I am so incredibly excited and honoured to announce that my piece, Night Music, written for the BBC National Orchestra of Wales has been nominated for an Ivor Novello Award in the Large Orchestral category. Night Music has a very special place in my heart. Dedicated to my late grandmother, Mary Dommett, I feel it is not only a celebration of her life but also a goodbye letter after a long illness. She is quite literally embedded in the piece with the main melody, which underpins the whole work, outlining a whistle call which we would do to each other to find one another when we were exploring. I am so grateful to the Ivors for this nomination - if anything, I see it as an appraisal to her, for whom I would not be where I am today.
Photography credit: Derri Joseph Lewis & The Ivors Academy
"Night Music made a strong and lasting impression on me. The harmonic language, the ear for colour, the emotional depth of the music, are all striking; this is a remarkably moving piece of music."
~ Huw Watkins, Composer
“The Ivors Academy is the UK’s independent professional association for music creators. We are a community of diverse, talented songwriters and composers across all styles. Their talent creates the music that the world loves.” (Ivors Academy, 2020)
"The Ivors Composer Awards sees the presentation of Ivor Novello Awards to recognise creative excellence in classical, jazz, and sound arts. Recognised as a pinnacle of achievement since they were first presented in 1956, an Ivor Novello Award represents peer recognition with categories judged by those within the UK music creator community."
(Ivors Composer Awards, 2020)
Photography credit: BBC NOW
"Night Music is a heartfelt and personal work, skilfully crafted for the orchestra. An expressive call from the cor anglais gradually blossoms into flashes of vivid orchestral colour giving way to glimpses of melody. A work of unusual clarity from such a young composer."
~ Lynne Plowman, Composer
Whilst this piece has this deep personal connection, the programmatic nature is one that explores nighttime and my emotional response to it. Conjuring up images of stillness juxtaposed with moments of energy to give a sense of all the nighttime creatures rustling around. Through different lenses a listener can interpret this piece in many different ways and I am okay with that. Gone are the days where a piece is set into its own programme note and that is the universal means to listen to the work. Music picks up where our words fail and therefore should leave a room for each of us to imagine our own world when we listen.
You can hear an excerpt of Night Music, performed by BBC NOW, here:
“Ivor Novello Awards will be presented at The Ivors Composer Awards on Tuesday 1 December 2020. Nomination across eleven categories will be announced on Tuesday 3 November 2020.”
“The Ivors Composer Awards are sponsored by PRS for Music. The awards presentation is in association with BBC Radio 3 providing exclusive broadcast coverage.”
Photography credits: BBC NOW & Derri Joseph Lewis
References:
Ivors Academy (2020) Available at: https://ivorsacademy.com/about-us/ Accessed: 22 October 2020).
Ivors Composer Awards (2020) Available at: https://ivorsacademy.com/awards/the-ivors-composer-awards/ (Accessed: 22 October 2020).
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