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Music alumni at the Barbican

Thu 5 March 2020

Music alumni Hollie Harding and James Newby will be showcased as part of the Barbican’s 2020–21 season.

Composer, researcher and curator Hollie Harding will present the world premiere of FERAL at LSO St Luke’s on 16 May 2020 as part of the LSO Jerwood Composer+ scheme Showcase.

Created in discussion with George Monbiot, author of Feral: rewilding the land, sea, and human life, the piece considers themes of rewilding (the large-scale restoration of natural processes in ecosystems) and our loss of connection with the natural world. It also features a film by Josh Ben-Tovim (Impermanence Dance Theatre).

The LSO Jerwood Composer+ scheme is a 16-month mentored placement that supports early career composers in programming, planning and delivering chamber-scale concerts in the Jerwood Hall at LSO St Luke’s, including their own work developed through the programme.

Hollie has been Director of Production for the London Ear Festival since it began in 2013, and recently completed her PhD in Creative Practice at Trinity Laban, investigating space and physical action as elements of composition.

Her most recent project Melting, Shifting, Liquid World was the first composition to incorporate the use of open-ear, bone-conducting headsets alongside live acoustic and amplified instruments to create a multi-layered sonic environment for the audience to move around and within. The work premiered at the National Maritime Museum, performed by Head of Strings Nic Pendlebury and the Trinity Laban String Ensemble.

Hollie is also a Royal Philharmonic Society Composer, and is currently working on a commission for the Philharmonia’s Music of Today series as part of the scheme. Other projects include a new participatory immersive piece for CoMA.

In the new year, baritone James Newby will perform a self-curated programme at Barbican Centre’s Milton Court Concert Hall featuring songs by Britten, Beethoven, Mahler and Schubert and a specially-commissioned new work by award-winning British composer Judith Bingham (29 Jan 2021).

As a European Concert Halls Organisation (ECHO) Rising Star, this concert is one stop on James’ upcoming tour of the major concert halls of Europe. The singer was nominated for the professional development programme by the Barbican, and will enjoy a truly international platform.

Prior to graduating from Trinity Laban’s BMus (Hons) programme, James became the youngest ever winner of the prestigious Kathleen Ferrier Award (2016). In the same year he received the Wigmore Hall/Independent Opera Voice Fellowship.

He has since gone on to be a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist 2018–20, a Jerwood Young Artist at Glyndebourne Festival Opera (2017–2018) where he was awarded the prestigious John Christie Award and the inaugural Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment Rising Stars prize, debut as Count Almaviva in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro for Nevill Holt Opera, and make his solo recital debut at Wigmore Hall (2019).

To find out more about studying at Trinity Laban, visit our music pages

To book tickets for FERAL visit the LSO Jerwood Composer+ Showcase page

To book tickets for ECHO Rising Stars, visit the Barbican What’s On page

Image L-R: James Newby (credit Gerard Collett); Hollie Harding