow: The Glasgow New Music Expedition present: The Door in The Cupboard Featured Composers: Brendan Toal, Christopher Duncan, Richard Greer, Alexander Horowitz and Blair Russel Work: Opua, Tunnel, Water Cycle, The Blue Marble and Everything You Believe is on Fire (premières) Wednesday 15th September; Academy Hall, Crieff : The Strathearn Music Society Present: The Dunedin Consort Featured Composer: Thea Musgrave Work: Hate Whom ye List
The Forge presents its Thursday Bite-Size series Featured Composer: Edward McGuire Work: Celtic Knotwork Saturday 18th September; Concorde Hangar, National Museum of Flight, East Fortune:
Saturday 18th September; St Mary’s Parish Church, Haddington: The Lammermuir Festival 2010 presents: RSAMD Brass Ensemble with John Butt Featured Composer: James MacMillan Sunday 19th September; The Stables, Cromarty: The Cromarty Arts Trust and Enterprise Music Scotland present: The William Conway String Trio Featured Composer: Judith Weir Work: Bagpipe Trio
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Sunday 19th September; The Stables, Cromarty:
Thursday 30th September; The University of Glasgow Concert Hall:
The Cromarty Arts Trust and Enterprise Music Scotland present: The William Conway String Trio Featured Composer: Judith Weir Work: Bagpipe Trio Sunday 19th September; Junges Theater Forchheim, Kasern Featured Composer: John Maxwell Geddes Work: Three Bavarian Dances Saturday 25th September; Glasgow Royal Concert Hall:
The University of Glasgow Music Club present: Lauryna Sableviciute, Nicholas Ashton – 2 Pianos Featured Composer: Drew Hammond Work: Strata Saturday 2nd October; St Bride’s, Hyndland, Glasgow: The Auricle Ensemble present: Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’ Music Theatre Featured Works: Eight Songs for a Mad King and Miss Donnithorne’s Maggot
RSNO present: New Season, New World Featured Composer: James MacMillan Work: Three Interludes from The Sacrifice
Thursday 14th October; The University of Glasgow Concert Hall:
Wednesday 29th September – Monday 4th October; various venues:
The University of Glasgow Music Club present: The Edinburgh Quartet Featured Composer: William Sweeney Work: Quartet No.1
The Hebrides Ensemble, Opera Circus and Opera North present: Naciketa: A Musical Epic (première) Featured Composer: Nigel Osborne
Thursday 28th October; The University of Glasgow Concert Hall: The University of Glasgow Music Club present: Robert Irvine and Fali Pavri Featured Composer: William Sweeney Work: Sonata for Cello and Piano
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CALLS FOR SCORES We continually endeavour to feature the majority of worldwide music competitions and calls for scores on our website. Although these frequently apply to music students and/or recent graduates, many of our posts cater for our entire composing membership: PRS New Music 20x12 Deadline: 1st October 2010 PRS for Music Foundation has launched New Music 20x12 as part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad. They are looking for 20 brand new musical works, of outstanding creative excellence, each lasting 12 minutes. Together these will celebrate the UK’s musical talent and creativity throughout 2012 and beyond. Up to £10,000 is available for each of the 20 commissions and they will all be broadcast around the world on BBC Radio 3.
Embedded - Writing for the BBC Symphony Orchestra Deadline: 27th September 2010 As the first opportunity in their new artist development programme, Embedded, Sound and Music is joining forces with the BBC Symphony Orchestra to create an opportunity for composers to work closely with the orchestra, developing their skills in writing for orchestra and for two composers to have new works premiered. Sound and Music has announced a call for proposals from composers of up to age 35 on 1st September 2010 and of any nationality living in the UK or British composers living abroad. This collaboration is a unique opportunity for composers to gain inside knowledge of working with players and conductors. The 12-month process will involve a workshop of initial ideas and sketches, which may be open to the public; a closed workshop on the further developed pieces and a final performance which will be recorded for broadcast on Radio 3’s Hear and Now.
Please get in touch with us directly if you are applying for this commission as we may be able to offer in-kind and partnership support.
Featured Ensemble: BBC Symphony Orchestra
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CURRENT PROJECTS City Chorus Commission Competition
Scottish Music Centre Composer Sessions
Deadline: 3rd December 2010
The Scottish Music Centre regularly hosts inspirational composer sessions for secondary school pupils which have been hugely popular due to the diverse range of successful established musicians involved across the many genres.
City Chorus (London, England) is celebrating its 90th birthday season in 2010-2011: the culmination of their anniversary year will be a concert in July 2011, which will feature a newly commissioned 20-minute work for chorus. Composers from around the world are invited to apply for this £2000 commission.
While past sessions include Oliver Searle, Donald Shaw and Sophie Bancroft, this year’s presenters include Carol Laula , Findlay Napier and Sally Beamish (tbc).
City Chorus is an adult mixed choir, open to all without audition, and their 'ideal' composer would be able to write music that is original and exciting, yet within the capability of their amateur singers. Artmusfair 2010 22nd – 25th September Co-hosted by the Scottish Music Centre and City Halls in 2009, this year’s event moves to Warsaw. Composers wishing to attend may be eligible to apply for Creative Scotland assistance. Please call us for further advice about this fund (or the Creative Scotland Helpdesk: 0330 333 2000)
Featured Composer: Findlay Napier
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CELEBRATIONS The Scottish Music Centre would like to acknowledge the following Composer Anniversaries for 2010: Jeremy Cull: 40 James Dillon: 60 Robert Ghillies: 60 Sir Alexander Campbell MacKenzie: 75 Donald Francis Tovey: 70 Ian Whyte: 50 Composer Birthdays: Gareth Clemson aka CHEZZ: October 2010 James Dillon: October 2010 Kenneth Leighton: October 2010 If you would like to be featured in our monthly birthday list, please email your date of birth to our Digest Administrator. With the launch of our first Composers’ Digest, however, we would like to make particular reference to the 60th birthday of Composing Member William Sweeney.
which directly reflect the intricacies of MacDiarmid’s language and more importantly, the intoxicated stupor of the principal character, in this case played by Crawford Logan. Indeed, the composer himself describes it as a “stylistic merry-go-round”. In a rapid succession of events you hear the music teeter, topple and lurch abruptly from a vaguely Debussy-ish sound world to “Tchaikovsky combined with Comin’ through the rye”; from something Stravinskian to a Glasgow playground song; from folk song to music hall; from “a jig attacked by a Strathspey” to “heavy, vociferous rap”; from “TV evangelist rockabilly” to a Monteverdi parody and a street song. There is also a strong jazz tang to the music, with improvised elements. The end result, insists Sweeney, is not simply a representation of the poem. “It is, I think, a translation into a different medium which is able to make some points in a powerful way, and perhaps more swiftly from one state to another; rather more swiftly than the words on their own.”
Perhaps the greatest celebration of this notable event was the Red Note Ensemble’s Scottish Arts Council Tune Up Tour of A Drunk Man Looks At The Thistle, Sweeney’s 90minute adaptation of Hugh MacDiarmid’s epic and landmark poem. This work presents a breathtaking array of musical styles Featured Artist: Red Note Ensemble
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IN THE NEWS Of all the services available on our web site, our news section is perhaps the greatest utilised, with articles culled from across the national media on a daily basis. Those of particular relevance are then further highlighted on our Twitter Account. Sir Charles MacKerras (Obituary) Club Noir and Scottish Opera collaborate on A Night at The Opera Composer James MacMillan on the failings of the Catholic Church, writing music for open-air papal gatherings and voting Tory City to host 9/11 commemoration concert Alex Smoke Classical Project Can you set Sorley MacLean to Music?
Featured Artist: Sir Charles MacKerras
WATCH THIS SPACE
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FEEDBACK As this is our first issue, we would greatly value your feedback not only in relation to this document, but also on the services available to you as members. Furthermore, the potential of this digest is dependent on information submitted to us: performance details, anniversaries, future projects etc. Please contact Christopher Glasgow our Digest Administrator: chris.glasgow@scottishmusiccentre.com
Next Issue: November 2010