NEWS
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FESTIVAL
APPEARANCE |
| Michael
will be appearing at the inaugural Ashley Wood Festival
of the Acoustic Arts at Ashley Wood Farm near Tisbury
on Sunday 3rd July. Michael will be discussing the importance
of historical and political themes in his work, with particular
reference to his String Quartet No.1 (Robben Island)
and Age of Wonders, his recent major work about
Darwin, as well as his new opera, Jesse. The Ashley
Wood Festival of the Acoustic Arts runs from the 2nd-3rd
July and features acoustic music, poetry, and experimental
theatre as well as workshops and talks. Full details are
available here. |
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| FUNDING
FROM RNIB |
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Dorset
Opera has been awarded funding for the commissioning of
Jesse from the Elizabeth Eagle Bott Memorial Fund,
adminstered by the Royal National Institute for the Blind.
"I am very pleased that the RNIB has chosen to support
this project", says Michael. "This award will
allow the writing of the opera to be completed."
Ways are currently being explored with the RNIB to further
the involvement of the visually impaired in the project. |
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AVAILABLE TO DOWNLOAD |
| Michael's
String Quartet No.1 (Robben Island) is now available to
download from iTunes and Amazon (amongst others). The
whole piece can be purchased for less than £5; alternatively,
individual movements can be purchased for 79p each. |
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| PERFORMANCE
ON RADIO 3 |
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One
of Michael's works is to be performed on Radio 3's In
Tune at 5.00pm on Thursday 20th January. Sioned Williams
(principal harp with the BBC Symphony Orchestra) will
be discussing and playing works that she has commissioned
from English composers and is including the second movement
of The Stars Have Withdrawn Their Shining which
Michael wrote for her. Based on the life of John Ruskin,
Sioned premiered the work at the Purcell Room and has
subsequently performed it in many locations, including
Holland and Iran. (To read more about the piece, click
here.) Sioned will also
be talking about the piece at a lecture given at the Royal
Academy of Music on the 13th June. |
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SEA
SHANTIES FOR 2012 |
Michael
is pleased to join forces with the Southampton Philharmonic
Choir for a new work for baritone, choir, piano accordion,
and orchestra. Five Sea Shanties will utilise this musical
tradition to present a setting of five ancient texts
about the sea from the Americas, Africa, Asia, Europe,
and Australia to celebrate the sailing events of the
2012 Olympics. The new work will be premièred
in June 2012 at the Southampton Guildhall.
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| LIBRETTISTS
FOR JESSE |
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Michael is
delighted to have teamed up with the renowned poets/playwrights
Grace Nichols and John Agard to work together on the
libretto for the opera Jesse. Both Grace and John have
received a number of awards for their outstanding work,
have many publications to their names, and will bring
much to the project. For their biographies, click
here.
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DARWIN
SPONSOR |
| We are delighted
to announce that a major sponsor has come forward to support
the recording of Age of Wonders, a work to commemorate
last year's anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin.
With so many excellent partners in the project, options
are currently being explored to identify the best way
forward. |
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| IMPACT
AWARD |
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A new fund,
Impact, set up by Arts Council South West, has announced
in June 2010 support for a number of new projects. Amongst
these is Michael's writing of the opera Jesse,
planned for it première in 2012. 'This is an enormous
boost to the project and has enabled the writing to begin',
says Michael. 'ACE SW has been extremely helpful with
this opera and I am delighted with the award'. A blog
on the artistic approach and plan of the opera will appear
shortly on this website. |
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NEW
WORKS |
| Three new
works are at their early planning stage. A well-overdue
piece for flute; a new choral work for 2012, and on a
far larger scale, the preparation for Michael's first
opera. Taking an Olympic theme as its background, preparation
is ongoing to have the first performance ready for 2012. |
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| PRELUDES
FOR PIANO |
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Since the
completion of the four-stage Charles Darwin work Michael
has put the finishing touches to a new set of Preludes
for Piano. Preludes In Our Time is a comment on
today's society and have a rather unusual structure. Each
doubles in length with the last Prelude having codas for
its own, and the previous four Preludes. The première
is being scheduled for 2010/11.
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