[derrijosephlewis]

National Library of Wales Commission: Unlocking our Sound Heritage

I was delighted to hear from the National Library of Wales, based in Aberystwyth, that they have commissioned from me a short new work inspired by their incredible archive of interviews. 

The new work will be inspired by a collection of conversations had with workers of the Forestry Commission who had recently retired - this is such a wonderful chance to connect with my past through sound and music! 

I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity from the NLW and I can’t wait to see how the project progresses. 

[derrijosephlewis]

TRI/O premiere on #RWCMDatmospheres20 radio!

I was so excited to hear the premiere of my new electroacoustic work for improvising pianist / vocalist and live electronics this weekend on the airwaves via the new Atmospheres Radio, as part of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama’s annual new music festival ATMOSPHERES which celebrates the graduating Bachelors and Masters students of the Composition and Creative Music Technology department. 

You can watch TRI/O here: https://youtu.be/yc62QGmHWXM

I had so much fun preparing this video version of TRI/O, which was supposed to be premiered in the Richard Burton Theatre on Friday 1st of May, but which has been postponed to a later date. 

This piece uses live reactive machine learning electronics to give the impression that the computer is ‘improvising’ with the pianist. 3 c. five minute improvisations are bookended, and later interrupted by, short vocal outbursts s the performer reads a live generative graphic score of letters and phonemes ripped from the pages of a newspaper. 

You can read more about TRI/O here: https://rwcmdatmospheres2020.blogspot.com/search/label/Derri%20Joseph%20Lewis

[derrijosephlewis]

River Image with CCSO

I was very honoured to work with the wonderful City of Cardiff Symphony Orchestra and their conductor Martin McHale on my recent piece for orchestra, River Image, which was premiered in its new version by the Aldworth Philharmonic Orchestra and Andrew Taylor in 2019. 

The performance took place in Stanwell Road Baptist Church, Penarth, Cardiff. CCSO sounded absolutely amazing - diolch!

[derrijosephlewis]

Welsh Music Guild - Paul Mealor Bursary for Student Composers 2020!

I am so excited to receive this year’s Paul Mealor Bursary for Student Composers from the Welsh Music Guild - I am very grateful for this wonderful recognition of my music. 

The bursary includes a commission for a new work for baritone and piano to be premiered by Jeremy Huw Williams - I look forward to writing this soon! Last year, Jeremy workshopped my 3 o Ganeuon Byrion at the RWCMD.

[derrijosephlewis]

LESW Preview Concert - London

I was lucky enough to finally hear my 3 Little Welsh Songs performed, by the baritone James Atkinson and Gamal Khamis at the piano. The concert was hosted by the Boas Foundation in Marylebone, London, as part of the Ludlow English Song Weekend Preview Concert, featuring the music of Finzi, Vaughan Williams, and world premieres from Rhian Samuel and Dominic Wills. 

James and Gamal sounded absolutely amazing, and it is so wonderful to hear my songs sung in Welsh outside of Wales! Diolch yn fawr!

I’ll be travelling up to Ludlow soon for the LESW Young Composers Platform in April with Rhian Samuel and Martin Bussey, and to hear my new songs, Cane fires from the cabin of a plane, with words by Emily Bishai, sung by Emily Sierra. 

[derrijosephlewis]

Gould Piano Trio play Gwyl Werin

I was lucky enough to hear the amazing Gould Piano Trio play my work Gwyl Werin today in the Dora Stoutzker Concert Hall, Cardiff. Gwyl Werin is a revised version of the prize-winning piece of the same name, first written for the folk:RNN Composition Prize, which was performed by the New Music Players and Patrick Bailey in St James’, Paddington.

The Gould Trio sounded absolutely stunning, diolch yn fawr!

[derrijosephlewis]

Living in Zürich

It’s been an absolute pleasure living in Zürich for the past few months. I have been studying at the Zürich University of the Arts (ZHdK) on a study exchange term from the RWCMD, where I have had the chance to meet new people, learn a new language, and discover a new country. I’ve been lucky enough to observe the rehearsals for Mark Anthony Turnage’s Coraline at the Zurich Opera House in a new production by Nina Russi. 

[derrijosephlewis]

Ludlow English Song Weekend!

I am absolutely over the moon to discover that I have been picked to take part in the Ludlow English Song Weekend Young Composers Platform 2020. The project involves a workshop with Rhian Samuel and Martin Bussey, followed by a public performance with musicians from the Royal College of Music, taking place over the weekend festival.

I am looking forward to writing some new songs for mezzo soprano, using text from my good friend Emily Bishai. 

[derrijosephlewis]

Walls of Brass on BBC Radio 3

Wow! It was a wonderful experience hearing my own music broadcast on the radio!

Hearing Liam Byrne performing Walls of Brass on the BBC Radio 3 Early Music show was an absolute delight. I am very grateful to the National Centre of Early Music, and broadcaster Hannah French!

[derrijosephlewis]

Walls of Brass at Glitch

It was a privilege to travel up to Bristol to hear Liam Byrne perform my winning piece Walls of Brass in Glitch. The work is based on The Spanish Tragedy by Thomas Kyd, and uses electronics to give the effect of a spoken chorus throughout. 

Liam is such a gifted player, and it was marvellous to hear him perform my piece in his signature style. I’m looking forward to hearing the piece broadcast on the BBC Radio 3 Early Music Show on November 24th. 

[derrijosephlewis]

Aldworth Philharmonic Orchestra play RIVER IMAGE

I’ve just travelled back to Zürich from Reading, where I had the privilege to hear the Aldworth Philharmonic Orchestra and Andrew Taylor playing my orchestral piece, River Image. 

River Image was first written for the orchestra back in 2017, and performed at the Reading on Thames Festival in Reading Train Station. The performance went on to win a Reading Cultural Award. 

This is a new version of River Image, slightly reworked from the original and rescored for the larger ensemble. I even gave a pre-concert talk!

[derrijosephlewis]

Cai’s Story - Llamau and Tudur Owen

It’s been an amazing journey scoring the film Cai’s Journey for the charity Llamau, a wonderful organisation that help vulnerable homeless youth in South Wales.

This short film (directed by Tudur Owen) follows the story of Cai, one of hundreds of LGBTQ+ homeless youths on the streets of Wales. Thank you to Tudur and Llamau for this wonderful opportunity to raise awareness! 

[derrijosephlewis]

NCEM Composer Award!

I’m so delighted to have won the National Centre for Early Music’s Composers Competition 2019 Award, presented in association with BBC Radio 3 and Liam Byrne. I had a great few days in York with seven other incredible composers, workshopping our new pieces for Liam’s beautiful historic bass viol and electronics. 

My piece, Walls of Brass, is a fantasy based on Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy - I aimed to create the effect of a chorus of viols using electronics, including a new pitch freezer that I’ve been working on. I loved hearing all of the amazingly varied pieces from the other composers who had travelled from England and Scotland to the beautiful NCEM complex at St. Margaret’s Church in York. 

The winning pieces, including Sarah Cattley’s wonderful Fever Dream, will be performed again by Liam in October in Bristol’s Glitch, which will be recorded for BBC Radio 3’s Early Music Show - in the meanwhile, you can take a listen to all the shortlisted pieces from the live-streamed concert from York at: www.ncem.co.uk/composersaward2019. 

Liam Byrne specialises in performances using a historical viola da gamba, a precursor to the modern cello and guitar, with live electronics — his music fuses traditional playing techniques with cutting edge digital equipment. Liam has recently written and performed at the V&A and Dulwich Picture Gallery, given premieres of music by Nico Muhly and Alex Mills, and played with London Contemporary Orchestra and Fretwork.

[derrijosephlewis]

Spinning Jenny Premiere @RWCMD

This week I had the amazing pleasure to work with vocal and instrumental students from the RWCMD on a new opera with text by MA director Emily Bishai and with music co-written with Tayla-Leigh Payne. The opera is a short chamber piece written with the RWCMD foyer in mind - the text explores the effects of a specific form of amnesia that triggers sudden memory loss during episodes. We had a week to workshop, learn, block and stage the piece, working with singers Jack and Arina, instrumentalists Imogen and Esther, RWCMD staff member Conal and conductor Jasper. 

The premiere of the piece took place over the annual Atmospheres new music festival weekend which saw an amazing mix of new music across many genres, and performances from visiting guests Joe Shrimpling, Robert Plane and Rakhi Singh. 

I’m so grateful to the dedicated and hardworking cast and players of Spinning Jenny, and I can’t wait to develop the piece further. 

[derrijosephlewis]

Jeremy Huw Williams, 3 Welsh Songs

This week at the RWCMD, Welsh baritone and contemporary music expert Jeremy Huw Williams gave a workshop on successful vocal setting - including a performance of my brand new 3 Little Songs. 

Its been a delight working with the Welsh language (albeit very difficult!) and working with Jeremy was exciting, informative, and inspiring!

[derrijosephlewis]

RODIN IN ROME + Berkeley Ensemble

It was such a blast to workshop a new piece with the magnificent Berkeley Ensemble and composer/mentor Mark Bowden. 

To tie in with their world premiere tour of Mark’s THE MARE’S TALE, I was involved with a project that explores visual artwork through chamber ensemble music. 

Auguste Rodin is one of the most well known modern sculptors - his work can be viewed in museums and galleries across the world. Curiously, Rodin liked to produce his own sketches to advertise his sculptures in art magazines; the result are a collection of rather unique portraits of portraits created mostly using charcoal and watercolours.

The style of the sketches is reminiscent of ancient engravings, or the trademark wood carving style that we associate with the 18th century. Rodin’s sketches feature criss-cross hatchings that produce a very physical chiaroscuro (the carving out of light and dark) atop impressionistic watercolour blurs.

RODIN IN ROME is a short piece influenced by the diagonal geometry and cloudy colours in Rodin’s sketches; hovering chords throb and contract, angular shouts rise above the texture ending with chains of fleeting notes disappearing into silence.

[derrijosephlewis]

look_out INSTALLATION

The sound of distorted landscapes, echoes of distant memories, the strange feeling that you’ve been here before...

Combining images collected by Leonora Nicholson and an evolving soundscape by Derri Joseph Lewis, look_out is a new audiovisual installation that explores projected images and diffused sound in an imagined space.

I am very excited to present this new audiovisual installation at RWCMD and supported by REPCO. 

look_out is an exploration of generated sounds and found images, presented using immersive surround sound and projected visuals within a black box. I was lucky enough to collaborate with Leonora Nicholson, who is studying at the RWCMD, who collected a dynamic series of abstract imagery, photographs and artwork that I used as the basis for the installation.