18 Aug 2018

Sound Lounge: Pioneers of Sound Prom - a tribute to the BBC Radiophonic Workshop

From Sound Lounge, 9:30 pm on 18 August 2018

Saturday 18 July 2018

9:30 BBC Prom - Pioneers of Sound

Delia Derbyshire by Brian Hodgson

Delia Derbyshire Photo: courtesy of Brian Hodgson

The London Contemporary Orchestra leads a late-night tribute to the legacy of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop – pioneers of experimental electronic music – which includes Daphne Oram’s groundbreaking Still Point and music by Radiophonic Workshop stalwart Delia Derbyshire.

Daphne Oram’s visionary Still Point fills the cavernous space of the Royal Albert Hall for the first time in the premiere of a revised realisation based on recently discovered archive material. Composed in 1949 – almost a decade before Oram co-founded the BBC Radiophonic Workshop – the piece was possibly the first to combine a live orchestra with live electronic manipulations, here played via turntables.

Still Point forms the centrepiece of a late-night sonic exploration that features work by Delia Derbyshire – another Radiophonic Workshop pioneer who achieved cult status for her electronic arrangement of the Doctor Who TV theme – as well as new works inspired by the Radiophonic legacy.

Preview the London Contemporary Orchestra playing Oram's Still Point at the St John's Smith Square in 2016:

11:05 Relevant Tones: New Music Gathering

New Music Gathering is an annual three-day conference dedicated to the performance, production, promotion, support and creation of new concert music held at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee. Keynote speaker, Q2 host Helga Davis, will speak to the 2018 conference theme, “Accessibility”. Performances will include those by the JACK Quartet, Pamela Z, and the Boston-based Dinosaur Annex Music Ensemble. (WFMT)

New Music Gathering

New Music Gathering Photo: Supplied

New Music Gathering 2018 Keynote Speech (including live performances!)