This summer I was delighted to hear the premiere of my piece ‘When Voices Rise’ which I wrote for the Manchester Chorale’s 40th anniversary competition back in 2019. The premiere was delayed unfortunately on a number of occasions due to Covid restrictions, so the performance seemed like a comforting ‘reset’ on the events of the past few years. My thanks to Jill Henderson-Wild and other choir members who made me feel very welcome on the occasion! Click on the video above to hear the final result.
Blog Archives
‘Stuck In The Mud’ arrives in Newport Market
These are a sample of photographs taken from the last production of ‘Stuck In The Mud’ in Gloucester (a larger selection can be found by clicking on the picture). I am very excited about the premiere of this work in Wales. It will be the first time that a large-scale piece has been performed in my home town, so it will be a proud moment indeed! I am looking forward to being able to share the music and incredible performances with everyone. It will be performed on the 12th and 13th November in Newport Market. Productions begin at 4pm and 6pm (audiences will need to arrive half an hour before these times to take full advantage of the journey). Call the box office now to reserve your ticket on 01633 656757.
Stuck In The Mud in Gloucester!
Last week saw the performances of ‘SITM’ in Blackfriar’s Priory, Gloucester. The performances were very well received by the audiences and local media, and it was lovely to receive some very complimentary feedback about the music for this production. The next performance will be in Newport Market on the 12th and 13th of November: it will be great to welcome the performance to Wales! Music for the production can be found using the ‘Commercial Music’ tab above.
Páll Guðmundsson and Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson
During my residency in Iceland (1st-12th September) I was very privileged to meet some great artists including Páll Guðmundsson (pictured left), and Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson (pictured right). Páll Guðmundsson is an artist and sculptor who is responsible for inventing the Steinharpa (Stone-harp) which consists of a series of flat stones which are laid out in the manner of a chromatic percussion instrument. Páll shapes each of the stones carefully until they are tempered into a chromatic scale (one of Páll’s workshops is pictured below). Their sound is completely unique and I took the liberty of recording Páll play them. These recordings, along with others I made on the residency, will be made into an electroacoustic piece sometime in the future. Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson is a composer with a substantial catalogue of film music. I visited him at his studios and had the pleasure of listening to a selection of his music. He is a remarkably modest man who has written some very beautiful music during his career. I met many other composers and artists during my time in Iceland, all of whom impressed me by their friendliness and their desire to communicate. I look forward to keeping in touch with them all.
South Iceland Chamber Choir Workshop
This is a picture of me working with the South Iceland Chamber Choir, experimenting with their layout for my up-coming piece in London. My idea is that the choir’s formation and sound should be linked. The choir will represent the physical formation of water and the audience will witness their transformation from solid, to liquid, then to gas. I will be using texts in Icelandic, Welsh and English for this piece. The principal that I am most keen to explore is that the choir’s movement controls the types of sounds we hear: the choir will need to articulate their transformation sonically as well as physically. More photos from this day can be found here.
Up-coming concert in Southwark Cathedral, 15th November 2013.
I am very proud to announce that I am currently taking part in a residency with South Iceland Chamber Choir. The outcome of this residency will be a piece for the choir to perform on the 15th November in Southwark Cathedral, London. The occasion of this concert will celebrate the composer John Tavener’s 70th birthday, and will feature a première of his ‘Three Shakespeare Sonnets’. I have been working very closely with Hilmar Örn Agnarsson, director of the choir (pictured above, middle), to experiment with different vocal techniques and their deployment throughout my piece. Please follow the link to purchase tickets for this event: BUY TICKETS HERE
‘Stuck In The Mud’ – Hidcote Gardens, July 4th-7th 2013
Here are four pictures from last week’s performance of ‘Stuck In The Mud’ at Hidcote Gardens. It was a pleasure and a privilege working with Marc Brew, GDance and Ballet Cymru on this project. I have uploaded all the music from the project on my ‘commercial music’ section. I look forward to two more performances of this work later in the year
Arts and Business Awards Fanfare 2013
On Monday I had the privilege of hearing my newly-commissioned fanfare performed at the Arts and Business Awards in the Millennium Centre, Cardiff Bay. I have added the piece to my ‘commercial music’ section – so click on the picture above to be taken to my soundcloud page.
Composing Music to Order
On the morning of Saturday 6th July I will be speaking at a professional development seminar. I am looking forward to meeting the other musicians who will be taking part and introducing my current commission – ‘Stuck In The Mud’. The workshop will be followed by two evening performances of the new dance work at Hidcote Gardens. GDance, Ballet Cymru, choreographer Marc Brew, a talented production crew and fantastic mixture of amateur dancers are working hard to make the performances something very special indeed.
Stuck In The Mud Commission
I am very excited about this forthcoming commission. I have been asked to compose a soundtrack (with additional live instruments) for a large dance project. The work will tour between three venues, the first of which being the stunning National Trust property in Hidcote. I will be posting updates about the project over the next few months. For more information you can visit GDance’s website: http://www.gdance.co.uk/productions__events/live_productions.aspx
Jack White 