OUT-TAKE Ensemble presents: the music of Laurence Crane
Postgraduate Music student Ben Jameson tells about a forthcoming concert by new Southampton group OUT-TAKE Ensemble.
OUT-TAKE Ensemble is a new contemporary music group based in Southampton, dedicated to commissioning new works by young composers and performing other experimental repertoire by more established names. The group’s founder is Southampton composition PhD student Alexander Glyde-Bates, who also contributes his tuba skills to the group. After organising a string of successful one-off concerts involving various composers and performers associated with the music department (most recently the ‘Still Echoes’ concert at the John Hansard Gallery in 2016), Alex proposed that we formalise our organisation into a more permanent group, and aim to present a regular series of concerts in Southampton. The administration and ‘artistic direction’ of OUT-TAKE is handled by a small committee of current postgraduate students, whose efforts are supplemented by the talents of a group of performers ranging from current undergraduates to recent doctoral graduates.
We are pleased to announce that our first concert will take place on the evening of Monday the 6th March, and will be very kindly hosted by the Talking Heads (located in the Polygon, near Southampton Central station) in their Maple Leaf Lounge. Our featured composer will be Laurence Crane, whose works John White in Berlin and Four Miniatures (both composed in 2003) we’ll be performing. We’ll also be playing Christian Wolff’s OUT-TAKE (2005), a work for tuba and ensemble (from which we take our name) and Howard Skempton’s brief tuba da caccia (1978), alongside new works by current MMus student Camilla Aldridge, recent graduate Christian Drew, and Máté Szigeti, who was recently awarded his doctorate in composition. The concert begins at 8pm and entry is free!
As well as announcing our concert, we’re also very happy to say that Laurence Crane will be visiting the music department during the day to work with students. He’ll be leading a discussion session on the question ‘can music aspire to the condition of painting?’ in the morning, then coaching us on playing his pieces before our performances in the evening. The 6th March promises to be a very stimulating day of New Music in the department, as there will also be a lunchtime concert at 1pm in the Turner Sims by the contemporary percussion trio Line Upon Line, who will then workshop new pieces by Masters students during the afternoon.
If you would like to know more about OUT-TAKE ensemble or our concert, you can find us on Facebook or Twitter. Over the next few weeks we’ll be posting bios, photos and videos of the composers and performers who will be featured in the concert, in the hope that this material will whet your appetite to come and listen to some great music! You’ll also be able to follow our future progress and learn about upcoming performances, such as our planned concert at the Ludomusicology conference at Bath Spa University in April.