Blog Archives

Dressing up as a white bear…

thecat

It has been a pleasure to work with the Welsh writer Rachel Trezise for the last project I undertook (www.racheltrezise.co.uk). I met Rachel when we both had pieces of work produced for the centenary of the Park and Dare theatre in Treorchy two years ago. The aim of the last project was to write a small collection of pieces using literature from Wales and Norway. Since I was setting a Norwegian folktale I thought it would be a nice counterpoint to work with a contemporary Welsh writer: and it was. Rachel took inspiration from a Norwegian folktale ‘The Cat on the Dovrefjell’, which in its simplest form is about trolls being scared away from a family home by a polar bear. What is beautiful and clever about the story that Rachel produced is the interweaving of this idea with a touching and intriguing snapshot of a scene in the life of a Welsh family. I recorded Rachel reading the text and then started working on a piece of music that would paint the scenes within it. The piece that was written was for solo vibraphone and electronics, performed at last week’s concert in the Norwegian Church, Cardiff Bay. If you click on the picture above, you will be taken directly to a recording of the piece on Soundcloud.

The Pinquins in The Norwegian Church!

pinquinsweb

I am very excited to be able to start the publicity for my upcoming concert with The Pinquins! They will be performing in Manchester on the 3rd of March, and Cardiff on the 5th of March this year. I have been collaborating with the trio writing a piece for electroacoustics and percussion, inspired by the Norwegian folk tale ‘East of the Sun and West of the Moon’. I have also been collaborating with brilliant Welsh writer Rachel Trezise, using her newly-commissioned short story ‘Good Friday’ as the basis for a piece for solo vibraphone and electroacoustics. We are also lucky enough to have Rachel join us for the concert and recite her work. As well as these two pieces, there is a third premiere in the form of a piece inspired by Menna Elfyn’s beautiful poem ‘Cloc ar y dŵr’. The Pinquins will also be performing a selection of their favourite contemporary pieces for percussion – so make sure you get your ticket soon! http://bit.ly/15g7gyb Click on the link to be taken to the ticket-purchase website.

%d bloggers like this: