Awakening Night
Instrumentation: flute, viola, harp
Year composed: 2020
Composer website: https://www.johnstringer.org.uk/
Martin says:
A haunting processional. I particularly enjoy the coda...I think perhaps I like codas in general...in this case the arrival of the minor 10th in the harp suddenly grounding the suspended sonority of what had felt like the end of the piece pushed all the right buttons for me.
[from johnstringer.org.uk]
Born in Newcastle, John Stringer studied at Huddersfield and York. As a composer, his work has been performed by ensembles such as the Orchestra of Opera North, Philharmonia and BBC Symphony Orchestras, Basel Soloists, Corrente Ensemble, Black Hair, New Music Players, de ereprijs, Apollo Saxophone Quartet and 4Mality Percussion Quartet. As a conductor he has conducted contemporary music ensembles such as Black Hair and the New Music Players as well as groups such as the Philharmonia Orchestra. He has worked with Jonathan Harvey, James Wood, Hanna Kulenty, Richard Ayres, Hans Abrahamsen, Stephen Montague, Robert Saxton and Karlheinz Stockhausen, Liza Lim, Nicola LeFanu amongst others. He has conducted UK premieres of works by Henze, Francesconi, Murail, Vasks, Lim and premieres and other performances of a wide range of contemporary music. He conducted the second British production of Ezra Pound's opera Le Testament de Villon and part of this performance was issued on the American label 'Other Minds'. His compositions have been performed in Japan, America and across Europe. In 2014 Dark Inventions released a recording of Hinterland. He is a Senior Lecturer at the University of York where he conducts the University Symphony and Chamber Orchestras. He is also an associate conductor of the City of Leeds Youth Orchestra. His music is published by the University of York Music Press (UYMP).
[In free time he enjoys reading, cooking, TV dramas with subtitles, snapping photos and shouting at politicians on TV.]