Experimental/Exploratory Music Research Centre

Dr Larry Goves is Director of The Experimental/Exploratory Music Research Centre (EEMRC) at the RNCM.

A British composer based in Manchester, UK, his music has been performed and broadcast around the world by groups and musicians including The London Symphony Orchestra, The London Sinfonietta, The Nash Ensemble, The BBC Philharmonic, The National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, The Britten Sinfonia, Psappha, Ixion, The Hallé, EXAUDI, 175 East (New Zealand), L’Instant Donné (France), 175 East (Norway), the Divertimento Ensemble (Italy), Sarah Nicolls, Oliver Coates and Tom McKinney. His music has been released on LSO Live, NMC, Dutton, Prima Facie, Slip, Nonclassical, Prah and on The London Sinfonietta’s Label.

He has also worked on a variety of installation projects including: an installation for the Aldeburgh Festival Technology Residency (building new instruments and writing new music in collaboration with Sound Intermedia’s David Sheppart); music for video installation with artist Aura Satz (for the Tatton Park Biennial 2012); and music for Dr Beau Lotto’s wall for 88 speakers with corresponding visuals (for the Brain Unravelled, an installation at the Wellcome Institute in 2009 and subsequently at the Science Museum London).

He directs ensemble The House of Bedlam, curates the Decontamination concert series at the Royal Northern College of Music and has co-curated their New Music North West Festival. He is a Paul Hamlyn Award for Composers recipient, has been shortlisted for an RPS Award and is a recipient of a Jerwood-Aldebrugh Opera Writing Fellowship. He is a Lecturer in Composition at the Royal Northern College of Music and a composition tutor for the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain.

Research Projects

Multimodal performer interaction/coordination as a creative compositional parameter

This project is a exploration of and reflection on a recent body of compositional work and current work in progress that considers the possibilities of multimodal performer interaction as a primary creative compositional parameter. Multimodal embodied interaction is a feature of (almost) all music that involves more than one performer. This has been extensively explored in relation to performer interpretation and behaviour but much less as a creative or analytical musical tool.

The investigation for these compositions began with a survey of performer interactions in Olivier Messiaen’s Quatuor pour le fin du temp and historical music of my own. This has led to a number of pieces in which performer interaction/coordination contributes to the sound of the music outside of more typical interpretation/improvisation models. More recently this has included a work where the use of text as rhythmic notation in an ensemble situation has allowed aspirational coordination in performer behaviour to contribute to the surface of the music. In a work in progress (for two saxophones and electronic sounds) conventional, cued and text notations are employed more fluidly structured around a gradual transformation from less to more apparently coordinated behaviour (potentially/probably) distinct from the sonic result. This approach, in part, maps the notion of ‘collaboratively constructed utterances’ into a music performance scenario. The paper also speculates on the next stage in this compositional exploration, particularly in potentially applying  Emanuel Schegloff’s concept of ‘lexical affiliate’ in addressing the correspondence between a gesture and spoken utterance for a new musical notation.

Selected Relevant Pieces

The two from Rastibon could start a Hailstorm [2018] – for two alto saxophones and electronic sound, 15 minutes
Commissioned by Anthony Brown

Two from Dr Suss [2013] – for female voice, bass flute and prepared cello and text by Matthew Welton, 12 minutes
Commissioned by Trio Atem

A glimpse of the sea in a fold of the hills [2011] – for seven instruments and electronics
Commissioned by L’Instant Donné, 12 minutes

Performances and Broadcast:

02/05/2018: The two from Rastibon could start a hailstorm; The House of Bedlam; CNRR, Royal Northern College of Music
17/01/2015: A glimpse of the sea in a fold of the hills; ddmmyy (Jack Sheen (cond.); BBC Radio 3 Hear and Now
16/11/2014: A glimpse of the sea in a fold of the hills; ddmmyy (Jack Sheen (cond.); The Carole Nash Recital Room, RNCM, Manchester
02/11/2013: A glimpse of the sea in a fold of the hills; Psappha (Nicholas Cox (cond.); Cosmo Rodewald Concert Hall, University of Manchester
21/04/2013: Two from Dr Suss; Trio Atem, Clothworkers Centenary Concert Hall, Leeds University
09/03/2013: Two from Dr Suss; Trio Atem; International Anthony Burgess Foundation
14/02/2013: Two from Dr Suss; Trio Atem; Cosmo Rodewald Concert Hall, Univerity of Manchester
22/03/2012: A glimpse of the sea in a fold of the hills; L’Instant Donné; Théâtre l’échangeur, Bagnolet, Paris
06/12/2012: A glimpse of the sea in a fold of the hills; L’Instant Donné; Festival Reims Scènes d’Europe, Comedie de Reims, France

Presentations:

13/12/2017: From multimodal performance interaction to projecting text: the physical, sonic and visual; The RNCM Sir John Manduell Research Forum Series

26/09/2017: Multimodal performer interaction as a creative compositional parameter; Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, London

09/07/2017: Multimodal performer interaction as a creative compositional parameter, 8^th International Conference on Music/Sonic Art: Practices and Theories (MuSA17); Institut für Musikwissenschaft und Musikinformatik (IMWI), Karlsruhe

12/10/2016: Coordination/interaction as a composition parameter, Pathways to Composition Research Panel, The RNCM Sir John Manduell Research Forum Series

10/09/2015: Exploring the rule-based and ensemble interaction processes in ‘Two from Dr Suss’, The Royal Musical Associations Annual Conference – Music as/and process session, Birmingham

Composition with projected text

This project is attached to a sequence of pieces that explore the relationship between music the projected text. As in Yannis Kyriakides paper Hearing Words Written (‘Organised Sound’, 2016) this project explores the relationship between projected text and closely associated sound and addresses the question ‘where is the voice?’ in relation to instrumental music and projected text (particularly in Extracts from South Korea and Japan 2002 (2015)) . This approach serves to activate the audience’s ‘inner voice’ as they navigate these two medias. This has also been a continuation of my collaborative work with writer Matthew Welton as we seek to explore what it is to set text to music. In The book of Matthew, in particular, the close association of the music to text helps decode a complex set of poetic variations even when presented simultaneously.

Pieces:

The book of Matthew (2016) – for flute, alto saxophone, classical guitar, cello and film
Commissioned by The House of Bedlam

Extracts from South Korea & Japan 2002 (2015) – for oboe or flute and PowerPoint projection, text by Matthew Welton
Commissioned by the London Sinfonietta

Performances:

13/11/2017; The book of Matthew, The House of Bedlam, Carole Nash Recital Room, RNCM, Manchester
21/08/2017 – Extracts from South Korea and Japan 2002, Kathryn Williams (flute), Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA
29/03/2017; The book of Matthew, The House of Bedlam, Leggate Theatre, Victoria Gallery & Museum, University of Liverpool
05/12/2016; The book of Matthew, The House of Bedlam, Café OTO (for ddmmyy), London
05/12/2016; Extracts from South Korea & Japan 2002, Kathryn Williams (flute), Café OTO (for ddmmyy), London
19/05/2016; The book of Matthew, The House of Bedlam, Kiln Studio, Snape Maltings
17/06/2015; Extracts from South Korea & Japan 2002, Kathryn Williams (flute), International Anthony Burgess Foundation, Manchester
28/01/2015; Extracts from South Korea & Japan 2002, London Sinfonietta (Gareth Hulse, oboe), Kings Place, London

Presentations:

13/12/2017 – From multimodal performance interaction to projecting text: the physical, sonic and visual; The RNCM Sir John Manduell Research Forum Series

Other Relevant Pieces/Publications 

Michael Finnissy and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: The composer as anthropologist. Tempo, 71(280), pp.47-55 [2016]

Abstract: Features of Michael Finnissy’s music are considered through some of the ideas and writings of anthropologist Tim Ingold. Finnissy and Ingold share a preoccupation with line and, more specifically, exploring Finnissy’s compositional approach as applied anthropology provides productive insights into his music and performance practice. The starting point for this investigation is a consideration of three of Finnissy’s pieces connected to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Completion of the Requiem KV 626 by W.A. Mozart and F.X. Süssmayr (2011); Cibavit eos (1991); and WAM (1990-91). These pieces provide a convenient set of examples with relevant features: music that connects to the past; music with elaborate line(s); music written for amateur performers; transcription; and instrumentalists that move as part of the performance. These recurring features of Finnissy’s composition could be considered indicative of this anthropological approach; they are informed by an investment in people that aspires to musical and personal transformation.

Presentations of the paper:

19/01/2017; Bright Futures, Dark Pasts: Michael Finnissy at 70, City University, London
17/11/2016; Michael Finnissy: Dialogues Symposium, University of Huddersfield

The Devotions (2014)

For eleven instruments.

30 minutes

Co-commissioned by //hcmf, BIT20 and Borealis.

Performances:

13/03/0215: BIT20, Jessica Cottis (cond.), Logen Theatre, Borealis Festival, Bergen
22/11/2014: BIT20, Baldur Brönnimann (cond.), St Paul’s Hall, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival

Broadcasts:

08/04/2015: DR P2 Broadcast (Denmark), BIT20, Jessica Cottis (cond.), Logen Theatre, Borealis Festival, Bergen
20/03/2015: NRK Broadcast (Norway), BIT20, Jessica Cottis (cond.), Logen Theatre, Borealis Festival, Bergen
22/11/2014: Hear & Now, Live BBC Radio 3 Broadcast BIT20, Baldur Brönnimann (cond.), St Paul’s Hall, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival

Dr Nina Whiteman is a core member of the The Experimental/Exploratory Music Research Centre (EEMRC) at the RNCM.

Nina is a composer, singer, and researcher based in Manchester. Recent high-profile performances of her music by ensembles such as Manchester Camerata, Psappha, and accordion duo TOEAC, and at venues including Kings Place and the Bridgewater Hall, as well as broadcast of her work on BBC Radio 3, demonstrate a growing reputation as an engaging compositional talent.

Her current project is a commission from the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra as part of the Shakespeare 400th anniversary celebrations. The new work, titled The map of days outworn, forms the music for a radio play in collaboration with Francesca Martinez, as well as adding to the concert repertoire of the BBC Philharmonic. The orchestra will give the world premiere at the Bridgewater Hall in April 2016, and the play will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in spring 2016.

Commissions during 2013-14 included Dark Matter Sounding for Ealing Youth Orchestra (funded by the Ambache Charitable Trust, Leathersellers Company, Penny Trust, London College of Music and RNCM Research). This work was nominated for a BACSA British Composer Award in the Making Music Category. The Galaxy Rotation Problem (commissioned by Psappha, with funds from the PRS for Music Foundation) received its premiere at the New Music North West Festival, and was selected for the ISCM World Muisc Days Slovenia 2015.

Nina’s large-scale composition The Astrolabe Series (2015) will be heard in full at the New Music North West festival at the RNCM on 24 January. The pieces in this collection range from solo to large ensemble in their scoring, and may be heard alone or overlaid.

As a singer, Nina specialises in the performance of new work, and is singer/co-director of Trio Atem, who focus on commissioning music for their unusual combination of flute, mezzo soprano, and cello. The ensemble have performed at major venues and festivals in the UK as well as engaging with projects in education settings. Their 2013 Northern Arcs tour and commissioning project was funded by Arts Council England, and other funding has come from the RVW Trust and the PRS for Music Foundation. Recent collaboration includes work with Fabrice Fitch on his Per Serafino Calbarsi cycle.

Nina has taught music in a number of HE institutions as well as delivering and devising education and outreach projects in schools and the community.

Current Research

Nina Whiteman’s current research applies theories from maze and labyrinth design to musical parameters, material behaviours, and ensemble interaction. In addition, her work explores the psychological effects of navigating a maze, seeking sonic instability, and placing performers in situations where they may find themselves lost. A number of innovations in notation arise from this research, notably the design of scores that appear maze-like and demand unusual navigation according to rules established/edited by the performers.

Selected Recent Projects

House of Mazes (2017) 25-35 minutes

For flute [doubling bass and alto flutes], mezzo soprano, cello

Composed for Trio Atem in their 10^th birthday year with funds from Arts Council England and RNCM Research

Performances to date: University of Manchester (March 2017), Oxford University (May 2017), The Wonder Inn (June 2017)

Further performances: Leeds University (November 2017), Durham University (December 2017), Bath Spa University (January 2018), York University (January 2018)

Maze-Vortex (‘White Light’) (2017) 10-15 minutes

For amplified viola, amplified clarinet

Commissioned by The Night With… and funded by Creative Scotland

Performed by Emma Lloyd and Joanna Nicholson in Edinburgh and Glasgow (April 2017)

Thread (2017) 1-2 minutes

A labyrinth for solo flute to be performed in a single breath

Commissioned by Kathryn Williams in aid of Help Musicians

Performed at Islington Mill (June 2017)

Maurico Pauly is a core member of the Experimental/Exploratory Music Research Centre (EEMRC) at the RNCM.

Mauricio makes music for mixed ensembles, often integrating amplification, performative electronics & prefabricated sounds. He is also a performer and improviser, based in Manchester, UK and also in Vancouver, Canada.

He is the co-founder and artistic co-director for instrumental and mixed music Distractfold.

He co-curated and co-produced BBC3 + Sound_and_Music’s Cut & Splice Festival 2017.

He is part of a band called Rosa Debe Cuidársele with Gabriel Montagné Láscaris-Comneno.

In 2014-15 he was a fellow at Harvard University’s Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.

Selected Recent Projects

The Threshing Floor – 2014

Instrumentation: amplified duo (tenor saxophone and percussion) and live electronics

Commission details: commissioned by scapegoat (Paris). Research supported by the RNCM research fund.

Note: The Threshing Floor spotlights two performers facing one another, their choreographies intimately integrated between them, their instruments and the terms of their amplification. A rough undulating centre throws offshoots into a pale ring of sustained tones projected by speakers against the outer walls. These ebb back into slow swarms of controlled feedback, extending the boundaries of all bodies involved.

Peformance history: 

May 13 2015 – Scapegoat (Paris): Knafel Center, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
May 14 2015 – Scapegoat: La Vitrola, Montreal, Canada
May 15 2015 – Scapegoat: Canadian Music Centre, Toronto, Canada (concert & presentation)
May 16 2015 – Scapegoat: Ratio, Toronto, Canada
May 19 2015 – Scapegoat: SpreadArt, Detroit, MI, USA
May 21 2015 – Scapegoat: Constellation, Chicago, IL, USA
May 24 2015 – Scapegoat: Spectrum, New York, NY, USA
November 24 2015 – Scapegoat: City University, London
November 18 2015 – Scapegoat: RNCM, Manchester, UK
November 20 2015 – Scapegoat: St. Catherine’s College, Oxford U, UK
November 23 2015 – Scapegoat: HCMF Shorts, Huddersfield, UK
Jan 29 2016 – International Contemporary Ensemble (NY): Abrons Center, New York
Jan 29 2016 – International Contemporary Ensemble (NY):, Chopin Theatre, Chicago
May 9 2016 – Scapegoat: Kompakt Series, Zurich
April 28 2017 – Scapegoat: IGNM Series, Gare du Nord, Basel
May 2 2017  – Scapegoat: Unerhörte Musik, Berlin
May 15 2017 – Scapegoat: No Hay Banda, La Sala Rossa Montreal
June 26 2017 – slow (sullivan/olencki/wubbels): Scholes Street Studio, New York
Sept 9 2017 – Scapegoat: Grand Street Theatre, Melbourne
2018 Spring – scapegoat tour US West Coast
2018-19 – slow tour this work along with my more recent piece, Hecayodo

Documentation:

Live at Radcliffe/Harvard 2015 (video)

Score follower (video)

Live at Radcliffe/Harvard 2015 (audio)

Score (current, pdf)

Charred Edifice Shining – 2016

Instrumentation: amplified string trio and electronics

Commission details: commissioned by Distractfold Ensemble and the Darmstadt Summer Course for New Music 2016

Performance history:

June 30 2016 – Distractfold Ensemble: The Wonder Inn (Darmstadt Preview concert), Manchester UK
August 7 2016 – Distractfold Ensemble: 48th Darmstadt Ferienkurse, Germany
Oct 4 2016 – Distractfold Ensemble: KammerKlang, Café Oto, London
Nov 23 2016 – Distractfold Ensemble: HCMF, Huddersfield, UK
Mar 10 2017 – Distractfold Ensemble: Cut & Splice 2017, Manchester, UK

Documentation:

Live at Cafe Oto (2016) (audio)

Live at Cafe Oto (2016) (video)

Live at Cut & Splice Manchester (2017) (video)

Score (current, pdf)

La Caza la Pesca el Pillaje el Pastoreo – 2016

Instrumentation: amplified trio (accordion, electric guitar and percussion), live electronics and double video projection

Commission details: commissioned by Villa Romana Prize as a site specific piece for their artist residence in Florence, Italy. Written in collaboration with Gabriel Montagné

Documentation:

teaser 1 (2016) (video)

teaser 2 (2016) (video)

Bofan Ma is a Research student working on projects with the Experimental/Exploratory Music Research Centre (EEMRC) at the RNCM.

Born in China, Bofan is a composer/pianist/multidisciplinary artist currently based in Manchester. He studied for a BMus at the Royal Academy of Music) and MMus at the Royal Northern College of Music. He makes music, he creates scores and he directs performances that represent his music.

His ongoing PhD research at the RNCM (supervised by Dr Emily Howard, and Dr Larry Goves) is to locate and prioritise an interactive relationship between the visible and the audible under a live performative scenario, as well as any potential ‘agent’ that triggers such an interaction.

He has worked with ensembles/organisations including Shanghai Conservatory Chinese Symphony Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Ensemble Mise-en, Ensemble X.y, and Music Theatre Wales. His music has been heard across the globe, namely in the Shanghai Spring International Music Festival; the Mise-en International Music Festival (New York); the International Piano and Multimedia Festival (London); and the Hearing Art Seeing Sound (HASS) International Music Festival (Yerevan, Armenia).

His recent collaborations feature the internationally-renowned Armenian/American artist Vahe Berberian, the Bridport Prize-winning poet – Mark Pajak, as well as scientist Dr Keeley Crockett (Manchester Metropolitan University) who specialises in Artificial Intelligence.

Recent and Current Projects

offset ii – Nocturne !@#$% (2017) for amplified solo accordion, amplified/prepared score objects, and live triggered electronics

Premiere: Decontamination #11 – New, Modified Instruments, 12/12/2017, RNCM

Eldad Diamant – accordion and score objects
Bofan Ma – electronics

offset iii – etude (2017-18) for 2-6 performers

More information here.

Elspeth Brooke is a Research student working on projects for the Experimental/Exploratory Music Research Centre (EEMRC) at the RNCM.

A second year PhD in Composition candidate at the RNCM, her supervisors are Dr David Horne and Dr Larry Goves. Commissions include works for the London Sinfonietta, BBC singers and a chamber opera The Commission, co-commissioned by ROH, Aldeburgh Music and Opera North.

Recent Projects

The Application of Cinematographic Techniques and Aesthetics of Proximity and Perspective to Musical Composition

Elspeth’s portfolio pieces have so far focussed on the close-up and depth of field, both in the context of continuity editing.

Antonioni’s 1960 film L’avventura is the starting point for a group of instrumental pieces that enact the recurrent feature of surface and depth being framed in the same shot, and the haptic nature of the close-ups in the film.

Reading film analysis and film theory aids her understanding of the cinematographic techniques and aesthetics she is seeking to enact musically, and provide starting points for her research questions; the analysis of two sequences of l’avventura in Matilda Mroz’s Temporality and Film Analysis forms the basis of a two movement trio for bass clarinet, electric guitar, samples and percussion (a mixture of natural materials and objects amplified by contact mics), for example.

The next steps for her research are to integrate film into her pieces, and to continue to generate new strategies for enacting the cinematographic techniques and aesthetics of perspective and proximity with live instruments, electronics and amplification.

Pieces

Close-ups for 14 players

Madame Beudet’s Faces for solo piano

L’avventura trio for bass clarinet, electric guitar, percussion and samples

Configurations for string quartet

Locations for piano and electronics (in progress)

Sharp and Murky for 10 players (in progress)

Octet (in progress)

Conference Presentations

17/5/17 RNCM PGR Conference Between mapping and metaphor: the cinematic close-up and the composition of piano miniatures

30/6/17 RNCM Student Research Conference The cinematography of Antonioni’s L’avventura, and composition for piano and pre-recorded soundtrack 

28/4/18  Sound Agendas Composers’ Conference, CeNMaS, Sheffield University Applying cinematographic techniques and aesthetics of perspective and proximity in Michelangelo Antonioni’sl’avventura to instrumental composition

9/5/18 RNCM PGR Conference Applying cinematographic techniques and aesthetics of perspective and proximity in Michelangelo Antonioni’s l’avventura to instrumental composition

Mark Dyer is a Research student working on projects for the Experimental/Exploratory Music Research Centre (EEMRC) at the RNCM

A composer of experimental concert and installation music, Mark’s output also includes field recordings, written work and photography.

Mark has worked with performers such as Psappha, Benedict Holland, Kathryn Williams, OUT-TAKE Ensemble and Collective31. In addition I have installed live installation pieces in the Manchester Art Gallery and HOMEmcr, the latter in collaboration with visual artist Susan Pui San Lok with a commission from the Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art. Furthermore, he has published an article in the contemporary music journal TEMPO and a reflection piece on the Elsewhere Journal Blog.

In April 2018, Mark was selected to attend the UKYA Cornish Weekender mini-residency.

Mark studied at the University of Southampton with Dr Matthew Shlomowitz and Dr Ben Oliver, where he received the Hazel Muras-Osborn Prize for Composition. His studies at the University of Manchester were supported by the Harry Clough Scholarship, where he was supervised by Professor Philip Grange.

Mark is currently a PhD candidate in Composition at the Royal Northern College of Music, supervised by Dr Mauricio Pauly. These studies are generously supported by an AHRC North West Consortium DTP studentship.

Research

Ruin depiction and aesthetics are commonly explored within archaeology, literary theory and the visual arts.

Through his research, Mark will compose ‘musical ruins’ that might establish a listener experience analogous to visiting an architectural ruin. Mark aims to achieve this by subjecting borrowed material to destructive compositional techniques, and thus explore the emotional responses inherent to ruin lust: nostalgia, alienation and hopes of restoration. Additionally, the project will explore the various compositional techniques we might employ to disassemble a given piece of music, and the threshold at which point a degenerated piece of music becomes unrecognisable.

The project reflects a personal vision where music might contribute to ruin studies in other fields and add new perspectives on ruin fascination.

Compositions

What I find in Raking (2017) for string quartet. Performed at the RNCM Chamber Music Festival March 2018.

Memento for Kathryn (2018) for flute and tape. A single-breath piece commissioned by Kathryn Williams as part of her Coming Up for Air project. Performed by Kathryn Williams as part of the Decontamination series, RNCM, February 2018.

To go along, however, is to thread one’s way (2018) for 4 voices Open Score. Written for CoMA Manchester. Performed at the RNCM as part of the CoMA Festival, March 2018. Subsequently workshopped and recorded by a Deleuzian performance group headed by Stephen Preston.

Adam lay ybounden (2018). Tape piece written following a guided walk with Clusters & Entanglements, a phenomenological reading group. To be installed in the Clouded Title exhibition at Street Road Artists Space, Pennsylvania, date tbc.

Publications

‘Interpreting Telemann: Restoration and Reconstruction’ a record review of period- to contemporary- interpretations of Historical Music. Early Music, Oxford University Press. Publication expected in May 2018.

‘Hearing the Ruin: Ownership through Sound’ a short reflection piece written in conjunction with the Clusters & Entanglements, a phenomenological reading group.

Conference Papers

House Remains Beautiful. A 20-minute paper presenting one of my compositions at the RMA study day ‘Music and Space’, Oct 2017.

Preliminary Explorations into Musical Ruins. A 30-minute lecture-recital summarising the year’s activities presented at RNCM Student Conference, May 2018.

Reductive Transcription: the more I take away, the more I add. A 20-minute paper presenting my composition To go along… at the TAROT: Rethinking Musical Transcription and Arrangement Conference, May 2018.