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2016 is almost a wrap! To celebrate the end of the year, we’ve put together some of the top records we’ve enjoyed from the last 12 months. Have a listen on Spotify and let us know what your favourite tracks/albums are from 2016 by tweeting us @Nonclassical.
Happy Christmas from all of us on the Nonclassical team! We look forward to seeing you in the 2017 for our first gig of the year on 11 January: Battle of the Bands.
An exciting opportunity has arisen to join Nonclassical's team as Label & Artist Development Manager. Working closely with the rest of the NC team, the role will help to drive the future creative direction of the label, and fulfil strategic aims in artist and label development.
Our December Monthly Club Night will mark the launch of our Nonclassical Associate Composers, where four vibrant young classical composers will be offered mentoring, performance and commissioning opportunities.
To launch our celebrations marking ten years of the label and club night, we're holding a very special remix competition, open to all. Previous Nonclassical remixers have included Thom Yorke, Kidkanevil, Mira Calix and many more. Now you have the chance to add yourself to this distinguished list.
There are four tracks to choose from: two from the upcoming debut album by Tempest (compositions by Mark Simpson and Gary Carpenter), one from Tansy Davies' critically acclaimed Troubairitz, performed by the Azalea Ensemble, and one from Gabriel Prokofiev's Piano Book No. 1 (selections of which are included in Prokofiev's forthcoming portrait album Selected Classical Works 2003-2012).
We're really pleased that Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Imogen Heap has invited us to be involved in her Reverb festival at Camden's Roundhouse this August. On the 24th August we'll be bringing our resident DJs alongside Holly Melia for a special live flute remix performance. Details of this FREE EVENT can be found here.
Also appearing at the festival are associated Nonclassical artists Joby Burgess, Klavikon and Peter Gregson. There is plenty going on over the 4 day-long event, all of which is detailed on the official site, here.
Nonclassical Recordings are very proud to present the eagerly awaited sophomore album by Juice Vocal Ensemble, following their critically acclaimed debut Songspin.
Laid Bare: Love Songs is a set of specially commissioned love songs from diverse composers from the worlds of classical, jazz, folk and avant-pop integrated and juxtaposed with a series of covers and adaptations of classic love songs performed by performed by Anna Snow (soprano), Sarah Dacey (soprano), Kerry Andrew (alto).
"...amazing razor-sharp tuning and purity of tone...they held their audience spellbound" (Ivan Hewett, Daily Telegraph)
Commissioned composers include Gavin Bryars, Errollyn Wallen, Anna Meredith, Mica Levi (Micachu and the Shapes), Jim Moray (award-winning folk artist), Phillip Neil Martin and Dai Fujikura. The group also collaborated with MaJiKer (producer and co-writer of the French avant-pop sensation Camille) on covers of classic love songs including Rihanna’s 'Only Girl In The World', Erasure's 'A Little Respect' and 'You Don't Love Me (No No No)’ by Dawn Penn. The album also includes remixes by acclaimed producers including Devil Dandy (Quebec based sound designer and composer), THiMK (British composer specialising in film, videogames, modern dance and theatre ), Broken Hours (based in Portland, Oregon and presenting the album with an beautiful ambient remix) and Clay Gold (author, librettist, sound artist, audio engineer and compulsive field recordist).
Laid Bare: 10 Love Songs was commissioned with the financial support of the Arts Council England, the PRS Foundation for New Music (PRSF), and the Vale of Glamorgan Festival.
Buy Juice Vocal Ensemble "Laid Bare: Love Songs" directly | on iTunes
Nonclassical are heading to northern Europe for two very special concerts in Latvia and Lithuania.
Friday 13th June// Baltais Fligelis, Riga, Latvia
Main concert:
Concerto Pour Vibraphone et Orchestre à Cordes (by Emmanuel Sejourné)
Spheres – G Prokofiev
Concerto for Bass Drum – G Prokofiev
Howl - G Prokofiev
Club:
DJs Gabriel Prokofiev, Nwando Ebizie
Cello Multitracks + remixes
Joby Burgess – percussion set featuring:
Temazcal, Javier Alvarez
Until My Blood Is Pure, Max de Wardener
Fanta®, Gabriel Prokofiev
Electric Counterpoint, Steve Reich
The Boom and The Bap, Matthew Fairclough
Saturday 14th June// Lithuania
DJs Gabriel Prokofiev, Nwando Ebizie
Cello Multitracks + remixes
Joby Burgess – percussion set featuring:
Temazcal, Javier Alvarez
Until My Blood Is Pure, Max de Wardener
Fanta®, Gabriel Prokofiev
Electric Counterpoint, Steve Reich
The Boom and The Bap, Matthew Fairclough
Cornelius Cardew, Treatise
In the 1950s and 60s, composers such as Earle Brown, John Cage, Morton Feldman and Cornelius Cardew experimented with new forms of notation, giving birth to the concept of the graphic score. Using visual symbols to represent sounds in an immediate and expressive way, they created striking visual compositions of breathtaking aesthetic power. These works that ranged from simple elegance to baffling complexity blurred the lines between art and music, and radically opened up performance opportunities to non-formally trained musicians.
For our next night, The Hermes Experiment will perform a free improvisation set inspired by John Cage’s iconic graphic score Variations IV. Ahead of this, make your own graphic score for The Hermes Experiment. Our Battle of the Bands co-winner, Hermes is a new quartet with big ideas and a big sound, plus a unique set of instruments (soprano, clarinet, double bass, and harp). Unapologetically adventurous and fearless, these new kids on the block are shaking up the contemporary classical world through their lively performances and diehard commitment to new music.
For tickets and more info about the 5 June concert, click here
To start your graphic score, it’s simple - just imagine the musical sounds you’d like and start drawing them using any type of visual representation. Squiggles, lines, shapes, words are all welcome - the possibilities are endless.
Once completed, just take a picture of it and share with us over Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram using #graphit. Winning selections will be played on video by Hermes on Nonclassical's Instagram profile - so get your creative juices flowing, paper and pencil ready, and draw out some new sounds...
UPDATE! The Hermes Experiment have now filmed three of the submitted graphic scores (instagram.com/nonclsscl), but you can still submit yours on Twitter or Instragram to be in with a chance of them performing it live on June 5th.
"SPILLIGAN" by Christie O'Regan
On Saturday 17th May Nonclassical presents an exciting night of contemporary classical music in Vienna as part of Classical Next. There will be a live performance of the critically acclaimed work ‘Cello Multitracks’ a suite of contrasting movements for nine layered cello parts composed by Gabriel Prokofiev, performed by Lithuanian cellist Gleb Pyšniak. Renowned German composer Moritz Eggert will play outtakes from his piano oeuvre, in which eccentricity meets "Gemuetlichkeit" and ironic sincerity. There will also be new music from the talented students of the Austrian University for Music and Performing Arts. In true Nonclassical style DJ Nwando Ebizie will be spinning the most stimulating new sounds in experimental, electronica, and contemporary classical music with remixes from the Nonclassical label.
Line-up: Gabriel Prokofiev (UK), Composer & DJ // Moritz Eggert (D), Piano // Gleb Pyšniak (LT/AT), Cello // Students of the MDW University for Music & Performing Arts Vienna + DJ sets by Gabriel Prokofiev and resident DJ Nwando Ebizie (UK)
Saturday 17th May 2014, 8.30pm @ Porgy & Bess
£5 adv / £6 Door (wegottickets)
8.00pm, The Shacklewell Arms
This month Nonclassical travels to the extreme boundaries of ensemble and solo playing, presenting emerging young artists who have exploded onto the contemporary classical scene. We welcome the bold voices of our 2014 Battle of the Bands co-winners The Hermes Experiment, along with adventurous clarinetist Max Welford.
The Hermes Experiment, a newly formed quartet with unique instrumentation (soprano, clarinet, double bass, harp), is on an ambitious mission to shake-up the contemporary classical world, regularly commissioning new works, playing creative rearrangements, and diving into free improvisation. They will give the world premiere of Black Sea by Ed Scolding, an emerging London composer who won Nonclassical’s composition competition last year. The ensemble will also perform selections from the iconic graphic score Variations IV by John Cage, Scenes from the Garden of Love by Jonathan Woolgar (2010 BBC Proms Inspire Young Composers’ Competition Winner), and new arrangements of Bernstein and Gershwin. We are also running our own experiment called Graphit! you can submit your own graphic score for The Hermes Experiment to perform on video, and one will be performed live on June 5th - click here for more information.
Also appearing on the night is emerging clarinetist Max Welford (2014 Park Lane Group Young Artist), who is making major waves in the classical music world. His thoughtful virtuosity and artistry has been praised as “oozing class” (The Guardian) and exuding “rhythmic bite” (The Times). Welford brings his electric energy, gutsy interpretations, and nuanced colours to challenging works for solo clarinet by Bach, Berio, Stravinsky, Jorg Widmann and Tiberiu Olah.
As always Nonclassical resident DJs will be mixing the best in contemporary classical, experimental electronica, and more.
To submit your own graphic score and get it performed by Hermes click here
Application Deadline - Friday 2nd May 2014 at 6pm Start Date - Monday 19th May 2014, for approximately four months Hours approx. 8-16 hours per week with some room for flexibility Internship is unpaid, however reasonable expenses will be covered
We are looking for an an energetic, organised, and reliable individual with plenty of initiative - and an interest in contemporary classical music - to become part of the team. We will train you up on how to plan and execute creative marketing strategies, live event planning, production and promotion, and give you experience working on every area of our monthly live events, not just the time consuming admin.
Your responsibilities will include:
Collaborate with Marketing Manager on campaign strategies and ideas Manage social media platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram) Analyse social media data to assess optimal way to engage and increase followers Writing press releases and concert description copy Research, liaise, and develop relationships with external organisations and media contacts Research and create listings Collate press material Assist on editing the newsletter Updating newsletter contacts Working with Events Producer in curating monthly nights by researching musicians/repertoire and contacting musicians Perform front of house duties: compile guestlist, collect email addresses, record attendance and income
Our ideal intern is: Educated to degree level or equivalent, resourceful, organized, methodical, creative, a keen and skilled writer, natural communicator, culture vulture, bursting with creative ideas, a solution finder, and social media lover.
Additional (but definitely not essential) skills: Graphic design, web design, photography, audio & video editing, DJing.
To Apply: Please email your CV (2 sides of A4 maximum) with a covering letter explaining why you would like this internship to Amelia Ideh (amelia@putmeonit.com) by 6pm on Friday 2nd May 2014
We'll be celebrating our 10th anniversary throughout the year with special events and surprises (to be announced very soon), but to get things started The Quietus have done an in-depth interview with label founder and composer Gabriel Prokofiev. The interview covers our history from being a spark of an idea, the very early days, some of the challenges, unexpected moments and triumphs. You can read a snippet below or the full article on their website.
"I'd grown up playing in pop bands and when I was 14 we made a cassette, we photocopied the inlay and with a double tape deck made 120 copies. From that point onwards, I was in the recording world, and it became a natural process that if you write a piece of music you're going to record it. So when I wrote my first string quartet, which was after a considerable break from actually writing classical music I was really pleased with it and I thought I have to record this, but hang on, who's going to release this? In the dance music world there are loads of labels you can approach and you can try, but with classical music there just was nothing, no options.The string quartet that recorded it was the Elysian Quartet, they were really young, they hadn't won a competition, this is 2003 and I was 28, they weren't on the circuit so none of the traditional labels would take them. Me too - I'd just come back to composing, there just wasn't any label that would take me on. I already ran a label with another producer in these studios, that at the time was called Nonstop Recordings, and we were doing some hip hop and electronic music so I knew how it all worked, the structure and I was quite excited about running a label, and then I thought, "What the hell, I'll release it on my own label."...
May-Day
7.30pm, Gillett Square
LouisAndriessen- Workers Union
8pm, The Shacklewell Arms
FredericRzewski - Coming Together & Attica LuigiNono - Non Consumiamo Marx CorneliusCardew - Treatise (re-interpreted by Neil Luck) MAAPCollective - Music from White Haired Boy (new opera on Boris Johnson) AudreyChen - Free improvisation with cello & voice
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On May Day, Nonclassical uncovers the political voice of classical music and raises it to dangerous decibels. It’s a march on Dalston championing both iconic and new works charged with sociopolitical consciousness - get ready to take contemporary classical to the streets and lift a sonically defiant finger to the establishment.
The night opens with a free, symbolic outdoor performance in Gillett Square of Louis Andriessen’s punchy Workers Union performed by The Riot Ensemble, a collective of top emerging musicians. The march on Dalston then continues at The Shacklewell Arms, exploring iconic works of powerful revolutionary fervor, featuring Luigi Nono’s electroacoustic Non Consumiamo Marx on the 1968 student protests and culminating with Frederic Rzewski’s poignant masterpieces Coming Together and Attica, written in response to the tragic Attica prison riots.
Paired with these established works will be fresh new music that address politics today: composer/performer Neil Luck creatively reinterprets Cornelius Cardew’s Treatise with a modern day twist, The Broom Brigade performs White Haired Boy a new irreverent satirical opera on Boris Johnson by the MAAP Collective, and renowned experimental musician Audrey Chen expressively improvises with voice and cello on the May Day theme.
Between live performances, Nonclassical DJs will be spinning unique politically-themed sets, featuring music from Hans Eisler to Dead Prez.
Artist PagesThe Riot Ensemble // Neil Luck // Audrey Chen // Maja Rivić
We're in Leeds on the 13th March hosting a special club night as part of the International Festival for Artistic Innovation
The cross-disciplinary festival welcomes leading performers, composers and researchers from around the world for a week long event celebrating innovation. Highlights will include thought provoking and inspiring talks, workshops and live performances exploring the disparate and diverse fields of jazz, classical, and popular music.
Fresh off the back of their single launch in Feb, we're taking Juice Vocal Ensemble. Juice will be performing their brand new single Heal You (music by Anna Meredith) and songs from their forthcoming album, Laid Bare. The new album features specially created love songs by Gavin Bryars, Mica Levi aka Micachu, folk artist Jim Moray, and many more.
Alongside Juice, the audience can expect radical solo works for bass clarinet and electronics -- Jason Alder’s A’d Amssong that draws from Detroit’s legendary underground electronic dance music scene and Robert Ratcliffe’s Wake Up Call - a dialogue between jazz improvisation and contemporary electronic music. Other solo works will include Enrico Bertelli’s Drumactica 2.0 for augmented snare drum and Luis Bittencourt’s Memórias Líquidas for waterphone and live loops.
Alongside the live music, resident London DJs Gabriel Prokofiev and Nwando welcome guest DJ Damien Harron (percussionist, composer, and educator from Leeds College of Music), and as usual they'll be spinning the most stimulating new sounds in experimental and contemporary classical music.
Thursday, 13 March 2014, 7.30pm
The Cockpit, Leeds, tickets £10 / £8
http://www.lcm.ac.uk/whats-on/Upcoming-Performances/Nonclassical
This year our Battle of The Bands resulted in two winners sharing the top prize...
Nonclassical ventures into radical soundscapes of bold new music, free improvisation, and iconic solo flute repertoire. Prepare for three diverse and fiercely unapologetic acts that will shake-up curious ears and minds.
Bastard Assignments Headliners for the night, this cross-arts collective has been creating infectious buzz with their experimental performances in South East London. Performing new works by collective composers Timothy Cape, Fred Feeney, Edward Henderson and Paul McGuire, Bastards will adventurously expand the timbral colours of percussion, the durational extremes of the tuba, and the blending of spoken text with electronics.
Video: Sleep Spindles by Paul McGuire
The Vicious Circus This magnetic free improvisation duo consists of Dave Maric (small keyboard & electronics) and Elo Masing (violin, cello, electric guitar), both notable composers in their own right. Maric works closely with leading percussionist Colin Currie and Masing has had her works performed by the Kreutzer Quartet and members of the London Sinfonietta. Fearless improvisers, as a duo they create unpredictable journeys into surreal sound worlds, immersing the listener in mesmerising spontaneity and structural clarity. https://soundcloud.com/uncharted-soundscapes/the-vicious-circus-dave-maric
"...close-harmonies that melt the heart...” (Richard Morrison, The Times)
We're back for more of our residency at East London’s Shacklewell Arms on 6th February, getting into the Valentine spirit and celebrating the launch of Juice Vocal Ensemble’s single “Heal You” with music by Anna Meredith and lyrics by Philip Ridley. “Heal You” is one of a collection of ten love songs as part of juice’s upcoming album, Laid Bare, which will be released in April.
Juice (‘The 21st century’s answer to the Swingles or the King’s Singers’ The Times) are at the forefront of the UK’s experimental/classical scene, performing new vocal music which draws on classical, world music, jazz, folk, pop, improvisation and theatre. They have featured on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, BBC Radio 3 and Classic FM, and were the first UK prize winners in the history of the internationally-renowned Tampere Vocal Festival.
Juice‘s debut album ‘Songspin’ (Nonclassical, 2011) won an international Independent Music Award for Best Contemporary Classical Album in 2012. Featuring remixes by the likes of Camille producer MaJiker and Bjork collaborator Mikhail Karikis, it was reviewed by The Observer as “Eighteen immaculately achieved tracks, spanning Elisabeth Lutyens to Gabriel Prokofiev via folk song and avant garde, enchant and enthrall”.
For the single release launch party, there will also be support and Nonclassical resident DJs spinning the best in contemporary classical, avant-garde electronica and new music.
Check out their website: www.juicevocalensemble.net
We welcome a new duo supporting Juice, Loop Motion. They are Violeta Barrena (violin and loop station) and Martino Schovacricchi (cello and saxophone)
Individually and as an ensemble they have performed in prestigious London venues like The Royal Albert Hall, The Royal Festival Hall, The Roundhouse, St. Martin in the Fields, The Bolivar Hall, The ICA as well as Pizza Express Jazz Club and Ronnie Scotts. Specializing in contemporary western classical music, some of it written down, some created and improvised on stage, they make a formidable combination and reference a whole range of influences. Check them out on Soundcloud HERE.
NONCLASSICAL TOTNES
On the 31st of January we're at the Barrel House, Totnes for the first in a new series of satellite events there.
This first event will include live performances of music by Stockhausen and Lona Kozik, a homage to Ligeti's famous piece for 100 metronomes, electroacoustic music from Richard Gonski's Digital Music Archives, a new electrocoustic piece by Lucinda Guy, "Le bœuf sur le toit" 1919) for piano/four hands played to Charlie Chaplin's "The Floorwalker" PLUS amazing DJ sets from Nwando Ebizie.
More info on the Facebook Event Page
NONCLASSICAL TORONTO + GABRIEL PROKOFIEV IN CANADA
In other news, Gabriel Prokofiev is in Canada in late January where he's Roger D. Moore Distinguished Visitor in Composition for the University of Toronto Faculty of Music's New Music Festival. He's going to be involved in a series of talks and concerts, with the 28th January having a special NONCLASSICAL event, details HERE.
During his time in Canada he's writing this blog with updates about what's happening over there.
Gabriel will be in Pau, France in February for the premiere of a new piece - another for turntables, this time alongside trumpet and percussion. Details below ...
// 24 Jan – 2 Feb 2014 // University of Toronto – Distinguished Visitor in Composition Talks & Concerts: including Spheres, Concerto for Turntables, Cello Multitracks, String Quartet no.1, and more TBA Toronto, Canad a
28th January - Nonclassical at The Canadian Music Centre // Details
// 5,6,7,8 February 2014 // Concerto for Trumpet, Turntables, Percussion and Orchestra PREMIERE Orchestre de Pau Pays de Béarn, France // conductor: Fayçal Karoui // Turntables: DJ Switch Palais Beaumont Centre de Congrès, Pau, France
Below you can see some of the highlights from our recent events. Follow us on Instagram!
On December 19 (BLOK Zürich) and 21 (Turnhalle Bern) the Ynight is featuring a Nonclassical London evening, with composer and DJ Gabriel Prokofiev (grandson of Russian composer Sergej Prokofiev) and DJ Nwando Ebizie. The music of Gabriel, an important representative of the “genre-bending” position in new composed music of today is at the center of the night – in compositions for string quartet, electronics and a spectacular piece for cello and 8 speakers. Later in the night, Gabriel and Nwando will remix the music played in the evening and the party begins.
With:
Yband:
Etienne Abelin, Milena Parobczy: Violins; David Schneebeli: Viola; Solme Hong, Cello
DJs Gabriel Prokofiev, Nwando Ebizie (Nonclassical London)
VJs Aaawesome Colors
Composer/Electronica/Remixes: Gabriel Prokofiev
Speakers: Sven Boenicke Audio
