Final Two Quick Questions: Ryan Latimer

Better late than never (on the third day of our tour!) here is the fifth and final edition of our two question series. This time it is our Composer-in-association for 2015 Ryan Latimer. His work King is second work of Ryan’s that we have commissioned and performed.
Pick up your tickets now for our gig at the Warehouse tomorrow evening: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/on-off-the-warehouse-tickets-15130043367

WUE: In what way does your piece respond to the ‘On & Off’ theme?

Ryan: The dialecticism suggested in Steen-Anderson’s title is also a common feature of my own work more generally, as it is for many others. I use the term ‘dialectic’ simply because the notions of ‘On And Off And To And Fro’ are not just contrasting ideas but are intrinsically related and relative to one another; they’re connected precisely because of their direct opposition. At the risk of becoming too technical, there are, in many types of music, examples of these binary relationships – tonic/dominant, major/minor, call/response, antecedent/consequence and so on. The majority of my piece playfully brings into contention these various devises and explores their functional (and dysfunctional) properties. However, this isn’t entirely what the piece is about and there’s a small twist in the tale towards the end, which extends this notion beyond the purely musical.

WUE: What music are you into at the moment?

Ryan: A composer friend (I’m not sure how these differ from normal friends) recently recommended to me a book called ‘The Arab Avant-Garde: Music, Politics, Modernity’, which has unveiled to me a seriously exciting wealth of radical music making happening throughout the Middle East. Ranging from heavy metal, hip hop, musical theatre, sound installation, jazz and cross-discipline collaboration, all of this work engages profoundly with the socio-political realities of its home regions, in a way I feel much of western ‘art music’ does not. It’s been quite a liberating experience discovering this stuff; I’d recommend it.

Here is a retrospective exhibition of the work of Egyptian artist and musician Ahmed Basiony, who was killed during the 2011 political uprisings in Cairo:

ON AND OFF AND TO AND FRO

Workers Union are delighted to announce that we have been selected for Sound and Music’s Composer-Curator Programme for 2014/2015, which is funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation.

The Workers Union Ensemble (WUE) present a programme of five new work developed in response to Simon Steen-Andersen’s On And Off And To And Fro (2008) for soprano saxophone, double bass, vibraphone and three players with megaphones. The new pieces might be a direct response to Steen-­Andersen’s piece or could be a more tangential reaction to the title and will be performed alongside On And Off And To And Fro in a mini-­tour of England. The composers featured will include three twentysomething emerging stars Ryan Latimer (WUE Composer ­In ­Association), Kate Whitley and Jay Capperauld (winner of the WUE Heidi Cupp Award 2013) as well as two slightly older heads Benjamin Oliver (conductor of the WUE) and Scottish composer Mic Spencer.

Videos from LSO St Luke’s, November 2013

We are pleased to be able to share the videos from our gig at LSO St. Luke’s in November, which was in collaboration with LSO Soundhub.. Thanks to Ciaran Smith and and Chris Rogers for the videos!

Review of Sounds New 2012 and Latimer Recording

You can read a review of our Sounds New gig by Daniel Harding at the Sounds New blog.
Comments include:

‘Saxophonist Ellie Steemson demonstrated superb control of her performance [of Turnage’s Two Elegies Framing A Shout], delivered with conviction and commitment and consummate lyrical skill.’

‘A fascinating programme, delivered with real accomplishment by youthful former members of the Guildhall School. Expect to hear more from them…’

Thanks Daniel, and also to Sounds New for having us!

 

Here is a recording of our Sounds New performance of Ryan Latimer’s new piece for you to feast your ears on: