Aix-en-Provence Workshops

I have been selected for the ‘Opera Creation’ workshops at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence this summer. The workshops are being run by playwright Martin Crimp, with contributions from his operatic collaborator (and my composition teacher) George Benjamin. I will take part in seminars and workshops alongside other young composers, librettists and directors, and will also attend festival operas and concerts. The workshops are part of the ENOA network of European opera academies.

Before that, a couple of repeat performances in the next couple of weeks: my Piano Trio “The Chronophage” will receive its UK premiere on the 27th February 2014 in the capable hands of the Fidelio Trio (Mary Dullea, Robin Michael & Darragh Morgan), at the Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts alongside trios by Schumann, Ravel and Graham Fitkin. The piece was originally premiered by the Third Angle Ensemble in Portland, Oregon in 2012. Eight days later, Psappha will perform Enmîmés sont les gougebosqueux at Manchester’s Cosmo Rodewald Hall on the 7 March, in a concert that also features Schoenberg’s arrangement of Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Slide Stride, and a new commission by my old teacher Camden Reeves.

The week after that sees the world premiere of Antic Rounds by Orchestra of the Swan – more of which later…