Daryl Jamieson

composer

October 2018 - Three concerts

Big news for October – two premières and a performance of one of my most substantial pieces for a solo instrument.

First up, on 6 October at Shoto Salon in Shibuya, Hiroaki Ooi premières my piece through the mist, empty sky (2018). This is part of his Portraits of Composers series, the focus being on composers from North America and including music by Babbitt, Carter, Crumb, Adams, Zorn, and Vivier. The programme note for my piece reads:

A mist gathers and disperses in three distinct layers of musical material. Clusters in the bass give way to individual notes; a melody ranges widely over the keyboard, first accelerating then decelerating; mid-range harmonics colour the soundscape with microtonal nuances of greater, then lesser, complexity.


See more details and reserve tickets at this link (in Japanese).


On 17 October at Tiara Kōtō, Gaku Yamada gives the first performance of utamakura 1: ponds of Nara (cf this video of utamakura 2: Arnardalur, which was premièred on 6 September). Ponds of Nara is my first piece for electric guitar, and I'm still finding my feet with electronics and field recordings, so this piece was quite an experiment for me. An excerpt from the programme notes:

utamakura 1: ponds of Nara is based on three famous Nara ponds – Kasuga Shrine, Sarusawa Pond, and Katsumata Pond – associated with springtime, the love-suicide following an imperial affair, and ephemerality, respectively.


Reserve tickets at this link (in Japanese).

Finally, Nobutaka Yoshizawa reprises my piece plaintive belling which he commissioned, premièred, and recorded in 2013. Plaintive belling was a breakthrough piece for me, the first full compositional expression of my understanding of Nō aesthetics, and still my longest piece to date for any solo instrument (without electronic accompaniment). The autumnally-themed concert will be at Keyaki Hall, Masao Koga Music Museum, Tokyo, on 24 October. For more details, and to purchase tickets, see this link.
Revisit the premiere performance: