sound Festival / Red Note commission set for first ever UK New Music Biennale

· Stephen Montague to create new children’s work

· Zinnie Harris to create the text from stories sent in by children from across the Commonwealth

· To be presented as part of the 2014 Commonwealth Games celebration

· Sound also a partner in Teta-a-Tete’s unique skate-boarding choral project

The partnership between sound, Scotland’s leading New Music festival, Woodend Barn and the acclaimed Red Note Ensemble continues in a new commission from composer Stephen Montague, which is to be part of the UK’s first ever New Music Biennale. Montague will write a new children’s work for 6 musicians and narrator based on tales sent in by children from different countries across the Commonwealth, which will be rewritten by award-winning playwright Zinnie Harris. The work will be premiered at Woodend Barn in Banchory (Aberdeenshire) in June 2014, followed by further performances at the South Bank Centre in London and in Glasgow as part of the 2014 Commonwealth Games celebrations. The work will also be broadcast by BBC Radio 3 and recorded by NMC Records. The children’s stories will be sourced through one of Scotland’s major development charities, SCIAF’s, international partners. The commission was one of twenty announced by the PRS for Music Foundation at London’s South Bank Centre this morning.

“sound has been working with Red Note since the Ensemble was established and we are delighted to continue our partnership in this exciting new commission from Stephen Montague,” says Fiona Robertson, sound Festival Director.

“2014 is going to be an amazing year for Scotland as the Commonwealth Games are staged in Glasgow. What better way to celebrate this great international event than to bring together young people from across the Commonwealth in a new work of art.”

John Harris, Red Note Ensemble Chief Executive, added “We’re delighted to be partnering sound Festival to perform this new commission by Stephen. He’s a great composer and we’re looking forward so much to working with him and presenting his work. It’ll be really interesting to see how he approaches the stories that the children bring and weaves his music around and within them.

sound is also a partner in one of the more active of the New Music Biennale, commissions. Blending skateboarding, choral singing and the unique acoustic of skate parks, Tête à Tête and composer Samuel Bordoli will team up with skaters and community choirs to make a real noise in London, Aberdeen and Glasgow.

The New Music Biennial builds on the success of New Music 20×12, a music commissioning programme that saw more than 250,000 people experience new music from leading figures in the fields of contemporary classical, jazz and folk music. Beginning in January 2014, the first edition of the New Music Biennial has been developed in partnership with Creative Scotland, Arts Council England and the British Council. The 20 brand new commissions selected from over 130 proposals will receive premiere performances in 2014 across the length and breadth of the UK. All twenty pieces will also be featured at two weekend showcases hosted by London’s Southbank Centre (4-6 July 2014) and Glasgow UNESCO City of Music (2-3 Aug 2014) and on BBC Radio 3. NMC Recordings will be releasing each piece of new music via digital downloads.

The works selected for the New Music Biennial cover a wide range of genres, reflecting the diversity and richness of musical life across the UK – from contemporary classical, folk and jazz to world music, urban and electronic.

Vanessa Reed, Executive Director of PRS for Music Foundation, said:

“As lead funder of new music in the UK, we’re constantly inspired by the imagination and quality of the many composers and commissioning organisations we support. The New Music Biennial gives us the opportunity to celebrate this creativity by presenting outstanding new music – in any genre – which has the potential to inspire audiences across the UK. “

Celebrated Scottish musician, Dame Evelyn Glennie, who was a member of the judging panel, added: “There is no shortage of talent, imagination and creativity in the UK and the excellent applications to the New Music Biennial have proved this.”

 Source: sound Festival