PRESS RELEASE October 28th 2015 at 7pm
TEN BASS CLARINETS, CLIMATE & CENSORSHIP AT MARKSON PIANOS CONCERT SERIES
St Mary Magdalene Church, Munster Square, London NW1 3PH £6/£3 Concessions
Markson Pianos Composer in Residence Lola Perrin rounds off the 2015 season in a special evening of three ensemble works; a unique grouping of ten bass clarinettists, an ambitious piece for piano and the spoken words of 23 climate experts, and music for piano and vibraphone from a new human rights film.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaS7Jsj4yCk
HER SISTERS’ NOTEBOOK (Lola Perrin 2011) for ten bass clarinets
(Dur. 30 minutes)
Commissioned by Sarah Watts
Performed by Sarah Watts with Jason Alder, Tommy Andrews, Mick Forster, Sarah Homer, Gennie Joy, Ian Mitchell, Julia Munn, Dai Pritchard and Jonathan Russell
Conductor: Terry Davies
Lola Perrin collaborated with bass clarinettist Sarah Watts, expert in the art of performing several notes concurrently (multiphonics) to establish how Sarah’s multiphonics could form the basis of a new composition. The resulting work, ‘Her Sisters’ Notebook’ for bass clarinet choir, features interplay between multiphonics and a harmonic language they gave rise to. The mysterious sound of Sarah’s multiphonics led Lola to other mysteries: the sense of a forgotten music lost through time and in particular the 800AD Byzantine Abotess composer Kassia who appears as fragments in the work and whose music reaches us through the centuries under an endlessly turning eclipse as portrayed in David Oates’ painting ‘Kiss 19’ – which Lola followed during the composition process to establish the work’s structure. Sarah Watts has previously performed Her Sisters’ Notebook at Peninsula Arts Contemporary Music Festival, Plymouth Town Hall, Trinity College Dublin and The Vortex (London) playing one part live against nine pre-recorded parts which played through loud-speakers. The piece will be heard completely live for the first time on October 28th 2015.
NOW YOU SEE IT (Lola Perrin 2015)
For piano and an orchestra of words featuring the voices of 23 activists and innovators at the frontline of climate justice, a composer’s response to being in the age of climate change
(Dur. 30 minutes)
Composer/Producer: Lola Perrin
Co-producer Christian Dymond
Now You See It features live piano with a pre-recorded ‘voicescape’ made from the specially recorded spoken words of 23 international activists and innovators at the frontline of climate justice. The words are responses to Lola Perrin's questions designed to elicit inner meditations. The interviews were all recorded on webcam with ... a journalist in distant Costa Rica ... an outdoor philosopher in nearly out-of-signal northern Scotland ... a community activist down a lane in farthest Devon ... an expert in Burkina Faso ... sometimes we hear disturbed signals, and at all times we hear of the most disturbed subject of our time ...
UNSILENCE (Lola Perrin arr. Perrin/Hiscock 2015)
(Dur 15 mins)
From a soundtrack for a Backlash film directed by Nathan Newman about the plight of Saudi blogger Raif Badawi being held in prison and flogged while the rulers attempt to silence his calls for freedom of expression.
Performed by Lola Perrin (piano) and Stephen Hiscock (vibraphone)
Biographies
Lola Perrin American born, London-based composer and pianist. In 2011 Markson Pianos hosted seven concerts to launch her eight piano books being published that year by Lola Perrin Sheet Music with distribution by Spartan Press. Her recordings are on the usual digital sites (e.g. iTunes and Spotify). She is Composer in Residence at Markson Pianos where, as part of her residency, she has created the blog ‘The View from Markson Pianos’; a series of piano related tales collected through interviews with professional and amateur musicians. Other current projects include continuing to build her catalogue of music for solo and multiple piano, now being taken up by international pianists, and working with child composers to publish their works.
Sarah Watts specialises on the bass clarinet and has gained an international reputation as an artist, teacher and researcher on the instrument. She has performed solo repertoire internationally and has attracted composers such as Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Piers Hellawell, William Sweeney and Lola Perrin to write works for her. In 2015 Spectral Immersions - a comprehensive guide to bass clarinet multiphonics by Sarah Watts was published by Metropolis Publisher, in which she also discusses Perrin’s ‘Her Sisters’ Notebook’.
Terry Davies is a composer, conductor with a wide range of credits in film, theatre (including 12 years at The National Theatre) and TV. He works with leading artists including Sam Mendes, Jane Horrocks,Rupert Everett, Robert Winston, Stephen Poliakoff and Renée Fleming. Composition awards include Play Without Words (Olivier Award), Edward Scissorhands (New York Drama Desk Award) and Car Man (Evening Standard Award). TV/film scores he has conducted/arranged include The Kings Speech, Happy-Go-Lucky, The Return of Sherlock Homes Associate Artist of Matthew Bourne’s company New Adventures.
Stephen Hiscock is a composer and percussionist and has collaborated with artists including Stewart Copeland, Nitin Sawhney, Chick Corea and Steve Reich. He also studied traditional Ghanaian music with the Pan African Orchestra, Ibrahim Abukari and Afadina Tsikpa. He is a founder member of ensemblebash.
Performing Her Sisters’ Notebook with Sarah Watts are Jason Alder, Tommy Andrews, Mick Forster, Sarah Homer, Gennie Joy, Ian Mitchell, Julia Munn, Dai Pritchard and Jonathan Russell, a unique collection of the UKs best bass clarinettists playing together for the first time. Between them they have played with world renowned ensembles and performers including BBC Big Band, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Sir John Dankworth, Cleo Laine, Stephen Warbeck’s the hKippers, Loose Tubes, the Michael Nyman Band, John Barrowman, Howard Goodall, Dagmar Krause, Django Bates’ Delightful Precipice, Magic Mountain, Massive Attack, the Almeida Ensemble, Electra Strings, the Monteverdi Orchestra, Ghostpoet,Gemini, Quorum, Varese Ensemble, HarmonieBand, Pasadena Roof Orchestra, Quadraphonic and Sqwonk at leading venues including National Theatre, The Globe Theatre, Sadlers Wells, Wigmore Hall, Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club, Kings Place and St John's Smith Square.
CONTACTS simon.markson@marksonpianos.com
lola.perrin@sky.com
