Sound Out 2024 - Enfield Programme

Heathbrook Primary School arr. By Patrick Bailey

Numbers and Patterns 

Dove Class at Heathbrook Primary School wrote this piece last year during our Composition Challenge project. They started with a number line to create a melody (the tune) and Patrick used this number line to create rhythm and harmony (the accompaniment). The result is a quick, fun concert opener! 
We loved the piece so much, we decided to repeat it this year! 

Leo Geyer (b. 1992)

White on Black

Leo is a composer, a bassoon player and a TV presenter! Leo has done something very clear and divided up our ensemble of six musicians into two groups of three. One of those groups plays music using only the 'white notes' (if you think of how a piano is laid out). The other group uses only 'black notes'. Leo also composes in a way he calls a 'spiral' which is where he introduces the melody by playing only the first note, then the first two notes, then the first three notes and so on - like each turn of a spiral revealing itself. 

Tilmann Dehnhard (b. 1968)

Wake Up! 

Tilmann Dehnhard is a composer and flute player who likes to play in lots of different styles. He enjoys improvising and experimenting with unusual sounds - even playing and singing at the same time! He's performed and recorded with many artists, including Robbie Williams. This piece features the piccolo, a smaller flute, which plays one octave higher, and another unusual instrument, can you guess what it might be? 

Andy Akiho (b. 1979)

Hammers

Andy Akiho is American and Japanese and lives in New York. The music he composes is full of rhythmic energy and likes to explore unusual sounds. In his piece Hammers he uses a little toy piano, a glass (like the kind you would drink out of) and a violin played with a piece of wood or the wooden part of the violin player's bow. For this curious collection of noises, he composes little repeated patterns of notes that sparkle and dance.  

Matthew Burtner (b. 1970)

Threnody (Sikuigvik)

Matthew Burtner's piece, Threnody (Sikuigvik), uses the London Sinfonietta's instruments AND recorded sound - the recording is of the sound that ice makes inside a glacier when it is melting - you can hear it creaking and groaning. Matthew grew up in a small village in the arctic circle, near glaciers. The village is an Innuit village called Nuiqsut. In the springtime, the ice would melt a little - springtime was a time of joy. The Innuit word for ice melt is Sikuigvik - one of the words in the title of the piece. But now, the ice melts all year due to climate change and this sound now brings concern and a sense of loss. The sorrow of this loss gives the other word of the title - Threnody - which is a lament or a sad song. 

Shruthi Rajasekar (b. 1996)

Spin Excitations

Shruthi Rajasekar is an Indian-American singer and composer who is inspired by her dual background in Carnatic (South Indian Classical) and Western classical music traditions. Her music explores identity, community and joy. 

This piece was written as part of a special project that pairs composers with scientists. Shruthi spent time with Dr. Lucy Clark at the ISIS Neutron and Muon Laboratory where she studies the smallest, tiniest particles we can see (in a microscope) - molecules, atoms, protons and neutrons. 

The music is busy, explosive and teeming with energy - just like those tiny neutrons appear in the microscope. The music is trying to balance order and chaos - just like your teachers do in your classroom! 

Edward Tait (Purcell School for Young Musicians) and St Ignatius College

Rhapsody

Edward Tait is a composer at the Purcell School for Young Musicians, where alongside his studies he does lots of extra music! Ed joined the London Sinfonietta at our residency in St Ignatius College, Enfield this January. He worked collaboratively with Year 9 pupils, a London Sinfonietta workshop leader and musicians to write his new piece of music. 

James B Wilson

Sweet Tooth

James B Wilson is based in Bedfordshire, England. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London and enjoys writing music inspired by stories and ideas from other composers and art forms such as poetry and films. 

We asked James to write this piece specially for this concert - it features the Sound Out Young Ensemble, London Sinfonietta musicians and most importantly - YOU, the audience! It's all about different sweets and being on a sugar high, get your voices ready to sing with us! 

Daniel Bernard Roumain

Fast Black Dance Machine

Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR) is a Black, Haitian-American composer who combines classical music with jazz, hip-hop and rock. He enjoys working with people to create music, from professional musicians such as Lady Gaga and Philip Glass to young people in a classroom (like you) or adults in the community. 

Fast Black Dance Machine is an energetic, rhythmic piece, with drumkit driving the pulse of the music throughout. Each instrument gets a moment to shine, just like in jazz music when instruments take solo moments. At our Sound Out concert you'll hear a short excerpt from the longer piece.