Ear to the Ground Scotland (Ear to the Ground Scotland)

Today, we are joined with Alastair White, a Scottish composer and writer currently studying a PhD at Goldsmiths in London. Alastair has been shortlisted for a Scottish Award for New Music twice and has created work for the opera festivals Tete-a-tete and Opera in the City, The Scottish School of Contemporary Dance and The Scottish Poetry Library along with many others.

In this episode we discuss Alastair's recent release with Métier Records, fashion-opera ROBE.

"ROBE is a one hour opera about cities, virtual reality and artificial intelligence that combines fashion, contemporary dance, experimental theatre, design, poetry and virtuosic music to create multi-layered worlds within worlds. Scored for piano, flute and four singers, it tells the story of an A.I., EDINBURGH, that wants to become a living city.  Part elegy for a vanished past, part manifesto pointing the way into a heady, transhuman future, ROBE uses its multilayered form to dramatise the relationship between virtual reality, official history and raw, personal experience."

With special thanks to performers:

ROBE

Clara Kanter (Mezzo-Soprano)

Rosie Middleton (Mezzo-Soprano)

Sarah Parkin (Soprano)

Kelly Poukens (Soprano)

Jenni Hogan (Flute)

Ben Smith (Piano and Musical Direction)

Ear to the Ground keeps you in the loop with interviews and gig alerts from Scotland’s top-notch composers.

Hosted by Aileen Sweeney and Ben Eames.

Sound edited by Mia Eames.

Website Links:

https://www.alastairwhite.org/

https://www.eartothegroundscotland.com/

This episode features composer Nicholas Olsen discussing his recent lock-down project, “From Home”, referential music, important influences and composing habits.

Nick is a Welsh Composer based in Glasgow. He has worked with ensembles such as the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Modern, Psappha Ensemble and many more.

With special thanks to performers Matthew McAllister. Valerie Barr, Richard Schofield, Da Capo Alba, Djordje and Andrea Gajic.

Ear to the Ground keeps you in the loop with interviews and gig alerts from Scotland’s top-notch composers.

Hosted by Aileen Sweeney and Ben Eames.

Sound edited by Mia Eames.

Website Links:

• https://www.eartothegroundscotland.com/
• https://www.nicholasolsenmusic.com/

Listening Material:

• Henri Dutilleux - Violin Concerto (L’Arbe De Songes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDVFNh7MDQk&ab_channel=nicholas72611
• Pierre Boulez - Pli Selon Pli: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yC7v4O9kLyU&t=23s&ab_channel=ListadeM%C3%BAsicasOttoMariaCarpeaux
• Maurice Ravel - Piano Concerto in G Major: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5b4-rXhKpMM&t=30s&ab_channel=olla-vogala
• Ninfea Cruttwell-Reade - Three Etudes for Piano and Flower Pots: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9H3FUgjoA-M&ab_channel=PsapphaEnsemble

In this episode, we had the pleasure of chatting to composer and violinist Lisa Robertson. 

Lisa is from the West Highlands of Scotland and is particularly interested in combining sounds from nature and folk music, and examining relationships between people and the land, often highlighting environmental concerns.

Recently, she was featured in BBC Music Magazine's 'Rising Stars' column. Her music has been performed by the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, EXAUDI, Red Note Ensemble, Hebrides Ensemble, Lucy Schaufer, and Heather Roche, among others. 

With special thanks to performers:

To Tell It Like It Is Ben Parry & NYCGB Fellowship Can We Not Hear The Birds That Sing? Lisa Robertson (Violin)

Machair Nordic Viola

The Inimitable Brightness of The Air Red Note Ensemble

Ear to the Ground keeps you in the loop with interviews and gig alerts from Scotland’s top-notch composers.

Hosted by Aileen Sweeney and Ben Eames.

Sound edited by Mia Eames.

Website Links:

https://www.lisarobertsonmusic.com/

https://www.eartothegroundscotland.com/

In this episode, we speak to composer Martin Suckling about his recent album This Departing Landscape released with NMC recordings in February 2021. 

The album features four large scale works for orchestra including: The White Road (After Edmund de Waal), Release, Piano Concerto and This Departing Landscape.

Born in Glasgow, Martin Suckling has been championed by many leading orchestras and ensembles including the London Symphony Orchestra, Scottish Ensemble, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, and the London Contemporary Orchestra.

With special thanks to performers:

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra BBC Philharmonic Ilan Volkov conductor Katherine Bryan flute Tamara Stefanovich piano

Ear to the Ground keeps you in the loop with interviews and gig alerts from Scotland’s top-notch composers.

Hosted by Aileen Sweeney and Ben Eames.

Sound edited by Mia Eames.

Website Links:

http://www.martinsuckling.com/

https://nmc-recordings.myshopify.com/collections/new-releases-2021/products/martin-suckling-this-departing-landscape

https://www.eartothegroundscotland.com/

This episode features Scottish composer Jay Capperauld discussing his BBC Proms debut in 2020. "Circadian Refrains (172 Days Until Dawn)" was premiered with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra conducted by Alpesh Chauhan. The full concert can be viewed on BBC iPlayer.

Jay also chats about his influences musical and otherwise ranging from books and films to broken plates and jumpy CD players!

Jay has written for various ensembles including BBC Philharmonic, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, The National Youth Orchestra of Scotland, Psappha Ensemble, Hebrides Ensemble, The Wallace Collection, Red Note Ensemble and many more.

With special thanks to performers:

Afterlife - The Third Death

Lewis Banks (Saxophone)

Marianna Abrahamyan (Piano)

The Pathos of Broken Things

Katherine Bryan (Flute)

Heroin Chic

Bryan Allen (Conductor)

RCS Big Band

Dehumanised Shock Absorbers

Workers Union Ensemble

Ear to the Ground keeps you in the loop with interviews and gig alerts from Scotland’s top-notch composers.

Hosted by Aileen Sweeney and Ben Eames.

Sound edited by Mia Eames.

Website Links:

https://www.jaycapperauld.com/ https://www.eartothegroundscotland.com/

Henry McPherson is a musician and artist working across composition, improvisation, and pedagogical practices. His work has been shown internationally across diverse settings – from concert halls to galleries, bathrooms to dance studios, parks and warehouses to cafes, virtual halls and radio.

His current creative interests lie in the intersections of improvisation performance and ecology, which is reflected in his upcoming opera Maud, performed by Scottish Opera's Young Company at the end of July.

Track List:

Moss Gardens No. 1

Moss Gardens No. 3 - II. Slow Dance

Ear to the Ground keeps you in the loop with interviews and gig alerts from Scotland’s top-notch composers.

Hosted by Aileen Sweeney and Ben Eames.

Sound edited by Mia Eames.

Website Links:

https://www.eartothegroundscotland.com/

https://www.henrymcpherson.org.uk/

https://www.scottishopera.org.uk/

Rūta Vitkauskaitė is a composer, performer and curator whose work in music crosses conventional boundaries. She studied at the Lithuanian Academy of Music before moving to London to complete her PhD at The Royal Academy of Music. Her music has been described as 'resembling natural forces - seemingly unorganised and chaotic forces sticking together a highly dynamic, vital and unpredictable whole, always generating an active emotion'.

While living in the UK, ​Rūta has developed an interest in music education and is currently initiator of CoMA, Contemporary Music for All, Glasgow branch.

Daina apie medį, upę, jūrą ir žemę (Song about the tree, river, sea and earth)

Chrysalis Lithuanian National Orchestra and Jude Carlton

Canntaireachd Joanna Nicholson (Bass Clarinet) - Part of Modern Chants Project

Ear to the Ground keeps you in the loop with interviews and gig alerts from Scotland’s top-notch composers.

Hosted by Aileen Sweeney and Ben Eames.

Sound edited by Mia Eames.

Website Links:

https://www.eartothegroundscotland.com/

https://rutavitkauskaite.weebly.com/

Lewis Coenen-Rowe is a composer and pianist, specializing in opera, vocal music and chamber music. His music is concerned with themes of ecology, memory, time, and the unstable divide between the comic and the serious.

He is also an advocate for environmental sustainability in the art and also currently works at environmental arts charity Creative Carbon Scotland.

Today we are delighted to be chatting to Lewis about his latest opera STUMPED which is being performed this summer at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Head on over to the Edinburgh Fringe to see all performance dates and to buy tickets!

Ear to the Ground keeps you in the loop with interviews and gig alerts from Scotland’s top-notch composers.

Hosted by Aileen Sweeney and Ben Eames.

Sound edited by Mia Eames.

Website Links:

https://www.eartothegroundscotland.com/

https://www.lewiscoenen-rowe.com/

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/stumped

Gareth Williams is a composer and songwriter making work that ranges from opera, theatre and songwriting to chamber and orchestral music. His compositions seek to find new relationships, participants, collaborators and audiences for new opera, music theatre, and song, to shed light on stories and communities that have been overlooked, and to explore ideas of vulnerability in vocal writing. He has created three award-winning operas NOISE opera since 2012, each one bringing a new collaborator to the genre, from the patrons of Glasgow's oldest bar, the Shetland fiddler Chris Stout and the Scottish indie band, Admiral Fallow. Gareth has recently written Rubble with librettist Johnny McKnight, a new opera for Scottish Opera is being premiered in July 2022.

Music featured:

Rubble

Rocking Horse Winner

The Song from the last page of Lanark

Ear to the Ground keeps you in the loop with interviews and gig alerts from Scotland’s top-notch composers.

Hosted by Aileen Sweeney and Ben Eames.

Sound edited by Mia Eames.

Website Links:

https://www.eartothegroundscotland.com/

https://www.garethwilliamsmusic.com/

Janet Beat is a composer living in Scotland whose impressive career spans back to the late 1950’s. She is widely considered to be a pioneer of electronic music in Britain and in 2019, Janet was the first person to be awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by Scottish Women Inventing Music, a collection of music creators and industry professionals pushing for gender equality in the music industry. Now at 83, her music has been officially released for the first time with her debut album “Pioneering Knob Twiddler”.

Dancing on Moonbeams

Lighthouses Waltz

Echoes from Bali

A Willow Swept by Rain

Piangam

Ear to the Ground keeps you in the loop with interviews and gig alerts from Scotland’s top-notch composers.

Hosted by Aileen Sweeney and Ben Eames.

Sound edited by Mia Eames.

Website Links:

https://www.eartothegroundscotland.com/

Timothy Cooper is a composer and performer of electroacoustic music. Tim’s work is often collaborative, working with musicians, artists, and poets amongst others. Since 2019, Tim has been working with Ensemble 1604 composing a concert length show called Shadows That In Darkness Dwell that explores the music and life of English renaissance composer John Dowland.

Click Here to purchase the album and head over to The Night With... festival page for tickets and info!

Track List:

Labyrinth

Shadows That in Darkness Dwell - I. Flow

Shadows That in Darkness Dwell - II. Fled

Shadows That in Darkness Dwell - III. Darkness

The Narrow Way

Semper Melancholia

Whose Heavenly Touch

Ear to the Ground keeps you in the loop with interviews and gig alerts from Scotland’s top-notch composers.

Hosted by Aileen Sweeney and Ben Eames.

Sound edited by Mia Eames.

Website Links:

https://www.eartothegroundscotland.com/

https://timothy-cooper.co.uk/

https://thenightwith.com/

https://ensemble1604.wordpress.com/

In this episode we chat to composer, collaborator, sound designer and concert producer Matthew Whiteside.

As a composer, Matthew has received international performances by ensembles and performers such as the RTÉ NSO, Red Note Ensemble, the Aurea Quartet, Pauline Kim Harris and Diagenesis Duo at venues such as New York University, Dublin’s National Concert Hall, Glasgow City Halls, Salem Artworks in New York and the Belfast International Festival at Queen’s.

Most recently Matthew's piece Night Thoughts was shortlisted for a Scottish New Music Award 2021 for Large Ensemble (Sponsored by PRS).

As well as being a composer, Matthew is also founder and programme of the The Night With... a concert series featuring interesting music in informal spaces. In 2020 The Night With... won the SMIA Award for Creative Programming at the Scottish Awards for New Music as well as winning the Award for Recording of New Music at the awards in 2021 for The Night With... Live Vol. One album.

With special thanks to performers:

Night Thoughts Crash Ensemble

Mesmerism (Written by Paul Mac, Arranged by Jessica Wells) Ensemble Offspring

Quartet No. 6 Aurea Quartet

Well, Well, Well Red Note Ensemble

Ear to the Ground keeps you in the loop with interviews and gig alerts from Scotland’s top-notch composers.

Hosted by Aileen Sweeney and Ben Eames.

Sound edited by Mia Eames.

Website Links:

https://www.matthewwhiteside.co.uk/

http://thenightwith.com/

https://www.eartothegroundscotland.com/

In this episode we chat to Fergus Hall about everything from composing with hydrophone recordings, Hamish Henderson's poetry and jellyfish raves!

Fergus is a composer and musician from the west of Scotland whose creative practice is focused around how a musician can act as a creative facilitator. This stems from Fergus’ interests in jazz and traditional music practices which often blur the distinction between composer and performer.

As a composer, he has been commissioned by Glasgow New Music Expedition, Nevis Ensemble, Sound and Music, Making Music UK and An Tobar.

A new album of string music recorded in collaboration with Sequoia is due to be released this summer.

With special thanks to performers

On Sonorous Seas

Lea Shaw - Voice

Crossing the Simeto

Sequoia

Jellyfish Music

Long Green Jaws

Ear to the Ground keeps you in the loop with interviews and gig alerts from Scotland’s top-notch composers.

Hosted by Aileen Sweeney and Ben Eames.

Sound edited by Mia Eames.

Website Links:

https://www.eartothegroundscotland.com/

https://www.fergushallmusic.com/

In this episode we caught up with Neil Tòmas Smith and discussed his upcoming album Stop Motion Music. The CD has been several years in the making and features musicians from across genres including Carla Rees on flutes and Delia Stevens on percussion, as well as harpist Esther Swift, cellists Duncan Strachan and Justyna Jablonska and jazz drummer Simon Roth.

Neil is fascinated by the connections between sound, space and movement and with each new piece, takes the chance to explore something new, leading to a diverse range of work.

Track List:

Stop Motion Music

Scaffold For Simon

Manual

The Music Lesson

Progressions Of Memory

Ear to the Ground keeps you in the loop with interviews and gig alerts from Scotland’s top-notch composers.

Hosted by Aileen Sweeney and Ben Eames.

Sound edited by Mia Eames.

Website Links:

https://www.eartothegroundscotland.com/

https://ntsmusic.co.uk/

Gemma McGregor is a freelance composer, performer and curator from Orkney, whose music has been described as polystylistic, whilst crossing the boundaries of musical genres. Gemma has been writing music with a sense of place either by referencing sounds from the environment, history or dialect poetry. Gemma plays Orkney traditional music and has researched its links with Norwegian music. Much of her music contains references to speech rhythms and a strong connection to Norn, the lost language of Orkney.

In this episode we chat about Gemma's collaboration with Nordic Viola on their Sagas and Seascapes, as well as previous instrumental and vocal works.

With special thanks to performers:

A Slaughter of Ravens

Jože Kotar and Luca Ferrini

Carry His Relics

Katherine Wren and Gemma McGregor

Love Was His Meaning

Godolphin School Girls Choir and Katie Salomon (Harp)

Ear to the Ground keeps you in the loop with interviews and gig alerts from Scotland’s top-notch composers.

Hosted by Aileen Sweeney and Ben Eames.

Sound edited by Mia Eames.

Website Links:

https://www.eartothegroundscotland.com/

https://gemmamcgregor.com/

With Tectonics 2021 just around the corner, we spoke to co-curator Ilan Volkov along with composer Tania León and performance and sound artist Olivia Furey who are both involved in the festival this year.

The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra’s annual festival of new and experimental music returns on the 8th and 9th of May with a line-up featuring many of the artists scheduled for 2020. Tectonics Glasgow once again sees international and Glasgow-based artists come together to blur musical boundaries and question what music can be.

The festival features live performances on BBC Radio 3 and BBC Sounds as well as performances being available online at bbc.co.uk/bbcsso.

Darlene Zarabozo is a Cuban-American composer, sound artist, musician and collaborator based in Glasgow. She is currently finishing her bachelor’s in composition at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland under the tutelage of Linda Buckley and support from Alistair MacDonald in her electroacoustic studies.

Recently, she is one of six composers to be shortlisted by New Music Scotland and Scottish Music Centre for ISCM 2021 for her text-spoken electroacoustic piece, The Inevitable Withdrawal (feat. text by Phoebe McGowan). She was also featured on BBC Radio Scotland: Introducing for her song, This Heart Breaks for You, which was broadcasted in March.

More recently, her piece, are You there?, won the violin and electronics commission for The Night With... for violinist Emma Lloyd.

List of pieces:

The Inevitable Withdrawal/Cheap Emotions

are You there?

The Bacchae

The Typewriter Manifesto

Ear to the Ground keeps you in the loop with interviews and gig alerts from Scotland’s top-notch composers.

Hosted by Aileen Sweeney and Ben Eames.

Sound edited by Mia Eames.

Website Links:

Born in Inverness in 1976, Stuart MacRae has established himself as one of the most distinctive of contemporary composers. Stuart’s music has been performed at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the BBC Proms and the Edinburgh International Festival, by ensembles including the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Scottish Ensemble and London Sinfonietta. Often inspired by aspects of natural landscape, Stuarts music draws on various strands of European modernism including the music of Stravinsky, Carter, Xenakis and most significantly, Maxwell Davies.

I am Prometheus

Ursa Minor

Cladonia bellidiflora

Dark Liquid

With special thanks to performers:

Hebrides Ensemble

Ear to the Ground keeps you in the loop with interviews and gig alerts from Scotland’s top-notch composers.

Hosted by Aileen Sweeney and Ben Eames.

Sound edited by Mia Eames.

Website Links:

https://www.eartothegroundscotland.com/

https://stuartmacrae.com

This episode features composer Ben Lunn discussing his early musical life through to his research into Horațiu Rădulescu, Spectralism and compositions featuring Accessible Music Technology.

Ben is a Mackem composer who is currently based in Glasgow. Winner of two Scottish New Music Awards for his work with Hebrides Ensemble and Drake Music Scotland, Ben is associate artist for Drake Music and Drake Music Scotland, and Trainee Artistic Director of the Hebrides Ensemble.

Ben's work has been performed internationally by ensembles such as the Ligeti Quartet, Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra and soloists such as pianist Rolf Hind and Violist Garth Knox.

With special thanks to performers:

A Letter To A Dying Man

RWCMD Orchestra with:

Tianyi Lu (Conductor) Adam Jondelius (Baritone) Alex Stead (Horn)

L’Exil Intérieur Op 9 - III - Ancestral Bells

Catherine Marie Tunnell (Cello) Ian Pace (Piano)

https://horatiuradulescu.bandcamp.com/album/edition-radulescu-3-the-complete-cello-works-mode317

Symphonies of Instruments

Hebrides Ensemble Digital Orchestra

Kiek Pasaulių

Ligeti Quartet

Ear to the Ground keeps you in the loop with interviews and gig alerts from Scotland’s top-notch composers.

Hosted by Aileen Sweeney and Ben Eames.

Sound edited by Mia Eames.

Website Links:

https://benlunncomposer.tumblr.com/ https://www.eartothegroundscotland.com/

In this episode, we had the chance to chat to composers Stuart MacRae and Emily Doolittle and Violist Katherine Wren about their current project Art-Making in the Anthropocene.

'Art-Making in the Anthropocene is a series of 8 free online talks/discussions and an online concert, which bring together Scottish and international artists, activists, and academics from across disciplines to explore what art-making can be in this time of ecological emergency.'

Katherine's ensemble Nordic Viola will be performing a concert online on April 27th (5pm) featuring pieces by Scottish-based composers that are inspired by the environment.

For more information about the concert visit Art-Making in the Anthropocene.

Pieces Featured:

Emily Doolittle - Gardenscape Martin Suckling - Her Lullaby Ailie Robertson - Sky Dance

Ear to the Ground keeps you in the loop with interviews and gig alerts from Scotland’s top-notch composers.

Hosted by Aileen Sweeney and Ben Eames.

Sound edited by Mia Eames.

Website Links:

https://www.eartothegroundscotland.com/

In this episode we caught up with Rufus Isabel Elliot who told us about OVER/AT, a trans, non-binary, and gender-diverse music-making world, as well as telling us about upcoming releases of Rufus's own music.

Rufus is a composer and musician from Tower Hamlets, based now near Gairloch. In the last couple of years, Rufus has worked with the likes of Sound Festival Scotland, Red Note Ensemble, Magnetic North, and the Nevis Ensemble, with whom it was composer-in-residence in 2019. Current projects include a new album with composer/violinist Harry Gorski-Brown, and a new longer-form vocal piece with Scots traditional singer Josie Vallely.

Rufus produces OVER / AT, which encompasses live touring projects, recording projects, workshops, online learning resources, and more. The first OVER / AT E.P. was released in March – FOLKS' SONGS, and OVER / AT #1 was shortlisted for a Scottish Award for New Music.

With special thanks to performers:

Are We? Malin Lewis

PASS Harry Gorski-Brown

Achilles Lyre Andrew Herrington

Ear to the Ground keeps you in the loop with interviews and gig alerts from Scotland’s top-notch composers.

Hosted by Aileen Sweeney and Ben Eames.

Sound edited by Mia Eames.

Website Links:

https://www.ambf.co.uk/

https://www.ambf.co.uk/over-at

https://www.eartothegroundscotland.com/

In this episode we chat about to Ailie about her recent success at the Scottish Awards for New Music where her piece Skydance won the 'Dorico Award for Solo Work' (sponsored by Steinberg). We also discuss field recordings, motherhood, and a very squeaky gate!

Ailie is a multi-award winning composer, performer and creative curator whose work crosses the boundaries of traditional and contemporary music.

Winner of the ‘Achievement in New Music’ prize at the inaugural New Music Scotland Awards, Ailie has received commissions, awards, and residences from the PRS Foundation Creative Scotland, Enterprise Music Scotland, the CCA, Culture Ireland, Celtic Connections, EIFF, and CALQ Montreal. Recent commissions include pieces for the 2019 BBC Proms, The London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sound Festival, the Riot Ensemble, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Bang on a Can, the Dunedin Consort, and the Glasgow School of Art Choir.

With special thanks to performers:

Skydance - for Cello Louise McMonagle (Cello)

1 in 4 - for Vocal Trio EXAUDI

Dun Shith - for Double Bass and Electronics Will Yaeger (Double Bass)

Ear to the Ground keeps you in the loop with interviews and gig alerts from Scotland’s top-notch composers.

Hosted by Aileen Sweeney and Ben Eames.

Sound edited by Mia Eames.

Website Links:

https://www.ailierobertson.com/

https://www.eartothegroundscotland.com/