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.