As a composer, 2009 to 2019 has been a pretty good decade for me, and I thought it might be fun to document the most prominent events. I had a real drive in getting more overseas performances, and I began to transition from more abstract electronic compositions into more music for acoustic instruments.
Probably my first significant work of the decade was Strike! (2009). This was an electronic piece constructed from recordings I made of a striking match, my old gas oven's door and a tin of Campbell's soup. This piece did a good job of raising my profile internationally and took me to performances in New York, North Carolina, Mississippi and Toronto.
The New York gig for Strike! was at the International Computer Music Conference in 2010, where I had another piece programmed called Residue, which had been written in collaboration with Adam Stansbie (now Adam Stanovic). Residue was for string quartet and fixed-media and marked my first collaboration with the Voxare Quartet.
I'd never actually met Voxare before the New York concert, but we instantly hit it off at the bar after their fantastic performance of Residue; I decided then and there that I had to work with them again.
Also in 2010, I was commissioned to write an opera, entitled Flight Paths, based on a libretto by the multi-talented poet/director/producer Adam Strickson. In the early discussion stages of the opera, I suggested we bring Voxare over from the US to form the core of our ensemble, and I'm delighted to say that Adam thought this was a great idea.
For the lead in Flight Paths, we chose the utterly wonderful Nadine Benjamin in the role of Erin. Taylor Wilson played the roles of elderly ATA Girl Spitfire Irene and the mystic Rhyming Vi. Anikó Tóth played RSPB volunteer Ilona and the campsite matriarch Linda. Taylor and Anikó also played a stripped down Greek chorus, dressed in stage blacks, which meant for some frantic costume changes backstage, as well as an onstage transformation from chorus to Ilona for Anikó!
The core of the opera was written around the Voxare Quartet, Nadine, Taylor and Anikó, but there was also a women's choir, a children's choir and a wind band, not to mention assorted dancers and actors of all ages. Fortunately, as well as having Adam Strickson producing and directing, we were lucky enough to hire the amazing Jonathan Lo as musical director and conductor. Jonathan was the perfect choice, as, despite his impeccable musical talents, he was also a consummate negotiator, taskmaster, mediator, cat herder and all round lovely, warm person.
The opera received its premier at the Bridlington Spa at the end of September 2011, as well as receiving additional performances in Leeds. Here is an extract from one of the Bridlington performances.
There were a few ups and downs with the production phase. One potentially disastrous one was that two members of Voxare did not receive visas in time, but we were lucky in that two excellent replacements for found for performances in the UK.
As part of the promotion of the opera, we had a series of string quartet concerts, as well as solo concerts by Anikó Tóth, in Manchester, Leeds and Bridlington. The programme at each of the concerts did vary, but at each concert my String Quartet was performed, as well as a new piece composed specifically for Voxare called Bempton Cliffs.
(Bempton Cliffs received another performance in 2015 by Zero Theorem as part of the Sonic Coast festival. You can see that performance here.)
At the Manchester gig, Voxare included one of the dances from my opera called Murder Birds. Fortunately, before the ensemble had to return home to the US, we had the opportunity to record these pieces at Peel Hall in Salford. The recording session was engineered by Brendan Williams and mixed by myself.
Even though the opera was hard work, it was a wonderful experience, and many lifelong friendships were formed. I'm extremely grateful to Adam Strickson for inviting me to be a part of it.