News

Thomas Simaku – Klangforum Wien World Premiere

York composer’s new work receives its world premiere by one of Europe’s finest ensembles of contemporary music

Thomas

 

Thomas Simaku’s new work Klang Inventions, written for and dedicated to the musicians of the prestigious ensemble Klangforum of Vienna, received its world premiere at the 10th Pharos Foundation International Festival in Nicosia on 12 October 2018.

Thomas Simaku has written the following notes about his new piece: ‘The first impulse for this composition is inextricably linked to this specific ensemble, hence the title Klang-Inventions. The music here focuses on ‘family resemblances’, where specific instruments take a leading role in the musical argument at strategic stages of the formal structure, and are highlighted for their colour, virtuosity and their expressive qualities. Based on certain instrumental ‘alliances’ within the ensemble, the idea here was to create an overall formal structure that would have elements of a multi-movement composition, but at the same time preserve the continuity of an ‘uninterrupted’ line on macro-structural level’.  For more information, please follow the link: https://www.klangforum.at/blog-detail-en/simaku-klang-inventions-en.html

Dr Thomas Simaku also gave a lecture on his music at the European University of Cyprus.

  • National Radio of Finland Simaku broadcast available online

    Following the success at the 2019 International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM)  – World Music Days , Thomas Simaku’s most recent work, La Leggiadra Luna for mixed choir a cappella, has been broadcast by four European radio stations.

  • Current and former students selected as 2019-20 RPS Composers

    The Royal Philharmonic Society have announced the latest members of their prestigious Emerging Composers scheme, including Robin Haigh, currently studying for a PhD at York with Martin Suckling, and Joel Järventausta, a former York undergraduate.

  • Martin Suckling on Radulescu at IRCAM

    Back in June Martin was invited to speak about Radulescu’s seminal solo viola piece Das Andere alongside violist Garth Knox at the Spectralisms conference in IRCAM.

  • Neil Luck features in 2019 BBC Proms

    Praise for Music Dept students featured in BBC Proms
     
    Following on from his specially-commissioned Radio 3 takeover to extend the Last Night of the Proms 2018, Music Department PhD student Neil Luck was invited to contribute a live set as part of 2019’s first ‘Proms at…’ event.  Joined by second year undergraduate Rebecca Burden and former student James McIlwrath, Neil masterminded three pieces in an event described by the Guardian as a ‘teasing, challenging new-music bill’.  Proms at …

  • Andreas Tsiartis a winner in Discovering Young Composers of Europe

    His new work will be performed by four different ensembles in four European cities and released on CD in 2020

    The objective of Discovering Young Composers of Europe (DYCE) Competition was to bring together the four regions of Europe (North, South, East, West) by inviting the composition students and alumni of all European Academies, Conservatories and Universities to submit a work.

  • Thomas Simaku selected for the ISCM – World Music Days 2019

     

    His work will be performed by a Grammy Award-winning ensemble

    Thomas Simaku’s recent work, La Leggiadra Luna for mixed choir a cappella, has been selected by the international jury for performance at the 2019 ISCM (International Society for Contemporary Music)  – World Music Days, which takes place in Estonia from 2 – 10 May.