Promo video for the London Sinfonietta’s ‘Notes to the New Government’ project featuring me and Luke Wright! Gig 9th May at the Queen Elizabeth Hall…
Category Archives: Composition
Elizabeth Kenny performance of ‘Extending from the Inside’
The amazing Elizabeth Kenny played my ‘Extending from the inside’ for solo theorbo at the Turner Sims recently. Her performance was up there with the very best performances of my work EVER!
The Thing
The video and audio of ‘The Thing’ for tuba and distortion, which was commissioned by the London Sinfonietta and premiered at the BFI in December 2014. The video was made in response to my piece by some excellent students at Central St Martins. I’m not quite sure how they got the audio…!
Workers Union Tour
Just got back from an excellent, but tiring, Sound and Music supported tour conducting the Workers Union Ensemble. Was great to play new works by various composers and to perform Simon Steen-Andersen’s On And Off And To And Fro four times. Here is a recording of my new work for the ensemble, Zeros and Ones:
New Recording of ‘Three Materials’
The fantastic pianist Yshani Perinpanayagam has made a new recording of my piece for solo piano and Blu-Tack preparations, Three Materials. She played the piece at the Workers Union Ensemble Nonclassical gig last year and I’m delighted she’s now recorded it too. Thanks Yshani!
London Sinfonietta ‘Notes to the New Government’
I’ve been commissioned, along with poet Luke Wright, by London Sinfonietta to write a new work for their ‘Notes to the New Government’ project, which will take place at the Queen Elizabeth Hall two days after the upcoming UK election. 
Our piece, The National Loneliness, will call on the new government is to address the disconnectedness felt by so many in society. The work will consist of spoken poems, which are interspersed with sung choruses. The poems provide snapshots into the lives of characters who are isolated in some way. In the choruses the soprano, Juliet Fraser, will act as a Siren (in the Greek sense) who banally calls us to the so-called ‘national conversation’ singing ‘We’re all in this together… in leisure love and labour’.
‘Songs for Stanley’
So the boy arrived, he’s called Stanley Robin Oliver and is great!
This means that Juice will premiere ‘Songs for Stanley’ next Thursday 6th November at 7pm in Shoreditch Church alongside a couple of new pieces by Holly Harrison and Amy Beth Kirsten for Juice and the Riot Ensemble. Details available here. Should be fun and hope to see you there!
Juice performing ‘Songs for __________’
My lovely and patient wife, Anna, is very pregnant right now. It’s an exciting time! The baby not turning up at this point means that I can’t announce the name of my new piece for Juice Vocal Ensemble yet. Following my dedication of Lullaby for Joni for my daughter I thought it would be wise to even out the score and have written five new settings of nursery rhymes for the impending arrival, Songs for ______. The new piece (with it’s full name), which has been commissioned by Riot Ensemble, will be performed at an excellent sounding gig, ‘she is a myth‘, at Shoreditch Church on 6th November at 7pm.
‘Extending from the Inside’ review
Elizabeth Kenny gave a stellar premiere of my ‘Extending from the Inside’ for solo theorbo at the Cymnock Trust promenade concert last week. Sadly I wasn’t able to make it up to Ayreshire but hopefully Liz will be performing the piece at the Turner Sims Concert Hall at some point in the coming academic year. There was a nice (possibly best ever review?!) mention of my work in the Scottish Herald by Keith Bruce:
“Elizabeth Kenny [played] a wonderful new piece by Benjamin Oliver, ‘Extending from the inside’ [for solo theorbo], which sounded a little like King Crimson’s Robert Fripp guesting with the Young Marble Giants.”
London Sinfonietta Commission
I’ve been commissioned by the London Sinfonietta to write a new piece for solo tuba and distortion pedal. My new work, The Thing, will be performed by David Powell alongside four other new solo works at the British Film Institute as part of ‘Alternative Visions’ on 10th December at 6.30pm. The new pieces will be played alongside new films by student artists from Central Saint St Martins. The other featured composers are Christopher Mayo, Luke Styles, Deborah Pritchard and Jacob Thompson-Bell. Booking info.
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