MUSIC
MAMLAKAH
Eternal Light
Commissioned by Filipino artist Mart Henry Bongabong for the new painting series ‘Mamlakah’.
Performed by violinist Mirjam Bartol. Recorded in London, U.K. January 2023.
SOUNDCLOUD
ORCHESTRAL
IRIDESCENT FLARES I,II,III
for Orchestra & Live Painting
These works are an ongoing series of orchestral pieces inspired by the idea of light striking crystal and releasing bursts of iridescent colour and shapes into the atmosphere. Music appears in this way, emerging from total darkness through my personal sense of synaesthesia. This is expressed through collaboration between
orchestral composition and painting practice, connecting both art forms. The anatomic layers and sections of the painting are exposed from the beginning to end, evolving and forming with the progression of the piece.
The completed work of art can be thought of as a remembrance, preserving the musical experience onto canvass as a more permanent art form and capturing the time-based nature of music in its structure.
The pieces may be performed as stand alone works if live painting is not possible.
RNCM Brand New Orchestra, April 2018
Conducted by Peter Woffenden.
IRIDESCENT FLARES I,
for Orchestra & Live Painting
RNCM Brand New Orchestra, October 2019
Conducted by Riley Court-Wood.
IRIDESCENT FLARES II,
for Orchestra & Live Painting
(15:00)
IRIDESCENT FLARES III,
for Orchestra & Live Painting
London Symphony Orchestra, March 8, 2021
Conducted by Jack Sheen
Breath, for Orchestra
Premiered by the Royal Northern College of Music Brand New Days Orchestra, conducted by
Tjeerd Barkmeijer, with guest leader Benedict Holland. Thank you as well to the wonderful offstage strings players Amelia Dew, Phillip Rousiamanis, Anthony Jones, and Joseph Dawson, and my tutors Adam Gorb and Gary Carpenter.
BREATH,
for Orchestra
This piece was written with the intention of exploring spacial aspects of sound and the orchestra.
The work opens with off-stage string soloists that connect with
on-stage soloists and sections within the orchestra.
This technique is used throughout to create a sense of sound moving from back to front, over and also through the audience.
A sense of breath, wind, and movement is meant to be felt physically as well as sonically.
Premiered by the Royal Northern College of Music Brand New Days Orchestra, conducted by Tjeerd Barkmeijer, with guest leader Benedict Holland. Also featuring offstage strings players Amelia Dew, Phillip Rousiamanis, Anthony Jones, and Joseph Dawson,
CHAMBER
INCANDESCENCE,
for String Quartet
This is a work for string quartet in collaboration with painting. It has currently been developed into three movements and performed with live painting.
The composition came first, with an idea of capturing and expressing bursts of colour and light.
I created the still painting in response to the piece to convey the music in a visual way.
First performed by the Lux Quartet: Helena Logah, Philippos Rousiamanis, Peter Hartley, Alice Luddington at the Royal Northern College of Music, July 2017.
CRYSTAL ECLIPSE
for Soprano Saxophone & Piano
Comissioned by David Zucchi
RNCM Spotlight Concert: Style Transfer, December 3rd, 2019
Saxophone (Poppy Philigreen), Piano (Celia Denore Lopez)
This piece was inspired by the concept of solar eclipse,
when the sun is momentarily blackened, causing
temporary darkness on earth.
Light disappears for a moment
and is revealed again over time.
THE HIDDEN VEIL
for chamber opera
A man and a woman living in two separate worlds fall in love while discovering each other's existence although they can not see each other.
The Woman: Vanessa Guinadi
The Man: Ralph Thomas Williams
Soprano: Lucy Farrimond
Mezzo-Soprano: Flora Birkbeck
Violin - Gemma Bass
Viola - Nadia Eskandari
Trumpet - Gary Farr
Trombone - Raddon Stephenson
Percussion - Dan Nolan
Clarinet - Katherine Blumer
5 New Operas, Manchester Contemporary Youth Opera,
Friday, September 9, 1:30pm, 5:30pm, 7:30pm,
International Anthony Burgess Foundation, Manchester, UK
FLUXES,
for string quartet
Fluxes, for string quartet has to do with flow and sudden change. It was performed at the Mining Institute in Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK, at the annual Northern Chords Festival by the Manon Quartet.
SOLO
WHEN LIGHT DANCES UPON THE HUNGARIAN SEA,
for solo piano
This piece was inspired by an idea of glistening light on water and the Hungarian Sea, a land locked lake in Hungary.
Commissioned for the RNCM Piano Day, June 2017
Performed by soloist Zijun Xu, Concert Hall, RNCM, Manchester, UK
INTERTWINED,
for singing solo viola
This piece was written from a concept of connecting viola and voice, performer and instrument as one.
The work consists of two parts which at times break off into separate elements and conjoin again.
Each line crosses over one another, creating a fluidity of roles. Both viola and voice are treated as equal, yet still unique in character.
First performed in May 2018 at St. Stephen Walbrook Cathedral, London, UK. Commissioned and performed by Katherine Clarke.
FIRST LIGHT,
for solo cello
First performed by Ovidiu Marinescu in November 2020 at First and Central Presbyterian Church in Wilmington, Deleware, U.S.A. This piece explores light and reflects awaking and emergence after a period of sleep.
(2:24)
LIST OF WORKS
ORCHESTRAL
Lady of the Woods (ca. 5'06") 2021
Iridescent Flares III (ca. 3'30") 2019
Iridescent Flares II (ca. 2'40") 2019
Iridescent Flares I (ca. 6'30") 2018
Breath (ca. 10' 30") 2017
Wind (ca. 1' 4") 2013
CHAMBER
The Hummingbird Flew Home (ca. 1'20") 2021
chamber orchestra
Incandescence I, II, III (ca. 18') 2019
string quartet
The Colours of Passing Memory (ca. 10'30") 2019
flute and clarinet
Ultraviolet (ca. 7') 2019
soprano and string quartet
MIRAGES 1 (5'15"') 2019
bass clarinet quartet, contrabass clarinet, carnyx, electronics,
projection, live painting
Crystal Eclipse (ca. 8'20") 2018
soprano saxophone and piano
Transference (ca. 5' 53") 2017
soprano, violin, violoncello
Castle Hill (ca. 5' 45") 2017
soprano, string quartet
12 Tides (ca. 5') 2016
wind quintet
V - Inspired by Musica Ricercata No. 5 Ligeti (ca. 5') 2016
wind quintet
The Shore at Dawn (ca. 5' 20") 2016
2 classical guitars, soprano
Duet for Violin and Piano (ca. 1' 55") 2015
Fluxes (ca. 4' 30") 2015
string quartet
Ruins (ca. 5') 2015
2 flutes, piano, violin, violincello
A Story With No Words (ca. 5') 2013
2 flutes, glockenspiel, piano, acoustic guitar, 2 sopranos, violin, violincello
SOLO
Mamlakah - Renaissance (ca. 11') 2023
solo violin
Mamlakah - Efflorescence (ca. 3'45") 2023
solo violin
Mamlakah - 8 works for solo violin 2022
Eternal Light (ca. 3'35")
Convalescence (ca. 2'23")
Presence (ca. 2'33")
Crystalline (ca. 2'30")
Emergence (ca. 3'08")
Hidden Flame (ca. 3'28")
Destine (ca. 2'23")
Ascendance (ca. 2'40")
Crystal Flame (ca 5'55") 2021
solo viola
First Light (ca 10') 2020
solo cello
Five Miniatures for Solo Bassoon (ca 13'52") 2020
solo bassoon
Ultraviolet Exposure (ca 5') 2019
solo accordion
Intertwined (ca. 7' 15") 2018
singing solo viola
When Light Dances Upon the Hungarian Sea (ca. 2' 05") 2017
solo piano
Still (ca. 3' 35") 2015
solo piano
VOCAL
Arrangements of Norwegian Folk Song
Over de Hoje Fielde (ca. 7') 2018
Sovenen (ca. 7')
Acapella voice trio: SSA
A Breath (ca. 3' 15") 2017
mezzo-soprano and piano
Flood (ca. 6' 10") 2017
SSAATTBB (and solo voices)
Dawendine (ca. 3' 30") 2017
soprano, mezzo soprano, flute, piano, violincello
Ways of Being (ca. 4') 2014
bass and piano
OPERA
The Hidden Veil (ca. 8') 2018
mixed ensemble
MULTI MEDIA
Entr'Acte (22') 2018
mixed ensemble and electronics, for silent film
Light and Shadow (ca. 15') 2016
solo cello and live painting
Shaken (ca. 4' 20") 2017
for clarinet, cello, dancers
choreographed by Callum Green, Royal Northern Ballet
MOTUS 2 (ca. 60') 2016
for spoken word, soprano, bass, SATB, flute, shakuhachi, piano, bass, snare drum, dancers (solo and group choreography)
MOTUS 1 (ca. 45') 2015
for spoken word, soprano, violin, piano, female dancer, digital projection