Friends old and new will perform in 2024 edition of acclaimed soundfestival
Images: Con Anima - credit Graeme MacDonald.
- Percussionists Dame Evelyn Glennie and Joby Burgess, Graham Fitkin, Ruth Wall and Red Note Ensemble among returning artists and ensembles
- Festival launches with a special commission bringing together local new music and youth ensembles Any Enemy and Get Creative together with Con Anima chamber choir
- Other 20th anniversary commissions include The Deepminded – a chamber opera by Joanna Nicholson, The Mariner’s Daughter - a quintet by Annabel Kershaw and new works by Laura Bowler Lisa Robertson and Nwando Ebizie.
- Northern Connection partnership continues with concerts featuring Red Note Ensemble (Scotland), Ensemble Temporum (Norway), and defunensemnble (Finland).
- Installation, Dialects of the Deep, will run in Academy Shopping Centre throughout the festival
- Festival runs from 19 – 27 October in venues across Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire.
sound will celebrate 20 years of championing new music and giving a platform to emerging composers and performers with a programme that sees friends old and new come together in nine days of music making this autumn.
Established in North-East Scotland in 2005, over the last 20 years sound has become one of Europe’s leading new music organisations offering a year-round programme of events, workshops, composer support programmes and projects with school pupils and young people, as well as staging the annual soundfestival each autumn. Over the years it has commissioned over 200 new works and supporting both established and emerging composers.
“When we put on our first festival in 2005 little did we think that 20 years later we would not only be continuing to champion new music in an annual festival, but we would also running a year-round programme of activities introducing new generations of people to new music whilst supporting both established and emerging composers,” says director Fiona Robertson.
“It has been a roller-coaster ride with challenges coming from many angles, not least the impact of Covid on the performing arts, but throughout it all we have been blown away by the music and music making, by the enthusiasm of audiences and participants, and by seeing so many young people taking part in music projects at a time when music has become increasingly sidelined in schools.
“For our 20th anniversary programme we are delighted to be welcoming back so many of our old friends including Graham Fitkin, Ruth Wall and percussionist Joby Burgess (who were among the performers at Upbeat! the four-day “taster” event we held in November 2004), our patron Dame Evelyn Glennie CH, our Associate Ensemble Red Note, composer/singer Laura Bowler, and North East Scotland’s new music ensemble, Any Enemy.
“International partnerships have always been at the heart of our programming and this year is no exception. As part of the Northern Connection programme launched in 2023 we will see the UK debuts of defunensemble (Finland) and Ensemble Temporum (Norway). Meanwhile, continuing our long and fruitful relationship with French musicians, this year we welcome lovemusic , a collective of musicians from Strasbourg. Kirkos Ensemble from Dublin will join also us.”
“It has been a great pleasure to be a Patron of sound and I am delighted to be performing in the 20th anniversary festival,” says Dame Evelyn Glennie CH. “Throughout my career I have been privileged to have had works commissioned for me and to have performed premieres of new pieces, so I understand how important organisations like sound are in supporting both composers and performers, and making sure there is a vital platform for new work.”
Alan Morrison, Head of Music at Creative Scotland said: “For 20 years, soundfestival has been instrumental in giving Scotland’s vibrant contemporary classical music scene the international reputation it deserves. Behind the festival is a dedicated team committed to supporting artists and sharing their creativity with communities in the North East, with the help of public funding. This year’s bold programme celebrates the people who create and perform new music that connects with audiences through fresh ideas, sounds and experiences.”
Community Celebration, 20 October 2024
Returning for the 2024 festival is Graham Fitkin, who was among the performers at Upbeat!, a four-day “taster” event held in November 2004. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the festival, Graham Fitkin has been commissioned by sound to write a work for the combined forces of Aberdeen’s new music ensemble, Any Enemy, the young musicians of Get Creative, and the Con Anima chamber choir. Two days later Fitkin and harpist Ruth Wall will perform Harpland, exploring issues of migration, loss and longing.
Returning Performers
Also returning in 2024 is sound Patron, Dame Evelyn Glennie, who performed the first ever sound commission (by Sally Beamish) at the first soundfestival in 2005. The acclaimed percussionist will be joined by the members of the New London Chamber Ensemble in a programme of works for percussion and wind quintet. Joby Burgess, a percussionist who is equally celebrated for his virtuosic performances as his extensive education work has appeared in five festivals both as a solo performer as well as with the Colin Currie group and the Fitkin band. In 2024 he will give a family concert and a solo recital featuring works by Graham Fitkin, Dobrinka Tabakova, John Metcalfe and Gabriel Prokoviev amongst others.
Northern Connection
Images: Ensemble Temporum and Red Note Ensemble perform Tine Surel Lange’s Flaskepost
sound’s 2023 festival opened with the Scottish performance of the Northern Connection project. An international collaboration, Northern Connection is a partnership between Scotland (sound, Red Note Ensemble and Scottish Music Centre); Finland (Music Finland, Musica nova Festival and defunensemble) and Norway (Music Norway, Ultima Festival and Ensemble Temporum) in which each nation is represented by a composer, an ensemble, a national music organisation and a festival.
The 2024 festival brings together the three ensembles in a joint concert featuring specially-commissioned works by Tine Surel Lange (Norway), Lisa Robertson (Scotland) and Lauri Supponen (Finland). Additionally, defunensemble will give a concert of works by Finnish Composers and Ensemble Temporum will perform four compositions by composers from cities along their train route to get from Oslo to Aberdeen! Red Note, meanwhile, will join forces with Laura Bowler in a new work for voice, flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano, and in another concert give a platform to five emerging composers who have written pieces for marimba and viola.
New Commissions
Among the many premieres to be featured in the 2024 festival are seven sound commissions or co-commissions: Graham Fitkin’s community commission; Aud The Deepminded – a semi-staged chamber opera by Joanna Nicholson which explores the life of a 9th century Viking widow; The Mariner’s Daughter - a quintet by Annabel Kershaw which focuses on the relationship between women and the North Sea which is Based on interviews with women from NE Scotland who work on the sea or who are strongly connected to it; Kirkos Ensemble’s Guide to Slow Travel co-commissioned with Huddersfield and New Music Dublin; and new works from Lisa Robertson (to be performed by harpsichordist Tiffany Vong) and Nwando Ebizie (a piece for voice to be performed by Laura Bowler).
Dialects of the Deep
Running throughout the festival in The Academy Shopping Centre, (Schoolhill entrance) will be John Andrew Wilhite’s immersive experience Dialects of the Deep which combines wooden and glass sculptures with sound. Using old fishing boats from the Barents region and old glass net floats from 19-20th century, that have been drifted ashore, visual artist Anastasia Savinova has created monumental sculptures which evoke the life cycles of fish and investigates how they are symbolically and physically connected to human life. Meanwhile, for his sound-scape John Andrew Wilhite-Hannisdal uses sounds of the sea including that of the fish who contribute to a complex underwater society. The sounds vibrate the wooden boat-bodies creating fascinating harmonies. The work is commissioned by Nordic Music Days
Tickets for the 20th annual soundfestival are now on sale:
Online: www.aberdeenperformingarts.com
Phone: 01224 641 122
In person: Music Hall, Union Street, Aberdeen AB10 1QS
Background
soundfestival is made possible with the generous support of: Creative Scotland, PRS Foundation Talent Development Network, Aberdeen City Council, UK Government, The Radcliffe Trust, Hugh Fraser Foundation, Hinrichsen Foundation, Vaughan Williams Foundation, William Syson Foundation, Educational Institute of Scotland, Aberdeen Endowments Trust and David and June Gordon Memorial Trust, Diaphonique, Witherby Publishing Group Charitable Trust and the University of Aberdeen Development Trust.
Media Partner: BBC Radio 3
Creative Scotland is the public body that supports the arts, screen and creative industries across all parts of Scotland, distributing funding provided by the Scottish Government and The National Lottery. Further information at creativescotland.com. Follow us on X, Facebook and Instagram. Learn more about the value of art and creativity in Scotland and join in at www.ourcreativevoice.scot
sound is a new music incubator based in north-east Scotland encouraging new music creation and discovery. We run the annual soundfestival, as well as year-round activity supporting a wide range of composers, engaging with local communities and providing educational opportunities.
sound aims to give composers the opportunity to experiment, develop and create new works, and to have these works performed and heard. We encourage audiences of all ages and backgrounds to experience all kinds of new music and cross-art form experimentation.
We are strongly influenced by our geographic location, covering both urban areas and remote rural communities, and respond to its specificities and gaps in provision. We often work closely with local arts and other community organisations to share ideas and deliver joint activity to the benefit of the local area.
Media contact
For further information, images and interviews contact:
Lesley Booth, 0779 941 4474