London Symphony Orchestra Celebrates Composing Talent with LSO Futures, Curated by François-Xavier Roth

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LSO Futures celebrates composers at the cutting edge of music today through a week of events at the Barbican


LSO Futures and LSO St Luke’s including two concerts curated by François-Xavier Roth. The LSO has been nurturing the talent of young composers for several years through its Panufnik Young Composers Scheme (set up in memory of composer Andrzej Panufnik), the UBS Sound Adventures Scheme and the recent creation of LSO Soundhub, a laboratory for composers at LSO St Luke’s. LSO Futures throws the doors to these initiatives open, showcasing both the music of today? and the minds behind it. In the words of François-Xavier Roth, it’s a ‘homage to modernity, to new ways, and to creation’, a celebration of music in the 21st-century.

On 9 April at 8pm, composer Tansy Davies presents a UBS Soundscapes: Eclectica concert at LSO St Luke’s which recreates her acclaimed album Troubairitz, putting her own music, with its hints of funk, experimental rock, industrial techno, atonalism and electronica, centre stage. Tansy Davies was the first participant in the LSO’s UBS Sound Adventures scheme for emerging composers. Her work Tilting was given its world premiere by the LSO on the Barbican stage in 2005.

On 11 April at 11.30am, composer Colin Matthews, Composition Director of the Panufnik Young Composers, will take part in a Centre for Orchestra Artist Conversation at LSO St Luke’s, giving an insight into his career and musical inspirations. At 1.30pm at LSO St Luke’s there is a Panufnik Young Composers Workshop with conductor François-Xavier Roth and Colin Matthews, giving the opportunity for the audience to get a glimpse into the creative process and watch as this year’s composers develop their music with the LSO. The workshop features composers Patrick Brennan, Leo Chadburn, David Coonan, Bushra El-Turk, Ryan Latimer and Aaron Parker, plus a special commission from Matthew Kaner.

The first of two concerts masterminded by François-Xavier Roth takes place on 13 April at 5pm in the Barbican Hall. LSO Chamber Ensembles, conducted by Roth, are joined by composer and saxophonist Jason Yarde and pianist Andrew McCormack for a new work by Yarde – Modo Hit Blow for brass and percussion – an alumnus of the Panufnik and UBS Sound Adventures Schemes. The work is set against a backdrop of other 20th-century chamber classics that continue to inspire: Varèse’s Ionisation for Percussion, Stravinsky’s Symphonies of Wind Instruments and John Adams’ Chamber Symphony.

At 7.30pm on 13 April, the full London Symphony Orchestra is conducted by François-Xavier Roth in a second concert which has at its centre the world premiere of Panufnik Variations, a project that brings together graduates from across the Panufnik Scheme’s seven-year history. Its starting-point is a framework constructed by Colin Matthews around a theme from Andrzej Panufnik’s Universal Prayer, with each of the following variations a melting pot of the sounds and styles from nine Panufnik Scheme alumni – Max de Wardener, Evis Sammoutis, Christopher Mayo, Toby Young, Elizabeth Winters, Larry Goves, Raymond Yiu, Anjula Semmens and Edmund Finnis. Also performed will be Webern’s Passacaglia, Boulez’s Notations and Debussy’s La mer.

Before this concert, young composers aged 14-18 will take part in a composition day (10am–7pm, 13 April) inspired by the Colin Matthews & Panufnik Scheme alumni LSO commission – Panufnik Variations. In the morning they will attend the rehearsal for this new work and meet the composers involved in the commission. During the afternoon they will work with animateur Rachel Leach & LSO players to develop their own theme and variations, which will be performed in the Barbican foyer at 6.30pm, between the two evening concerts.

At 8.45pm on 13 April, DJ Richard Lannoy is joined by Soundhub composer-performers and LSO players for Aftershock, an event bringing a mixture of live music and DJ sets to the laid-back setting of the Barbican foyers. Aftershock is presented in association with NONCLASSICAL.

In May 2013, LSO Live releases an album of new works by ten emerging composers. The pieces – originally commissioned as part of the LSO Panufnik Scheme – were recorded at LSO St Luke’s and are now presented on disc, enabling the LSO to share and promote the composers’ music world-wide. François-Xavier Roth conducts the London Symphony Orchestra in Andrew McCormack Incentive; Christian Mason … from bursting suns escaping …; Charlie Piper Flēotan; Eloise Gynn Sakura; Edward Nesbit Parallels; Jason Yarde Rude Awakening!; Martin Suckling Fanfare for a Newborn Child; Christopher Mayo Therma; Elizabeth Winters Sudden Squall, Sudden Shadow; and Vlad Maistorovici Halo.

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