Managed, programmed and performed by RWCMD’s young composers, last week’s one-day Atmospheres festival featured a range of work from immersive sound environments to formal chamber concerts.
The event, which took place throughout the College’s venues, was a chance for the College’s up-and-coming composers to showcase their work to a public audience.
We talked to Karim Bedda (pictured below) whose concert, Echoes of Nothing, was performed in the Dora Stoutzker Hall.
Can you tell us a bit about your involvement in the Festival?
My concert featured a programme of three compositions that I’ve created during my time at the College. I asked some of the music students to perform the work, which were assessed at the festival as part of my final examinations. The first piece was one for five voices. The second – In Search of Silence, which I conducted, was a guitar concerto for 14 players – classical guitar, harp, strings, percussion. The third piece was a piano solo. Being part of the festival has given me a chance to think about what goes into this kind of event. When I do this in the future I’ll have had a run through of the whole experience. We had a chance to see everything that goes into marketing; we sorted out our own programmes, images, text and promotion. If it was just a concert in an upstairs rehearsal room, and if it wasn’t open to the public, you wouldn’t be getting quite the same experience.
What do you think were the most useful things you have learned from being involved?
As a composer you’re reliant on other people to a huge extent. People can pull out at the last minute due to family emergencies – someone even broke a finger! I am a believer that there is always something positive to take from every experience; I’ve had a chance to take charge in managing everything leading up to the final product, so I have a much clearer idea of what’s involved and how best to go about it. I also know exactly what can go wrong, so I feel equipped to deal with some of the problems that could arise in the professional world. It is very encouraging knowing that I can work with a tricky situation to make something an audience can still enjoy.
What are your hopes for your career after graduating?
The first thing I know I’m going to go for is the BBC NOW Orchestral Workshops because it’s a great chance to work with a professional orchestra and get a good recording of my work. When I graduate I don’t want to rely on composition alone, because of practicalities, so I’ll be doing a bit of teaching too. Primarily I am a guitarist, but I play violin, piano and some flute and I teach those too – it’s something I enjoy. That frees you up to be more creative in performing and composing, because you have a little bit more choice in which jobs you choose to take.
What have been the highlights of your time at RWCMD?
There’s been a real focus on professional development – giving us a real idea of what our job will entail if we go into different areas of creative music. Various industry professionals have come to talk to us; people from PRS, people who’ve written for TV and film – talking about what they do. I’ve also really enjoyed the workshops. Recently, I got to work with writers and designers when I was involved in the Music Theatre Wales’ Make an Aria project – that’s not necessarily a standard part of training, so to have collaborative opportunities like that has been really nice.
Other performances that featured as part of the Atmospheres Festival included Spyros Syrmos’ Midwinter’s Summer Dream; Barbora Revayova’s Different Waters; Alex Killpartrick’s Colours in Space; Thomas Williams’ Test; Benjamin Talbott’s Channelling; Victoria Ashfield’s Immersion and An Evening with David Harrington: Music of Theatre and Spectacle.
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