Combining Dance and Music

At the start of April, the London Sinfonietta Academy joined forces with Rambert Dance Company’s Participation and Learning team for a weekend in which London Sinfonietta Academy Alumni collaborated with young dancers to explore new ways of working and creating new work.  London Sinfonietta Academy Alumni flautist Chloe Vincent and dancer Lewis Wheeler blog about the weekend…

Lewis Wheeler writes:

During this weekend of workshops, which was led by Deborah Galloway (Dance Animateur) and Mark Bowden (Rambert Company’s Music Fellow), we wanted to experiment with what would happen when various groupings of dancers and musicians worked and improvised together.

Early in the weekend we worked in small groups of 2 or 3 and I found this most productive as our roles were obviously clearly defined and the short solo I created around ritual with Alice, a flautist, was selected for the end of workshop ‘sharing’.

We spent most of our devising time working on different ways to improvise with each other. We started with the music leading and me following the music, sometimes dancing with it and sometimes contrary to it, then we tried the same process but with Alice following my movement. It felt great when I would move my body and suddenly the sound would be echoing my movements. We decided that we wanted to create more of a conversation between the sound and the dance so we would incorporate elements of the music and the dance leading.  We would trust our instincts through the improvisation rather than set up a precise structure to follow. I think this worked well because it stopped any predictable patterns becoming evident to the audience, and it also meant that we could inject vigour and energy into each other’s work when we felt like the piece needed boosting. Other experiments included working in groups with more dancers than musicians, more musicians than dancers and even numbers of each.

I had a great time doing this workshop and have kept in touch with some of the people involved and hopefully will be working with them on creative projects in the future so attending the workshop was extremely worthwhile!

Lewis Wheeler, Dancer
(You can follow Lewis on Twitter @lewiswheeler)

 

Chloe Vincent writes:

London Sinfonietta Academy 2011

During April, I spent 2 days working with dancers and other musicians at Rambert Dance Company in Chiswick. This intensive weekend, a joint venture by London Sinfonietta and Rambert, was focused on collaboration and involved dancers and musicians composing and choreographing pieces under the leadership of composer Mark Bowden and choreographer Deborah Galloway.

Most of the musicians were more used to performing notated music and not all of the dancers were used to choreographing, especially creating larger works with lots of dancers. This allowed us to experiment with different ideas and composition methods as none of us had worked on a project like this before! It was amazing to have an insight into how another art form works and how their creative process differs from my own as a classical musician.

My favourite aspect of the weekend was creating a duo piece with a dancer where we improvised to develop material

with Debussy’s L’apres midi d’aune faune as our stimulus. As a flute player it was refreshing to look at the piece as a complete work as I often have to prepare the flute solo as an excerpt for auditions.

I came away from the weekend feeling inspired to learn more about dance and to try and include more collaborative work in my music making.

Chloe Vincent, London Sinfonietta Academy Flautist 2011
(You can follow Chloe on Twitter @Chloeflute)

 

 

Principal Player Focus: Michael Thompson

 This month, we catch up with our Principal horn, Michael Thompson, who’ll be featured as soloist in our concert on Saturday 12 May when he’ll be performing Ligeti’s Hamburg Concerto.

What has been your favourite London Sinfonietta experience?

Can I pick two? Performing Hans Werner Henze’s Voices at La Scala, Milan is particularly memorable.  I was still a student and as such it was one of my early London Sinfonietta experiences.  The work is scored for 15 instrumentalists, plus tenor and mezzosoprano, and all of the players are required to play additional instruments, and sometimes sing – so I can claim to have sung in La Scala!

I’d also pick out performing Messaien’s Des canyons aux étoiles (From the Canyons to the Stars) which is famous amongst horn players for the sixth movement scored for solo horn, but the whole piece is an incredible journey.

 What is the most unusual thing you’ve been asked to do in a musical work?

 I was asked to burst balloons once during a BBC Proms performance!

Michael Thompson, London Sinfonietta Principal horn

What, or whom, inspires you most?

By now, I’ve reached the point in my career where I am inspired by my students.

 Soon you’ll be revisiting Ligeti’s Hamburg Concerto, which you gave the UK premiere of with the London Sinfonietta in 2001.  Can you tell us a little about the work?

It’s a challenging work (which I’ve enjoyed revisiting a number of times since the UK premiere), with the soloist being required to play both natural and valved horns.  The ensemble itself contains 4 horn natural horns, each in a different key, which results in the most extraordinary harmonies which include quartertones.

I think Ligeti was a composer who really understood the capabilites of the horn- his writing is challenging, but very idiomatic.

 And finally, what upcoming London Sinfonietta performance are you most looking forward to?

 In Portrait: George Benjamin on Saturday 12 May, including the Hamburg Concerto, of course!

 

Poetry and music does not mix easily… that is perhaps what is attractive about the union…

The London Sinfonietta’s Blue Touch Paper programme nurtures and promotes the next generation of composers and interdisciplinary collaborators by providing the context and space to develop new work. On Wednesday 16 May collaborative works currently being developed by 3 groups of composers and artists on the programme will be showcased in a works-in-progress preview event at Village Underground, Shoreditch.

Composer Philip Venables and poet Steven J Fowler’s work The Revenge of Miguel Cotto, explores the violence, sanctioned by society, that is boxing.  Steven writes…

Tragedy is a subject best approached indirectly, certainly one runs immense risks in writing tragic poetry in 2012. We opened ourselves up to that contingency when we decided to take on the narrative that we did. When first Philip and I agreed, at my gentle urging, to formulate a piece about the boxer Miguel Cotto, he had yet to rematch the man who beaten him into a state of near death using (discovered posthumously) hand bandages loaded with plaster of paris. It is boxing’s own particular brand of madness that such a rematch with this man, Antonio Margarito, was allowed to happen at all. All to our advantage. The point being our work together was born of possibility, of chance, of contingency and we welcomed that into our process and our collaboration. Poetry and music does not mix easily, nor gently, and that is perhaps what is attractive about the union. And beyond that, when first scores were being drawn, staging arranged, poetry mooted we did not even know whether the piece would be a story of tragedy or of revenge.

As Philip has trusted me into the world of boxing (and poetry) so I have trusted him to shape the narrative beyond the narrative, and therein lies the key to our work being successful, that it might utilise notions apparent in the subject to embody something original, and powerful, perhaps even aggressively so. And as I have suggested, it has always been my experience that music doesn’t synthesis easily with poetry – it requires innovation, intention and a fair measure of sacrifice. So I believe our piece, as it nears its beginning (which can feel like an end, strangely, for the preview show) has become defined by its rough edges and at its core, will retain something of the volatility of both our subject and our method. I have been asked already if our piece might allow those who don’t appreciate boxing to enter into my perception, and thus appreciation of the sport … I can only say I feel it’s not for me to say, nor has it become a concern of ours. Boxing is a repository for a palpable sense of being, of alive-ness, whether it is enjoyed or not. And I would venture the same goes for good music and good poetry. If our piece comes close to achieving the same sensation, we will be exceedingly happy.

Steven J Fowler, poet, The Revenge of Miguel Cotto 

A lesson in Panpipe making…

Last month, the London Sinfonietta performed as part of Glasgow’s Minimal Extreme festival.  One of the works, Louis Andriessen’s Hoketus called for some rather unusual panpipes. Eliza Marshall explains…

On receiving a copy of the panpipe parts for Louis Andriessen’s Hoketus, it was quite apparent that we would need to customise our pipes to suit the desired pitches. Whilst both Dave Cuthbert and I play on Romanian-made pipes, they were not specific enough for what we needed.

Eliza's panpipe making kit

Buying other makes would have been expensive, and we would have had to break them up to add/take away notes that we needed/didn’t need. The geography of the notes when playing the panpipes is very important, so having any unwanted notes in the way was unhelpful for a fast moving piece like Hoketus.

We decided that the best optionwas to make our own.

3 metres of black conduit tubing, a tube cutting instrument,  some champagne corks and several hours later we had the exact notes required! David worked out rough measurements for each pitch, and cut the tubing accordingly

Panpipe making in progress

This was reasonably quick. Cutting the cork so that it was the right size was a little more time consuming, but very important to fully block the end of the tube, whilst also being movable so as to allow for tuning the pipes. Then some strong carpet tape and we were ready to go!

Our first rehearsal with Bang On A Can and the guys seemed quite impressed with our home creations. Mark Stewart commented on the fact that he has many instruments that he makes for different occasions and Louis Andriessen also seemed very happy with the instruments.

Eliza, with the finished panpipes

Hoketus is a great piece to play on panpipes, and I will now be adding my black tube creations to my ever-growing bag of ethnic flutes and random instruments.

Eliza Marshall, Panpipe player

Interview with Netia Jones, Projection Designer

We are delighted to be working with Netia Jones, designer of projections for our performance on Saturday 21 April as part of Impossible Brilliance: the music of Conlon Nancarrow. We caught up with Netia to find out what’s involved in producing and  designing her projections.

Can you tell us a little about your background?  How did you end up working as a projection designer?

I currentlywork as an director/designer in opera and concerts always using projection and film. I studied music and visual art simultaneously and introducing technology was a natural progression. Along the way I have worked in editing, installation and interactive media to forage for techniques that can best be applied to dealing with live music in performance, which has its own very specific demands and negotiations.

How do you go about designing projections to accompany existing works?

On any given project I will spend an earnest amount of time in preparation, both listening and reading up. Some projects have a greater narrative content and some, as this one, are just about creating a supporting layer to enhance the listening experience. There is always a visual language that emerges after this period of research, which can only really come out of total immersion.

 And how do you go about realising them?

I film and collate all the visual material, and edit to sound or to scores depending on the project. Then there is an extended period of programming to enable it all to be played live. The fundamental idea is that the film and projection follows the live performance, rather than the other way around. For me visual technology is a fantastic toolbox for responding to sound worlds in a way that enriches the experience of participating in live music. Projection can be as simple as integrated projected text, or it can encompass interactive triggers, sound, live cameras, film, or any combination of these.

Here’s a video of some of Netia’s previous work:

Who, or what, inspires you?

I am completely inspired by quiet geniuses, the kind of creative innovators who are impelled along a certain path whether anyone is listening or not. I’m afraid I am also slightly obsessed with mechanisation, machines, mathematics, science, technology and projected light.

If you could pick a favourite project or personal career highlight to date, what would it be?

Projecting 30 metres high onto Sizewell Nuclear Power station while performing Ligeti, Scelsi, Ockeghem and Mazulis. I can’t believe I was allowed to. Possibly I dreamt it.

Can you tell us about the projections in Impossible Brilliance: the music of Conlon Nancarrow?

Unlike other projects that are more narrative or concept-driven, I see projection in this concert to be a way of supporting this amazing and exhilarating programme, and perhaps suggesting, or allowing, some ideas about the composer to emerge. We have some really wonderful images of Nancarrow, and the tools of his fairly unique trade are so beautiful that I think some reliance on stills, and possibly text, can bring together these startlingly brilliant pieces and create some kind of picture of the man behind them. I am very interested in this quote from Nancarrow: “My essential concern, whether you can analyze it or not, is emotional; there’s an impact that I try to achieve by these means”. I have been slightly in love with Nancarrow for quite a while and it is a pure joy to be working on this project.

 And finally, what is the most played piece of music on your mp3 player right now?

Conlon Nancarrow String Quartet No.1, Oliver Knussen Upon One Note, György Kurtag Jatekok.

From the technicolour fantasies of Disney to the anarchist trenches…

The London Sinfonietta’s Blue Touch Paper programme nurtures and promotes the next generation of composers and interdisciplinary collaborators by providing the context and space to develop new work. On Wednesday 16 May collaborative works currently being developed by 3 groups of composers and artists on the programme will be showcased in a works-in-progress preview event at Village Underground, Shoreditch.

Composer Steve Potter and writer/dramaturg Kélina Gotman have been working on 100 Combat Troupes, a music-theatre piece which stages the urgency and ambivalence of dreaming other possible worlds.  In the first of a series of blog posts ahead of the event Kélina gives us an update on the progress of 100 Combat Troupes…

Paul Klee's Angelus Novus, inspiration for 100 Combat Troupes

24 March. 5.18pm: The first thing to say is that it’s Saturday afternoon, and I’m sitting out back in the newly-refurbished Crystal Palace Tavern (CPT, for short- I always want to call it the Camden People’s Theatre, even though it’s not), and Steve is slaving away at home working on the Rivers of the World sequence – Adam’s scene, the most difficult one.

We had a great session this morning, looking back over the script, which I revised – finally – after procrastinating on it for a week or two. Steve had some comments, and we more or less solved (I think) the Messiah sequence, the last scene. It wasn’t really clear what it was about: what the mood was, or what the point, was, really, either. I think we’ve figured out that it’s a coda, silent (no language), but playful. The actors will be doing very little: sitting at a folding card table, which we need to acquire, or find. Pulling out foldable chairs. Talking like old friends, gesticulating. It’s going to be shorter than we had thought. One minute, rather than four. And end in an 8 second burst of Balkan gypsy music, then nothing. It makes sense, after Adam’s wild scene.

I could say more, but I have 100 to 400 words for this blog post, so will move on to the other thing we figured out this morning, lest I try my reader’s patience, and that’s the Disney sequence, which I think Steve has totally nailed.  We had a rehearsal (or a workshop) with the London Sinfonietta on Monday last week, and I was concerned that the soundscape was too disjointed. There were all kinds of things going on, and it was going to be disruptive, and felt random. Kirstin has a huge, intense, monologue – much of it is gibberish (intentionally so), a childish princess-like patter, a grown-up girl’s fetish dreams of infinite girldom, the disaster land of Disney, and the music was going to make the scene too messy. Confusing. But Steve has found the perfect soundscape: we’re still using the sped-up Swan Lake, as per a momentary flash of inspiration from many months ago, but it’s more audible now; it’s also halting. Like a little girl refusing to grow up, not getting anywhere; the tune blasts for a few seconds, then pause, then starts again, a zillion times. Start stop, it’s perfect as a counterpart to Kirstin’s rapid-fire babble about Aibo (the robot dog), Dorothy, and other things, which I won’t get into right now. Let’s just say that she gets suddenly pissed off, swears at the two other actors, who have hit her (accidentally) in the head with a projectile. The trick was to get the music to turn, but without having it be so violent a shift that we would need 100 more rehearsals to get the timing right. Here, our stopwatch structure will allow Kirstin to fire off her scene (in exactly 2’20’’), while the musicians watch her for their cue – Steve was suggesting we ask David Hockings, the London Sinfonietta’s Principal percussionist, to watch for the shift, and then the music turns – subtly, but definitely, darker.

Next on the to-do list for the day: fire off the revised script to Kaite O’Reilly, who has offered ridiculously useful mentoring so far.  See what she says about the changes.

 Kélina Gotman, writer/dramaturg, 100 Combat Troupes

Principal Player Focus: John Constable

John Constable, the London Sinfonietta’s Principal pianist and YouTube clip enthusiast is March’s featured Principal player.

When did you realise you wanted a career in music?

John Constable, London Sinfonietta Principal pianist

At school.  All I ever wanted to do was to play the piano and listen to music.

 What was the first recording you bought?

I don’t remember the first recording I bought myself but I well remember two that I was given by my parents; Artur Schnabel playing Beethoven’s ‘Emperor’ Concerto and Victoria de los Angeles singing The Maiden and the Nightingale by Granados.

 What piece of new music changed you?

The Whale by John Tavener, the first piece I played with the London Sinfonietta which started me on this fantastic journey with my marvellous colleagues.

 What piece of music brings a smile to your face when you see it on your music stand?

Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro.

 What has been your favourite London Sinfonietta experience?

There have been so many marvellous experiences that it is impossible to pick just one! I suppose it has to be a tie between our first ever tour of Europe with Pierre Boulez, Luciano Berio and David Atherton and our performances of the Quartet for the End of Time in the Italian Chapel on Orkney in a building built by Italian prisoners of war and so close to Scapa Flow.

 What is perfection?

Something which every performer aspires to but knows they well never reach.  There is always something more one could have done with the music.

 What is your most valued posession?

Something which is not a posession at all. My family.

 And finally, which London Sinfonietta concert are you most looking forward to in 2012?

It has to be In Portrait: Harrison Birtwistle on 24 May.  Harrison Birtwistle has been such a central part of our concert giving from very early days and the concert will be conducted by David Atherton, our founder!

John’s next performance with the London Sinfonietta will be on Friday 23 March in Glasgow where we’ll be perfoming a double-bill as part of the Minimal Extreme Festival.  Click here for more details.

To receive John’s monthly YouTube recommendation, sign up for the London Sinfonietta e-zine.

Alistair Mackie discusses …miramondo multiplo…

Ahead of his performance as soloist in …miramondo multiplo… this Saturday night, London Sinfonietta Principal trumpet Alistair Mackie caught up with Emmi Tingey, our Projects Intern, to talk about the concerto…

E: The performance on Saturday will be the first time you have publically performed …miramondo multiplo…   How do you approach starting to learn such a piece?

Alistair Mackie performing with the London Sinfonietta © Briony Campbell

AM: As with any new piece, I begin by taking it apart completely and working on the separate technical problems.  It’s really a case of dissecting it and then building it up again bar by bar. It takes time to figure out expression and what the composer wants.

With this concerto I’ve also had to work on building up my playing stamina to put it back together.

E: How do you make the transition between practising a solo part by yourself to rehearsing with the ensemble?

I have the full score on my stand when I’m practising alone because you need to know what to expect when you rehearse together.  Garry Walker and I will also discuss the approach to specific sections before the first rehearsal with ensemble.

However, there are some things that you just can’t prepare for. For example the balance and sound in each space you rehearse and perform in is very different so you have to adjust to each space.  One of the things that I’ll be interested to discover in the first rehearsal is how much I can play out in the sparsely-scored sections.

E: Tell me a little bit about the trumpet techniques used in …miramondo multiplo…  

 AM: Olga Neuwirth was, I believe, a trumpeter herself, and this definitely shows in the writing.  It’s very well written for the instrument and she has a great awareness of colour, so she’s been very specific about the types of sound she wants at various points.

The direction Bisbigliando appears throughout the score and I’ve interpreted this to mean ‘nervously’ or ‘to quiver’, so I’ve been experimenting with putting ¼  of a valve down. There’s also occasions which call for flutter tonguing, and various different degrees of vibrato.

E:…miramondo multiplo…  is scattered with fragments of musical memories.  If you were composing a work made up of your own musical memories, what would you include?

AM: I tend to get very involved with the music that I’m currently playing, so I’d probably answer differently at any given time! At the moment I’m rehearsing Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony with the Philharmonia Orchestra, which is a piece that completely engulfs you.  It’s also a piece that has come up throughout my life and was the first test piece I had to play for a UK orchestra.

Perhaps surprisingly, when picking my own musical memories, I definitely wouldn’t pick works riddled with big trumpet parts…so not Petrouchka, Pictures at an Exhibition or Mahler’s Fifth Symphony!

E: How have you approached the fusion of diverse styles within the piece and do you think the trumpet is an instrument which lends itself to such a range of styles?

 AM: In some ways it is a versatile instrument and each composer has a different soundworld for the instrument.  One of the things that I like about this composition is that it has a sense of restlessness; it doesn’t settle on one specific style.

E: So how do you adjust to these changes in style?

 AM: It’s a challenge for the player to adapt to each style. You have to think of the composition as a whole and have an awareness of the entire work, while also playing in each specific moment.

E:  And finally, do you have a favourite musical memory from your time playing with the London Sinfonietta?

If I had to pick one… probably the first time I performed Heiner Goebbels’ Songs of Wars I have seen, in New York during March last year. I love the trumpet solo at the end.

Click here for more information about In Portrait: Olga Neuwirth on Saturday 11 February

 And here to listen to …miramondo multiplo… on YouTube

 

Five Questions with Andrew Watts

Andrew Watts, countertenor and soloist in In Portrait: Olga Neuwirth talks about Hommage à Klaus Nomi, his ideal musical collage, and who he’d most like to be for a day…

Countertenor Andrew Watts

On Saturday 11 February, you’ll be performing as soloist in Olga Neuwirth’s Hommage à Klaus Nomi.  Can you tell us a little about Nomi’s character and how this influences your approach to the role?

Taking on the persona of someone like Klaus Nomi is almost impossible. Unlike such things as Stars in Your Eyes on the television the role is in no way meant to be an impression of Klaus Nomi  (vocally or in a fashion sense!), it is more an evocation of the times and spirits of the period when Klaus Nomi was singing and performing.

My approach to singing this music is to treat it simply in a classical form even though some of the songs are based in the rock genre. Good singing along with a natural performance style is needed for these songs. The arrangements by Olga Neuwirth are incredible and full of musical nuances and detail.

Klaus Nomi used music to adopt a new persona.  If you could be someone else for a day, who would you choose, and why? 

I am fairly happy with being the person I am but if I were to become a person for the day I think I would like to be the President of the United States of America. I have become obsessed with the TV series The West Wing and carry it with me when away from home singing opera around the world. It is incredibly written and has a real insight into the working of politics in the US.  Being President would give me access in to the most secure building in the world.

Olga Neuwirth has said that she has been intrigued by Klaus Nomi since the age of 13 and “was always a fan of his songs and his personality.”  Which performer or hero, real or imagined, intrigues you?

I guess as a classical singer I am supposed to think of some other singer who has influenced me or who has inspired me. Most of the great singers have had some influence on me; I simply love the human voice. This is my healthy obsession. However if there was a person who intrigues me then I would have to say Diana, Princess of Wales. I had the pleasure of meeting her both publicly and privately and together with the rest of the world I still wonder what went on in her mind behind the smile and the gentle nature.

In Hommage à Klaus Nomi, Olga Neuwirth takes inspiration from 9 Klaus Nomi songs that were originally performed by a great variety of performers.  If you were to create your own musical collage of favourites, what songs would you include?

This list can be endless! Looking at my iPod to see what I listen to all the time, I would include the following; The Carpenters We’ve Only Just Begun; The Weather Girls It’s Raining Men, Elton John’s Candle in the Wind,  Defying Gravity from the musical Wicked This is the Moment from the musical Jekyll and Hyde, Isolde’s Liebestod from Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde, Whitney Houston’s One Moment in Time and anything by Lady Gaga and Michael Jackson.

And finally… in a previous period of his life, Klaus Nomi worked a pastry chef.  If you hadn’t become a musician, what would you be now?

Well I have done many jobs in my time before this music thing took off. I cleaned offices, put the jam in the middle of doughnuts in the local bakery, worked in the local grocers weighting out vegetables, worked in restaurants and pubs, played cocktail piano in a wine bar, and cooked pub food.  I often wonder if I had not been a musician what would I have actually been doing now.

Click here to watch Klaus Nomi on YouTube

And hear to listen to Andrew Watts performing Olga Neuwirth’s Five Daily Miniatures.

New music opens my cultural appetite…

Ahead of his performance in Wolfgang Rihm at 60, Thierry Fischer talks to us about his relationship with new music…

Thierry Fischer, Image © Chris Stock

In Wolfgang Rihm at 60, you’ll be conducting several UK premieres.  How do you approach learning unfamiliar scores?

It very much depends on the complexity of the piece, the length, and the compositional technique of the composer. I usually take a systematic approach to the piece; going bar by bar, in detail. I then read everything I can about the context in which the composer wrote the piece and then come back, as many times as I need to, in order to find a natural approach to the piece. It is honestly different for every single piece, every different composer, and also depends on my schedule around the time of the concert. Sometimes I will prepare for months in advance and sometimes it is much closer to the concert date.

If you could name one piece of new music that changed you, what would it be?

The Scardanelli Zyklus by Heing Holliger.

You perform a vast range of repertoire with a variety of different ensembles.  What attracts you to new music?

New music opens my cultural appetite. I need/love to study and perform new scores on a regular basis. I believe that this is one of the conductor’s responsibilities. Rehearsing and performing new music is galvanising my creativity. It shows me new worlds, new sound possibilities and creates cultural connections. I need to feel challenged by new compositional technique; it is an irresistible attraction and enriches my perception of looking at music written in the past.

We live at the start of the 21st century. As well as bringing technical and expressive possibilities to players, new music expands the potential for extreme reactions, hopes, curiosity and fun for audiences. I simply couldn’t live without actively participating and supporting the creative composing process of today.

And what piece(s) of music are you listening to right now?

Three different Masses by Wiliam Byrd.

Thierry Fischer’s next performance with the London Sinfonietta will be in Wolfgang Rihm at 60, on Tuesday 24 January.