University of York Music Press

Following the review in the German magazine Rondo – Das Klassik & Jazz , another excellent review of Thomas Simaku’s new CD ‘Chamber Works’, performed by Joseph Houston and Quatuor Diotima on BIS 2449, has been published in the February issue of Gramophone.

UYMP is delighted that Sadie Harrison was a featured composer in the New Oboe Music Project, 2020. The oboist James Turnbull wrote: 'This month, Sadie Harrison is the featured composer with her fantastic solo oboe pieces Three Jennys and work for solo oboe d’amore or oboe Jinny’s Haiku. For those oboists currently taking ABRSM exams, Three Jennys are featured for Grade 6 and 7 as well as being fine additions to any recital programme.'

Luís Tinoco’s new saxophone concerto Kokyuu had a very successful world première in Lisbon, on 13th December 2020.  The concerto was performed by the saxophonist João Pedro Silva (soloist), with the Lisbon Metropolitan Orchestra conducted by Sylvain Gasançon.  The concert took place at the Centro Cultural de Belém. 

Photo: © Pedro Silva

Luis Tinoco’s CD ‘Archipelago’, recorded on Odradek with Drumming Grupo de Percussāo (Drumming GP), has received a glowing review in Percussive Notes, Vol. 58, No. 5, October 2020.  Joseph Van Hassel writes: 'I was very excited to check out the music on this disc, and I was not disappointed!’ 

We are delighted that the fabulous Kreutzer Quartet have just released the film recording of Sadie Harrison’s new quartet 10,000 Black Men Named George:The Multiple Burdens of Injustice, written as a response to the murder of George Floyd on 25 May 2020, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. This is the latest recording of a series of works written by Sadie during the lockdown period in 2020.

The Fidelio Trio, Darragh Morgan (violin), Tim Gill (cello) and Mary Dullea (piano), gave a fabulous online premiere of Robert Saxton’s new work Fantasy Pieces on 27th November 2020.  The performance formed part of their online Winter Chamber Music Festival, broadcast from Dublin City University.  Fantasy Pieces has six movements, which are played without a break.  Although the work is not descriptive, the movements create an ‘evolving journey of musical contrasts’.  The piece was commissioned by the Fidelio Trio with the support of the RVW Trust.

The first review has been published of Thomas Simaku’s new album con-ri-sonanza, released last month on the prestigious Swedish label BIS Records. The review appears in the Rondo – Das Klassik & Jazz magazine; critic Guido Fischer is hugely impressed by the music and has given it five stars. The German critic begins by stating that Thomas Simaku is one of the contemporary composers who is unjustly neglected and he goes on to say:

Ed Hughes’s CD Time, Space and Change, released on Divine in March 2020, has been selected as one of the Sunday Times ‘100 Best Records of the Year’. The CD features Hughes’s 30 minute Cuckmere: A Portrait performed by the Orchestra of Sound and Light at the Brighton Festival 2018, his large-scale Sinfonia, a ‘portrait’ of six works by early English composers, with the New Music Players conducted by Nick Smith, and his 1991 piano trio Media Vita.

Frederick Viner’s delightful little new piano work Something she’d like, which Viner has written during the second ‘Lockdown’ for his late Grandmother, has been performed by celebrated artist and pianist Paul Barton on YouTube .  Barton gives an introduction to the piece.  He quotes Viner’s words: ‘My Grandmother Helen passed away about a year ago and was always very supportive of me and my various musical pursuits.  Sinding’s ‘Rustle of Spring’ was her favourite piece of music.  During England’s second national lockdown it suddenly occurred to me to write a piece that I hope she might have enjoyed......   

James Weeks (piano) and Sophie Appleton (violin) are giving a premiere of James' new work still here, a 45 minute piece, this evening at 7.30pm.  It was recorded for Musicon concert series in the University of Durham Music Department a few weeks ago. The video is made by Simone Tarsitani.  The details for accessing it are here: 

https://www.facebook.com/events/425950428405453/ .  

Alternatively, you can watch it on YouTube.  Admission is free and you can stay and chat online after the concert if you would like.  The video will remain online for a while.

A new CD of Thomas Simaku’s chamber music, performed by internationally renowned musicians, is being released today, 6th November 2020, on the prestigious Swedish label BIS Records. Professor Thomas Simaku has collaborated with the Paris-based Quatuor Diotima for more than a decade and his collaboration with the British pianist Joseph Houston, now based in Berlin, began when Houston was an undergraduate at York.

UYMP is absolutely delighted to announce that Sadie Harrison has been awarded a substantial Arts Council England National Lottery Project Grant for a 2 year project entitled ‘PASTURE & STORM’ ('New Music for the Single-Handed Pianist'). Over the next year, Sadie will be writing eight new works for the internationally renowned virtuoso left-handed pianist Nicholas McCarthy, Sophia Benton (a former pupil currently studying as a single-handed pianist at Welsh College of Music and Drama), singer Peyee Chen and the Bristol Ensemble conducted by John Pickard.