St Peter's Church, Hyndland Street, Partick

3rd June, 2011

Late night concert - 9 p.m. - 10.15 p.m.

Tickets for the event are available from the Director of Music?s Office, LT103, Livingstone Tower, 26 Richmond Street, Glasgow G1 1XH (Tel: 0141 548 3444) or online?

Strathclyde University Chamber Choir has been working over the past few months with a young, dynamic composer, Emily Crossland, as part of a music scheme entitled ?Adopt a Composer?.?

Young Composer Hits a High Note

I was struck recently by a comment made by an acquaintance who asked ?why do choirs and orchestras always perform music by dead people, like Beethoven and Mozart?? Is there no-one around writing new music??? Well, actually there is.? By nature, we all like the well kent tunes but weren?t Mozart and Beethoven the new kids on the block at one time??

? Over the past few months Strathclyde University Chamber Choir has had a marvellous opportunity of working with dynamic young composer Emily Crossland as part of Making Music?s Adopt-a-Composer scheme.?? Emily is one of those rare individuals who, at a very young age, is full of creative drive and energy as well as musical maturity in terms of getting all her ideas down on paper.? Thankfully, it hasn?t stopped there as the Choir has been working to bring her composition to life.? Emily has written ?I don't remember a moment when I thought ?Eureka, I want to write music!? I really enjoy the hard work that goes into constructing coherent musical forms, and take particular pleasure in working alongside performers and other artists to turn thoughts and plans into real music!??

? When Strathclyde University Chamber Choir?s director Alan Tavener learned of its Adopt-a-Composer award, he already had in mind a programme for the Choir?s annual West End Festival appearance.? Featuring the celebrated Mass for Five-part Choir by the Tudor composer William Byrd, the movements would be interleaved with motets in honour of the Virgin Mary by more recent composers from across the world: Bruckner, Poulenc, Arvo P?rt and Morten Lauridsen.? It was therefore a particular pleasure to develop this idea further with Emily Crossland, whose new work Tagradh gu Moire Mh?thair (in Gaelic ?A Petition to Mother Mary?) will be performed in a late-night concert (9pm-10.15pm) on Friday 3 June in St Peter?s Church, Partick, as part of Glasgow?s West End Festival.?? What makes this programme so intriguing is the opportunity it offers the audience to enjoy the very best of the ?old?, alongside the new.? Emily?s work will, so to speak, crown a musical feast of historic proportions!?

? Emily Crossland is originally from Portsmouth but has remained in York since her undergraduate days at the University there.? She was selected as one of only six composers to take part in the 2010-11 Adopt a Composer scheme, run by Sound and Music, PRSF and Making Music and in collaboration with BBC Radio 3.?

? Throughout her career so far, Emily?s music has been very much performer-driven as she enjoys working with other musicians and artists to create ?person-specific? pieces.?? Unlike many other composers, she does not like to present fait accompli scores with a ?perform this? request.? Instead, as evinced in her style of working, her composition for Strathclyde University Chamber Choir was a work which progressed and developed over a period of several months.? During this period she met with the Choir, sought their views on musical styles, asked them what they enjoyed singing, and responded to their ideas by creating a work which represents a genuine collaboration between Choir and Composer.?

? Emily commented, ?I'm so pleased that the collaboration [with the Choir] has been such a success. I was recently saying that I'm incredibly excited about hearing the piece performed but at the same time will be sad to have reached the end of the project!??

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Let?s hope it?s not the end but just the beginning.? As every composer from Mozart to Moby knows, you?ve got to start somewhere!

Ann Logie, May, 2011

Photograph: 'Young Composer Hits a High Note!'
Daniel K.L. Oi.

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West End Festival 2011
Download PDF of West End Festival Programme