Listening Cities Event - Corfu 24th to 29th June 2013

Stephen Davismoon – Stations of the Clyde (diffused by Stephen Kilpatrick)

Stations of the Clyde presents fragments of place and memory from a small, often-made journey from platform 6 of Glasgow Central Station…through the concourse of that magnificent, cavernous, resonant structure...down through the city’s underground channels…resurfacing by Kelvingrove Park…and…back again.

…the pressure release, the announcements, the footsteps, the calls of passers-by and that of assistants, the underground tunnels seeming to throb and breathe, the cash splayed out, the turnstile admitting another traveller and yet another…, subterranean water drops, against metal on metal, to birdcalls overhead...

The four movements of the work trace this journey; the pitches of the drones of each are derived from the formant frequencies of the vowels of Glasgow Green Station.

Stations of the Clyde was composed for the ‘Stations of the Green’ exhibition curated by The Drouth’s Johnny Rodger and Mitch Miller - New Glasgow Society 1307 Argyle St. Glasgow, 26th April – 17th May 2013. Stations of the Clyde is dedicated to Pat Donald, a daughter of the Clyde.

Stephen Davismoon was born in London. He completed undergraduate studies in music at the University of Southampton in 1990, specializing in composition with Ric Graebner and performance, Classical Guitar with Antonio Albanes. In 1996 he completed his Doctorate in Composition at the University of Edinburgh, studying with Nigel Osborne. He is currently Professor of Contemporary Composition and Director of Music at the University of Salford, Manchester, England. He has had a professional composition career for nearly 20 years, and has written music for a broad range of ensembles and situations – from solo pieces through to works for full orchestra, with and without voices. He has also written a number of live electronic/interactive; electroacoustic and sound-art installation pieces. He has had performances in Brazil, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Holland, Iceland, Italy, Lithuania, Spain, Switzerland, UK, Ukraine, Uruguay and the USA. He has worked with many notable musicians, institutions and festivals along the way: Roberto Fabbriciani; Rohan de Saram; Die Neuevocalsolisten; Scottish Opera; Centro Tempo Reale; Das Experimentalstudio der Heinrich Strobel Stiftung; Richard Craig; Tara Boumann; CCMIX Studios; Edinburgh International Festival – ‘Behind the Scenes’; Martyn Brabbins; Chamber Group of Scotland; Le Champs Libre; Ensemble Linea; Brake Drum Percussion Ensemble; The Edinburgh Quartet; Klangwerktage Hamburg; Finestre sul Novecento; The Tampere Conservatoire Symphony Orchestra.

Anikó Tóth and Nikos Stavropoulos – ELEGEIA for Anna (Άννα)

electroacoustic and live vocal

ELEGEIA was inspired by, and uses elements of, Greek Moiroloi (death lamentation) and folk traditions, as well as Hungarian lamentation singing. The work also utilises vocalisations that imitate and exaggerate the uncontainable utterances that can occur during intense grieving. The lyrical element, sung in Hungarian but derived from both traditions, relates to the mourning of lovers or children. It translates as, “Why have you flown away, my little bird? Come back home to me, my little bird!” This work is dedicated to Anna (Άννα), who left on the 14th of June 2013.

Anikó Tóth (Soprano) started singing Hungarian folk songs as a child. She has studied and performed in Los Angeles, Budapest and the UK. She has been broadcast on BBC Four, BBC Radio 3 & 4, PBS (USA), and Bartók Rádió (Hungary). Anikó created the roles of Ilona and Linda in contemporary opera Flight Paths, one of the curated strands of the 2012 Olympic celebrations. She also created Anna (soprano) and The Brides/Narrator (voiceover) in Stephen Kilpatrick’s music theatre/tape piece 'The Night Bride', performed in Vienna with Psappha Ensemble’s Tim Williams (cimbalom). Recently, Anikó performed contemporary dance and vocals in Stephen Davismoon’s new piece ‘deeper than all roses’, set to poetry by e.e. cummings. She is excited to collaborate with composer Nikos Stavropoulos and to perform the world premiere of this new work.

Nikos Stavropoulos was born in Athens in 1975. He has composed music for video and dance and his music has been awarded mentions and prizes at international competitions (Bourges, 2000,2002, Metamorphose, Brussels 2002, SCRIME, Bordeaux 2003, Musica Miso, Potrugal, 2004, Metamorphose, Brussels 2008, Punto de Encuentro Canarias International Electroacoustic Composition Competition 2009). Other interests include the performance practice of electroacoustic music, diffusion systems and teaching music and music technology. He is a member of the Sonic Arts Network and Hellenic Electroacoustic Music Composers’ Association. In 2006 he joined the Music, Sound & Performance Group at Leeds Metropolitan University.

Simon Connor - In the Depths of The Picturehouse

Simon Connor is a Manchester based composer who has recently completed his MA with distinction in Composition at The University of Salford.

Manoli Moraitis – with Joseph William Beech - Symbiosis

A collaborative performance, combining electroacoustic music and the notion of drawing music. Utilising motion sensors and live sample manipulation, the two artists practice their art discipline separately, albeit affecting each other's output.

Stephen Kilpatrick Strike!

In Strike!, my aim was to explore change and transformation through the creation of a number of opposing sound worlds and landscapes, some of which are intended to evoke the natural and industrial worlds. Other sections are intended to be more abstract and are concerned with creating microtonal harmonic textures. Always, however, at the works core is the explosive power of the striking match and the potentially painful, yet transformative, nature of the flame.

Stephen Kilpatrick studied composition and musicology at the Universities of Manchester and Salford. He has also studied privately with Michael Finnissy. He has composed for Psappha’s Richard Casey and Tim Williams, Expatrio, Rarescale and Voxare. In 2010 his opera, Flight Paths, was commissioned as part of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad and was premiered in Bridlington and Leeds in 2011. As a commercial composer, he has composed music for BBC Radio Four, Channel 4 and Capcom, and he has worked as a composer and sound designer on a number of contemporary theatre projects. He has written and published articles on music technology, narrative in music, György Kurtág and Béla Bartók. He has taught at the University of Salford and Leeds College of music and is currently Senior Lecturer in Music at Leeds Metropolitan University.

Adam Hart A Descent into the Maelstrom

Tech requirements: My piece is now 7.1 surround instead of 8-channel, owing to a problem with the 8-channel setup.The piece is a 7.1 soundscape based upon the Edgar Allen Poe story of the same title:"As the old man spoke, I became aware of a loud and gradually increasing sound, like the moaning of a vast herd of buffaloes upon an American prairie; and at the same moment I perceived that what seamen term the chopping character of the ocean beneath us, was rapidly changing into a current which set to the eastward. Even while I gazed, this current acquired a monstrous velocity. Each moment added to its speed -- to its headlong impetuosity. In five minutes the whole sea, as far as Vurrgh, was lashed into ungovernable fury."

John Lowndes Dust Bunny: Solidify the Fragments or Disperse?

James Medd Physical Echoes

with Nathaniel Mason (saxophone)

This prototype artwork was created to explore and challenge the way in which we perceive sounds, translating a fleeting invisible experience into a tangible and visible one. At its core, the installation takes the form of three bespoke, audio-responsive drawing machines, creating marks on paper as sounds made by observers enter microphones. The concept and motivation behind the project stems from a blend of anecdotal and personal inspiration, rather than any overtly scientific concern. The primary aim of the piece was to present a real-time, visual, physical reinforcement of sound, creating a lasting ‘echo’ to strip audible events of their time constraints. For this event, a short, partly improvised solo performance will be used as the driver for creating unique, abstract visual output.