It’s been a while since I had a chance to update this part of the Internet, but thus is the nature of our existence. Since late August, things have been incredibly busy around Birmingham Conservatoire, but as always it is a joy to have such fantastic students, colleagues and projects to be involved with. August also saw a repeat performance of my double concerto Strange to See you Again by Thumb (whom commissioned the piece), although I couldn’t make the performance, I have been informed that it was very well received. September was occupied for the most part with teaching and composing a number of solo pieces. The first, a piece for violin and electronics Six Minutes of Music on the Subject of Having a Coke with You should be receiving its premiere by Simon Goff sometime in 2015, the second Seven Minutes of Music on the Subject of Simulacra is being recorded by Roberto Alonso Trillo in 2015 for a forthcoming CD release and the third Ten Minutes of Music on the Subject of Furniture is being premiered by pianist David Adams on Wednesday 19 November in the project arts centre, Dublin. I’m very excited to work with all of these wonderful performers over the next few months.
October saw the second performance of Fourteen Minutes of Music on the Subject of Greeting Cards by Audrey Milheres, Aisha Orazbayeva and Matthew Schellhorn at the Little Missenden Festival. It was fantastic to finally hear this piece in Little Missenden after Aisha had taken ill at the original premiere. During October I also began work on a new fifteen minute solo cello piece Fifteen Minutes of Music on the Subject of Positivity which will receive its premiere in February 2015.
November sees the continuation of the composition process of this piece along with a trilogy of new pieces based on all of the Music of Guillaume de Machaut’s Messe de Nostre Dame happening simultaneously. One incarnation will be electronics only, the second incarnation will be for piano and electronics and the third will be a much bigger project for electronics and flexible ensemble. I’m very excited about all of these projects and very much look forward to their realisation.
In addition to these activities, I am also engaged in mixing some recordings for release including the group I play with, Nippons second record which should be released in the next few months and also my first release on Birmingham Record Company Forty-Five Minutes of Music on the Subject of Football which was recorded by Ensemble KROCK during the summer. I’m very much looking forward to both of these releases!
I’ve been living back in Dublin since August (whilst still commuting to Birmingham every week) and it has been refreshing to see so much high quality music taking place in my hometown including a new piece by Peter Ablinger, presented by Dublin Sound Lab Ergodos‘ Santa Rita Series in the Little Museum of Dublin, the Necks in Christ Church Cathedral and bands such as Hands Up Who Wants to Die and Percolator performing in a multiplicity of different venues. It has also been a great pleasure to be working with John Murphy, Ian Chestnut and Thomas Parkes of Guerrilla Studios and Seán Zissou and David Knox of the Practice Tapes. We will be releasing something together in the coming months, but for now check out and enjoy one of their latest projects here.
SEÁN CLANCY 