John Browne becomes first-ever Composer-in-Residence at the
For immediate release 7 December 2009 - Download release
FROM OPERA THEATRE TO OPERATING THEATRE: NEW MUSIC AS MEDICINE
- John Browne becomes first-ever Composer-in-Residence at the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery with
funding and expert advice from the PRS for Music Foundation -
The power of music to integrate and cure is quite fundamental. It is the profoundest nonchemical medication. Dr Oliver Sacks, neurologist.
Renowned Irish composer John Browne will swap the opera house for the Health Service in 2010 when he becomes the first-ever Composer-in-Residence at the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery, King’s College London, it was announced today (Monday 7 December).
The one-year residency has been made possible by a £10,000 grant and expert advice from the PRS for Music Foundation (PRSF), the UK's largest independent funder of new music. PRSF led the drive to find a suitable composer and advised the Florence Nightingale School on best practice for running a musical residency. Additional funding of £15,000 was provided by the National Lottery through Arts Council England (London). The project marks the Florence Nightingale School’s 150th anniversary and is part of its unique and innovative Culture in Care programme, offered to both staff and students, which explores the role that the arts, and in particular music, can play in the professional development of nurses.
Sally Taylor, Chair of the PRS for Music Foundation, said: “Poets, writers and philosophers as well as physicians and scientists have long recognised the extraordinary power of music to heal the body, soul and mind and strengthen the bonds between people and communities. John Browne’s appointment represents a pioneering collaboration and a model of best practice for composer residencies. It is a fascinating opportunity to create new music which explores the theme of care including such complex issues as how we deal with an ageing population and the politics of the NHS in contemporary society.
“Over the last ten years the PRS for Music Foundation has created many successful music residencies in both arts and non-arts organisations everywhere from the London College of Fashion to local council offices. We hope to help create and support many more in the future.”
John Browne is no stranger to working outside the often rarefied worlds of opera and academia and has used new music to respond to contemporary issues before. In 2006 he visited Rwanda to create the music-theatre piece The Mother’s Ring with survivors of the genocide, and in 2007 he wrote an original score for Demon Juice, a hip-hop version of Don Giovanni which brought together urban dance artists and the Royal Opera House.
John’s brief at the Florence Nightingale School is a challenging one and will see him explore the nature of care in clinical environments through music and compose an entirely new work reflecting upon his experience at the end of the year. His roving role will involve observing and working with students, practicing nurses, School academics and members of the King’s College London Community; experiencing life in the hospital and meeting patients; composing choral pieces for a Florence Nightingale Memorial Service in Westminster Abbey in June; and creating a songbook for nurses to use in children’s wards.
John Browne said: “This is a very different and very exciting opportunity for me. I am being inspired by the people, the buildings and the rituals of the school and its partner hospitals - but most of all by the themes of nursing and care. On the one hand I’ll be observing and responding to nursing practice on a very intimate level, and that’s very moving, and at the same time I’ll be looking at ‘Care’ as one of the really big themes of our times, and of all times.”
Professor Anne Marie Rafferty, Head of the Florence Nightingale School said: "We are thrilled about John Browne’s appointment as the School’s first ever Composer-in-Residence and look forward to working closely with him over the next year. The work he will produce will play an important part in forging the link between clinical practice and learning as a performing art."
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For more press information, images and interviews please contact Anya Matthews at Colman Getty PR, 020 7631 2666 anya@colmangetty.co.uk
NOTES FOR EDITORS
PRS for Music Foundation (PRSF)
The PRS for Music Foundation (PRSF) is the UK's largest independent funder of new music across all genres. Widely respected as an adventurous and proactive funding body, PRSF supports an exceptional range of new music activity - from unsigned band showcases to composer residencies, from commissions for new music to experimental live electronica.
Since March 2000 PRSF has given more than £12 million to over 3,000 new music initiatives.
In addition to stimulating and supporting the creation and performance of new music, it motivates public debate about creative music-making through ground-breaking projects such as the New Music Award. www.prsformusicfoundation.com
Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery
The Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery at King’s College London is the world’s first professional School of nursing established by Florence Nightingale in 1860.
The number one Nursing and Midwifery School in London and highly regarded by leading London NHS Trusts with links to industry, health services and policy makers, the School develops leading-edge nurses and midwives of tomorrow – practitioners, partners, and leaders in their field.
The School has over 1,000 full-time students training to be nurses plus an extensive portfolio of undergraduate and postgraduate activities to meet the needs of a wide range of healthcare professionals seeking continuing professional development. The School is at the forefront of health services, policy and evaluation research and home to the influential National Nursing Research Unit (NNRU) – the only Department of Health-funded unit of its kind in England. For further information visit www.kcl.ac.uk/schools/nursing
John Browne
John Browne is an Irish composer living in London. He studied composition at University College Cork (with Gerald Barry) and at The Manhattan School of Music in New York with the assistance of a Fulbright Award. Operas for the Royal Opera House include: Demon Juice, a hip-hop opera in 2007; Babette’s Feast, a chamber opera in 2002 (revived there in 2004); Separation (The Story of Bullman and the Moonsisters), created with children to open the new Linbury Theatre in 1999. For English National Opera he composed Midnight's Children in 1998 and a trilogy of operas The Early Earth Operas in 2004.
Commissions in Ireland include Four Tableaux for The Cork International Choral Festival and the opera The Pied Piper for The Ark in Dublin. He was a founding member of Meridian Theatre Company in Cork composing music for more than a dozen shows and his music has been chosen to represent Ireland at the International Rostrum of Composers.
Other work includes visiting Rwanda in 2006/07 to create The Mother’s Ring a music-theatre piece with survivors of the genocide (with plans to create a new work in 2009/10) creating choral arrangements for the band Elbow in 2008 and teaching the Write-An-Opera course at Dartington Summer School. He has also lead many education projects for The Royal Opera House, ENO, Opera North, Welsh National Opera, The British Council and The Southbank Centre.