Sound Out! 2025 - Ryde Academy Programme

Heathbrook Doves 

Composition Challenge (2023)

Dove Class at Heathbrook Primary School wrote this piece in 2023 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 last year, and again this year! 

Ben Lunn

Two Haiku (2017)

Ben's music reflects the world around him, connecting to his North-Eastern English Heritage, how disability impacts the world around him and his working-class upbringing. He has also become known for championing the work of others, creating unique collaborations with musicians from across the globe and developing unique concert experiences ad opportunities for others. 

This piece was commissioned by N.A.M.E.S. (Austria) as part of their musical miniature series - composers were asked to write works of just 30 seconds to 2 minutes! With compositions so short, Ben was inspired by the short poetry form of a Haiku - he believes their ability to describe whole imaginative worlds is endlessly fascinating. 

II. They fall and fall 
Blossoms on a balcony 
Bright melancholy 

- Aldona Elena Puisyte-Grigaliune

III. Shadows, change of light, 
sunlight fadings, clouds gather –  
Stepping off the path 

- Francesca Kay

Errollyn Wallen

Skip (2005)

Errollyn Wallen CBE is one of the most famous living classical composers - in 2024 she was appointed the Master of the King's Music which means that she writes new pieces for important royal events and advises the King on musical matters. 

Errollyn writes all kinds of music for small groups, orchestras, singers, and operas. Her recordings have travelled 7.84 million kilometres in space, completing 186 orbits around the Earth on NASA's STS-115 mission. 

Errollyn Wallen composed Skip for clarinet and piano in 2005, she dreamt up the piece while walking along a beach in Belize!

Zoë Martlew  

Slap On (2016)

Zoë Martlew takes on many roles in the world of music - cellist, composer, performer, cabaret artist, educator, creative mentor, podcaster and concert narrator. She has worked with some of the world’s most renowned contemporary music ensembles, chamber groups, improvisation, film, electronica, multi-media, pop, rock, dance and theatre companies and her own one woman show, Revue Z.  

Listen to Zoë talking about her piece Slap On below. 

Gabriella Smith

Anthozoa (2018)

Gabriella Smith is a composer who invites listeners of her music to find joy in climate action. Her music comes from a love of play, exploring new instrumental sounds, and creating musical arcs that transport audiences into sonic landscapes inspired by the natural world. Gabriella grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area in the USA playing and writing music, hiking, backpacking, and volunteering on a songbird research project. 

This piece is inspired by the sounds Gabriella heard when exploring coral reefs in French Polynesia. She would paddle out on her paddle board and use a hydrophone (a microphone designed for using underwater) to record the reefs. To her amazement, it wasn’t silent underwater but full of many interesting vibrant sounds! This piece explores those sounds, from the sound of bubbles made by shrimp popping to parrot fish eating coral! 

Can you see the interesting percussion instruments that Gabriella uses in this piece? 

Ryde Academy and Christian Drew

World premiere

Our Sound Out! Tour includes composition workshops with young people in your local area! Christian worked with the students at Ryde Academy to generate lots of new musical ideas which he's arranged into this piece for the London Sinfonietta. 

Daniel Kidane

Dappled Light (2020)

Daniel Kidane’s music has been performed all over the world, people describe his music as exciting, creative, and full of imagination. Daniel started his musical journey when he was just eight years old, learning to play the violin. As he got older, he became interested in composing his own music.  

His music is performed by big orchestras, like the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. One of his most famous pieces, Woke, was played at a huge concert called the Last Night of the Proms in 2019. He loves to mix different genres of music in his compositions, like classical and Grime in his piece Breakbeat. 

This piece, Dappled Light, was written for the London Symphony Orchestra’s Summer Shorts series. It was written during the coronavirus pandemic lockdown period and is about light coming through after a dark period of time. Daniel has kindly given us permission to rearrange this piece for our ensemble today. 

Cevanne Horrocks-Hopayian

Exile from Cap o Rushes (2021)

Cevanne is a composer, artist and performer whose work has been described as “wide-ranging, dynamic and utterly unique” (BBC Music Magazine). She makes scores with windows cut through the text, a bit like The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  

She also creates electronic folk songs from sound recordings of everyday objects found on her travels. She has performed these songs at the BBC Proms while playing a Sonic Bonnet — an electronic instrument that she wears on her head. Some of her pieces are made from text instructions only, with no music notation, such as Rites For Crossing Water. This multimedia installation featured animations by Jessica Glover projected onto billboards along the Coventry Canal. The instructions are also recorded as musical tracks, and printed in a book, so you can perform them when crossing a bridge over any river, or canal.  

Listen to Cevanne explain the story of Cap O’Rushes, a folktale from the Suffolk coast in the East of England.

James B Wilson

Sweet Tooth (2024

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!