This is a recurring event: View all events in the series “Summer Sounds”
As part of our 2021 online City Summer Sounds festival, we present a diverse selection of the new music created by our undergraduate composers. Throughout 2020 and 2021, our students participated in workshops with acclaimed improvising musicians Cath Roberts and Tom Ward, and mezzo-soprano Lucy Goddard, to create open scores, graphic scores and fully notated works, reflecting a vibrant range of inspirations and working methods.
The concert will comprise selections from those exploratory sessions, alongside repertoire for solo voice by Morton Feldman and Barbara Monk Feldman, and group improvisations.
This event will be broadcast live and available to view via the YouTube stream below. Optionally, please register using the button above to receive updates about this event.
Programme to include:
Lucy Goddard (mezzo-soprano):
- Ellen Wakelin, Silence
- Alex Manolache, Élégie
- Audrey Han, Possible
- Barbara Monk Feldman, The Gentlest Chord (1991)
- Morton Feldman, Only (1947)
Cath Roberts, Tom Ward (saxophones), Tullis Rennie (trombone):
- Graphic scores by Ali Roohbanyeivazi, James Bickers, Tristan Wong
- Improvisations
Cath Roberts' work explores free improvisation, composition and the music at their meeting point. Her primary outlet as a composer and improviser on baritone saxophone is the quintet Sloth Racket, which has toured widely and released several albums as well as expanding into the ten piece improvising ensemble Favourite Animals. As bandmate, Cath is a member of multiple groups including Madwort Sax Quartet, Article XI and MoonMot. She has a long-standing duo with guitarist Anton Hunter, as well as regular collaborations with Tullis Rennie, Benedict Taylor, Alex Bonney, Seth Bennett and others. Cath co-runs LUME with Dee Byrne, producing concerts, tours and festivals since 2013 and releasing music on the Luminous label. With Tom Ward and Colin Webster she organises BRÅK, an improvised music series taking place in Brockley, South East London.
Tom Ward is a musician, composer and computer programmer from Yorkshire, currently based in London. His primary instrument remains the saxophone, but in recent years he has increasingly focused on bass clarinet and flutes. Tom leads a number of groups playing his own compositions (including Madwort Saxophone Quartet and Madwort's Menagerie), as well as collaborating on a number of freely improvised and collective groups including Cotovelo (PortaJazz), Spinningwork, Ma/ti/om, and an ever-shifting variety of duos and trios. He also co-runs the regular BRÅK night, an improvised music gig in a South London homebrew shop that has hosted such improvisers as John Edwards, Corey Mwamba, Charlotte Keeffe and more. As a side-person, he has toured/performed with Overground Collective, Beats & Pieces Big Band, Favourite Animals, Porpoise Corpus and many more. In 2020, he was heavily involved in Noise Orchestra's Autonomous Noise Unit (ANU) project, building an easy-to-use standalone JackTrip device, as well as doing live internet broadcasts from mulitple locations using JackTrip for London Improviser's Orchestra (LIO) and Sloth Racket.
Tullis Rennie is a composer, improvising trombonist, electronic musician, and field recordist. His work encompasses sound installation, community-engaged participative projects, multi-channel concert works, mixed media and live/improvised performances. He is co-founder of Walls On Walls with visual artist Laurie Nouchka, and founder member of the Insectotròpics audio-visual collective, based in Barcelona. He curates the multi.modal label with Claudia Molitor. His work has been presented at concerts and festivals across 20 countries, alongside UK national broadcasts on BBC Radio 3 and ResonanceFM. In 2019 he collaborated on Molitor's Decay project, touring numerous international festivals including Sound of Stockholm, TRANSIT, NovemberMusic and hcmf//. His writing has been published in Organised Sound and Leonardo Music Journal. He features on releases by the Luminous label, ZeroWave and Efpi Records.
Lucy Goddard is a passionate exponent of contemporary music. As a member of EXAUDI she has performed at the major UK festivals and venues, including Spitalfields, Aldeburgh, Huddersfield and Southbank. In 2017-18 she toured An American Songbook, a recital of avant-garde song and new commissions, with pianist Siwan Rhys, following a Snape Maltings residency. This year Lucy and Siwan will record discs of music by Michael Finnissy and James Weeks. Lucy is also in demand in more traditional fare and has performed as a soloist with groups such as the Academy of Ancient Music, in venues including the Wigmore Hall. Stage appearances include Hänsel, Annio La Clemenza di Tito, Dorabella Così fan tutte, and Zerlina Don Giovanni. In addition to her singing work she conducts the Orlando Chamber Choir. She graduated with distinction for her Masters at the Royal Academy of Music, having previously read Languages at Cambridge University, and spent a year studying violin at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole.
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