By a stroke of luck (writes Ed Baxter) Tam Dean Burn was in London on Saturday so he, Veryan Weston and I spent a little while making the basic track for the first of Six Scenes From Dracula. I had been talking about my ideas for this project to Joe Quick at Resonance the night before and suddenly it all seemed to fall into place in my imagination. About time too. Six years ago I wrote some outlines for interactives for a proposed Bram Stoker Museum, then tried to get a handle on his famous novel with a view to making a large scale radiophonic work. Only after reading Friedrich Kittler’s Gramophone Film Typewriter did a way into Dracula become apparent and I have now reduced it to six simple scenes, each with a specific and idiosyncratic sonic conceit. We’ll see if the plan progresses any further. Link to audio to follow.
Ed Baxter attended the inaugural day of the London Symphony Orchestra’s Soundhub initiative this weekend (14 January 2012), meeting other Members and Associates and discussing how the project might unfold. Darren Bloom, Alex Hawkins, Aaron Holloway-Nahum, Elo Masing, Mark Simpson and Toby Young were also in attendance, each with ambitious ideas about how to bring Soundhub into focus and being. A radio series and other plans are already afoot. Blog posts to follow – regularly, time permitting.
We are pleased to announce that the RRO has received a grant from the PRS for Music Foundation to further its work. Secondly, to mark Persian New Year – as part of “Night of Norouz” – a specially commissioned piece by Fari Bradley will be performed by the Resonance Radio Orchestra at the Victoria & Albert Museum on Friday 30 March 2012 at 6.30pm. Entrance is free. Finally, Ed Baxter has been selected as one of the pilot “emerging composers” to work with the London Symphony Orchestra a part of their Soundhub initiative supported by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.
In a surprise piece of programming, at 7am on 4 January 2012, Resonance FM presents the Resonance Radio Orchestra‘s version of Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. The Robert Louis Stevenson classic is brought to life by an all-star cast including Tam Dean Burn, Piers Gibbon, Otomo Yoshihihde, Xentos Fray Bentos, Sam Collings, Aleks Kolkoswki, Ivor Kallin and Fari Bradley.
RRO spin-off group The Hauntological Orchestra features on a special Resonance104.4fm broadcast on New Year’s Eve 2011 at 9pm. Highlights from the concert at Cafe Oto last August – the snappily titled “Jonny Trunk Presents The Hauntological Orchestra as part of Project Fuksuhima!” – were recorded by James Dunn before a gobsmacked crowd. Featured vocalists are Sharon Gal (On Suicide), Kay Grant (Anyone Who Had A Heart), Art Terry (Farmer In The City) and Lepke B. (Rock and Roll, Part 2). Musicians include Matt Armstrong (bass), Ben Barwise (synth), Clive Bell (reeds), Stefan Blomeier (synth), Adam Bushell (percussion), Simon King (guitar), Paul May (drums), James Stephen Finn (synth), Phil Somervell (piano) and Robin Warren (electronics). 70 minutes of fun and fine music under the direction of Ed Baxter.
Short Cuts is “a selection of brief encounters – true stories, found sound and radio adventures made by Falling Tree Productions for BBC Radio 4 and presented by In The Dark’s Nina Garthwaite. The episode on Tuesday 10 January 2012 at 3pm features a four minute excerpt from Ed Baxter and Chris Weaver’s five hour broadcast Intimacy & Distance: Suspension of Belief featuring writer Jim Perrin and climber Gaz Parry.
L’Uomo Vogue has published a short piece about the RRO in their round up of media news (OCtober 2011 issue). Thanks to Angela Maria Piga – we appear on the same page as Rupert Murdoch…
