Ivors Awards nominate Paredes, Weeks and Sergeant
UYMP is delighted that UYMP House composers Hilda Paredes and James Weeks have been shortlisted for the Ivors Composer Awards (formerly BASCA) 2019. Hilda Paredes' opera 'Harriet' ('Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman') for soprano, mezzo-soprano, percussion, violin, guitar and electronics is one of the three nominated works in the 'Stage Works' category. James Weeks' 'Leafleoht' for string quartet has been selected for nomination in the 'Small Chamber' category. In addition, Associate composer Matthew Sergeant's work 'Meeting the Universe Halfway' has been shortlisted in the 'Small Chamber' section. The winners will be announced at the Awards Ceremony on December 4th 2019, at the British Museum, and broadcast on BBC Radio 3. We wish all three composers the very best of luck!
(31 Oct 2019)
BBC Music gives excellent review of Paredes' Zuhuy Kak recording by de Saram
Hilda Paredes' work for solo cello Zuhuy Kak, performed by the legendary Rohan de Saram has been released on 15th November 2019 on the CD 20th Century British Works for Solo Cello on First Hand Records (FHR045). The CD has received an excellent review by BBC Music Magazine (November 2019). Helen Wallace writes: 'Saram, former cellist of the Arditti Quartet and a tireless adventurer in new music, marks his 80th birthday with a very personal collection, almost a musical 'This is Your Life'. Each of the works was written for him by composer friends and colleagues over his six-decade-long career.
Ed Hughes' 'Sun, New Moon and Women Shouting' Upcoming Performance
UYMP is very excited to announce that Ed Hughes' work for choral a cappella vocal ensemble SSC-tTBarB, Sun, New Moon and Women Shouting will be performed by I Fagiolini at Kings Palace in London (25th April, 2020).
Tickets for the concert 'Au Naturel: Nature Unwrapped', featuring Hughes' work, can be purchased here and I Fagiolini have also very graciously given permission for their recording of Sun, New Moon and Women Shouting to be featured on Hughes' website.
Tinoco's 'Archipelago' receives fantastic reviews
Luís Tinoco's new CD on Odradek has received two great reviews, in Memetaria in the USA by Thomas May and in Pizzicato by Remy Franck. Archipelago is reviewed as a recommended new release by May. He starts by saying: 'Have you heard the wonderful music of Luís Tinoco? I invite you to try out the latest album of his work, Archipelago, recently released on the Odradek label. I first encountered this excellent Portuguese composer and acclaimed radio host — who grew up in the post-revolution generation — in the early Morlot days with Seattle Symphony, when they played FrisLand, a kind of orchestral ode to Bill Frisell. (FrisLand is available, along with such works as Tinoco's Cello Concerto, on his previous Odradek album, The Blue Voice of the Water).'
BBC R3's Record Review selects Tinoco's 'Archipelago' CD for 'New Year, New Music'
Luis Tinoco's vibrant new CD Archipelago, released in November on Odradek, featured on BBC Radio 3's Record Review with Andrew McGregor as part of its 'New Year, New Music' season last Saturday, 4th January, with compliments to everyone involved in the creation of the music and album. McGregor gives the CD a top rating: 'It's one of the best-recorded percussion ensembles I've heard in ages'. McGregor conveys the skill of the composer, the virtuousity of the performers and the expertise of the sound engineers when he says that Tinoco's music is 'showcased' in this new album by contemporary percussion ensemble Drumming GP' and goes on to say: 'Tinoco's music for them is interesting enough in its own right; you get Mind the Gap for solo marimba, his memories of travelling in London, as well as Genetically Modified Fados, reactions to old recordings of Portuguese (Fado) songs. But the recording itself is demonstration class; so vivid, airy and resonant. The album's called Archipelago; it's new from the Odradek label.'
Fabulous review in Fanfare for Simaku's new Naxos 'Solos and Duos' CD
Fanfare Magazine (USA) has given a glowing review of Thomas Simaku's new CD on Naxos – Solos and Duos for violin and piano (Naxos 8.579035) in its Issue 43:3 (January/February 2020). The reviewer, James H. North, begins by saying that it really is difficult to compare Thomas Simaku's music to anything one has heard: 'His music is so original that past experience fails. How can one describe his music? Simaku seems to create his own structure as he goes—the music reeks of impetuosity, as if he were dashing off the notes sequentially.' North cites Scheuregger (Tempo 73 (290) pp. 40–50), Simaku's former student, and Simaku himself, on Simaku's upbringing under the repressive Stalinist regime in Albania, on international Modernist and Southern Albanian influences and on Simaku's love of Hungarian composers Ligeti and Kurtág.
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