2020 was a year full of sharp contrasts. It brought times of enforced isolation and silence but it also gave us more time for reflection, helping us observe and listen more attentively to the world immediately around us. In keeping with this spirit of renewed awareness, I’m creating a new curated ‘close listening’ experience in 2021, In Focus.
This new blog series will explore some of the composers most featured across Halcyon’s long performing history. Alongside a YouTube playlist of their music and other media, I’ll take a look here at some of the pieces Halcyon has brought to life in performance.
Halcyon’s audiences have always amazed me with their curiosity and desire to explore new works. Often they have turned up to hear a program, sometimes knowing little about the composers or pieces at all, but coming along anyway. They are keen to hear our performance of music which may be as yet unknown to them and to find their own responses to our eclectic repertoire.
One of the particular joys of performing the music of living composers is getting to know them - both their individual musical personalities and the ideas that inform their music. While curating programs is an extremely rewarding part of the role of a director - working out how one piece sits alongside another, how the words, gestures and colours interplay and have ‘conversations’ - there is also something wonderful about becoming immersed in one subject. When I speak about delving into a composer’s work, it’s what I call ‘learning their language’ or hearing their ‘voice’ - spending time listening to their work and observing them directly so you can begin to understand their defining traits and individualities.
With In Focus you will get to spend time with just one composer as you read about and listen to tracks, interviews and performances from Halcyon’s archive. I hope it may help you get better acquainted with these composers and spur you on to explore more of their music on other platforms and via their own websites. There are so many wonderful rabbit holes to fall down when you start exploring! And so much great music to experience.