Somewhat against the odds – and also somewhat unexpectedly – i’m heading off this morning to the north of England for a holiday in Yorkshire. Back next week.
Category:
Announcements
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This year’s Proms programme has begun, tentatively, to be unveiled. At present there remains a number of concerts where the content has not yet been announced – plus several ‘Mystery Proms’ – so there will be more to come, but thus far there are a few contemporary items to start…
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Another festival that’s recently been announced is an entirely new addition to the annual list of new music events. The Baltic Music Days is in initiative that seeks to bring together contemporary music from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. i first heard suggestions about the possibility of this festival a few…
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Following the almost complete write-off of 2020, festivals are continuing to be forced to rejig, reorganise and reconfigure their concerts this year due to ongoing restrictions. The 2021 Borealis festival in Bergen, Norway, has just been announced, and whereas last year it managed to take place just about normally before…
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It’s a work i’d very much like to write about in more depth at a later date, as there’s so much to say about it… i wrote those words following a concert that took place almost exactly a year ago, before the time when lockdowns were a thing and i…
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Forgot to say: my Best Beloved is fast approaching what can only be described as a ‘significant’ birthday this week, so i’m currently away on a not-quite-holiday-but-not-quite-not-holiday-either at the moment, during which i’ll be celebrating / commiserating as required. Back next week.
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This morning i’m setting off for Tallinn in Estonia where, after i’ve been Covid tested upon my arrival – and assuming my result is negative – i’ll be catching some of this year’s postponed Estonian Music Days. From Tuesday, the concerts will also be broadcast live on the country’s classical…
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During the last few months it’s been disheartening and downright depressing to see one festival after another forced to cancel or postpone their events due to the pandemic. So it’s exciting to see that things are tentatively starting to get going again, and among the first to throw open their…
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i want to give a big shout-out and a heads-up for a new book that’s just been published, which includes a chapter by me. Sound and Image: Aesthetics and Practices had its inception at the Sound/Image conference at the University of Greenwich in late 2018. Edited by Andrew Knight-Hill, the…
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A few days ago marked the 25th anniversary of my father’s death. It seems like such an impossibly long time ago, yet his all-too-brief presence in my life, and all-too-long absence from it, continue to resonate in me and make their mark in my life and in my music. Back…
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i feel terribly sad to have just read the news on the Schott website that Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki has died today. Composers impact on our lives in unique and unpredictable ways, and for me, Penderecki’s music has been an omnipresence. When i was still at school, just at the…
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Announcements
Gigs, gigs, gigs: Riot Ensemble, Illuminate, Electric Spring, Borealis, Philharmonia Orchestra, Louth Contemporary Music Society
by 5:4Lots of ensembles and festivals have been making concert announcements recently, so here’s a whistle-stop tour through some of the more interesting on the horizon. Most imminent, this coming Friday (14th), is Riot Ensemble at King’s Place in London. They’ll be kicking off their new concert series ReNew with a…
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This morning i’m setting off for the Arctic Circle, to the small town of Bodø in the north of Norway, where i’ll be for the rest of the week at this year’s Nordic Music Days. Words to come about that early next week (once i’ve thawed out), after which a…
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Since the inception of 5:4, nearly 12 years ago, whenever i’ve been writing about a particular composition and there’s no professional recording available, i’ve often shared a radio recording of the piece from my archive. i began making these recordings when i was still at school, and in the intervening…
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This morning i’m off to Norway to spend a few days in Oslo catching some of the Ultima festival. So i’ll be getting to the last few Proms premières once i’m back, at the start of next week. Meanwhile, if you haven’t already, make sure to have your say about…
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In February last year, Monty Adkins and i organised Ambient@40, the first academic conference devoted to ambient music, which took place over two days at Huddersfield University. The conference was designed to explore the history and legacy of the genre forty years after the release of Brian Eno’s pivotal album…
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i’m setting off this morning for the Faroe Islands, where i’ll be spending the next six days exploring some of Summartónar, their annual music festival. While i’m away, the first of this year’s series of ‘pre-première questions’ articles with composers featured at the Proms (which begins on Friday) will appear.…
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i’m setting off for Estonia this morning, to attend this year’s Estonian Music Days, which this year is not only celebrating its 40th anniversary but also hosting the ISCM World Music Days, so it’ll no doubt be an especially interesting occasion. Words to follow in due course.
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The programme for this year’s Proms season has been unveiled today. Looking at it from a contemporary music perspective, last year’s season has been revealed (as expected) to have been a one-off of surprising generosity. In 2018 we ended up with no fewer than 39 premières, whereas the usual figure…