Meet the artists involved in our upcoming event in Birmingham curated by Associate Composer Emily Abdy, bringing together a line-up of artists writing innovative and original music with voice.
More info + tickets // Wed 12 Oct >>>
Emily Abdy
Nonclassical Associate Composer Emily Abdy is a composer and writer based in the UK. Her work straddles the boundaries of instrumental composition, conceptual art, popular songwriting and poetry. It often discusses visceral themes such mental health, gender equality and the conventions of the music industry, and is often based on lived experiences.
Emily’s work has been performed and recorded across the UK and overseas, including commercial releases with Nonclassical, Birmingham Record Company, NMC Recordings and the 2020 Young Composers Project with Orkest de Ereprijs.
Emily has curated the event on Wednesday 12 October, bringing together artists who reflect elements of her own creative practice and push boundaries of what it means to be a songwriter in the 21st century.
Blue Ruth
Utilising second-hand hardware, Blue Ruth’s musical ingenuity pulls from their background of performing in guitar-heavy bands Youth Man and Pretty Grim. Dropping the guitars for layers, upon layers of distortion pedals stacked on cheap keyboards, their striking music oozes an utterly human sound. Through a distorted cacophony of sound, Blue Ruth presents part-fiction, part-abstract stories, scribbled down from a morbid vision of their Birmingham hometown.
Chloe Knibbs
Chloe Knibbs is a composer and sound artist motivated by lyricism and vulnerability, whose work seeks to hold space to explore and reframe societal issues. Informed by feminism and interdisciplinary approaches, her work encompasses opera, theatre, choral and chamber works, installations and song-writing. Her music confronts the absence and portrayal of women composers in classical music. Chloe’s practice utilises a collage-like approach that juxtaposes historical and contemporary sources to consider the representation of women composers, with a specific focus on the 19th century.
Much like Abdy herself, artist Chloe Knibbs’ creative practice has one foot rooted in classical composition and the other in singer-songwriting. Chloe presents a set of original music exploring loss, memory, relationships and self.
enjika
Sonic entity enjika make their debut performance, weaving evocative lyrics and intimate acoustic arrangements with found sound and modular synths to convey a tumultuous narrative. Armed with an array of instruments and effect pedals, the duo build on vocal lines to create original tracks and soundscapes for their set.
Sean Morrison
Sean Morrison is a musician based in Manchester, UK. He has performed at festivals and venues around the country in a mix of genres such as the Wye Valley Chamber Music Festival, BBC Proms, Shambala and Moseley Folk Festival. Sean is motivated and enthused by an eclectic mix of music and has performed at a high level in a number of guises.
In addition to classical violin, Sean is an accomplished traditional fiddle player. He is incredibly passionate about the music of his native Scotland and has performed and recorded around the country with a range of groups.
Sean will be performing Emily’s work Ruminant, a piece requiring the performer to speak and play simultaneously. Emily has created a new version of the work (originally for viola) especially for this performance.
Emily Abdy curates: Vox
7.30pm, Wed 12 Oct
Hare & Hounds, Birmingham
We had a blast in Birmingham for Associate Composer Emily Abdy’s curated event.