WORLD PREMIERE OF ANNA MEREDITH AND SHLOMO’S CONCERTO FOR BEATBOXER AND ORCHESTRA
Friday 19 February 2010, Queen Elizabeth Hall, 7.30pm, Tickets £20
Saturday 20 February 2010, Queen Elizabeth Hall, 11am, Tickets £9
(Special children’s concert as part of Imagine Children’s Festival)
Friday 19 February 2010 sees the world premiere of a new Southbank Centre-commissioned work: Concerto for Beatboxer and Orchestra as part of Shlomo’s Music Through Unconventional Means Presents series at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. On the morning of Saturday 20 February a special children’s version of the new work will be performed as part of Southbank Centre’s Imagine Children’s Festival.
Co-written by one of the UK's hottest composing talents, Anna Meredith and Southbank Centre Artist in Residence, beatbox artist Shlomo, this piece is a modern classical work, recognising the human voice box as a musical instrument in its own right. Six of the UK’s leading beatboxers, including Shlomo as the soloist, current World Female Champion Bellatrix and former UK Champion MC Zani, perform amongst a specially created 20-piece orchestra, selected from all Southbank Centre's Resident Orchestras - London Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, London Sinfonietta and Orchestra of the Age of Enlightment as well as acclaimed cellist and fellow Southbank Centre Artist in Residence Oliver Coates. Conductor Andre de Ridder of sinfonia ViVA leads the musicians in this groundbreaking new work.
The first half of the concert sees performances from the individuals involved in the Concerto. In the second half, the new work will be performed and then there is a short question and answer session, giving the audience the chance to ask Anna Meredith and Shlomo about the composition, before it is played for a second time.
Anna Meredith and Shlomo have worked closely together to create a formal notation for beatboxers, which has not been done before. Once the piece has premiered, the notation will be made publicly available online in an attempt to encourage more composers and musicians to learn, write and perform their music through beatboxing.
Shlomo said: "One real challenge this piece throws up is the idea of seeing beatboxing not as a genre, but as a versatile instrument. Throughout the ongoing Music Through Unconventional Means series we have experimented by uniting beatboxing with different approaches to making music, often with inspirational results. But, working with a composer is so different, as everything has to be written in advance. This is extremely daunting for me as I am used to improvising and relying on a sense of the moment. Anna’s writing is fiendishly complex to perform, and it feels like she is truly pushing us to the top of our musicality."
Anna Meredith said: “Working on this piece has been a fantastic experience for me. I initially knew nothing about beatboxing, but after workshopping and experimenting during the past year, I’ve been really inspired by all the possibilities of this fantastic sound resource. We’ve developed a simple notation which means I can compose complex rhythms and textures that wouldn’t be possible whilst thinking on the fly. My challenge is to create a music world where the orchestral instruments and beatboxers fit together as a bold, strong ensemble – not a classical piece with a beat or beats with an orchestral backing.”
The Concerto for Beatboxer and Orchestra was shortlisted for the PRS for Music Foundation’s New Music Award 2008, the biggest music prize in the UK, and is presented as part of the Foundation’s 10th anniversary year.
On Saturday 20 February 2010, the Concerto for Beatboxer and Orchestra will be performed in a special children's version in an exciting mix of beatboxing and contemporary classical music as part of Southbank Centre’s Imagine Children’s Festival. This date features a chance to try beatboxing with Shlomo for some members of the audience as well as performances from the ensemble, and a performance of the Concerto itself. This family-friendly concert created especially for Imagine offers a fun introduction to the magic of music and collaboration. Suitable for ages six and over.
For further press information please contact Sabine Kindel on 020 7921 0917 / sabine.kindel@southbankcentre.co.uk or Miles Evans on 020 7921 0676 / miles.evans@southbankcentre.co.uk
Listings Information:
MUSIC THROUGH UNCONVENTIONAL MEANS PRESENTS:
CONCERTO FOR BEATBOXER AND ORCHESTRA
Friday 19 February 2010, Queen Elizabeth Hall, 7.30pm, Tickets £20
BEATBOX CONCERTO FOR KIDS FEATURING SHLOMO
As part of Imagine Children’s Festival
Saturday 20 February 2010, Queen Elizabeth Hall, 11am, Tickets £9
Southbank Centre Ticket Office: 0844 847 9910 / www.southbankcentre.co.uk
Notes to Editors
Southbank Centre is the UK’s largest arts centre, occupying a 21-acre site that sits in the midst of London’s most vibrant cultural quarter on the South Bank of the Thames. The site has an extraordinary creative and architectural history stretching back to the 1951 Festival of Britain. Southbank Centre is home to the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and the Hayward Gallery as well as The Saison Poetry Library and the Arts Council Collection. The Royal Festival Hall reopened in June 2007 following the major refurbishment of the Hall and redevelopment of the surrounding area and facilities.
Shlomo is a Southbank Centre Artist in Residence, supported by Paul Hamlyn Foundation, and has run the concert series Music Through Unconventional Means since November 2007. Each concert features a different special guest who collaborates with Shlomo to create new and innovative performance techniques. One of the world's leading human beatboxers, Shlomo has the ability to create entire songs using only his vocal chords. He has already done much to change perceptions of the art of beatboxing, expanding the possibilities of the vocal discipline that grew out of the hip-hop scene. He has recorded music with Bjork for the Athens Olympics and created the UK's first human beatbox choir, as well as performing all over the world and at major festivals such as Glastonbury and the Montreux Jazz Festival. For more information on Shlomo visit: http://shlo.co.uk / http://myspace.com/shlomizzle / http://vocalorchestra.co.uk
Anna Meredith is a composer of acoustic and electronic music as well as a performer, workshop leader and drum teacher. She was Resident Composer with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra from 2004-2007 and has recently been appointed the 3rd RPS and PRS Composer in the House with Sinfonia Viva (2010-2012). Anna has written for many of the UK’s leading performers, ensembles and orchestras including a piece for the Last Night of the Proms 2008, an opera for Aldeburgh Music (Tarantula in Petrol Blue) and a Double Piano Concerto for the Proms 2009. Future plans include a new work for LSO Discovery, collaborations with Siobhan Davies Dance and putting together her first album of electronic dance music as well as her regular projects with the Camberwell Composers Collective. www.annameredith.com
Oliver Coates is a Southbank Centre Artist in Residence, supported by Paul Hamlyn Foundation. He performs as a solo cellist, chamber musician and guest principal with the London Sinfonietta. He has worked with composers such as Ades, Birtwistle, Saariaho, Lindberg, Gubaidulina and Jonathan Harvey on their music. He has also worked and recorded with artists such as Massive Attack, Anna Meredith, Goldie, Sigur Ros, Micachu, Matmos, Mira Calix and Gurrumul. Oliver loves to play all kinds of classical music alongside new experimental forms.
The PRS for Music Foundation (PRSF) is the UK's leading 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 £13.5 million to over 4,000 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. For more information about the PRS for Music Foundation and the New Music Award, please visit www.prsformusicfundation.com
Contact: Clarissa Carlyon 020 7306 4741 clarissa@prsformusicfoundation.com.