Composers

Interconexiones: New Quartets for Oboe and Strings

Details about the quartet scores can be found here: https://cuartetoemispherio.com/interconexiones-contacts-and-info/

Interviews with the composers can be found here: Interconexiones Youtube Playlist:

Maricarmen Asenjo-Marrodán (1978), born in Spain, studied composition at Rafael Orozco Superior Conservatory of Córdoba, completing her Master’s studies in Musical Research at the University of Granada and in Electroacoustic Composition at the Higher Center of Musical Education “Katarina Gurska” of Madrid. At the same time, she attended masterclasses and courses with international composers such as Jorge E. López, Mauricio Sotelo, Alberto Posadas, José Manuel López López, César Camarero, Gabriel Erkoreka, Hilda Paredes and P. Billone among others. Her works have been performed at various music festivals and chamber cycles. Her catalogue of works encompasses different instrumental combinations for solo and mixed electronics including: Fronteras del abismo (Elektronisk Musik, Copenhague, 2016, L’oreille concrète, Marseille, 2018), Beyond (Katarina Gurska, Madrid, 2019), Cómo mueren las estrellas, for piano and electronics (Contemporary Music Conference, Huelva, 2014 and Príncipe Felipe Auditorium, Oviedo, 2018), Questo tremito, questo vacillamento, for cello and electronics (CNDM and Spanish Music Festival, Cádiz, 2020, premiered by Kathleen Balfe), Elevación, for violin and piano (Sevilla, Taller Sonoro, 2013), Ruinas Circulares, for alto saxophone, percussion and piano (Córdoba, Nou Ensemble, 2016), Hijos del instante, for violin, bb clarinet / bass clarinet, percussion, piano (Taller Sonoro, Spanish Music Festival, Cádiz, 2016), Ab ipso ferro, for tenor saxophone (Aalborg, Naomi Sato, 2018), Vórtices, for alto saxophone and piano, (Cosimo Colazzo and Emanuelle Dalmazzo, International Contemporary Music Cycle 2019/20), Partículas de viento y luz, for guitar, (Copenhagen, 2020). Asenjo-Marrodán currently combines compositional activity with teaching, working since 2016 in different “superior” music conservatories. In her sound imaginary, literature in general, and poetry in particular, often serve as a starting point for creation, inspiring textures that try to capture the essence of the unspeakable. In turn, she is especially interested in granular synthesis processes both in music with electronic and instrumental media, an aspect in which she has been investigating in recent years. Recently, she received the first Manuel de Falla International Composition Prize (2020).  

John Richard Durant (1960), born in the UK and based in Seville, Spain, graduated with first class honours (clarinet) from the Royal Academy of Music in 1987, winning the Leslie Martin Award for his interpretation of the works of Hans Werner Henze and Stockhausen (performing in the presence of both composers) for BBC 3 and Radio France. He was also awarded the Worshipful Company of Musicians Medal. John has enjoyed a long and successful career with numerous symphony orchestras. With the BBC, the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, John has performed in many of the most prestigious theatres and concert halls worldwide including the Musikverein, Vienna, the Frankfurt Opera House and the Lincoln Center in New York. He has also recorded at Abbey Road and Maida Vale in London.He has lived in Seville since 1991 where he was a founding member of the Royal Seville Symphony Orchestra.More recently, John has become sought after as a composer, arranger and conductor.His arrangements have been recorded and produced by Warner Bros and his compositions are published by Kingfisher Music Publishing.Recently, he conducted the Royal Seville Symphony Orchestra at the Maestranza Theatre in Seville and the Málaga Symphony Orchestra in the Royal Theatre in Madrid.His work “Scapa!”, is to be premiered in 2022 by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. https://en.johnricharddurant.com

Pilar Miralles (1997), born in Spain, is a composer and sound artist based in Helsinki, Finland. She completed her Master’s degree in Electroacoustic Composition at Centro Superior “Katarina Gurska” of Madrid (2020) and her Master of Music in Composition at the Sibelius Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki, Finland (2022), receiving the merit grant from the Martin Wegelius Foundation in 2022. She continues her studies at the Sibelius Academy as a preparatory doctoral student at DocMus Doctoral School. Her artistic research project explores the relationship between the concepts of quietness and timelessness as a response to the fragmentation of the present, the excess of information, and the immediacy of production, consumption and optimization of the mass-market society. As a composer, she has attended masterclasses with Liza Lim, Kalevi Aho or Guillaume Connesson, among others. Her instrumental work has been premiered by ensembles and orchestras such as the Île-de-France National Orchestra, the Avanti! Chamber Orchestra, Defunensemble, Vertixe Sonora, Ensemble Ascolta or Norrbotten NEO. On the other hand, her electroacoustic work has been developed at the Nordplus intensive course IMMEDIA 2021 in Vilnius (Lithuania), the MuteFest ’20 and ’22 at the Sibelius Academy (Finland), and the FACBA (Contemporary Art Festival) 2021 at Granada’s University (Spain). https://www.pilar-miralles.com/

Luke Styles (1982), born in Australia, is a British composer performed regularly throughout the world. Luke was the first Glyndebourne Young Composer in Residence, the first composer in residence at the Foundling Museum since Handel and is the 2022 British Council Musician in Residence to Brazil. Luke’s latest opera Awakening Shadow premiered in 2021 at the Cheltenham Music Festival, Presteigne Festival and will receive a second production by Sydney Chamber Opera in 2022. Luke’s recent symphonic song cycle No Friend But The Mountains premiered at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne in March 2021 and has been turned into a 2-part ABC TV documentary.  In 2022/2023 Luke will compose two major vocal works, for Le Balcon (France) and La Nuova Musica (UK) as well as orchestra works for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and chamber music works. Luke is published by G.Schirmer and represented by Linda Marks.  https://www.lukestyles.com

Althea Talbot-Howard (1966) is a British performer and composer. Born in Nigeria – of English and Nigerian parentage – thereafter she was raised in England and Australia. She studied at the University of Cambridge, London’s Royal Academy of Music and the Banff Center in Canada. In 1992 she began her career as oboe soloist and guest solo oboe in various orchestras. Among her most important achievements are Third Prize obtained at the Paris-Ville d’Avray International Oboe Competition in 2007; an equal prize in the Ora Singers Christmas Gift Composition Competition in 2019; and her Oboe Classics CD From Leipzig to London. Gramophone magazine has referred to Althea as “…a superb oboist”. Currently, her career is focused upon composing professional and pedagogical recital and chamber music. Works  include the popular Troparion (2018) and The Door of No Return (2020-21).  In 2020 she began collaborating with ABRSM, the British international music examinations board. Eleven works have been published by ABRSM in three exam syllabuses. These include repertoire pieces; newly-commissioned works; and arrangements of compositions by Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges. In June 2022 & 2023, Althea was the subject of two concerts focusing solely on her work, presented by the saxophone department at London’s Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance.  Altogether, nine new compositions received their UK premieres after their world premieres had previously taken place in the United States and Spain. One composition premiered in the USA in 2022 was Byzantion I – Hagia Sophia for English horn, bassoon and piano, part-funded by a commissioning grant from the International Double Reed Society.  Hagia Sophia is thematically linked to Seville Cathedral – A Study in Memorycomposed for the Emispherio Quartet; and Rievaulx – A Study in Memory, for reed quartet (2021).  https://www.althea-composer.com