Concert for New York Classical Guitar Society October 2004 photo: Peri
Biography
"God creates - I assemble"
George Balanchine
I was born in Cheltenham in the UK in 1964 and now live in Chelsea, London.
In my work as a composer I am concerned with expression, exploration and engagement, I like the John Cage quote "I never heard a sound that didn't interest me".
Concert commissions
A 26 minute work for voices, orchestra and sound design 'Senbazuru' commissioned to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Juilliard School, premiered at Peter Jay Sharp Theatre, Lincoln Center, New York on February 22nd 2006 with performances running to Feb 26th. The Juilliard Orchestra were conducted by Andrea Quinn, with Daisy Press, Soprano, Shelly Watson, Mezzo-soprano, Daniel Neer, Tenor and Greg Purnhagen, Baritone. The work was a collaboration with the choreographer, Jessica Lang.
Other commissions include May Peace Prevail on Earth, which was premiered by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra with massed choirs and soloist Matthew Sharp at the Barbican, London on December 16th 2003.
A new opera is in development, with support from the National Theatre Studio, to create a work based on the Moscow Theatre Seige, the project was initiated by the painter, John Keane, the libretto is being written by Bryony Lavery.
New works include Cremenville - a multimedia opera, involving spoken word, film, 'natural' and operatic singing written for SharpWire (with Matthew Sharp) funded by Opera North, Leeds and the Arts Council of England. A work-in-progress showing was presented at Leeds Met theatre June 5-6 2006. The work is in development as a 'radio opera' and for site specific adaptation in 2007.
'An African Elegy' (a setting of the poem by Ben Okri), 'If I had known I was Dreaming..', 'Sospira' and 'Four Songs from the Blazing City' were premiered on the South Bank, London and at Cheltenham, Bath and Warwick International festivals in the UK.
Many scores have been created for modern dance and ballet including a previous score with Jessica Lang for Juilliard in December 2002, Rain at Night, the scores Imbalance and Moving On were also created for Jess's choreography.
I also worked with choreographer Carol Brown to create the scores The View From Here and the installation work with Esther Rolinson Machine for Living.
Sonic Art
Many of my scores involve 'found sounds' and manipultaed sounds. A large scale installation work 'Simultaneity' features recordings made simultaneously over widely spread areas, and played back across a wide circle of speakers and is in development for 2006.
Performances
I occasionally give performances of my work and have given a number of solo recitals, most recently for New York Classical Guitar Society, with special guests, the soprano Evelyne Beech and the beat poet Steve Dalachinsky on October 28th 2004.
I'm also one half of the music theatre duo 'SharpWire', with singer / cellist Matthew Sharp. Our multi-media show 'Adam's Apple' toured the UK and appeared in the USA in 2004, we were also featured live on NPR in New York in September 2004.
Written works
I have written spoken word texts for scores such as 'Rain at Night' and 'Gut' as well as song cycles 'Love Songs and Oddities' and 'Sospira' and most recently, the words and music for the muleti-media opera 'Cremenville'. Other works include a novel; 'Tales of the New Moon' a screenplay; 'Brian and the Angel', a volume of poetry; 'The Silence' and a stageplay; '8.45'.