Deep Sounds – Mixed Bill

Simon Paterson (bass):
Elizabeth Kelly Hard Knocks

Amanda Johnson Beneath the Surface (acousmatic work with film)

Jason Alder (contrabass clarinet)
Oǧuz Büyükberber (contrabass clarinet, moduler synth, art & video):
Oǧuz Büyükberber Sketchbook, 2020
Niels Christian Rasmussen Gestalten, 2018
Aled Smith vus

This concert showcases music for low instruments – double bass and contrabass clarinet – and a composer’s audio-visual response to changes in the Nottinghamshire mining landscape.

It kicks off with Hard Knocks for acoustic double bass with electronic effects pedals, the result of a collaboration between composer Elizabeth Kelly and bassist/music technologist Simon Paterson, colleagues in the University of Nottingham Department of Music.

Next, Sheffield-based composer Amanda Johnson explores changes in the mining landscape of the East Midlands in an installation piece that includes phrases of 'Pit Talk', the endangered language of Nottinghamshire miners.

The final set features contrabass clarinetist Jason Alder in three works which explore different approaches to combining the unique low instrument with electronics.

WATCH CONCERT

PART OF NottNOISE NEW MUSIC MARATHON.

To see full line up, please visit the main festival page  

About the artists (click to expand)

Composer, double bassist and music technologist, Simon Paterson is one of the region's most in demand bassists, in 2020 he has performed with the likes of Tony Kofi, Dennis Rollins, Mellow Baku, Marcus Joseph, Joel Purnell, Stewart McDonald, Nathan Bray and more. Currently, Simon is writing and playing with Trio Con Alma, Thom Whitworth Trio, Sharp Little Bones, Counter (with Joe Egan) alongside composing music for stage and screen and is a respected music producer and recording engineer. simonpaterson.com

Composer and violinist Amanda Johnson is based in Sheffield on the edge of the Peak District National Park. Amanda has an MA in performance from Huddersfield University and is a Finzi Scholar. Her work explores the themes of migration, travel and freedom, combining environmental recordings with instruments and voices.  amandajohnsoncomposer.co.uk

Jason Alder is a low clarinet and contemporary music specialist. He is frequently found performing and lecturing at festivals around the world, premiering new works from his composer collaborations. Jason is currently finishing PhD research on the sonic possibilities on the contrabass clarinet at the Royal Northern College of Music in the UK. He is an endorsing Artist for Selmer clarinets, D'Addario reeds, Behn mouthpieces, and Silverstein ligatures. jasonalder.com Amsterdam based clarinetist Oğuz Büyükberber's body of work includes over 50 CDs including releases on ECM and Blue Note, a detailed method book explaining his own improvisational systems titled “Spiral” which is published on Donemus and dozens of commissions he received to compose a wide ranging repertoire. oguzbuyukberber.com

About the composers (click to expand)

Elizabeth Kelly is an American-Britishcomposer based in Nottingham, UK. Her music embraces a broad range of influences, running the gamut from ‘majestic Wagnerian lines aggressively punctuated’ (Boston Musical Intelligencer) to ‘rasping jazzy exploration’ (The Guardian). Her compositions have been performed throughout North America, the UK and Europe at top venues and festivals including Carnegie Hall in New York, the Tanglewood Festival in Massachusetts, the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival in the UK and the Gaudeamus Festival in the Netherlands. In 2019, Kelly’s opera, Losing Her Voice, premiered at Lakeside Arts with support from an Opera America/Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation ‘Discovery’ Grant and a British Academy/Leverhulme Trust Small Research Grant. She has received further support and recognition for her work from PRS Foundation’s ‘Women Make Music’ and the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). Her work has been published by Donemus, and recordings of her work are available from NMC, Centaur Records and Cuillin Sound. Dr Kelly is an Associate Professor in Music Composition at the University of Nottingham where she co-curates the Nottingham Forum for Artistic Research (NottFAR) and NottNOISE new music series. elizabethakelly.com

Niels Chr. Rasmussen got his musical degree in 1975 from the Royal Academy of Music in Aalborg, after which he received the Danish Arts Foundation's 3-year work grant. In addition to being a composer he also works with organising festivals and days of culture as well as member of different societies.

Aled Smith (UK, 1990) is a composer, editor and teacher based in Manchester, UK. Born in Wrexham, North Wales, Aled began playing guitar at around age twelve and was composing by his late teens. Following an undergraduate degree in Music in Liverpool (graduating with First-Class Honours) he continued to a postgraduate study at the Royal Northern College of Music, gaining an MMus with Distinction in composition. He is currently reading for a PhD at RNCM (Manchester). He has written music for Alexandra Dariescu (piano), NEW Sinfonia, RLPO, London Sinfonietta, Borealis Saxophone Quartet, BBC Singers, the Sixteen, and many more. His music has been performed at venues such as Bridgewater, Royal Festival Hall, British Museum, as well as internationally. Prizes/awards include winning the RPS mini-commission 2013 and being elected RPS Young Musician for the same competition, shortlisted for the Mendelssohn Scholarship 2014, and nominated as Alba Music Festival Composition Fellow 2016. As an editor, Aled has worked on a wide variety of projects from proof-reading, to copying and producing parts for small community projects to large scale professional editing for radio and television.

Interview:

JASON ALDER AND OĞUZ BÜYÜKBERBER DISCUSS NETWORKED PERFORMANCE 

WATCH HERE