Explore the music of English composer George Holloway
On March 30th 2024, I was honoured to participate in the C-Camerata International Festival for Contemporary Music, “Crossing Sounds”, both as a composer and a conductor. As the sole conductor for the festival, I had the chance to rehearse and conduct four world premieres, including my new work South of the Great Wall. The other works…Continue Reading “「跨響」-台北中央C國際當代音樂節：照片與媒體 C-Camerata International Festival for Contemporary Music “Crossing Sounds”: photos and media (March ’24)”
購買票：https://www.opentix.life/event/176049… 節目介紹 本場現代室內⾳樂會之宗旨係以英國作曲家、指揮家—盧長劍的五⾸作品來呈現給台灣的藝 術⾳樂愛好者，其中四⾸作品皆是在國外曾受觀眾歡迎但尚未在台灣演出的作品，以及⼀⾸ 世界⾸演的⼗五重奏。盧長劍已來台將近五年，並已經引起了台灣的現代藝術性音樂愛好者的一定矚目。他希望能夠與大家分享他個⼈原創作品的肖像⾳樂會，來將⼀些他在來台以前所創作的重要作品呈現給台灣的觀眾，讓⼤家能更深入地認識他的創作世界。 曲⽬的編制、內容與背後的觀念包羅萬象，包含⼆、四、五、七以及⼗五重奏、有卡農、舞 台上和舞台下的演奏者、⼤⾃然中的靜⽌與流動的描繪、幾何性的拼貼、甚至有蛋⽩質分⼦ 微觀振動的聽覺化！ 盧長劍選⽤⽜津⼤學的哲學教授吉爾伯特・賴爾所創造的短語：「機械中的幽靈」（“ghost in the machine”）作為本場作曲家肖像⾳樂會的標題。儘管賴爾曾使⽤此短語來批 評哲學家勒內・笛卡爾⼼身⼆元論的觀念，因為他並不認為⼈類是⼀個有著靈魂和身體分開 的⼆元合體，但作曲家依然很著迷該比喻，並對他很有共鳴，因為它能貼切地形容本場⾳樂 會所選出的曲⽬均有的共通特點：這五部作品各⾃都有⾃⼰的公式或機械性的過程在背後運 ⾏著，但是它們仍然極其富有豐富的表情和戲劇性的表現⼒，這就是短語中的「機械」與 「幽靈」。 時間藝術工作室希望觀眾能接收到許多刺激與啟發，聽到從未聽過的聲響，藉此考 慮到新的⾳樂表現的可能性，並透過盧長劍有個性的⾳樂創作，重新認識現代⾳樂的語⾔。 演出曲目 ⟪德魯斯基寧卡農⟫ Druskininkanonas (2011) 為中音長笛、雙簧管、降E單簧管、低音管和中提琴而作 ⟪空城故事（第一篇）⟫ Novella (Chapter One) (2016-2017) 為大提琴和鋼琴而作 ⟪亞穩態⟫ Metastable （2019） 為弦樂四重奏而作 I. Godric of Finchale (c.1065-1170) II. Henry Purcell (1659-1695) III. Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764) IV. Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881) V. Morton Feldman…Continue Reading “⟪機械中的幽靈⟫盧長劍作曲家肖像⾳樂會 “Ghost in the Machine”: George Holloway Composer Portrait Concert (April 9 2024)”
Guitarist Sam Cave discussed and performed extracts of my sonatas in a research seminar at Brunel University, UK, in December 2019. He’s recently put it online and shared the link with me. He speaks with authority on my guitar music– after all, I wrote it for him, and we spent many happy hours rehearsing, refining…Continue Reading ““Refracted Resonance”- Sam Cave’s Seminar in Brunel University, 11th December 2019 (late upload)”
The Holloway Children’s Choir’s two competition performances at Llangollen were broadcast live on Llangollen TV: Children’s Folk category: Children’s Folk Choirs | Corau Alaw Werin i Blant Junior Children’s Junior Children’s Choirs | Corau Plant Iau After performing nine times at the Llangollen International Eisteddfod, the choir began preparing for our Oxford concert on Monday…Continue Reading “Holloway Children’s Choir: Llangollen TV competition performances, Oxford and London Concerts (July 2019)”
The Holloway Children’s Choir toured the UK in July 2019. I founded the Holloway Children’s Choir in Tianjin, China, in January 2018. The choir aims to introduce Tianjin children to the European, and especially the British choral tradition both liturgical and secular, and to involve Chinese children in the joys of music-making and choir-singing. We…Continue Reading “Holloway Children’s Choir competes and performs at Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod (July 2019)”
On the penultimate day of 2018, the Holloway Children’s Choir held a truly excellent concert to a sell-out audience at the Cathay Future Concert Hall, Tianjin. To see the programme of pieces we sang, scroll down to the bottom of the post for the poster (mostly in Chinese). Bolstered by our success applying for the…Continue Reading “Holloway Children’s Choir Winter Concert”
(Photo: Mike Massaro) I have just begun a new collaboration with Peter Bennett of the Interaction and Graphics Research Group at Bristol University, and Robert Arbon and Alex Jones of the School of Chemistry. We are working to make visual and sonic representations of computational models of biomolecular dynamics. In turn, we hope to make…Continue Reading “Collaboration with Ligeti Quartet (Bristol University Jean Golding Institute Seed Corn Award): “Metastable Impressions””
Amazing performance today at the Atlantic Music Festival of my piece Dances in Time and Vertical Space. You can watch the full performance here (solo violin: Nicholas Hatt): For Chinese users: http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMzc5ODg0Mjk4OA==.html I took some videos of the dress rehearsal yesterday: For Chinese users: http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMzcxMDcwNjIzMg==.html For Chinese users: http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMzcxMDcwNjI0NA==.html …Continue Reading “Atlantic Music Festival- Dances in Time and Vertical Space- quintet version world premiere (7th July 2018)”
It was an amazing 4 days at the 2018 Mise-En Festival. I met many imaginative, free-thinking, intelligent, witty and talented composers, all of us composing very different and distinctive art music. Moon Young Ha and Jordann Davis and the whole Ensemble Mise-En have worked extremely hard, especially on the last day’s 4-hour long Music Marathon. …Continue Reading “Mise-En Festival 2018 Music Marathon- World Premiere of “Crystal Images II” (June 2018)”
The young, adventurous and talented Highfield Ensemble recently made a fantastic recording of my choral setting of a passage from Whitman’s Song of Myself. Sadly I couldn’t be there myself, but they were so sensitive to the score and detailed in their interpretation, that they didn’t seem to need my personal input at all. I can’t wait…Continue Reading “Highfield Ensemble recording of “I believe in you, my soul” SATB setting of Walt Whitman (Summer 2018)”