Workshop 1

Tue 18 Aug, 6–7pm BST

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Recording Submission Deadline (optional)

Tue 25 Aug, 10am BST

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Workshop 2

Tue 1 Sep, 6–7:30pm BST

Learn about writing for voice and viola, with the opportunity to have your composition recorded by world-class professional musicians.

Vocalist Sarah Dacey (Juice Vocal Ensemble) and violist Stephen Upshaw invite participants to create a miniature work for this less frequent pairing of instruments. Over the course of two workshops hosted via Zoom, participants will receive individual feedback and a recording of their work performed by Sarah and Stephen.

In the first session Sarah and Stephen will introduce you to their favourite works for voice and viola, discussing unusual text settings, graphic notation, extended performance techniques, and describing the capabilities of their instruments and how best to bring the two sound worlds together. There will also be some discussion and opportunities for questions from participants.

In between the two sessions, you'll have the opportunity to send Sarah and Stephen your sketches or draft pieces, which they will record. In the second session, participants will reconvene to hear and discuss the resulting recordings, with individual feedback from Sarah and Stephen.

Please note: The maximum length for each piece will be 2 minutes and any text used needs to be out of copyright. A basic knowledge of traditional notation would be useful but we would like to invite participants to consider using graphic notation. Handwritten scores are also as welcome as those written using music notation software. All pieces that are to be considered for recording must be submitted by 10am on Tue 25 Aug. Resulting recordings may be published on personal channels but not on major platforms such as YouTube.

Suitable for anyone with a keen interest in composition, regardless of age or background. If you have any questions regarding suitability for this workshop or if the price is a barrier to your ability to attend, please get in touch with sophie@nonclassical.co.uk

See the full Nonclassical Academy programme >>

About the artists

Sarah Dacey

Sarah is a singer, composer and teacher based in London. She studied at the University of York and the Royal Academy of Music, graduating from the PGDiploma Vocal Studies course with Distinction. Awards include the Lady Lyons Millennium Scholarship and the Van Smit Prize. Opera performances include Opéra de Baugé, the Royal Opera House, Tête à Tête Opera Festival, the Lost Theatre, the Roundhouse and Aix-en-Provence Opera Festival. An advocate of new music, Sarah has sung countless premieres, including the soprano solo in the London premiere of Claude Vivier’s 'Glaubst du an die Unsterblichkeit der Seele' with the London Contemporary Orchestra and the Qatari premiere of Gavin Bryars’ 'The Adnan Songbook' with members of the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra in Doha.

Stephen Upshaw

Since making his concerto debut at seventeen, American violist Stephen Upshaw has won several competitions and played in festivals around the world including the BBC Proms, Cheltenham, IMS Prussia Cove, Lucerne, Brighton, Huddersfield, Aix-en-Provence, Wien Modern, Donaueschingen and the Salzburg Chamber Music Festival. Much in demand as a chamber musician, he is a member of the Solem Quartet and has also shared the stage with artists such as Tai Murray, Gary Hoffman, Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Philippe Graffin, Jennifer Stumm and Garth Knox. Recent recital and chamber music engagements have taken him to Boston’s Jordan Hall, London’s Barbican and Wigmore Halls, Tokyo Opera City, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall and Vienna’s Konzerthaus.A noted interpreter of contemporary music, Stephen is also a member of London’s Riot Ensemble whose recent disc ‘Speak Be Silent’ was selected as one of New Yorker Magazine’s ‘Best Recordings of 2019’. He has worked closely with many of today’s leading composers, including John Adams, Julian Anderson, George Benjamin and Helmut Lachenmann. Expanding the repertoire of the viola through the commissioning of new music has always been a feature of Stephen’s work. He has taken part in over 300 world premieres including those of Georg Haas, Sally Beamish (alongside the composer) Mark Simpson and Michael Finnissy, the latter two having both composed solo pieces for Stephen.