Theorbo Today

RNMC

A new commission

Philomel: In Short

Philomel just managed to squeeze in a live performance in Richmond, COVID-secure of course, to a very appreciative audience. We presented a programme of the short songs, some newly arranged for theorbo accompaniment, alongside historical repertoire, all on the theme of suffering and consolation. Visit the web site for further information and videos.

CoMA Summer School

Janet taught an improvisation/graphic score class, and a course on Closet Music, as part of the Online Summer School for CoMA (Contemporary Music for All).

Philomel: In Short

In July, Philomel recorded some short songs and duets newly written by Sheena Phillips, Paul Ayres, Emily Doolittle and Janet Oates. Accompanied by Mike Keen on piano and recorder, they were sung by Janet, Felicity, Suzy, and guest mezzo Bethany Horak-Hallet. They can be viewed on the Philomel website here

You may delay, but time will not

This piece was written to take account of - and enjoy - the technological challenges of playing together over such technologies as Zoom. Janet invited instrumentalists and singers to participate: to record themselves playing (either individually or in groups over something like Zoom) and send it to her. These recordings were then added together and the whole piece presented online here

Gallery View

This graphic score, with musical responses from 30 invited musicians and groups, creates a musical jigsaw with references to the ubiquitous Zoom conference calls. Listen to the piece, and re-arrange the work completely, here!

Grant awarded for composition project

Janet was delighted and grateful to receive a grant from Sound and Music as part of their ‘Interpreting Isolation’ project, supporting new music during lockdown. She is using the grant to further the Closet Music project, this time for children, encouraging them to explore their auditory imagination. She has commissioned three composers to contribute new works for the project:

• Sheena Phillips
• Paul Burnell
• Sam Auinger

Duo Maddalena

This concert was cancelled due to the Corona Virus guidelines.

International Contemporary Music Festival 2020

The Singers performed in the evening concert of CoMA Fest in London, to a full audience. Works about time and counting were performed, alongside the premiere of Janet's work for vocal ensemble, ! (Insults) – 6 tiny character studies using archaic insults.

Ooh La La!

Janet and Rosalind had fun with their French repertoire, including some moving arias, witty songs, and passionate duets. Thanks to Michael Gill for his wonderful accompaniments.

The Barn Church, Kew was packed with an appreciative audience for this recital, which raised over £1300 for Cancer Research UK

Richmond Choral Society's Christmas concert

The Decibelles do Christmas!

Another fantastic evening at the Bull's Head, Barnes, with a full audience and lots of laughter!

Plain Harmony

The Singers performed with the CoMA London ensemble under their new conductor Matt Hardy, on November 30th in the magnificent church of St. John's, Waterloo. In the presence of the composers (and a large, appreciative audience) we sang pieces by Michael Finnissy and Howard Skempton, and the very enjoyable piece 'free laminators' by John White.

Philomel: Folle cor!

Richmond New Music Collective

This event saw us working in the heart of the Richmond community, with our project Age/less, a multimedia evening on the theme of age and transformation. Using texts written by the Richmond U3A writing for pleasure group as a basis, and involving photography, dance, film and craft, the curated evening of words and music raised money for the Portcullis Trust, which gives support and bursaries to students with learning disabilities.

The theatre at RHACC was full of an appreciative audience, including the writers and artists, and the event was such a success that the Collective in thinking of ways to take it to other venues. Thank you to all who came

Janet's text score 'a new, better you' was performed in Cardiff by the NewCelf ensemble

Janet's text score 'street art' was performed in Cardiff by the NewCelf ensemble

Janet was invited to give a lecture/workshop on using contemporary vocal music and techniques within music education, at the Music Mark conference at the Royal Northern College of Music. If you'd like to ask about the content of Janet's session, do contact her here

As part of Richmond Choral Society's 'An evening with Ethel Smyth', Janet gave an entertaining talk about the composer and force of nature that was Ethel Smyth. You can read a version of her transcript here