Heaven is Shy of Earth: Julian Anderson at 50

Friday 20 October 2017, 9.45am-6.15pm
Guildhall School of Music & Drama
Lecture Recital Room, Silk Street, London
www.bcu.ac.uk/julian-anderson-day

Free admittance; no ticket required

Jointly presented by the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, with kind support from the Music & Letters Trust

Convenors: Christopher Dingle (Royal Birmingham Conservatoire) & John Fallas (University of Leeds)


This one-day conference on the work of Julian Anderson provides a scholarly context for the BBC Symphony Orchestra's 'Total Immersion' day (Saturday 21 October) devoted to his orchestral, choral and chamber music. While Anderson's music, its contexts and inspirations are naturally the primary focus, the conference is intended to act as a catalyst for scholarly enquiry into the full range of his diverse activities, addressing not only Anderson's creative work but also his important contribution as a scholar and as a significant animating presence in British musical life, as well as the interrelations between the three.

The day features keynote contributions from Edward Venn (University of Leeds) on Anderson's Symphony and from Matthew Mendez (Yale University) on Anderson and the avant-garde, a number of further papers interspersed with solo performances and live or recorded music examples, and a concluding roundtable discussion.


10.00am          Christopher Dingle (Royal Birmingham Conservatoire) in conversation with Julian Anderson

10.40am          John Fallas (University of Leeds) - Anderson's blues; or, the figure concealed

11.00am          PERFORMANCE:
Robert Reid Allan, piano (Guildhall School of Music & Drama) - Julian Anderson: Piano Etude No 2

11.15am          Martin Suckling (University of York) - You say microtone, I say macrotone: Julian Anderson's expanded pitch space

11.45am          BREAK

12.10pm          KEYNOTE 1:
Edward Venn (University of Leeds) - Anderson's Symphony: the definite article?

1.00pm            LUNCH (not provided)

2.00pm            PERFORMANCE:
Ben Smith, piano (Guildhall School of Music & Drama) - Julian Anderson: Sensation

2.30pm            Edward Nesbit (King's College London) - 'All across upland Transylvania': evocations of distance in Julian Anderson's Imagin'd Corners

3.00pm            Stephen Goss (University of Surrey) - Proactive or reactive? The collaborative process between Julian Bream, Laura Snowden and Julian Anderson on Catalan Peasant with Guitar
[with practical illustrations from Laura Snowden, guitar]

3.30pm            Caroline Rae (Cardiff University) - Aspects of colour and timbre in Julian Anderson's Incantesimi: exploring French connections

4.00pm            BREAK

4.30pm            KEYNOTE 2:
Matthew Mendez (Yale University) - Anderson's others: Julian Anderson and the avant-garde

5.30pm            ROUNDTABLE:
Mark Bowden (Professor of Composition, Royal Holloway, University of London)
Carolin Widmann (violinist)
Geoffrey Webber (director, Choir of Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge)
Ismene Brown (formerly dance critic, Daily Telegraph & The Spectator; founder, The Arts Desk)
Peter Quantrill (writer & Gramophone reviewer)

6.20pm            CLOSE & DISPERSAL


Programme committee:

Christopher Dingle (Royal Birmingham Conservatoire)
John Fallas (University of Leeds)
Julian Philips (Guildhall School of Music & Drama)
Caroline Rae (Cardiff University)