Chris Swithinbank

Tonight, Rane Moore (bass clarinet), Chris Gross (cello) and Alex Lipowski (percussion) of Talea Ensemble with conductor Eduardo Leandro will give the first performance of my new trio The Incredulity of St Thomas at Harvard University’s John Knowles Paine Concert Hall. Also on the programme are new works by fellow composers at the Harvard Summer Composition Institute Clara Iannotta, Ray Evanoff, Thatchatham Silsupan, Carolyn Chen and Sanzhar Baiterekov. A second concert follows on Sunday, featuring music by Ran Duan, Brian Griffeath-Loeb, Justin Hoke, Mauricio Pauly, Robert Phillips and Katherine Young. Both concerts are free and are complemented in the afternoon by discussions of various topics from 12:30pm in the Music Department.

The past two weeks have been an intensely valuable experience — from the discussion in the anachronistic surroundings of Concord’s Colonial Inn last week to the seminars at Harvard Music Department this week. The hard work of Chaya Czernowin, Hans Tutschku, Steven Takasugi and Michelle Lou in making us welcome and organising the finest of details to create a warm and trusting environment of exchange is quite frankly inspirational.

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I am visiting the USA to attend the Harvard Summer Composition Institute and arrived in New York on Friday night. During the Composition Institute I will be participating in classes with Chaya Czernowin, Hans Tutschku and Steven Takasugi, meeting fellow composers and working with the Talea Ensemble on my new trio for bass clarinettist, cellist and percussionist, The Incredulity of St Thomas, which will be performed on Sunday, 26 August.

Above, you see the sun setting on the Hudson River from Manhattan, while the picture below shows a screen that is currently showing One11 and 103, a video and sound work by John Cage, which I stumbled upon in the Highline — the raised railway track in the Meatpacking District, which has been converted into a wonderful park.

This Thursday, coinciding with the Fête de la Musique and the summer solstice, Trami Nguyen is giving a piano recital at Paris’s Cité des Arts (Métro Pont Marie), which will include the second and third of my Sky Studies from 2009 alongside music by Adam Maor, Vittorio Montalti and Alex Mincek. There will also be a new short film by Nicolas Réveillard. Come along?

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In response to the open letter that was sent to Sound and Music and Arts Council England last month and which gathered 135 signatories, we have received the following short statement from the Sound and Music Board of Trustees dated 18 May 2012 (which can also be viewed as a PDF):

Sound and Music would like to acknowledge the letter from over 72 individuals, headed by Martin Butler, Rolf Hind, Andrew Hugill, Ian Pace, Mariam Rezaei, and Chris Swithinbank.

As stated in our published response to the initial open letter, we have committed the organisation to carry out a meaningful consultation with the whole sector in order to maximize the impact of a renewed Sound and Music. We believe that this consultation should take place once a new leadership team is in place.

The appointment of the new CEO (Susanna Eastburn) has very recently been announced and the recruitment of a new team is still in progress. This has to remain the priority of the Board but we will be contacting you again, as soon as the new CEO is in place.

Signed:
The Trustee Board of Sound and Music: Michelle Wright, Interim Chair, David Aspinall, Simon Emmerson, Cliff Fluet, Christopher Fox, and Debra King