NMC Recordings Celebrates 25 Years and Announces Future Plans

PRESS RELEASE: 25 September 2014 | Contact: Eleanor Wilson (Sales & Marketing Manager) Somerset House, Third Floor, South Wing, Strand, London, WC2R 1LA Tel: +44 (0)20 7759 1827 | Email: eleanor@nmcrec.co.uk @nmcrecordings /nmcrecordings

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NMC Recordings celebrates 25 years and announces future plans NMC Recordings, the charity devoted to bringing contemporary classical music from the British Isles to audiences across the globe, today marked its 25th Anniversary with a gathering of Patrons, leading composers, artists and supporters.

The event was hosted by NMC’s recently appointed Chair, Andrew Ward who said: "We are blessed in the UK in having an extraordinarily exciting, diverse and high quality new music landscape. For 25 years NMC has played a crucial and distinctive role in preserving and promoting the work of the composers and performers who populate this landscape. All of us involved in NMC are clear that the charity is a unique national asset, which will continue to be as important to the next quarter-of-a-century as it has been to the one we celebrate today."

© Fiona Garden | NMC Recordings

Andrew paid tribute to founder and Executive Director, composer Colin Matthews who commented on the impact NMC has had on musical Britain over the last 25 years: "When we set up NMC the landscape for composers was pretty bleak as far as recording was concerned, but it was clear that we had the potential to play a crucial role in making new music more widely available. The fact that we are here 25 years later – with over 200 recordings and nearly 300 composers permanently championed as part of the NMC stable – is a real testament to the artistic mastery of those writing and performing today, to the continuing appetite of audiences for exciting and challenging journeys, and to the dedicated financial support of all those who have contributed to making this work possible. What we need to ensure now is that we continue to be ever-present for the current and next generations of composers."

COLIN MATTHEWS

Several of NMC’s Patrons attended the event, held with the generous support of Rambert at their new South Bank home.

Vladimir Jurowski, Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, NMC Patron and Producers' Circle member said: "First and foremost: Happy Birthday to NMC! It is an honour and a joy to be a Patron of this wonderful and important institution. NMC’s vision of flying the flag for contemporary British music, and specifically for connecting composers with existing and potential audiences by making it widely available through recordings of the highest standard, is one that has always had my fullest support and admiration. Their work is both vital and hugely encouraging for composers, and indeed for all artists with an interest and investment in the evolution and promotion of the music of today.

I have had the pleasure and privilege to interpret the music of many of those on the NMC roster, and I know first-hand that the opportunity for them to have their work recorded and heard is of immeasurable value to their ongoing musical development.

We are all grateful to everyone in the NMC team, the associated performers, and the sponsors and benefactors who enable these recordings to be achieved. Congratulations on 25 wonderful years, and I look forward to seeing NMC continue to grow and prosper in the years to come."

Looking ahead to the future Anne Rushton, Executive Director, announced a series of new initiatives which are being undertaken in addition to the label’s regular programme of releases. She said: "As we plan for the next 25 years we have re-examined the range of work we deliver in order to provide a sustainable future for NMC, through which we will further our cause of championing the best of classical contemporary music coming out of the British Isles. We are very excited about the opportunities we are developing, working together with leading partners across the music sector, to create new work, develop performance opportunities and embark on exciting educational projects which will expand our unique music resource and take it to new and broader audiences."

NMC Recordings Ltd is a Registered Charity (no. 328052)

The following anniversary projects were announced: OBJECTS AT AN EXHIBITION NMC’s landmark 25th Anniversary project, in partnership with Aurora Orchestra and the Science Museum. In a fresh take on Mussorgsky’s classic, NMC has commissioned six composers to write an 8-10 minute work inspired by the Science Museum’s world renowned historic collections and inspirational galleries and exhibitions. The compositions will be recorded for NMC by Aurora conducted by their Principal Conductor and Artistic Director, Nicholas Collon, and premiered by them in innovative live performances at the Science Museum, where the audience will promenade through the galleries to experience each of the new works within the setting which inspired them, in October 2015. The project will also form the basis of a music and science cross-curricular education project in schools from the Tri-borough Music Hub, with students participating in a series of interactive workshops and following in the footsteps of the commissioned composers to create a collection of instrumental compositions inspired by the Museum’s objects and spaces.

Students will work alongside Aurora musicians and will use traditional and non-traditional compositional methods and improvisation. KS3 science topics will be explored with the Museum’s educators, enhancing participants’ understanding of particular subject areas while developing core skills in composition and performance.

“Music is a natural subject for the Science Museum: intellectually it provides a powerful exemplification of the interaction of technology and culture; practically it has the power to deeply enhance the variety of the Museum’s public offer; and emotionally it has the potential to move and deepen engagement with our collections and spaces. It is for all these reasons that we are delighted to work with NMC and Aurora Orchestra on what is by any measure a signature collaboration.”

Dr Tim Boon, Head of Research & Public History, Science Museum London “Commissioning new music and presenting it beyond the concert hall are central to Aurora’s mission. Objects at an Exhibition offers an exciting opportunity to work with leading composers to create new work … and ‘orchestral theatre’ in extraordinary surroundings. A highlight of our 10th anniversary season, it’s also an exciting focal point for schools work within our Tri-Borough Music Hub." John Harte, Chief Executive, Aurora Orchestra Gerald Barry: Outer Space "The piece is called Outer Space and is to do with the mysterious and unnameable aspects of that subject." GB Barry Guy: Mr Babbage is coming to dinner Recalling the mid-19th century mathematician Charles Babbage, the score consists of one large graphic page inspired by engineering drawings, prepared by Charles Godfrey Jarvis, and Babbage’s own texts concerning the production of the machines. In this he referred to ‘Mechanical Notation’ which has been explained as a descriptive system that precisely records the way parts are intended to interact. One form of the notation consists of timing diagrams which show how different motions are phased and harmonised. Another form resembles what we would now liken to logical flow diagrams. From this Barry Guy will create a graphic score, partially coloured, where precise musical movements will be choreographed alongside flexible scenarios that will engage the musicians in creative responses and spontaneous decisions according to visual stimuli. To realise an end result in the spirit of a calculating engine, players move material through the human labyrinth with the percussionist playing a particularly athletic role.

Christopher Mayo: Flight Gallery "As a composer who has always been inspired by engineering, mathematics and all forms of science, it's an extremely exciting prospect to be invited to engage with the exhibitions at the Science Museum. The opportunity to present a work to an audience who are surrounded by the objects and ideas which have inspired the work creates a framework for a real, meaningful dialogue between my music, the audience and the objects in the museum. This unique event will allow the audience to make some of the same connections that I have made on the journey from idea to inspiration to composition to performance. The piece that's created will hopefully also benefit from being written for such a unique presentation, and have a life beyond the project that is facilitated by this vital link to its inspiration." CM Claudia Molitor: TwoLO "The object I have chosen is the first BBC radio transmitter called 2LO. When reading about this wonderful 'object' I stumbled across the information that initially the transmission of music was prohibited by the licenser, only speech was deemed acceptable. TwoLO imagines how one might pull the wool over the licenser's ears by creating a piece to be broadcast under these conditions that one could successfully argue is 'not music'." CM NMC Recordings Ltd is a Registered Charity (no. 328052)

Thea Musgrave: Energy Hall "I do like the idea of composing something for the Energy Hall, partly because of the layout of that space. I plan to place two or perhaps three performers on the upper level with the rest on the lower level facing people as they enter the museum. I am not thinking of a particular exhibit but more generally of the wonders of discovery, with soloists 'taking off' with flights of fancy against the more earth-bound group below." TM David Sawer: Coachman Chronos "As soon as I saw the splendid mail coach in the Making the Modern World gallery, I was reminded of Thomas de Quincey’s essay on motion 'The English Mail Coach' and especially the moment where he describes how, by contrasting the speed of movement with the speed of thought, the driver is able to think clearly, thereby narrowly avoiding disaster. My imaginary musical journey from A to B aims to reflect the fact that in a world which increasingly emphasises speed, clarity can perhaps be best achieved when time stands still." DS NMC is grateful to the PRS for Music Foundation and the Britten-Pears Foundation for support in commissioning these works. So far, 60% of the money needed for the project has been secured, though a further £90,000 is still to be raised. To donate to our Annual Appeal for Objects please invest via the Big Give Christmas Challenge (4-6 December) to release matching funding.

For further details please contact Helen Hughes at development@nmcrec.co.uk.

RAMBERT FELLOWSHIP A new project developed with Rambert, to build on their highly successful Music Fellowship scheme and to forge new routes for dissemination of the NMC catalogue.

Bringing together the four creative roles of composer, choreographer, dancer and musician this project will run from 2014-2016 and will result in a series of new short works and a specially produced musical resource, including works from NMC's back catalogue, researched and developed for use in primary and secondary schools dance classes.

WIGMORE HALL BRACING CHANGE The need to refresh the chamber music repertoire is recognised here with the launch of a co-commissioning partnership between NMC, Wigmore Hall and The Radcliffe Trust, with new works being recorded at Wigmore Hall for future release on NMC, supported by The Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust. Commissions in 2014/15 by Mark-Anthony Turnage (Belcea Quartet), Simon Holt (JACK Quartet) and Anthony Gilbert (Carducci String Quartet with Guy Johnston, cello) will be followed in coming seasons with the premières of scores by Helen Grime, Donnacha Dennehy and Paul Newland. This initiative is supported by André Hoffmann, president of the Fondation Hoffmann, a Swiss grant-making foundation.

“Wigmore Hall is very pleased that NMC will record the premiere of each of these new British string quartets.

NMC’s involvement increases the scope and reach of the project greatly, and will allow many more people the opportunity to hear these exciting new works.” John Gilhooly, Artistic & Executive Director, Wigmore Hall ARTS AWARD As part of a two-year programme of organisational development work, which will include new audience development and research activities, NMC will also be upgrading its website in 2015 to make it compatible with all platforms, designing a standalone app that can be used on devices without a network connection and enabling a mobile-friendly (Mobile First/Responsive design) website upgrade. The new-found functionality will give the label the opportunity to embark on a new stream of activity, working with Trinity College London to offer young people an engaging route into contemporary British music through NMC’s Music Map. (Funded by Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and others.)

2015 RELEASES Releases next year feature works from established to emerging composers, with further volumes in NMC’s acclaimed Debut Discs series. The label will continue to develop existing artistic partnerships including with Hallé and London Sinfonietta and will release music by Gerald Barry, Mark Bowden, Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Barry Guy, Robin Holloway, Steve Martland, Colin Matthews, David Matthews, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Christopher Mayo, Claudia Molitor, Thea Musgrave, David Sawer, Huw Watkins, Ryan Wigglesworth and Hugh Wood.

DIGITAL PARTNERSHIPS NMC will continue to provide a digital platform for other organisations with further download only releases planned in the Sinfonietta Shorts series and with a new partnership featuring the work of the Britten Sinfonia.

NMC receives core funding from THE DELIUS TRUST