New Music Biennial is a free series of events taking place at a number of venues in Hull and London’s Southbank Centre over the next two weekends, with the help of a number of well-known faces.
Organised by PRS Foundation, one of those taking part in the series is Mica Levi who will present the premiere of a new piece for the BBC Concert Orchestra on June 30 in Hull before going on to present it in London on July 9 at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall.
In the video above, she talks about what she has planned for the project, saying that the inspiration for the piece came from her thinking about the concept of unison. As a result, she has put together a piece involving people playing together and people playing separately to challenge the traditional use of a conductor in musical performance. "I don’t want to be the type monopolising on the world’s pain," she says, "but I can’t help thinking about that kind of thing".
She adds that it’s hard to ignore a time of great divide between the rich and poor in the UK, as well as increased levels of xenophobia, while writing a piece of music for orchestra.
Also taking part in the project, and contributing new works, are Gavin Bryars, Eliza Carthy, Darkstar, Peter Edwards, Daniel Elms, GoGo Penguin, Sam Lee, Emily Hall, Simon Holt and Ray Lee. The series of events in Hull take place from June 30 – July 2 while the London events will take place over the following weekend from July 7-9. For more information, head here and here.
