University of York Music Press

Firewheel is a collaboration with ensemble Dark Inventions. The anthology publishes 8 new chamber ensemble works and folk song arrangements commissioned by the ensemble, by composers Martin Scheuregger, Stef Conner, Patrick Jones, Christopher Leedham and Benjamin Gait. The title work by Philip Cashian was commissioned with financial assistance from the Britten-Pears Foundation.

In 2014, Dark Inventions took the works on a UK tour, funded by Sound and Music. Through the Arts Council England grant, UYMP and Dark Inventions have now recorded the Firewheel pieces. The Firewheel album, which also features soprano Stef Conner, will be available as a CD and to download.

The Songspin Songbook is a genre-defying collection of songs for female vocal trio, written for Juice Vocal Ensemble.

Juice's debut album, Songspin, was released on Nonclassical in 2011 to critical acclaim, winning an international Independent Music Award for Best Contemporary Classical Album in 2012.

Songspin Songbook publishes songs from the album, including pieces by Kerry Andrew, Gabriel Prokofiev, Morag Galloway and Paul Robinson.

Described as “the 21st century’s answer to the Swingles or King’s Singers” (The Times), Juice have emerged as the face of a revitalised and experimental scene for vocal music.

The Songspin album was reviewed by The Observer as “eighteen immaculately achieved tracks, spanning Elisabeth Lutyens to Gabriel Prokofiev via folk song and avant garde, enchant and enthrall”.

Ahead of the collection launch dates, we will be showcasing the composers and musicians from Firewheel and Songspin Songbook on our Twitter and Facebook pages. 

Starting tomorrow, you can use these hashtags to follow the project:

#Firewheel

#SongspinSongbook

#ComposerFocus