LSO Discovery

Friday Lunchtime Concert: Soundhub
_{Friday 31 March 2023 12.30pm}

TODAY'S CONCERT

James Batty Half the Story (world premiere)
Vivek Haria Ennui
Zhenyan Li Hide and Seek (world premiere)
Mathis Saunier Lava_Cycle (world premiere)

Juliana Koch oboe
Chi-Yu Mo clarinet
Joost Bosdijk bassoon

Rachel Leach presenter

USING YOUR DIGITAL PROGRAMME

Connect to the free hawksmoor WiFi network.
Navigate using the menu icon (≡) at the top of the screen.
Please set your phone to silent and don't use other apps during the music.

James Batty (b 1987)

Half the Story

✒️ 2023 | ⏰3 minutes

We live in an age where social media algorithms constantly bombard us with provocative posts and stories affirming our viewpoints on the latest political, social and other issues. But in these precarious times, it is more important than ever for us to listen to the full gamut of different viewpoints to understand others and build an inclusive and prosperous society.

I was inspired to write this piece after I reunited with an old school friend who happened to have developed vastly different political opinions to my own. Initial reactions of shock and outrage led to a fascinating conversation and debate that made me understand my own opinions much more deeply and respect our differences.

In this piece, the oboe and clarinet represent two contrasting characters who initially restrict themselves to musical ideas in the upper half of their instruments. As they exhaust the possibilities there and come into conflict with one another, the full ranges of the instruments are gradually uncovered—they exchange ideas and eventually find common ground.

_{Note by James Batty}

Vivek Haria (b 2000)

Ennui

✒️ 2021 | ⏰5 minutes

We have become more distant and self-absorbed after significant events over the last three years. Our interaction with the world has drastically changed and we now live in constant anxiety and unease because, at any given moment, measures can be imposed which force us back into isolation.

Ennui represents how my perception of time as a process has transformed, but it also serves as an inner reflection of the fluctuations in my sanity and wellbeing during that period. Slow and repetitive motifs together with fragmented phrases all serve to create a sense of stagnation and uncertainty. The interweaving melodic lines represents the conflicting and ever-changing emotions that come with ennui, while the overall structure mirrors its cyclical nature.

I hope that, through this music, listeners will be able to connect with the feelings of this unfathomable mental state and find a sense of comfort in knowing that they are not alone in experiencing these emotions.

This work was originally written in March 2021 for players of the BCMG and has since been adapted into a version for string trio which was recorded by members of the Piatti Quartet.

_{Note by Vivek Haria}

Zhenyan Li (b 1998)

Hide and Seek

✒️ 2019 | ⏰5 minutes

This piece was inspired by my favourite game when I was small: Hide-and-seek. The bassoon plays the role of the seeker at the beginning of the piece while the oboe plays similar materials in order to blur his existence. The music gets more intense as the sound-seeking journey gets more dramatic. The use of space aims to change the location of each instrument and give the piece a more theatrical presentation.

_{Note by Zhenyan Li}

Mathis Saunier (b 1999)

Lava_Cycle

✒️ 2023 | ⏰4 minutes

Lava_cycle is a piece based on the harmonic and textural evolution of chord progressions and will aim at engaging a participative audience. Each musician is represented by a colour (red/pink/blue) which creates a visual experience for the audience through minimalist musical environments.

The audience is welcome to participate in the soundscape by accessing the webpage of the piece at mathissaunier.com.

Click here

The concept is quite intuitive: the page shows a specific design mixing the key colours of the piece which are blue, pink and red, and once a musician is illuminated by a specific colour, the audience can tap on an area of the design that will be of a similar colour and will produce sounds responding and harmonising to the melodic lines of the acoustic instrument. It is encouraged to put the phone volume to 75% and only click once on the required colour area in order to optimise the soundscape.

_{Note by Mathis Saunier}

About the Composers

James Batty

James Batty is a composer and pianist from Cheshire. His music explores themes of interconnection between humans and the natural world through a musical language rooted in his passion for alternative tuning systems and the human voice. James’s commissioned pieces and collaborative projects have been performed by the Riot Ensemble, Noxwode, CHROMA, the BBC Singers, Carice Singers, Opera North Youth Chorus and National Youth Jazz Orchestra, with premieres at the Davos, Spitalfields, Norfolk & Norwich and Cheltenham Festivals. Two albums of James’s music have been commercially released – Until I Set Him Free, Sanctuary (Overtones and Deviations) – and received critical acclaim and radio play on BBC Radio 3 and other stations around the world. Current projects include a collaboration with choreographer Cameron McMillan and a new work for pipa virtuoso Cheng Yu as part of the Psappha “Composing For…” programme. James is working towards a PhD at the Royal Academy of Music.

Vivek Haria

Vivek Haria is a British Indian composer based in London. His passion for composition was ignited during his formal studies as a singer at the Royal College of Music Junior Department, where he discovered a love for writing music for voice and vocal ensembles. This fascination continued to grow throughout his university studies, where he was able to incorporate musical elements from his cultural heritage, the Hindustani Classical tradition, into his idiom. His repertoire now also includes solo, chamber, and orchestral works.

Vivek’s music draws on his heritage and personal experiences, blending traditional and contemporary elements to create a unique sound world. His recent works have been performed by various groups, including members of the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group and also the Piatti Quartet when he was a finalist in Conway Hall’s Clements Prize 2021. Notable highlights also include a new work for internationally renowned harpsichordist, Mahan Esfahani, which was premiered as part of the Cheltenham Composer Academy 2022. Most recently, he has been commissioned by Trinity College London for the publication of a new song to be included in their 2023 Singing Syllabus.

Vivek read Music at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he studied composition with Raymond Yiu and Richard Causton. He continues to be mentored by Brian Elias.

Zhenyan Li

Zhenyan Li is a Chinese composer and flautist based in London. Her works are inspired by theatrical elements, especially the performing style of traditional oriental theatre. Li’s music has been performed worldwide including in Switzerland, Germany, Slovakia, the Netherlands, the UK, and China. Last year, her piece Hashigakari, premiered at the Lucerne Festival 2022, and was selected for Ensemble Modern's ‘Happy New Ear’ concert series. Her opera Cummings & Goerings was premiered as part of the ‘Tête-à-tête’ Festival. Other projects also include works for the International Guitar Foundation, Central School of Ballet, Psappha Ensemble, and Beijing International Music Festival. As an active collaborator, she has worked on projects with Architectural Association, London Film School, Leeds Lieder Festival, and SOAS University of London, as well as individuals: artists Lulu Wang, percussionist Beibei Wang, and conductors Martin Rajna and Jessica Cottis.

Mathis Saunier

Mathis Saunier, born in Annemasse (France), has been studying electric guitar since 2004, classical guitar with Matteo Mela from 2012 to 2018, and composition with Arturo Corrales from 2016 to 2018 at the Geneva Conservatory. He is a founding member, guitarist, and composer of the band Mauvais Sang, signed under the record label December Square. In 2022, he graduated with a Bachelor in Composition at the Guildhall School Music & Drama in London where he studied with Matthew Kaner and Hollie Harding. He collaborates with ensembles such as the Ligeti Quartet, Exaudi Ensemble, the Nouvel Ensemble de Neuchatel (NEC), and the United Strings of Europe. Passionate about cinema, his musical world is a fusion of electronic music, acoustics, and visual art, to which he attaches great importance. In his work, he likes to start from an idea, a concept, and push them to its extreme logic, an uncompromising universe. His music is performed in venues such as the Antigel Festival (Geneva), Musica Festival (Strasbourg), Barbican (London), and Snape Maltings. He has collaborated with composers such as Anna Meredith, Laurance Crane and Paul Newland on his Ondes Martenot arrangements album.

About the Artists

Juliana Koch
^{LSO oboe}

Before joining the LSO in 2018, Juliana Koch played as Principal Oboe at the Royal Danish Opera in Copenhagen and at Teatro alla Scala in Milan – and further became a laureate of the ARD International Music Competition 2017. Since then she has been an in-demand soloist, debuting at the Berlin Philharmonie in 2019 with the Strauss Oboe Concerto and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin. Other solo engagements include appearances with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra and the Hungarian National Philharmonic among others.

Recitals and chamber music performances brought her to Musica Viva’s Huntingon Estate Music Festival in Australia, Lucerne Festival, Bachfest Leipzig, the Bamberg Konzerthalle and Deutschlandfunk Köln. A sought after Guest Principal, Juliana has appeared with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Philadelphia Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, and Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. Juliana studied with François Leleux in Munich and Fabian Menzel in Frankfurt, she plays a Marigaux M2 oboe.

Chi-Yu Mo
^{LSO clarinet}

Chi-Yu Mo graduated from St John's College, Cambridge with first class honours and a PhD in chemistry before studying clarinet at the Royal Academy of Music, where he won many prizes and awards. He was winner of the Britten-Pears Concerto competition as well as wind finalist in the Royal Overseas League competition.

Since joining the LSO, he has frequently played as Guest Principal Clarinet with many UK orchestras as well as recording and touring with the Asia Philharmonic Orchestra, Lucerne Festival Orchestra and World Orchestra for Peace. He is committed to teaching the next generation of orchestral players and has given masterclasses and coached in China, France, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Spain and the US, as well as teaching at the Royal Academy of Music, where he is a Fellow. He has been a member of the LSO since 1998 having previously been Principal E-flat Clarinet of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.

Joost Bosdijk
^{LSO bassoon}

Joost Bosdijk started playing bassoon aged 15 and entered the Royal College of Music Junior Department in The Hague two years later. After completing the undergraduate course he studied at the Music College Hanns Eisler with Klaus Thunemann. In his student years Joost was a member of the National Youth Orchestra of the Netherlands and later the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra, as a bassoonist and contra bassoonist. Among others, he has played with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe and Mahler Chamber Orchestra. After four years as second bassoon of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Joost came to the LSO.

As a chamber musician Joost has played in the Delft and Oxford Chamber Music festivals and in ensembles from the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and the LSO. He has played many concerts with bassoonist Bram van Sambeek, with whom he also recorded Sophia Gubaidulina’s Duo for two bassoons on Van Sambeek’s CD Kaleidoscope.

Rachel Leach
^presenter

Rachel Leach was born in Sheffield. She studied composition, and her music has been recorded by NMC and published by Faber. She has won several awards including, with ETO, the RPS award for best education project 2009 for One Day, Two Dawns.

Rachel has worked within the education departments of most of the UK’s orchestras and opera companies. The majority of her work is for the London Symphony Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Rachel has written well over 20 pieces for LSO Discovery and 15 community operas, including seven for ETO.

Increasingly in demand as a concert presenter, as well as presenting the LSO Discovery Free Friday Lunchtime Concert series, she regularly presents children’s concerts and pre-concert events for the LSO, LPO, Philharmonia Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Royal College of Music and Royal Northern Sinfonia.