Charlotte Bray News
British composer
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2024-04-25
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2024-04-08 15:41:00
Three different harps, a Moog Voyager, Ableton and various FX modules: composer Graham Fitkin and harpist Ruth Wall join forces for Harpland
FitkinWall: HarplandMigration is not new. It’s been going on for millennia. The reasons for migration may be geological, climate based, oppressive, work related or voluntary. A new programme from harp and electronica duo FitkinWall follows threads of migration, loss and longing in their new show Harpland. This performance focuses on one small aspect of migration, the eviction and subsequent migration of farmers and crofters from the Scottish highlands during the Clearances. FitkinWall, consisting of Scottish harpist Ruth Wall and composer Graham Fitkin, have produced a new work using Scottish melodies from this time, remoulded and recomposed, and interspersing interviews from recent migrants in to Scotland.Ruth Wall performs on three different harps - Gaelic wire-strung, Bray and Electro harps. Graham Fitkin uses a Moog Voyager, Ableton and various FX modules. And they perform captivating new versions of old Gaelic songs and Highland tunes conjuring up mesmerising sound worlds and the concert tour also features a […]
2024-04-06 08:42:00
Spell Book, Witch & Stone Fruit: composer Freya Waley-Cohen on the power of ritual and spells
Freya Waley-Cohen: Spell Book - Héloïse Werner, Manchester Collective - Barbican (Photo: César Vásquez Altamirano)On 1 February 2024, Manchester Collective, Héloïse Werner (soprano), Fleur Barron (mezzo-soprano), Katie Bray (mezzo-soprano) and Céline Saout (harp) presented the world premiere of Freya Waley-Cohen's complete Spell Book at the Barbican in advance of the song cycle's release on NMC Recordings in October 2024. Setting feminist spell-poems from Rebecca Tamás' 2019 collection WITCH, the cycle mines a vein that Freya Waley-Cohen also explored in her 2020 opera WITCH. In a totally different vein, February 2024 also saw the premiere of Freya's Stone Fruit at Wigmore Hall performed by the Colin Currie Quartet.Freya Waley-Cohen (Photo: Patrick Allen)When Freya first read Rebecca Tamás' poetry, it caught her imagination and expanded her way of looking at the world. Freya loved the idea of witches and spells, the poetry was fantastical, playful and powerful. She also felt that the ritual […]
2024-04-05 08:55:00
West Green House Opera: new artistic director Tom Elwin introduces the 2024 season
[…] the West Green House Opera Young Artist Programme. This years Young Artists will also be presenting their own lunchtime concert as part of the festival.The final staging of the season is Rossini's Il barbiere di Sivigla, directed by Victoria Newlyn and conducted by Matthew Kofi Waldren (who directed and conducted Rossini's La Cenerentola in 2019 and Donizetti's L’elisir d’amore in 2022 at West Green). The strong cast includes Dominic Sedgwick as Figaro, Nico Darmanin as Almaviva and Katie Bray as Rosina.Tom had sung at West Green and the company had supported him, but it was still a surprise when they approached him about taking over as artistic director [the company has something of a tradition of using singers in artistic roles, Yvonne Kenny was artistic advisor to the company in the early days and Kirsty Hopkins, from The Sixteen, was the previous artistic director]. Tom thinks that this new role is interesting both […]
2024-02-02 08:18:00
A vivid panorama of Freya Waley-Cohen's compositional interests & techniques: Manchester Collective in Spell Book at the Barbican
Image of Freya Waley-Cohen for Spell Book (courtesy of the Barbican Centre)Spell Book - Freya Waley-Cohen; Héloïse Werner, Fleur Barron, Katie Bray, Manchester Collective; Milton Court, Barbican CentreReviewed by Florence Anna Maunders, 1 February 2024Music of true emotional power, direct, forceful and dramatic; it was clear on the strength of these fiery, fully committed performances to hear why the Manchester Collective keep returning to Waley-Cohen's compositionsFreya Waley-Cohen's fruitful and ongoing collaborations with the enthusiastic and engaged musicians of the Manchester Collective led to this concert at the Barbican Centre's Milton Court on 1 February 2024; a retrospective of her work with them over the past five years, including the premieres of her latest compositions for the group. Starting off with her enchanting tone poem Naiad, the bulk of the programme was filled with performances of the songs that make up her ever-growing song cycle Spell Book with soprano Héloïse Werner, and mezzo-sopranos Fleur Barron and Katie […]
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