PRESS RELEASE Date: Monday 29 October 2018 ​ Event listings HERE Press images HERE ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Contact: [email protected] / 020 7921 0973 ​ ​ ​

SOUNDSTATE 16-20 January 2019 Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room

Southbank Centre launches major festival of new music from around the world featuring over 30 world and UK premieres

With featured artists Claire Chase, Du Yun and Rebecca Saunders

Claire Chase; Du Yun; Rebecca Saunders (photo credit Astrid Ackermann) ​

Additional artists include Marin Alsop, Sam Amidon, Colin Currie, Ali Sethi and more ​ ​ With premieres by composers including Louis Andriessen, James Dillon, Ashley Fure, ​ Helen Grime, Anders Hillborg, Andrew Norman and Erkki-Sven Tüür. ​ ​

Box Office: southbankcentre.co.uk 020 3879 9555 ​ ​

Booking opens 30 October for SoundState, Southbank Centre’s new festival celebrating new ​ ​ ​ ​ music from around the world and the people who create it. The work of over 50 composers will be heard during a five-day contemporary music takeover of Southbank Centre in January 2019 featuring more than 30 world and UK premieres. The world-class line up of SoundState ​ performers includes Southbank Centre Resident Orchestras the London Philharmonic ​ Orchestra, London Sinfonietta and Philharmonia Orchestra, Southbank Centre Associate ​ ​ ​ Orchestra, Aurora Orchestra and visiting International Orchestra, Ensemble Modern. ​ ​ ​ ​

The festival hears from many of the different voices who are energising classical music worldwide, including composers and musicians from Iran, Pakistan, Estonia, Turkey, China, Bali,

USA, Sweden, Slovenia, Netherlands, Germany, Japan and the UK. SoundState ​ has three ​ featured artists. Chinese-born Pulitzer-prize winning composer, musician and performer Du Yun ​ and American flautist Claire Chase,​ both leading lights of a vibrant new music scene in New York ​ City, curate events and premiere new works. A special concert profiles the delicately complex music of multi-award-winning British composer Rebecca Saunders.​ ​

Further SoundState highlights include: ​ ​ ● Orchestral premieres: UK premiere of Estonian composer Erkki-Sven Tüür’s ​ ​ ​ piccolo concerto; European premiere of Agamemnon by Louis Andriessen ​ ​ ​ (Netherlands) and the world premiere of Helen Grime’s Percussion Concerto (UK) ​ ​ ​ ​ and a new work by Anders Hillborg (Sweden). ​ ​ ● The first London performance of Scottish composer James Dillon’s Royal ​ ​ Philharmonic Society Music Award-winning work, Tanz/haus : triptych 2017. ​ ● World and UK premieres​ of works by Anahita Abasi ​ (Iran); award-winning ​ American composers Andrew Norman​ and Ashley Fure​; Zeynep Gedizlioğlu ​ ​ ​ (Turkey); Vito Žuraj ​ (Slovenia); Martin Grütter, Arne Geishoff ​(Germany); Dai ​ ​ ​ Fujikura ​ (Japan/UK) and the world premiere of Helen Grime​’s Percussion Concerto ​ ​ (UK) ● SoundState Sessions: A first chance to hear music by the next generation of ​ young composers in four free early evening concerts presented by the Park Lane ​ Group. ​ ● An international line up of soloists and guest artists including conductors Marin ​ Alsop, Nicholas Collon, Jonathan Berman, Vimbayi Kaziboni and Dalia ​ ​ ​ ​ Stasevska, instrumentalists Colin Currie, Stewart McIlwham and singers Ali ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Sethi, Sam Amidon and Jennifer Johnston ​ ​ ​ ​ ● A wealth of free events which fill the Southbank Centre foyer spaces from morning ​ ​ until night, including performances from featured artists and interactive participatory sessions for all levels of experience including the chance to play compositional ping-pong, be part of a loop machine choir or a scratch orchestra and more. ● A series of activities for emerging composers including advice surgeries, workshops on composing for voice, Chinese instruments and mixed ability ensembles as well as a designated Composers’ Lounge as part of Southbank Centre’s year-round Composers’ Collective initiative. ​ ​ ​ ● A special SoundState version of Southbank Centre’s regular Women in Music ​ ​ ​ Breakfasts series, where women working in the music profession talk about and ​ share their experiences. ● State of Sound Talks, exploring pressing issues in contemporary music with ​ expert panels, and an Artists Bar series, featuring informal post-concert ​ ​ discussions with SoundState artists. ​ ​

Gillian Moore CBE, Director of Music at Southbank Centre comments: “Rooted in ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ contemporary life from around the world, SoundState brings together an unrivalled concentration ​ ​ of global creativity; artists who are redefining what it means to make music in the 21st century. Their music challenges historical conventions, plays with pre-conceptions or simply finds new ways to be inventive, expressive and thought-provoking, all within an expanding definition of the medium of sound. From the latest works for symphony orchestra to pieces written for informal

spaces, where artistic forms collide with infectious energy and explore the moving boundaries between musical traditions and technology, this is music for the here and now.”

Festival partners include: Chinese Arts Now, PRS for Music Foundation, Park Lane Group, ​ ​ ​ Sound and Music, Sound Scotland, Trinity Laban Conservatoire and University of ​ ​ Huddersfield.

Please find further programme detail below including a link to full event listings.

Some events are already on sale with further events going on sale to Southbank Centre Members on Tuesday 30 October and to the general public on Wednesday 31 October. Please visit the website for more information. ​

#ENDS#

FURTHER PROGRAMME DETAIL

SOUNDSTATE FEATURED ARTISTS ​

CLAIRE CHASE New York based flautist Claire Chase is an award-winning soloist, collaborative artist, curator ​ ​ ​ ​ and advocate for new and experimental music. Over the past decade she has given world premiere performances of hundreds of new works for the flute around the world. She was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2012, and in 2017 was awarded the Avery Fisher Prize for outstanding achievement in classical music. She made her BBC Proms debut in 2018.

In 2014 Chase launched Density 2036, an ambitious 22-year commissioning project to create ​ ​ an entirely new body of repertoire for flute; the project culminates in 2036, the centenary of Edgard Varèse’s groundbreaking 1936 flute solo, Density 21.5. In SoundState, alongside ​ ​ ​ ​ Varèse’s original, she performs works by Dai Fujikura, Suzanne Farrin and Du Yun (18 Jan at ​ ​ ​ ​ 7.30pm, QEH) Chase also leads a participatory workshop and performance as part of her QEH concert of ‘Extracts of Pan’ - a ‘Density’ work by Marcos Balter - and is the soloist in the UK ​ ​ ​ ​ premiere of a concerto by Dai Fujikura as part of the Philharmonia Orchestra’s Music of Today ​ ​ ​ series (20 Jan at 7pm, QEH).

DU YUN Born in Shanghai, and based in New York City, Du Yun is a composer, multi-instrumentalist, performance artist, activist and curator for new music, working at the ‘intersection of orchestral, ​ opera, chamber music, theatre, cabaret, musical, oral tradition, public performances, sound installation, electronics, visual arts and noise.’ She won the 2017 Pulitzer-prize for music for her ​ opera Angel's Bone. ​ ​

SoundState features the world premiere of Du Yun’s Where We Lost Our Shadows, ​ ​ ​ ​ co-commissioned by Southbank Centre, in a concert she has co-curated with Aurora ​ ​ ​ Orchestra. She curates a concert of contemporary work from Ancient musical capitals, Java ​

and Shanghai, joined by special guest artists from the city of her birth and Southbank ​ Gamelan Players, including a new work by Balinese composer and gamelan master Gusti ​ ​ Komin (20 Jan at 1.30pm, PR). Du Yun also leads a workshop with composer Peter Weigold ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ on composing for Chinese instruments and is a guest performer in a free foyer concert as part of Southbank Centre’s ‘Friday Tonic’ series featuring Brooklyn’s Shayna Dunkelman, a ​ ​ musician, improviser and percussionist known for her versatile use of electronics (18 Jan at 5.30pm, QEH Foyer)

REBECCA SAUNDERS With her distinctive and intensely striking sonic language, Berlin-based British composer Rebecca Saunders is a leading international representative of her generation who pursues an ​ intense interest in the sculptural and spatial properties of organised sound.

Saunders is the subject of a Composer Portrait concert by leading European contemporary music specialists Ensemble Modern. The concert includes the 2017 RPS Music Award winning ​ ​ Skin, inspired by a passage from Samuel Beckett’s television play The Ghost Trio, Fury II, ​ ​ ​ which explores the dimensions of sound and noise, and the delicate, elusive A Visible Trace (19 ​ ​ January at 7.30pm, QEH Foyer).

CONCERTS - ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL, QUEEN ELIZABETH HALL AND PURCELL ROOM

Southbank Centre Resident Orchestra The London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by ​ ​ Southbank Centre Associate Artist Marin Alsop, opens SoundState with a concert that includes ​ ​ ​ ​ three world premieres by Anders Hillborg, Helen Grime (featuring percussionist Colin ​ ​ ​ ​ Currie as soloist) and Arne Gieshoff, the European premiere of Louis Andriessen’s ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ “symphonic poem” Agamemnon and the UK premiere of Solastalgia, Estonian composer ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Erkki-Sven-Tüür’s new concerto for piccolo performed by LPO Principal Stewart McIlwham ​ ​ (16 Jan, RFH).

Southbank Centre Resident Orchestra London Sinfonietta performs the London premiere of ​ ​ ​ ​ James Dillon's fascinating music-theatre of the mind Tanz/haus : triptych 2017, scored for an ​ ​ ​ ensemble which includes electric guitar and accordion, and new works by Oliver Leith and ​ ​ ​ ​ Josephine Stephenson - two of the ensemble's talented Writing the Future composers. The ​ ​ ​ ​ programme opens with Oliver Knussen’s Coursing, performed in tribute to the late composer, ​ ​ ​ ​ conductor and former London Sinfonietta Music Director (17 Jan at 7.30pm, QEH). ​ ​ Claire Chase performs in the round on the Queen Elizabeth Hall stage Varèse’s ​ groundbreaking Density 21.5, alongside works she has commissioned by Dai Fujikura, ​ ​ ​ Suzanne Farrin, Du Yun, Mario Diaz de Léon and Marcos Balter (18 Jan at 7.30pm, QEH). ​ ​ ​

Leading contemporary music specialists Ensemble Modern present new works by young ​ ​ composers from Iran, Germany, Slovenia, Turkey and the USA in the first of two short concerts. Featured composers include Pulitzer-shortlisted American composer Ashley Fure, Vito Žuraj, ​ winner of the 2016 Claudio Abbado Composition Prize, and three international Berlin-based composers Martin Grütter, Anahati Abbasi and Zeynep Gedizlioğlu (19 Jan at 4pm, QEH). ​ ​ ​ ​

Also based in Berlin, British composer Rebecca Saunders is profiled in Ensemble Modern’s ​ ​ second concert of the day. Vimbayi Kaziboni conducts (19 Jan at 7.30pm, QEH). ​ ​

Southbank Associate Orchestra Aurora Orchestra roams across musical genres and art forms ​ ​ in a concert exploring themes of migration and exodus. Taking centre stage is the world ​ ​ ​ premiere of Where We Lost Our Shadows, created in collaboration by Du Yun and Palestinian ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ filmmaker Khaled Jarrar. Combining traditional South Asian raga music with text from ​ ​ ​ ​ Palestinian poet Ghassan Zaqtan and footage of a Syrian refugee family’s journey from Syria ​ ​ to Germany, the work features mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnston, Pakistani singer Ali Sethi ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ and percussionist Shayna Dunkelman. Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer is paired with ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ arrangements of the folk ballad Two Sisters performed by Sam Amidon, tracing the ballad’s ​ ​ ​ ​ journey from its Norwegian roots to modern-day New York City in Nico Muhly’s version,The ​ ​ ​ Only Tune (QEH – 20 Jan at 4pm). ​ Southbank Centre Resident Orchestra The Philharmonia Orchestra’s Music of Today concert ​ ​ ​ ​ profiles American composer Andrew Norman (a recent winner of the Grawemeyer Award for ​ ​ Music) and Japanese (UK based) composer Dai Fujikura. The concert, conducted by Dalia ​ ​ ​ Stasevska includes the UK premiere of Fujikura’s flute concerto, written specially for ​ SoundState featured artist Claire Chase, which employs techniques including beat-boxing and ​ ​ ​ pitch bends. Norman describes his work Try as being a lot like him “messy and fragmented”; ​ ​ ​ ​ John Adams conducted the world premiere in Los Angeles in 2011 (20 Jan at 7pm, PUR).

FREE EVENTS

Concerts The Park Lane Group returns to Southbank Centre for its annual showcase of outstanding ​ ​ young musicians with a specially curated free series, SoundState Sessions, which take place ​ ​ each day of the festival. The concerts include commissions for eight young composers performed in contemporary focused programmes: Amy Brice; Michael Cryne; Gonçalo Gato; ​ Ben Groves; Grace-Evangeline Mason; Deborah Pritchard; Emma Wilde and Alex Woolf. ​ ​ ​ SoundState Sessions also feature works by: Harrison Birtwistle; Hugh Wood; Pierre Boulez; ​ ​ Thomas Adès, Mark-Anthony Turnage and Judith Weir. Featured young performers are: The ​ ​ ​ ​ Hermes Experiment; Laefer Saxophone Quartet; Eblana String Quartet; Lipatti Piano Quartet; pianists Eleanor Kornas, Lana Bode and Philip Leslie: mezzo-soprano Marta ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Fontanals-Simmons; Gabriella Jones (harp) and Jonathan Radford (saxophone) (16-19 Jan ​ ​ ​ ​ at 6pm, PUR).

SoundState also fills the Queen Elizabeth Hall Foyers with free concerts and events, featuring ​ Claire Chase and Du Yun (as above). British/Chinese composers Nicola Chang, Angelus ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Marr, Alex Ho, Raymond Yiu and An-Ting Chang write new works for ping-pong players and ​ ​ ​ small ensemble (20 Jan at 6.30pm, QEH) followed by a late night concert by Pakistani singer ​ Ali Sethi, whose music is reaching a wide audience in Pakistan via the TV music show Coke ​ ​ Studio, where he has been a featured artist (18 Jan - 9pm). A free Friday lunchtime concert in ​ the RFH Foyer showcases the latest compositions from Trinity Laban Conservatoire students (18 Jan at 1pm, RFH Central Bar, Level 2).

State of Sound Talks ​

Three events, featuring distinguished panels of composers and music practitioners debate the State of Sound, covering pressing issues facing musicians and composers today - from whether ​ new music has a role in helping to navigate and comprehend the world, and a responsibility to society to the current state of composing in education and who new music is for (17 - 18 Jan at 3.30pm, 19 Jan at 2pm, L5FR RFH). Following the orchestral concerts, there is also a chance to hear direct from composers and musicians in post-show foyer conversations and at the SoundState Artists Bar. ​ ​

Composer Advice Surgeries For those who are unsure of rights and royalties, or perplexed by publishing, Harriet Wybor ​ from PRS for Music will be on hand to answers questions on navigating composing practicalities in a series of composer advice surgeries (17 & 18 Jan).

Full Event listings HERE ​

Press Images HERE ​

For further information, please visit the website HERE ​

For press enquiries please contact: Sophie Cohen, Classical Music PR Consultant on [email protected] / ​ ​ 020 7921 0973 or Naomi French, Press Manager (Interim) on [email protected] / 020 7921 ​ ​ ​ 0678

For press ticket requests: [email protected] / 020 7921 0888 ​ ​ ​

Join the Conversation @southbankcentre #SoundState

NOTES TO EDITORS About Southbank Centre Southbank Centre is the UK’s largest arts centre, occupying a 17 acre site that sits in the midst of ​ London’s most vibrant cultural quarter on the South Bank of the Thames. The site has an extraordinary creative and architectural history stretching back to the 1951 Festival of Britain. Southbank Centre is home to the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and Hayward Gallery as well as The National Poetry Library and the Arts Council Collection. It’s also home to four Resident Orchestras (London Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, London Sinfonietta and Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment) and four Associate Orchestras (Aurora Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, Chineke! Orchestra and National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain). For further information please visit www.southbankcentre.co.uk. ​