Join us for this special, virtual collaboration between music creatives at the Department of Music and Orchestras at Royal Holloway, as we kickstart the year with our digital response to the wondrous works of J. S. Bach.
"The immortal god of harmony": that’s what Beethoven, no less, called Johann Sebastian Bach. "Music owes as much to Bach as religion to its founder," is how Schumann put it, and Bach’s music continues to inspire a feeling of reverence and love that borders on spirituality. An astonishingly productive composer, Bach perfected all the existing musical forms of the baroque period and took the use of harmony to a new level, setting out parameters that most of the western musical tradition has been working within ever since. The world needs Bach.
As a creative response and homage to the composer, and following the success of Beethoven Snapshots, the Department of Music is launching a special opportunity for music creators at the Department of Music to collaborate on a unique project with Orchestras at Royal Holloway: to respond to the wondrous works of J. S. Bach with a series of brand-new works.
Throughout spring 2021, we are encouraging all students, of any entry level, to join us and respond to a toolkit of pre-recorded works from Bach's output. These recorded works by members of Orchestras at Royal Holloway will be taken by a team of selected music creators (composers and sound artists) to create a series of Bach Snapshots, for a world premiere as part of the International Concert Series 2020-21 at Royal Holloway University of London.
During COVID-19
In response to the current global situation, this project will take place online: Project curators, Rebecca Miller and Dr Tom Parkinson will lead the project by video conferencing, and recordings, sketches and sound ideas will be shared digitally.
Owing to the uncertainty brought by COVID-19, we and the participating performers and music creators will be required to take a flexible, innovative approach to process and delivery. The full schedule and deadline overview will be shared with participants as soon as our call for participants closes.
How do I get involved?
As a music creator?
Want to respond to the music of J. S. Bach? Want to explore the relationship between the music of the past and the present?
As part of this unique project, we are also looking for a team of music creators to create 2-3 minute musical 'snapshots' using the pre-recorded material from a whole host of solo works by J. S. Bach. These excerpts will be recorded remotely by current members of Orchestras at Royal Holloway.
These snapshots will be curated into a thread of works that will be given a world premiere as part of the International Concert Series 2020-21.
Interested? CLICK HERE to sign-up here now.
