University of York Music Press

UYMP was delighted to read today that Hilda Paredes' work The Hearing Trumpet  has received a nomination for 'Best Chamber Ensemble Composition' at the Ivors Classical Awards. Along with four other nominations in the category, this piece will go forward to the final award ceremony on Tuesday 12th November where the winner will be announced. The event will be hosted by BBC Radio 3’s Kate Molleson and Tom Service at the BFI Southbank in London.

Update, 4th October: The Ian Pace concert on 5th October has been cancelled, due to illness.  We are looking forward to our friends Late Music York’s winter 2024 series of concerts, which begins this weekend.  Late Music York write: 'We can’t wait to welcome you back for our 2024 season. We start with a mini festival for the piano, with amazing programmes from David Hammond, Kate Ledger, Ian Pace and Jelena Makarova. Following this is the return of Amabile, exploring all corners of the Clarinet Trio repertoire, before we finish with the sound of song from both the Micklegate Singers and Art Sung. So mark up your diaries - we hope to see you in October!'

Thomas Simaku’s new work for Violin & String Orchestra will receive its world premiere on 27 September 2024, performed by Leonard Simaku (Switzerland) and the Orchestra of the National Theatre of Opera and Ballet in Tirana, and conducted by Rafał Janiak (Poland).

Morea is a winning work of the Ministry of Culture of Albania's 2022 National Competition.  Coincidentally, Rafał Janiak was the conductor of the world premiere of Simaku’s Concerto for Orchestra – winning work of Lutosławski International Competition in 2013 – in the final concert of the 2013 Warsaw Autumn festival with Warsaw Philharmonic.

UYMP is excited to announce that we are looking for a part time Promotional and Digital Administrator to join our small, York-based team. This role will focus on leading the administration and operation of the UYMP website and, in particular, working to enable the sale of music in digital form and the provision of sound clips via the website.  

We are thrilled that David Lancaster's Feathers has received a special mention in this month's excellent review by Choir and Organ of the Elysian Singers’ Beauty for Ashes CD. The reviewer highlights the solo singing of Miranda Johnson in Feathers, describing it as ‘gorgeous’ and ‘stratospheric’. Feathers was first performed at Late Music York concerts in 2022, to which concert series the Elysian Singers will be returning in 2025. The Beauty for Ashes CD (SIGCD797 - digital only) is available from Signum Records.

A comprehensive article by UYMP composer Thomas Simaku, on the composition process of his cycle of nine Soliloquies for solo instruments, has been published by Cambridge University Press, in the July edition of TEMPO.  

The Abstract reads: "Beginning with Soliloquy I for solo violin in 1998, the author has been engaged in creating a series of highly virtuosic solo pieces for various instruments. Each piece presents a different character, yet all are framed by a single protagonist who narrates in different languages. This article focuses particularly on analyses of Soliloquies II, VI, VII, VIII and IX, but also offers a discussion of the genesis of and processes involved in the whole cycle, which now embraces instruments from every section of the orchestra; the most recent, Soliloquy IX, for solo trumpet, was written in 2022. The suitability of the title Soliloquy is also considered; this article in turn could itself be considered a soliloquy."

Ed Hughes’s opera States of Innocence based on Milton’s Paradise Lost with a libretto by Peter Cant, premiered at this year’s Brighton Festival, will be screened in a special showing at the Depot Cinema, Lewes, on Tuesday 17 September. Sir John Tomlinson, pictured here as Milton, will be in discussion with Ed Hughes and John Hancorn.

A new CD featuring Robert Saxton's Scenes from the Epic of Gilgamesh and The Resurrection of the Soldiers (performed by the ESO, cond. Kenneth Woods), was released on Nimbus on Friday 5th July. The Guardian's music review section has already featured a number of auspicious comments regarding the works included on the recording:

• "A superbly played album featuring two major works by this month’s featured Contemporary Composer, Robert Saxton" - Gramophone Editor’s Choice (Aug 2024).
• "Scenes from the Epic of Gilgamesh (2022) … the musical language is broadly tonal and appealingly descriptive, its succession of vigorous sections and threnodies, and a finale worthy of Tippett at his best … it is a haunting work" - Gramophone Review (Aug 2024).
• 'The Resurrection of the Soldiers (2016) is a searing, intense work for string orchestra, one that should by rights take its place among the finest English works for string orchestra … Yet another thoroughly gripping, intriguing album, strongly recommended" - Gramophone Review (Aug 2024).

We are delighted that the acclaimed Lithuanian pianist, Lauryna Sableviciute, gave the world premiere of house composer Sadie Harrison’s A Book of Stars and Sorrows for solo piano (2024) on 10 August 2024 at Stoller Hall, Manchester as part of Chetham’s International Summer Piano School. 

Lauryna writes: "Amidst Rues and Roses presents a programme that at its core is a celebration of Lithuanian musical traditions. It will blend works by composers from Lauryna’s beloved homeland of Lithuania, as well as a number of works by composers from her currently adopted home of England.  All of the works that emanate from England have been in some way inspired by Lithuanian music traditions."

We are delighted that house composer Sadie Harrison has been awarded a substantial grant from the Vaughan Williams Foundation to support the UNCAGED (Illuminating Afghan women artists through music and dance) Project 2025-2026. 

Sadie writes: "We are so very grateful to the Vaughan Williams Foundation for their support of UNCAGED, a 2 year project bringing together artists, poets, musicians and dancers from Afghanistan, UK and the US in a celebration of the fantastic creativity of Afghan women artists."

The UYMP office was pleased to read Paul Conway's excellent review of the CD Apocalypse by Ex Corde Vocal Ensemble conducted by Paul Gameson in the Jul-Sep edition of Musical Opinion magazine. The disc was released on Resonus Classics and features three works by David Lancaster inspired by the stained glass and carvings in All Saints Church, York.

The effect of the "impeccably crafted" Apocalypse (2012), a work recounting the story of the end of the world as depicted in one of the church's windows, is said to be "spellbinding as the composer deftly explores the diverse layers of material, contrasting and co-ordinating the old with the new". The piece is described as "meticulously conceived, vividly picturesque", and with a "forbiddingly sombre, chillingly benumbed" close. Soprano soloist Anna Snow is said to bring "humanity to the cataclysmic spectacle", and the choir accompanying with "equally top-flight musicianship". Lancaster's "flawlessly interpreted" Magnificat (2021) stands out as a "serene, intensely devotional standalone piece".

The final work of the album, At the Edge of the World (2022) with poetry by Abi Curtis, tells the story of fourteenth-century anchoress Emma Raughton who took up isolated residence in the church. Lancaster's "mesmeric, multi layered and texturally variegated" textures perfectly complements the structures and reflections of Emma Raughton's introspective ecclesiastical life, as the "disparate sources are heard sequentially, jointly and asynchronously". Performed with "outstanding commitment and an unfailingly imaginative approach" by Ex Corde, the score is said to have "some of the spiritual focus, incantatory power and visionary breadth of a late score by John Tavener".

Conway ends by noting that this "well-recorded release offers music-making on the highest level", and highly recommends it to readers.

Beauty for Ashes (SIGCD797) is now available from Signum Records, containing music performed by The Elysian Singers (conducted by Sam Laughton) and Mark Brafield (organ). This CD features the work Feathers by David Lancaster, and Scala Radio has already described it as "a lovely disc to add to your collection".